Hungry for Good Music? Try Some ‘Whole Oats’ by Daryl Hall and John Oates

You may not know any of the songs on it, but the duo’s first album is fantastic

I’ve been a fan of Daryl Hall and John Oates ever since I first fell in love with music — which was in the late 1970s. By the time I discovered them then, Daryl and John had already released several popular songs like “She’s Gone,” “Sara Smile, and “Rich Girl.”

I loved those songs, but I didn’t become a superfan of the duo until the 1980s. That’s when they became superstars by having a great run of four incredibly popular and incredibly wonderful albums: Voices, Private Eyes, H2O, and Big Bam Boom.

I bought and loved all those albums, but I didn’t start exploring their earlier albums until much later. When I finally did, I discovered that I’d been missing out on a lot of great music from Daryl Hall and John Oates.

It was great, but a lot of it was very different stylistically from their later “pop” music — especially on their first two albums, Whole Oats (1972) and Abandoned Luncheonette (1973.) Back then, the duo’s “sound” was a nice combination of the soft rock, folk, and soul music genres.

Also, one thing I quickly discovered and immediately loved, was that Daryl Hall and John Oates sounded a little bit more like a duo on those early albums. Like their later music, Daryl Hall still performed the majority of the lead vocals, but John Oates had more songs on each album back then where he sang lead. Also, the duo had many more songs back then in which they shared the lead vocals.

I’ll write about the Abandoned Luncheonette album in great detail in a future article, but now I want to talk about some of my favorite songs from Whole Oates, the first album from Daryl Hall and John Oates.

I’m Sorry

This is the first song on the album and it’s a great one. Daryl Hall sings lead here and John sounds very cool singing background. They harmonize together throughout a lot of the song and their voices sound great together.

Georgie

When I first saw the title of this song, I got very excited about it because my middle name is George. I wondered…was I going to feel some sort of magical connection to the song since I shared my name with it?

Well, no — but I’m actually very glad about that.

The lyrics in it are very good, but the story tells a very sad tale about something tragic that happened when Georgie was a child:

Georgie was a skinny kid Fond of angling, fonder of dangling his feet in the cool Brook water While the Reverend’s daughter Sat at his side and fluttered his face with the fuzz of a Dandelion

Long about noontime Floating ‘cross the field, Georgie heard the peel of a bell Being rung by the parson Time for his lesson As much as he hated it, the preacher was teachin’ him to Play the accordion

“Don’t go Georgie!” said the Reverend’s daughter “When Daddy comes lookin’ we can duck in the water.” They both went out and dipped down to hide But the girl caught her locket on an underwater branch And the next thing she knew… she died

Preacher was a sorry mess He was cryin’, shoutin’ ‘bout her dyin’ and livin’ the Eternal life Should ‘a seen his wife Sobbin’ on the ground as the wind rustled round And tickled the keys Made Georgie’s accordion give an awful dyin’ wheeze

So, why do I like the song so much? Well, first of all, I think that Daryl Hall sounds especially great on this song. I’ve said for a long time that I think Daryl has one of the greatest voices in pop music. I think that this song is a very good example of what an amazing voice he has.

Another reason I like “Georgie” so much is because of the lyrics. Sad as they may be, some of the lines in it are fantastic. I especially love the first verse.

Fall In Philadelphia

Although this song was never a “hit,” I first became aware of it from hearing it on local radio stations during the Fall seasons over the years — because I live not far from Philadelphia and some of the cooler Philadelphia radio stations embraced this great song and gave it some well-deserved airtime.

It’s got some very good music in it and I love how Daryl and John sound together on the very catch-sounding choruses.

Goodnight and Goodmorning

This was the only single that was released from the album. It didn’t generate many sales as a single, but it’s a great song. Daryl’s and John’s voices sound wonderful on it. Also, I love the instrumental section of the song that begins at around 1:35 into it.

Thank You For…

This is one of my favorite songs ever by John Oates. I’ve always thought that John is a little underrated as a vocalist. “Thank You For…” shows what a great singing voice he has.

Lilly (Are You Happy)

This is not only my favorite song on Whole Oates, but I’d rank it high on my list of my all-time favorite songs by Daryl Hall and John Oates.

Daryl and John trade off the lead vocals on this one. Each of them sounds great on the sections that they sing lead. Then there are also the wonderful parts of the song where they sing together and sound amazing.

I don’t normally like to be bossy and tell people what to do, but I’m going to strongly suggest that you listen to “Lilly (Are You Happy)” with headphones on (or earbuds in.)

The music is fantastic and the vocals…well, I’ve already told you how wonderful I think they are.

Just…wow.

I especially love the parts where Daryl asks Lilly if she’s really happy. He sings the “are you really happy” parts with a lot of great passion in his voice.

Here’s the entire album on Spotify. Enjoy.

I’d like say my own “thank you” here to my friend and fellow music lover Angelina Der Arakelian. She recently wrote this great article about Daryl Hall’s and John Oates’ wonderful album War Babies, which is probably one of the most underrated albums ever:

Reading it inspired me to write this article about Whole Oats. Thank you, Angela!

If you enjoyed this, you may also enjoy these other articles from me:

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