Every Time I Look at You, Evil Grows in Me

• The Poppy Family, “Where Evil Grows”

A Canadian hit from the early 1970s, this song always makes me laugh because of the disconnect between the bitter, paranoid lyrics and the scrubbed & pinkly gleaming production. (Reminds me of the Kingston Trio singing about how they “don’t give a damn about a greenback dollar” with perfect elocution.) You wonder if there’s a bit of winking going on, and perhaps there is. But damn if it isn’t a really well-made tune, with some spine & swagger beneath the pretty harmonies and the little organ garnishes.

The Poppy Family – buy a comp here – was led by Terry Jacks, who’s of course best known for the maudlin weeper “Seasons in the Sun” (“Goodbye Michelle, it’s hard to die….”). “Where Evil Grows” was covered at some point by DOA; I’ve only heard their take a couple of times and really can’t remember it, but I feel confident in saying that it was no doubt an over-the-top parodic version.

The cover version I’d really like to hear is Barbara Manning’s – I don’t know if she even knows this song exists, but boy, for some reason I can always hear her singing it in my mind; the lyrics & the rhythm just seem like her kind of thing. (Her occasionally updated website is here.)