When the Lovin’ Spoonful played at Brien McMahon High School in 1966, Jon Manners’ band the Sticky Wickets opened for them.
Jon is now a singer/songwriter in Minnesota, reports his brother Tim.
A few weeks ago Tim — a Westporter — asked him to collaborate on “an old-fashioned folk song” about our town’s Tar Rock.
Tim wrote the words. Jon put it to music, and made a video.
“Tar Rock Ode” is a tribute to what happened when the British landed on Compo Beach in 1777. Signal fires were lit on a high, flat-topped rock, to warn Danbury that the British were coming (after landing at Compo Beach) — and to call militia to fight.
(Yes, it was possible then for people in Danbury to see all the way down to Long Island Sound — or at least see smoke from here. Those were the days.)
But, Tim adds, the song “could also be interpreted metaphorically, as a modern-day protest song against the distressing number of teardowns around Westport (including one pending on Tar Rock Road itself, where I live).”
Tim believes Tar Rock “may be the only historic site in Westport with its own theme song. Certainly, it’s the only rock!”
Tar rock (Photo/Tim Manners)
(Friday Flashback is a weekly “06880” feature. If you like this — or anything else we do — please consider a tax-deductible contribution. Just click here. Thank you!)