Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Top top-ten San Diegan

Gary Puckett comes home with the Happy Together tour

“Everyone wants to look for the dark side,” says Puckett. “The guy in the song is upstanding...he’s telling [the young girl] to go away.”
“Everyone wants to look for the dark side,” says Puckett. “The guy in the song is upstanding...he’s telling [the young girl] to go away.”

“Even today I’ll meet a 15-, 16-year-old girl who will tell me, ‘You wrote that song for me.’ That puts a warm, fuzzy feeling in my heart.”

Former San Diegan Gary Puckett is talking about his 1968 song “Young Girl,” one of five top-ten hits he had with the Union Gap.

Video:

"Young Girl"

...by Gary Puckett & the Union Gap

...by Gary Puckett & the Union Gap

But for every teenage girl who felt “Young Girl” was about her, there was another person skeeved out by lyrics like “Young girl/ Get out of my mind/ My love for you/ Is way out of line.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

“Everyone wants to look for the dark side,” says Puckett. “The guy in the song is upstanding. He fell in love with a girl who was too young and he’s telling her to go away.”

Puckett moved to San Diego with his family in the early 1960s from Yakima, Washington, to go to SDSU. From a Top 40 perspective, Puckett is perhaps the most successful act to come from this area. Between 1967 and 1969, Puckett had five Top 10 hits, including “Lady Willpower,” “Over You,” and “This Girl Is a Woman Now.”

Puckett decided to name the group the Union Gap after a town near Seattle.

“People thought the name was strange,” he laughs. “I thought the Rolling Stones had a weird name until I heard their music.”

Puckett made the Union connection easier to understand by dressing the band in Civil War–era costumes. “Some people would come up and say, ‘You Paul Revere?’ and I’d say, ‘You got your history wrong.’”

The Union Gap was discovered by producer Jerry Fuller while playing at a now-defunct Clairemont club called the Quad House.

Past Event

Happy Together Tour 2016

  • Wednesday, July 20, 2016, 6:30 p.m.
  • Humphreys by the Bay, 2241 Shelter Island Drive, San Diego
  • $59

“I knew you had to go to Los Angeles to make it, but San Diego was closer than, say, Denver.” Puckett says, “And I went up there with a tape and photos of us in the outfits. Jerry came down the next weekend to hear, liked what he heard, and he signed us.”

Puckett lived in San Diego for 30 years but is now based near Tampa. He will be returning to town July 20 with the Happy Together tour, an oldies revue that includes the Turtles, the Cowsills, former Paul Revere singer Mark Lindsay, and the Spencer Davis Group.

“My family still lives [in San Diego]. I’ll definitely be asking the other performers if they can let me have their guest passes,” he says. “If I get the chance, I may drive past all the places we played that no longer exist.”

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Flowering pear trees in Kensington not that nice

Empty dirt plots in front of Ken Cinema
“Everyone wants to look for the dark side,” says Puckett. “The guy in the song is upstanding...he’s telling [the young girl] to go away.”
“Everyone wants to look for the dark side,” says Puckett. “The guy in the song is upstanding...he’s telling [the young girl] to go away.”

“Even today I’ll meet a 15-, 16-year-old girl who will tell me, ‘You wrote that song for me.’ That puts a warm, fuzzy feeling in my heart.”

Former San Diegan Gary Puckett is talking about his 1968 song “Young Girl,” one of five top-ten hits he had with the Union Gap.

Video:

"Young Girl"

...by Gary Puckett & the Union Gap

...by Gary Puckett & the Union Gap

But for every teenage girl who felt “Young Girl” was about her, there was another person skeeved out by lyrics like “Young girl/ Get out of my mind/ My love for you/ Is way out of line.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

“Everyone wants to look for the dark side,” says Puckett. “The guy in the song is upstanding. He fell in love with a girl who was too young and he’s telling her to go away.”

Puckett moved to San Diego with his family in the early 1960s from Yakima, Washington, to go to SDSU. From a Top 40 perspective, Puckett is perhaps the most successful act to come from this area. Between 1967 and 1969, Puckett had five Top 10 hits, including “Lady Willpower,” “Over You,” and “This Girl Is a Woman Now.”

Puckett decided to name the group the Union Gap after a town near Seattle.

“People thought the name was strange,” he laughs. “I thought the Rolling Stones had a weird name until I heard their music.”

Puckett made the Union connection easier to understand by dressing the band in Civil War–era costumes. “Some people would come up and say, ‘You Paul Revere?’ and I’d say, ‘You got your history wrong.’”

The Union Gap was discovered by producer Jerry Fuller while playing at a now-defunct Clairemont club called the Quad House.

Past Event

Happy Together Tour 2016

  • Wednesday, July 20, 2016, 6:30 p.m.
  • Humphreys by the Bay, 2241 Shelter Island Drive, San Diego
  • $59

“I knew you had to go to Los Angeles to make it, but San Diego was closer than, say, Denver.” Puckett says, “And I went up there with a tape and photos of us in the outfits. Jerry came down the next weekend to hear, liked what he heard, and he signed us.”

Puckett lived in San Diego for 30 years but is now based near Tampa. He will be returning to town July 20 with the Happy Together tour, an oldies revue that includes the Turtles, the Cowsills, former Paul Revere singer Mark Lindsay, and the Spencer Davis Group.

“My family still lives [in San Diego]. I’ll definitely be asking the other performers if they can let me have their guest passes,” he says. “If I get the chance, I may drive past all the places we played that no longer exist.”

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Best Sports Betting Sites - 10 Online Sportsbooks Ranked for 2024

Best Sports Betting Sites (2024) - Reviews of TOP Online Sportsbooks
Next Article

Making Love to Goats, Rachmaninoff, and Elgar

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.