It’s hard to tell from such a woolly, potato-cam video, but for a while, you might think The Turtles were actually performing You Showed Me live in that video. The guitar and bass have cords trailing off somewhere. They might be plugged into something. If the drummer isn’t really playing, he certainly remembers the drum part from the record exactly. I didn’t spot any misalignments. You have to wait for the outro for your definitive clue, Watson. The drummer loses interest and stands up while the song is still fading out.

It’s not an unusual question to ask. It was quite common back in the day for bands to appear on teevee shows of all kinds and mime their hits. It was part of the little personality cults bands have used as a substitute for talent for the last 75 years or so. Of course the Turtles had all sorts of talent, but they’d be lumped in with all the other acts in the 60s in the producer’s schedule. They wouldn’t have had any trouble performing it live, and probably would have brought something new to the table. That’s another reason the teevee producers would have them lip sync. Anything could break out on stage with these weirdos. Mark Volman is wearing chaps for some reason. Can’t chance it.

According to the ToYoube comments, the girls arrayed on stage are Miss Teen USA contestants. That looks quite believable. They’re well equipped with late sixties togs, and rocking the requisite bumpits and water buffalo hairdos. They don’t flinch when the camera focuses right on their faces. It’s a mark of the breed. One commenter claimed to have married one of them. Well, internet commenters are always like that. Informative, and married to beauty queens, who adore them for their Congressional Medals of Honor.

If you’re young, and you’ve tuned in to get an explanation of what the Turtles were up to back then, you’ve come to the wrong place. Absolutely uncategorizable.