I don’t like this song, I do not like it one bit. The first time I heard Timothy by The Buoys, it was at a DJ set that a friend of mine was playing. It was a set about ‘Offensive Songs’ and when I heard it, I remember chills going down my spine. Two years later and this song still haunts me.
Timothy was written by Rupert Holmes and recorded by Pennsylvanian Rock band The Buoys in 1971. They were known for songs such as ‘Castles’, ‘Tell Me Heaven is Here’ ‘Look Back America’ and the most controversial song probably of all time, ‘Timothy’. Holmes stated that the song was deliberately written to be banned. and it was fairly successful hitting number 17 on the US Charts in 1971. After the release of ‘Timothy’, Holmes learnt about a mine cave-in that happened in the mining community of Sheppton Pennsylvania in 1963. In an Interview he expressed guilt over writing it, stating that if he had known about the mine cave-in he would have never wrote the song.
So what is Timothy about?
Listen and find out for yourself.