My Seventies Music

Tag: Love

  • Wizzard – “See My Baby Jive”

    Roy Wood and his band Wizzard had a Number One hit in the UK in 1973 with “See My Baby Jive”.

    Roy Wood had previously been a founding member of Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) and was a particularly experimental musician, combining a range of genres in his music, such as classical and big band sounds.

    This is evident in the clip here of “See My Baby Jive”, featuring orchestral instruments such as a cello and various horns as well as two drummers:

    Gotta love the bass player on roller skates with angel wings and cricket pads on his legs (Rick Price), and the madly waving guy on keyboards – Bill Hunt, who apparently had a propensity to smash pianos…

    Paul

  • Dolly Parton – “Jolene” And “I Will Always Love You”

    Album cover of "Jolene" by Dolly Parton (1974), also featuring "I Will Always Love You"

    Released in late 1973, “Jolene” by Dolly Parton became a No. 1 country hit for her in February 1974, reached Number 60 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 7 on the UK charts.

    Dolly Parton also wrote and released a song later made popular by Whitney Houston, namely “I Will Always Love You”.

    Dolly Parton’s own version, written and recorded in 1973, came out in 1974 and also went to the top of the country charts.

    It did so again when she re-released it eight years later, this time also doing quite well on the pop charts.

    Here is Dolly Parton singing “Jolene” live:

    This is Dolly Parton’s rendition of “I Will Always Love You”:

    I heard Whitney Houston’s version of this again recently while watching the film “The Bodyguard”, by coincidence she was in the country and in fact passed by quite closely after cancelled flights from Northern Ireland meant she had to take the ferry.

    It’s one of my favourite songs, and I hadn’t realised Dolly Parton had written and sung it back when Whitney Houston was about ten.

    Both versions have their own magic.

    Which one do you like best?

    Paul

  • 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

  • Golden Harvest – “I Need Your Love”

    Another New Zealand band in the Seventies I remember was a young outfit called Golden Harvest with their single “I Need Your Love”.

    I don’t recall whether they had any other successes, but this one sticks in my mind.

    In any case the chorus is definitely catchy and I found myself singing it this evening, having located the video a couple of days ago, so I thought I’d just put it up today.

    I also have no idea whether the track ever got any airplay outside New Zealand, so this may be completely new to you.

    For some reason the name Golden Harvest makes me think of a commercial fishing boat down the bottom of New Zealand’s South Island. I’m pretty sure it was a boat that I saw down there once.

    In this video of Golden Harvest playing “I Need Your Love” on New Zealand TV show Ready To Roll (of which I also have fond memories, as with Radio With Pictures, that used to come on at about 11 o’clock at night) you can see a bit of fancy guitar work – the guy plays it with his teeth…

    Bon appetit.

    Paul

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