Biography
The male-female act Lyme & Cybelle cut three 45s for White Whale during 1966, with Warren Zevon and Violet Santangelo handling the vocals on the opening pair. Those sides leaned toward upbeat pop-rock laced with folk-rock touches, placing the duo in territory not far removed from the Turtles, who later recorded Lyme & Cybelle’s “Like the Seasons” along with the Zevon-penned “Outside Chance,” a number the original group never issued. The act’s signature release remains its debut single, “Follow Me,” whose interlocking male-female vocal lines helped the track climb to number 65; the song later surfaced on the Nuggets anthology of 1960s garage-era material despite lying outside that stylistic lane.
The four Lyme & Cybelle tracks cut while Zevon remained in the lineup are largely unremarkable, though a few register as agreeable. Among the non-“Follow Me” sides, their 1966 reading of “If You Gotta Go, Go Now” stands out—an early, little-known Bob Dylan composition that Dylan had yet to release, even as Manfred Mann scored a major British hit with it. Targeting an unreleased Dylan song made commercial sense in 1966, yet the duo’s take comes across as strangely buoyant, buoyed by a lively horn chart and frequent key shifts.
Once those first two singles appeared, Wayne Erwin stepped in for Zevon, despite the latter’s dual role as Santangelo’s vocal and songwriting partner on the initial releases. The revised Lyme & Cybelle lineup issued only one further single, “Song 7” backed with “Write If You Get Work,” helmed by producer Curt Boettcher and marked by a markedly more mainstream pop approach. The group subsequently grew into a full band before Erwin dismissed Santangelo. Every track from the three singles—encompassing the Erwin-era recordings—plus assorted Lyme & Cybelle demos featuring Zevon and additional early Zevon demos, are collected on the Warren Zevon anthology The First Sessions.
The four Lyme & Cybelle tracks cut while Zevon remained in the lineup are largely unremarkable, though a few register as agreeable. Among the non-“Follow Me” sides, their 1966 reading of “If You Gotta Go, Go Now” stands out—an early, little-known Bob Dylan composition that Dylan had yet to release, even as Manfred Mann scored a major British hit with it. Targeting an unreleased Dylan song made commercial sense in 1966, yet the duo’s take comes across as strangely buoyant, buoyed by a lively horn chart and frequent key shifts.
Once those first two singles appeared, Wayne Erwin stepped in for Zevon, despite the latter’s dual role as Santangelo’s vocal and songwriting partner on the initial releases. The revised Lyme & Cybelle lineup issued only one further single, “Song 7” backed with “Write If You Get Work,” helmed by producer Curt Boettcher and marked by a markedly more mainstream pop approach. The group subsequently grew into a full band before Erwin dismissed Santangelo. Every track from the three singles—encompassing the Erwin-era recordings—plus assorted Lyme & Cybelle demos featuring Zevon and additional early Zevon demos, are collected on the Warren Zevon anthology The First Sessions.