The band derives its name from Hal Roach's Our Gang comedies of the 1930s (known to modern audiences as The Little Rascals), because of the similarity of McFarlane's surname with that of George McFarland (Spanky).

[2] In an interview of Cashman on the Songfacts website, he revealed that the song was written as a ballad; however, the group "changed it, and they added the vocal, 'Ba-da-da-da-da,' which was a great hook.

The album included their rendition of "Stardust", and a version of folksinger Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'," subsequently a hit single for Harry Nilsson and the theme song for the movie Midnight Cowboy.

[7] On October 31, 1968, the group's lead guitarist Malcolm Hale was found dead in his Chicago home, and the coroner attributed the death to bronchial pneumonia.

[8][9] A 2007 book stated that Hale "died on a Sunday at age twenty-seven from carbon monoxide poisoning due to a bad heating system.

It contained two popular songs, the previous summer's hit "Give a Damn" and "Yesterday's Rain" (#48 Canada).

The group briefly reformed in 1974 with Spanky, Nigel Pickering and new members Jim Moon (drums), Will Plummer (bass, vocals) and Marc McClure (guitar, banjo, vocals)[11] and recorded an album (Change) in 1975 for the Epic label, produced by Chip Young.

She portrayed "Bloody Mary" in April 2011 on stage in Ferndale Repertory Theatre's production of South Pacific.