Thoughts of You (The Piggy Bank)

10 FEBRUARY 1966

The Piggy Bank released this single ‘Thoughts of You’ sometime in 1966. I'm not sure when, and can’t find out much about this song or this group, except to say that they were from New Mexico, were previously called the Monkeymen, and this record was generally ignored. One of the rare mentions I can of this band online states that;

"The Piggy Bank, ( Vic Gabriele, George Orona, Don Gleicher, Wes Smythe and Benji Martinez) recorded at least one single on Lavette Records “Thoughts of You”/”Play With Fire” (a Stones cover). Lance Monthly newsletter declared “There is a strong indication that the flip side will be the one that will go” And go it did, straight into the bin of obscurity."

Which is a great shame because it's genuinely good. Maybe it could have been produced to a higher polish, but it's a solid song and played well. I can easily imagine the Beatles recording this as the B side to 'Help', or the Kinks using it as an album track. A small band like this from Albuquerque never had access to the marketing or distribution machinery needed to promote this record beyond their city in 1966, but fortunately YouTube exists and helps to keep this undeservedly obscure stuff alive.