They began modestly as a folk trio back in 1962, calling themselves Walter, Lou and
Clyde, since indeed that's who they were. They played at pubs and bars from Greenwich Village to San Francisco Bay. It wasn't long before bar patrons were slurring their names and calling the trio, waaaherlooo-kly. Sometime around 1964 they became known as Waterloo Clyde (not to be confused with Napoleon Bonaparte's personal secretary, "Waterloo" Claude). It didn't seem to make much sense, but then again it was the sixties and the name stuck.
Alas, the trio was just starting to make it big when poor Lou met with a tragic accordion accident during the great Northeast black-out of 1966. To this day there are those who believe the Russians were involved.
Walter and Clyde remember Lou fondly. He was a real squirrel.
With Lou's untimely passing, Clyde and Walter re-dedicated their music to honor their friend by writing and performing "Polka Duets for the Hard of Hearing" throughout the heartland of America. They attracted a strange, yet interesting following.
Then, shortly after Jane Fonda made her infamous Hanoi visit, they wrote "
The Ho, Ho, HO CHI MIN Polka", which rose to number 38 on Billboard and landed them a spot on the Lawrence Welk Show.
It wasn't long before "Walterloo Clyde" became a household word and the NYS Thruway Authority named an exit after them.
A bitter break-up followed Walter's love affair with Petula Clark. It was rumored that Clyde was seeing Yoko Ono's cousin, Ohno Ono, around that same time. Bad combination.
After the break-up came the re-union tours culminating in the Central Park Live album. That album was followed by another bitter break-up and the "Betty Ford" years.
The Reagan Administration came and went and Waterloo Clyde was nearly forgotten until Ken Burns put together a documentary on "Polka Hero's of the Sixties" during the summer of '97. Elizabeth Taylor saw the documentary on PBS and urged the two to get back together. Walt and Clyde decided to give it another go around. To confuse people, they legally changed their names to Mark and Dave. Clyde had a problem remembering his new name so they added a second Dave to the band to make it easier.
A trio once more, today Waterloo Clyde modestly plays to small intimate gatherings in local coffee houses. Of course they could do the mega concerts again, but quite frankly they're a bit tired of beautiful women throwing themselves at them night after night after night after night.
ps: Columbia Pictures is considering making a motion picture "Waterloo Clyde, the Untold Story", featuring Marlon Brando as Walter, Robert Redford as Clyde, and Rocky the Flying Squirrel as Lou
*Some may say that this entire story is a figment of Dave Preston's imagination.
