BOC: This Ain't The Summer of Love - Imperial Dogs Version

[John A Swartz]

A little while back there was some discussion about the origins of BOC's
"This Ain't The Summer of Love", and about some other version done by the
Imperial Dogs.  Well, I've managed to find (via Ebay, an online auction -
amazing what kinds of stuff turn up there...) a copy of a 7" vinyl single
by the Imperial Dogs entitled "This Ain't The Summer of Love", so I'd
like to share what I found.

Note to Albert Bouchard:  If you need a copy of this, and you "come up for
air" to read BOC-L these days ;-)  then let me know.

The single I have is entitled "This Ain't The Summer of Love" (credited to
Imperial Dogs lead vocalist Don Waller - As we know, Don Waller has a
writing credit for BOC's version).  The b-side is "I'm Waiting For the
Man" (written by L. Reed - I assume this is Lou Reed?  Sorry, the only
music I knew in the mid-70s was KISS, and later BOC).  Actually, the
credits for "...Summer..." are "Waller/Fitario".  Musically, this sounds
nothing like BOC, and lyrically, the only thing the 2 songs have in common
are the words "This Ain't the Garden of Eden" and "This Ain't the Summer
of Love".  The back of the single says in big letters "Live in '75" (around
the time BOC's version was being written), but I don't understand why as
this track appears to be a studio track (either that, or the Imperial Dogs
played to an audience of none that day...).  The Copyright info on the disc
itself has the year 1978 (which is of course AFTER the release of AoF).

So, my take on all of this is that Don Waller did his own version of a
song called "This Ain't The Summer of Love" with the Imperial Dogs, while
BOC did their own.  Waller may have contributed lyrics for both, but
the music for them were created independently.  Sort of like John Shirley
doing his own version of "See You in Black" (although in that case both
his and BOC's songs share much-more-nearly identical lyrics).

John