Susie D - In Your Life / Imaginary World

Location: Ogden
Year: 1968
Label: Guillotine Records
Catalog Number: 6-503

Style: Garage Rock, Psych Rock

I love music. I hold dear some really great music firsts that  I will never forget. The first cd my dad ever gave me (jock jams vol. 1). The first time I heard punk. The first time I went to Kilby Court. And the first time I put this single on. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. 

I pulled Susie D out of a small box of 45’s along with some other extra dusty selections at a yard sale in Roy last year. It was in rough shape but I couldn’t turn down the label. Hot pink with a guillotine on it and it was made in Ogden! After getting home and not digging the first three 45’s I picked up I didn’t have too much hope for Susie. Once ‘In Your Life’ hit though I was immediately hooked. A minute into the song I stood up in my living room, put my hands on my head, and yelled ‘holy shit!’ to no one. The dog and the cat weren’t amused. I couldn’t help it. It felt timeless. I loved everything about it. 

I played ’In Your Life’ 6 times in a row before flipping it to side 2 ‘Imaginary World.’ A track that packed every bit as much of a punch as side 1. ‘Imaginary World’ is catchy as hell and lyrically deep. I initially took it to be about a psychedelic trip but I am now convinced it is about a young man trapped in a cycle of despair and self destruction because of the shame he experiences from being sad and a man in 1965ish. A real portrait of toxic masculinity. It’s a pretty deep take from any recording artist at the time let alone a young woman still in high school in Ogden, Utah as Susie was at the time of this recording. 

After listening to the single I became slightly obsessed with Guillotine Records. I wanted to know what the label was and who Susie D is. I couldn’t find anything about her specifically so I reached out to the producer credited for the Susie tracks on Facebook and found out he was the owner of Guillotine records as well. Through several messages he told me about the label and how he ran it. He put out all the singles of Guillotine WHILE IN HIGH SCHOOL! He stopped after losing interest in music after returning from the Vietnam War. He also gave me a real name for Susie D but I haven’t been able to track her down yet. If I am ever able to I am going to thank her for the magical first she gave me with these songs because you only get so many firsts in your life.

-Jackson Hogge