I've never cared for the word Knickerbocker. It sounds vaguely silly, like Gnip Gnop or snickerdoodle, but if you say it enough times the two CK phonograms make it unwieldy and annoying, like a large, oddly-shaped piece of beige luggage. Its actual meaning, according to dictionary.com, is "a descendant of the Dutch settlers of New York" and "an inhabitant of New York."
In its plural form, it is men's trousers, a professional basketball team, and a mid-60s one-hit wonder. The Knickerbockers were actually from New Jersey (yo, what's the difference, capiche?), but their song Lies had everyone assuming they were from Liverpool, England.
Stickershocker!
Lies is, arguably, the greatest imitation of John Lennon and the Beatles ever recorded. It sounds like something from With the Beatles or A Hard Day's Night. And it wasn't a cheap knockoff, either; they weren't plagiarizing pickerlockers, no! It was a great, original song in its own right. The music is fun and exciting from start to finish and the vocal harmonies are perfect. The guitar solo at 1:24 is the only part of the tune that doesn't seem 100% Beatles. It's either Kinks or Who, or perhaps it's just pure American garage rock.
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