"Liar, Liar" by The Castaways

When I was writing about R. Dean Taylor in one of my recent posts, I was thinking about other bands and artists I knew that seemed to fade into complete obscurity after their time in the spotlight. One particular band that came to mind, possibly due to their apt (and unfortunate) name, was The Castaways. In reality, The Castaways and R. Dean Taylor don't have much in common, but they have both been more or less forgotten about after finding some success many years ago.

For The Castaways, their success was more limited than Taylor’s. In a similar vein, information about them is extremely hard to come by. They were formed in Minnesota, had a hit song in 1965, released a few singles after that, and broke up in 1968. As far as I can tell, the only album they ever released was a greatest hits compilation in 1999, but I can’t find it anywhere. Spotify has a few EPs of theirs and a handful of singles, but the main thing I’ll be focusing on is The Castaways’ hit single “Liar, Liar.”

The first time I heard this song, I skipped it almost instantly. A falsetto voice shouting “liar, liar, pants on fire” at me almost right from the get-go was just too over the top. However, I have a soft spot for the combo organ that was so popular during the mid-to-late 60s and is featured in “Liar, Liar.” Also, I was kind of interested to hear what the rest of a song that started like that could possibly sound like. So, I gave it another listen.

I don’t have to put too much thought into the “why’s” of “Liar, Liar.” It seems very clear to me that people liked it because it was catchy. The falsetto part and the very loud scream that transitions into a guitar solo also helped it stand out, but I am fairly confident that this song was a hit because it got stuck in people’s heads. It certainly got stuck in mine, and I even found myself becoming quite fond of it. As far as the lyrics though, it's a bit lacking.

A quick review of The Castaways' other available material will reveal they didn’t exactly have a penchant for writing deep, thoughtful lyrics. Besides “Liar, Liar,” here are the opening lines to some of their other songs:

“Sam, your daddy calls you Sam, Sam, you know just what I am” from “Sam.”

“A man’s gotta be a man, everybody knows, a man’s gotta be a man, ‘cause baby that’s how life goes” from “A Man’s Gotta Be a Man.”

“I love the way you walk and I love the way you talk, I love the way you walk, I love the way you talk, I got my eye on you” from “I Love The Way You Walk.”

And my personal favorite...

“Blahahahaha” from “Goodbye Babe.”

As an aside, I feel like “Goodbye Babe” was meant to be a rather blatant attempt to replicate the success of “Liar, Liar.” Both songs start out with a four-chord progression on the organ with a little flair at the end, then either a ridiculously high or ridiculously low vocal part before jumping directly into a regularly-sung verse. The transitions are even done in a similar fashion to each other. Honestly, I was expecting a scream like the one in “Liar, Liar” to show up in “Goodbye Babe.”

To be clear, though: As much as I’m poking fun at them, I don’t think The Castaways were a bad band or that they made bad music. I like some of their stuff, even if the lyrics can be extremely straightforward at times. In my opinion, not every song needs to have layers of poetic language for the listener to untangle in order for it to be considered “good.” Music doesn’t always need to be thought-provoking. What matters is that the listener enjoys it. I enjoy “Liar, Liar.” It’s unique, entertaining, and memorable. And honestly, as I went through the rest of The Castaways’ available songs, I enjoyed some of them too. Some of their music sounds like The Beach Boys, some of it like The Beatles (pre-Revolver), and then...well, songs like “Liar, Liar” and “Goodbye Babe" are uniquely theirs.

If anyone wants to check out other material by The Castaways, “Early Morning,” “Girl in Love,” and the aforementioned “I Love The Way You Walk” all stood out to me. And even if it’s just for the first six seconds, “Goodbye Babe” is a worthwhile listen.