My Seventies Music

Tag: Canada

  • Anne Murray – “Snowbird” And “You Needed Me”

    Anne Murray album “This Is My Way”

    When Anne Murray reached No. 1 on the U.S. charts with her single “You Needed Me” in 1978, she was the first Canadian female solo singer to ever achieve that honour. Previously she had hit No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970 with “Snowbird”, which got to No. 2 on the pop charts in Canada and 1 on both the adult contemporary and country charts.

    “This Way Is My Way”, the album from which “Snowbird” was taken, charted at No. 1 on both the U.S. and Canadian album charts.
    “You Needed Me” was Number 1 on both the U.S. and Canadian pop charts, the Canadian album charts and the Canadian country charts, while reaching No. 4 on the U.S. country and 3 on the U.S. album charts.

    It made it to No. 2 in Australia and 22 in the UK.

    Here now first is Anne Murray singing “Snowbird”:

    And “You Needed me”:

    I’ve been writing this on a tiny netbook with a miniscule screen on a mobile connection, and the first draft didn’t quite look the way I was expecting so I may have to come back to this…

    Meanwhile, enjoy the music!

    Paul

  • Gordon Lightfoot – “If You Could Read My Mind”, “Sundown” and “The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald”

    Cover of Gordon Lightfoot single "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald"

    Three Seventies songs from Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot stick in my mind – “If You Could Read My Mind”, “Sundown” and “The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald”.

    “If You Could Read My Mind”, written after his divorce, reached No. 1 in Canada and the 5th spot in the USA. Here is the original:

    And here is “If You Could Read My Mind” sung live in Chicago in 1979:

    “Sundown”, sung here live in 1974, went to Number 1 on both the Canadian and U.S. singles charts in that year:

    Finally, “The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald”, written after an incident on the Great Lakes on November 10, 1975, reached the top spot in Canada and peaked at No. 2 in America in 1976. This video commemorates every single one of the 29 crew members lost on the ship:

    Here Gordon Lightfoot sings the ballad live in 1979:

    There is something timeless about the music of Gordon Lightfoot.

    Take your time to enjoy it…

    Paul

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