Mouse and The Traps - Musical Highlights

Musical Highlights

The first single by Mouse, "A Public Execution" was much more Dylanesque than any of their later music and reached as high as No. 121 on Billboard charts. The single was released on REO Records in Canada as well and became a regional hit in Ottawa, where many local bands frequently covered the song. The song mimicked both the musical and lyrical features of Dylan's songwriting (particularly "Like a Rolling Stone") as well as Dylan's singing style to the point of homage or even parody. In the original liner notes of the Nuggets compilation album, Lenny Kaye states of this song: "There are some who say that Mouse does Dylan's Highway 61 period better than the Master himself". Another reviewer remarked: " is to Dylan what the Knickerbockers' 'Lies' is to the Beatles: one of the few rip-offs so utterly accurate that it could easily fool listeners into mistaking it for the original article".

Their second, punkier single, "Maid of Sugar, Maid of Spice", is regarded by many as being their best recording but did not repeat their earlier chart success. The next single was a novelty song that went in a completely different direction. Titled "Would You Believe", it was a take-off on the running gag of that name by Don Adams on the television sitcom Get Smart. A promo exists that shows the artist of this third single as only Mouse. However, a more subdued, later single "Sometimes You Just Can't Win" spent one week at No. 125 and was a regional hit in Tyler, Texas, Nashville, Tennessee and Louisville, Kentucky.

Allmusic describes Mouse and the Traps as "a fine band who was probably too chameleon-like to find their niche in the national market".

By 1968 Bugs Henderson had formed another band called "The Dream" and was playing night club venues around Dallas.