Music Friday Flashback: A Little Gold Ring Stars in The Grass Roots’ 1968 Song of Unrequited Love, ‘Midnight Confessions’

December 13th, 2013
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you great tunes with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics.
We’re back in our time machine this week with a rare clip of the The Grass Roots performing “Midnight Confessions.”

 
Released in the summer of 1968, “Midnight Confessions” is a song about unrequited love. Our protagonist — in this case Grass Roots frontman Rob Grill — loves a woman who is committed to another man. Grill sings,
 
"But a little gold ring you wear on your hand makes me understand / There's another before me, you'll never be mine / I'm wasting my time.”
 
Grill’s “midnight confessions” become an outlet to express his true feelings… “When I say all the things that I want to / I love you." “Midnight Confessions” reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 list and was The Grass Roots’ biggest hit with more than one million singles sold.
 
The Grass Roots was established in 1965 when the songwriter and producer duo of P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri got some airplay on a demo recording they sent to a bunch of San Francisco radio stations. They credited the song to The Grass Roots, but there was no band.

Quickly, the pair assembled local musicians to become The Grass Roots. The third incarnation of the band, which included Grill on lead vocals and bass guitar, was the most successful. Overall, the band charted 21 times and sold more than 20 million records worldwide.
 
After leaving the band in 1977 to pursue a solo career, Grill returned in 1980 and performed with The Grass Roots until his death in 2011. With an ever-evolving lineup, the group continues to tour today, capitalizing on the popularity of 1960s nostalgia.

See Grill and The Grass Roots performing “Midnight Confessions” in the video at the end of this post. Lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along.
 
 
“Midnight Confessions”
Written by Lou T. Josie. Performed by The Grass Roots.
 
The sound of your footsteps
Telling me that you're near
Your soft gentle motion, baby
Brings out the need in me that no one can hear, except

In my midnight confessions
When I tell all the world that I love you
In my midnight confessions
When I say all the things that I want to
I love you

But a little gold ring you wear on your hand makes me understand
There's another before me, you'll never be mine
I'm wasting my time

Staggering through the daytime
Your image on my mind
Passing so close beside you baby
Sometimes the feelings are so hard to hide, but

In my midnight confessions
When I tell all the world that I love you
In my midnight confessions
When I say all the things that I want to
I love you

Yes a little gold ring you wear on your hand makes me understand
There's another before me, you'll never be mine
I'm wasting my time

In my midnight confessions
When I tell all the world that I love you
Na na-na na na na na-na
Na na-na na na na na-na
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=K_8L5MrQcak