My Seventies Music

Tag: Which Reached Number

  • 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

  • Don McLean – “American Pie”, “Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)”, “Crying”, “Since I Don’t Have You” and “Castles In The Air”

    Cover of Don McLean album "American Pie"

    I can’t remember a time without Don Mclean singing “American Pie” and Vincent”, and yet it was only 1971 when the former was released and 1972 when it topped the charts for weeks on end.

    Like the phrase it coined, “The day the music died”, it has been a part of our culture ever since.

    Ladies and gentlemen – “American Pie”, the studio version:

    And “American Pie” live in 1972:

    Much quieter and more reflective, yet equally memorable, is Don McLean’s tribute to 19th century Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, “Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)”:

    Towards the end of the decade, in 1978, Don McLean released a cover of the Roy Orbison song “Crying”, which reached Number 1 in the UK two years later and No. 5 in the US:

    Shortly after, McLean, who is also known for his covers of great artists, presented his version of Fifties classic “Since I Don’t Have You”:

    Finally, here’s “Castles In The Air”, with pictures of the Brighton Pavilion, which remind me of pleasant days spent with family last summer in my parents’ home town on the south coast of England:

    Back to the roots, so to speak.

    Paul

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