My Seventies Music

Tag: Lobo

  • Jim Stafford – “Spiders And Snakes”, “Swamp Witch”, “Wildwood Weed” And “I Got Stoned And I Missed It”

    For some reason I just recalled “Spiders And Snakes” by comedian and musician Jim Stafford, which reached Number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1974.

    Not that I remembered that, but a little research goes a long way….

    In fact at first I just remembered the line “I don’t like spiders and snakes but that ain’t what it takes to love me like I wanna be loved by you”.

    Some things just stick in your mind :-).

    Then I found that it was sung by Jim Stafford, and the name was instantly familiar.

    So here’s “Spiders And Snakes”:

    The previous year, i.e. 1973, he had a chart hit with “Swamp Witch”, another familiar title, which was produced by his friend Kent LaVoie, otherwise known as Lobo:

    And in 1975 “Wildwood Weed” peaked at Number 7:

    A year later Jim Stafford reached the Top 40 with a song in a similar vein, “I Got Stoned And I Missed It”:

    Y’all come back now.

    Paul

  • Lobo – “Me And You And A Dog Named Boo”, “How Can I Tell Her About You”, “I’d Love You to Want Me”, “Stoney”, “Hope You’re Proud Of Me Girl”, “It Sure Took a Long, Long Time”, “Don’t Expect Me To Be Your Friend”, “Standing At The End Of The Line” and “Goodbye Is Just Another Word”

    Lobo album "Calumet" on Big Tree Records

    When I was about 16, I used to listen to Lobo over and over again. Songs like his big hit “Me And You And A Dog Named Boo”; “How Can I Tell Her About You” and “I’d Love You to Want Me”. Or “Stoney”, “Hope You’re Proud Of Me Girl”, “It Sure Took a Long, Long Time”, “Don’t Expect Me To Be Your Friend”, “Standing At The End Of The Line” and “Goodbye Is Just Another Word”.

    Seems he had one hit after another in the early Seventies, and as I was looking through his songs, one after another came back to me.

    The words, and the melodies.

    I’m not going to comment on them individually, just let you listen and enjoy them one after another.

    This was his first big hit, in 1971, “Me And You And A Dog Named Boo”:

    “I’d Love You to Want Me”went to No. 2 on the U.S. singles charts in 1972:

    “Don’t Expect Me To Be Your Friend” reached the Top Ten that year:

    “It Sure Took a Long, Long Time” made it to the Top 30 the same year:

    And in 1973 “How Can I Tell Her About You” did too:

    In 1974 “Standing At The End Of The Line” peaked at 37:

    The next three songs were album tracks –

    “Stoney”:

    “Hope You’re Proud Of Me Girl”:

    “Goodbye Is Just Another Word”:

    OK, so I did coment on (some of) them after all…

    I must admit I was surprised how much I still like these songs.

    Hope you do too.

    Paul

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