“Can’t Seem To Make You Mine” / “Daisy Mae”
by The Seeds
1967 7-inch single from Japan (picture sleeve)
Label: London [TOP-1154]
The Seeds’ first single from 1965 was released in Japan in 1967 in a special custom picture sleeve. “Can’t Seem To Make You Mine” b/w “Daisy Mae” is a collectible and fairly rare item not often seen for sale.
"Can't Seem To Make You Mine" is written as 恋しい君よ, which is pronounced “koishii kimi yo” and literally means something like “missing you” or “sad because you’re not here”. "Daisy Mae" is written デイジー・メー, a phonetic rendering of the titular girl’s name. (In Japanese it’s pronounced more like “Day ji may”.)
The band’s name is also rendered phonetically, as ザ・シーズ which is pronounced something like “Za Sheez”. The English names of both songs and the band name are included in smaller type on the front cover art, which is of course actually the cover of A Web Of Sound, an LP unrelated to either of these songs.
Inside the cover, with Japanese essay and full English lyrics.
The back cover of the sleeve advertises (in Japanese) other available singles. The piece folds out to reveal an essay about The Seeds and psychedelia, plus the English lyrics of both songs on the record. (They’re mostly correct though there are a couple or errors.) One nice touch, especially if you don’t read Japanese, is that the only English phrase in the essay sticks out like a sore thumb: LSD. Sky, your reputation precedes you in Japan.
The labels of the record, on London, also feature both the Japanese and English versions of the song titles, though the English is more prominent. As usual with the demanding Japanese audience, the sound quality of this single is excellent.
In 1967, "Can't Seem To Make You Mine" was re-released in the United States with a different B-side ("I Tell Myself") in a picture sleeve; it’s strange that in the same year the song would be issued in Japan with its original B-side. Just makes it that much more interesting, really.
The Seeds had other singles released with special sleeves in Japan; all are fairly rare and each is a great thing to have in ones collection. High quality, well-done, and interesting version of this evergreen Seeds record.
