Elton John - Philadelphia Freedom (Captain Fantastic 13 of 13)

Philadelphia Freedom

1975

Elton John

‘OH I LIVE AND BREATHE THAT PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM!!!…’ Oh yeah…that’s definitely another one of those songs from The Seventies that everyone from that era remembers, and most everyone likes. You hear the strings start up with that repetitive two note, then the horns kick in with that classic four note intro, and you know exactly what song you're getting ready to hear... 

This is probably one of Elton John's best known hits, and as I recall he had some very well known and well loved hits. Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote it (Taupin, in fact, wrote most of Elton John’s songs) and The Elton John Band recorded it in the Summer of ’74, and released it as a single in Feb ’75.   Elton John wrote it as a favor to Billie Jean King who was a close friend of his, and it was originally going to be  a homage to her tennis team, The Philadelphia Freedoms. Taupin said he couldn’t write a song about Tennis, and of course didn’t. Instead the homage to freedom's soon to be legendary lyrics, up-beat tempo, and strong instrumentals s meshed perfectly with the emotions and feelings leading to the US Bicentennial a year later.

Of course, as teens we probably didn’t give the patriotic leanings of the song a great deal of thought…we just knew we liked what we heard…a lot. This was the first song that Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote specifically as a single, and Elton said he knew it was going to be a hit almost from the git-go. Guess what…he was right.  The song broke a 12 week streak of songs that held the top spot on The Hot 100 for only one week when It spent two weeks at # 1  almost exactly 38 years ago, spending two weeks at Number One in mid April, ’75. It was also certified platinum exactly 38 years ago when 4-23-13 rolls around. The last song that spent multiple weeks at #1, twelve weeks earlier? Elton John's cover of 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.

Philadelphia Freedom was a staple on WLEE, and every other Top 40 station, during my senior year in high school as well as a regularly covered song at dances. There was a reason that the song seemed to Last forever when you danced to it…at 5:38 Philadelphia Freedom was one of the longest dance hits on record, as well as one of the longest #1 songs on record. (BTW, DJs and program directors hated songs over about 4 minutes because they really screwed up playlists and promos such as ‘X’ hits an hour)

 You can still hear it on Oldies stations and classic Rock stations and I have a sneakin' suspicion our great great grand kids will still be hearing it there long after we're gone. This is Classic 70s Music at its best.



So Enjoy. Philadelphia Freedom by Elton John. (Ya sang along with at least the chorus...ya know ya did ;) :D )



And as a bonus...a Live performance at The Royal Opera House, backed by a full orchestra. This arrangement kicks butt and takes names!

Neil Diamond - Shilo (W lyrics)

 'Shilo'

1970

Neil Daimond

Hard as it is to believe, Neil Diamond had a slump in the late 60s and actually went a couple of years without a single hit. He had just left Bang Records after a heated disagreement about his career path and the kind of music he wanted to sing Vs the kind of music the record company wanted him to sing. This song was at the center of that disagreement.

Neil Diamond wanted to leave the lighter teen-pop music behind and go with more introspective songs such as Shilo, which he wrote in 1967 for Bang. They refused to release it as a single, keeping it a track on Diamond's album 'Just For You', and shortly thereafter he left Bang and signed with Uni Records.

Three years later, in 1970, he had a Hat Trick of hits, two of them (Holly Holy and Sweet Caroline) with Uni, while Shilo was finally released by Bang after they added new backing tracks. This started a string of hits that any Teen Of The Seventies will recognize instantly just from the first few notes.

Shilo wasn't his biggest hit by any means...it only made it to #23 on the Billboard Hot 100...but it's very likely his most introspective and autobiographical. The song is about a young boy and the imaginary friend who helped him through a life of loneliness and turmoil.

Shilo became one of his best known songs, a staple at his concerts, and as the years passed and The Hits of The Seventies became the Memories on The Oldies Stations, Shilo continued to be a well loved staple. Around Richmond and Hampton Roads/Tidewater (My two Home Areas in Virginia) if you listen to 96.5 or 107.3 in Richmond, or 106.9 in Hampton Roads you'll hear it on one of the three at least once or so a night.

SO enjoy! Shilo, by Neil Diamond.

Cover Of The Rolling Stone-Dr.Hook

 Cover Of The Rolling Stone

1972

Dr Hook And The Medicine Show

If the classes of 1969 through about 1979 were polled on their ten favorite songs of the decade, it's a good bet this one would show up repeatedly. Say 'Cover of The Rolling Stone' to anyone who was in school during the early 70s and it's a good bet they'll be able to recite/sing/attempt to sing at least the chorus, and a good bet that they'll know most if not all of the verses. Everyone knows at least a few lines of this classic...it's one of those songs that everyone knew, just about everyone liked, and that just made you feel good. The high energy instrumentals, energetic tempo, and satirical lyrics just seemed to give you a burst of energy, brighten...at least temporarily...the worst of moods, and put a smile on your face.

Dr Hook and The Medicine Show again benefited from the songwriting talents of Shel Silverstein on this one...he also wrote Silvia's Mother. The song was released in the US in late 1972 and peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, but ran into problems in The UK, where BBC policy prohibits the use of actual product and publication names in songs...they considered it an advertisement for Rolling Stone magazine. This was circumvented when CBS Records London office set up special phone lines for listeners to call in and hear the song.

As for Rolling Stone Magazine (Bet all of us have at least a couple of favorite issues stashed away), while it's easy to believe Rolling Stone has been around forever, Rolling Stone Magazine was all of 5 years old when Cover Of The Rolling Stone was released. Needless to say, the song was a HUGE publicity boost for them. And Dr Hook and the Medicine Show did indeed make The cover...in caricature form...on the March 29 1973 issue's cover. That issue was the Rolling Stones biggest seller up to that point, and is still one of the top selling issues in the magazines history. If you've got a copy of it lying around somewhere, it's libel to be worth a little spare change! Onein even good condition would be a rarity...this was in the early 'Newsprint' era of the magazine.

Also, in the Movie Almost Famous (One of the best movies about Music ever made, IMHO) when the fictional band Stillwater found out that they had made the Cover of The Rolling Stone, they broke into a spontaneous rendition of the song. The modern band 'Phish' also covered it at their tour opener at Inglewood, Ca. on Valentines Day 2003. They had just...you guessed it!...made The Cove Of The Rolling Stone.

This one will always be around. It was played constantly during the Seventies, shifted to Oldies Stations in The 80s, and still shows up every one in a while on Oldies stations today.

Enjoy! Cover of The Rolling Stone by Dr Hook, with some classic Rolling Stone covers (Ya sang along with it...ya KNOW ya did!)

Same arrangement as above, just more modern Rolling Stone covers....Enjoy :D

Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show - Sylvia's Mother

Sylvia's Mother

1972

Dr. Hook And The Medicine Show

Depending on who you talk to, this one was either an anthem for Teen Angst and Young Love Lost, or brilliant parody of the same. Whichever it was, sing the line 'PLEEAASE Mrs Avery' and anyone withing earshot who was a 'tween' or teen in in 1972 can finish it. This was, of course, Dr Hook and The Medicine Show's. soulful, near tearful plea to Mrs Avery for one more chance to talk to her daughter, Sylvia,(The singers ex girlfriend) to tell her good bye before she catches the 9 o'clock train to go off and marry a guy 'Down Galveston Way'.

What a lot of people don't know is 'Sylvia's Mother' was autobiographical...Shel Silverstein, the song writer, was telling the story of a phone call he made to a recent ex girlfriend's mom under the exact same circumstances (And yep, she was named 'Sylvia', but the last name was changed in the song...not necessarily to 'Protect The Innocent' but because 'Avery' fit so much better.). Dennis Locorriere did awesome justice to Shel Silverstein's lyrics...he actually sounds like he's in tears while singing it.

Sylvia's Mother was released in the Summer of '72, and started off slowly...until CBS put their full promotional power behind it, making it a hit. While it never made it to number one on the Billboard Top 100, it hung around the top ten for several weeks, peaking at #5 in The US. The song fared even better in the UK, topping the charts there. This was another staple on Top 40 stations.. You couldn't go more than a couple of hours without hearing it on my 'Home' AM stations...WLEE in Richmond, and WGH in Hampton Roads and like any good Oldie, it still can be heard on Oldies stations occasionally.

Just another reason why 70's music (A) Rocks, and (B) will never die!

Enjoy! Dr Hook and The Medicine Show, with Sylvia's Mother.

I'm going to give two bonuses with this one...First, a Live performance of Sylvia's Mother from Dr Hook and the Medicine Show.

AND...a cover form 2003, when it was covered by Bon Jovi...did a decent job with it but Dr Hook still OWNS it! 

The Undisputed Truth "Smiling Faces Sometimes" (1971)

 Smiling Faces (Sometimes)

1971

The Undisputed Truth

Anyone from our era who doesn't remember 'The Undisputed Truth's smooth rendition of 'Smiling Faces (Sometimes) must not have ever listened to music. What they didn't know unless they were already a serious student of popular music was that The Undisputed Truth's version, which hit #3 on The Billboard Hot 100, was not the original version, nor were they the artists the song was originally written for. OK, this isn't unusual at all. Lots of hits are covers of already existing tunes, BUT...The original version, written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for the legendary Motown label, was originally recorded by The Temptations...also in 1971. This version was included on their The Sky's The Limit album, and was to be (Greatly edited...the album version 's nearly 12 minutes long) a Summer single release, but turmoil within The Temptations that caused lead singer Eddie Kendricks to leave the group canceled that plan. So the song was handed off to Psychedelic group 'The Undisputed Truth...and the rest is history. Their version of Smiling Faces spent 18 weeks on The Billboard Top 100, debuting at the end of June '71 and finally making it to #3 in early November. It was a staple on the Top 40 stations (And was The Undisputed Truth's only Top 40 single) and can still regularly be heard on Classic Rock and Oldies stations.

It was also covered by Bobbi Humphrey, Rare Earth, and Joan Osborne in later years, but The Undisputed Truth's version is the one everyone remembers.

So enjoy...Smiling Faces(Sometimes) by The Undisputed Truth

And as a bonus...if you've got 11 minutes or so to spare...The Temptations' version: The song actually cuts off before the end, but this was the closest to the original 11 minute and change version as I could find on YouTube.

Sweet and Innocent - Donny Osmond

 

'I Love the little wiggle in your walk'

Sweet And Innocent

1971

Donny Osmond

We had our own 'Justin Bieber' back in the 70's...and his name was Donny Osmond.

He crooned his way onto the scene in 1971 with 'Sweet and Innocent'', which came out in Spring of '71, and reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June of '71.

What a lot of people...and probably all of Donny Osmond's fans...didn't realize...was that Sweet and Innocent wasn't written for Donny Osmond (In fact all of his hits were covers) but was written one year after he was borne, in 1958, by Rick Hall and Billy Sherrill, and recorded by Roy Orbison...his version didn't chart.

Donny Osmond's version was immensely popular though...I was in 8^th grade at the time, and I well remember a couple of the young ladies of Southampton Jr High School singing this in the morning before home room. At their lockers. In the North Wing. (Yes, one of them may or may not be on my Facebook Friends List...lol)

So enjoy! Sweet and Innocent by Donny Osmond.

And as a bonus another Donny Osmond tune...Too Young...sung on The Lucy Show, starring the incomparable Lucille Ball, in 1972. This will be one of the few times I use a different tune than the main post for the bonus, and I included this because it's another case of Teen Idol Meeting Teen Idol. See if you can spot the member of the cast of a certain sitcom classic in this clip!

BREWER AND SHIPLEY- " ONE TOKE OVER THE LINE "

AHHHH...The Seventies...The Early Seventies. April '71 to be exact, when One Toke Over The Line by Brewer and Shipley hit #10 on the Billboard Hot 100.

This was Brewer and Shipley's only Top Ten single, and they wrote it on a whim during a long break between sets in the coffee house where they regularly played. It was released in late 1970 on Tarkio, their third album. They didn't plan on releasing it at all originally, then didn't plan on releasing it as a single, then didn't even dream that it would become a hit...but it did. Trust me on this, 'One Toke Over The Line received massive air play....I heard it constantly on both WGH, Hampton Roads premiere AM Top 40 station, and then WLEE, Richmond’s Top 40 AM station, after I moved to the Richmond area.

The song was, of course, about smoking pot, and Bernard and Shipley readily admit to this fact. Hey, this was The Seventies! The song was awesome, catchy, made you want to sing along to it, and our parents, for the most part, had no clue what it was about. What could be better????

How 'bout if 'One Toke Over The Line', oh I dunno, also became the subject of one of the best and most hilarious illustrations of The Generation Gap known to modern man. Anyone remember Lawrence Welk?

What, you ask, does Lawrence Welk have to do with One Toke Over The Line? Who, the younger among you may ask, is Lawrence Welk in the first place. In a nutshell, Lawrence Welk was a Big Band Leader from the 40s who had a TV variety show that was extremely popular among the Older Generation...meaning our parents and grand parents. The show aired from 1955-1982 so he was doing something right. But his fans did not generally include teens. The average viewer age was somewhere around Fifty. The show came on at 7PM Saturday nights, and if anyone with 'Teen' suffixed to their age was watching it meant that (A) there was nothing to do and absolutely nothing else on, (B) you were too young to do anything anyway, ( C ) you were grounded and/or (D) your parents had forced you to watch under penalty of punishment too horrible to even contemplate. This show was so conservative that it made Donny and Marie look edgy (Whadaya Mean 'Who Were Donny and Marie????? ;) )

Again you ask, what did 'One Toke...' have to do with Lawrence Welk??? Simple...in The Seventies The Lawrence Welk Show was trying to draw younger viewers, and they added more modern music to the show...but NOT performed by the original artists.

Therefore, this catchy and very popular hit tune was performed on the show, and NOT by Brewer and Shipley, but by Gale and Dale.. That'd be Gale Farrell and Dick Dale, a duo who specialized in very conservative older music, and some country as I recall. Both are immensely talented, and Gale was and still is a lovely and talented lady...but songs about smoking weed were, well, not their usual genre. What happened you may ask? Simple...America's Favorite Big Band Leader thought it was a modern spiritual...he said as much immediately after they sang it. That's right. They introduced and sang one of the premier 'Getting High' anthems of The Seventies as...wait for it...a Gospel tune.

Did I mention this occurred the exact same week that Spiro T Agnew...then Vice President of The U.S...declared Brewer and Shipley and One Toke to be subversive elements that were undermining Our Youth? (Spiro, of course, was deeply embroiled in a little misunderstanding called Watergate very shortly thereafter as we may recall)

Generation gap or no generation gap, there HAD to have been someone on that show, be it talent, production staff, or Network, who knew what a 'Toke' actually was and what the song was actually about. Ya know some of the Crew was sniggering to themselves after it happened. There were rumors that Gale AND Dale actually knew exactly what they were singing about, and thought it hilarious themselves. It became one of the funnier 'Generation Gap' Moments.

It gave Brewer and Shipley, and 'One Toke...' publicity that was priceless of course. And as a side note... neither of them got to see a tape of the 'Lawrence Welk' performance until 2007, when a video hit YouTube.

So...Enjoy! 'One Toke Over The Line by Brewer and Shipley.

And as a Bonus...One Toke Over The Line performed on Lawrence Welk by Gale and Dale. Cue the Champagne bubbles!

Toto I´ll be over you

 I'll Be Over You

 1986

ToTo

There was still some decent music back in 'The 80s', therefore I'm going to declare this one an Honorary Seventies Song. 'I'll Be Over You' really is that good, and it has that '70s' sound to it, despite being released in 1986. But then again it was recorded by 'ToTo', and that band formed ten years earlier, in '76.

I'll Be Over You was from ToTo's 1986 album Fahrenheit, and made it to #13 on the Billboard top 100. It's been played so much and around so long on Oldies Stations that I truly think some of us had forgotten that it actually came out in the 80's ( Full disclosure here...I was thinking around '78 or '79)

As for ToTo...the band's gone through a multitude of changes since 1976, and broke up altogether in 2008 , to be reformed, with none of the original members, in 2010. The original members of the band...AKA The Genuine ToTo...were inducted into the Musician's Hall of Fame in 2009.

I'll Be Over You was a bit softer than much of their music, and quickly became a 'Top 40' staple, and as we, they, and the song aged, an 'Oldies station' staple...you'll still hear it on 96.5 (Richmond's classic Rock), 107.3 (Richmond's oldies station) and 106.9 (Oldies station out of Newport News) occasionally.

I can bet you that anyone who's ever broken up with his/her 'girl/boy friend was bound to hear 'I'll Be Over You' one within an hour or two after said break-up occurred!

Enjoy! 'I'll Be Over You' by ToTo

Davy Jones of The Monkees dies at 66,Daydream Believer.

 

Daydream Believer

1967

'The Monkees'

I'm going to slip back in time here...I posted this on my Facebook page a year ago as a memorial to The Monkees' Davy Jones, who passed away on February 29, 2012 of a heart attack. So now, just a couple of days after the first anniversary of hid death, I'll memorialize Davy Jones again.

When most people think 'Monkees' Songs' the first song that pops into their head is 'Last Train To Clarksville'. This classic...'Daydream Believer'...has always been my favorite Monkees' tune. It was released in '67, was the group's last #1 single in The U.S., and was also covered in 1979 by Anne Murray as a country song. Daydream Believer was one of the few Monkees songs that Day Jones sang lead on...Mike Nesbitt usually sang lead

As for The Monkees...I think everyone watched the show as a kid. I was 10 when the show premiered and I don't think I missed an episode.

One huge plus for the Monkees was that, unlike their rivals 'The Partridge Family', the Monkees actually played their own instruments, though Micky Dolenz had to learn the drums (He was actually a top-notch guitarist).

The Monkees enjoyed a pretty decent recording career as well, with a quartet of number one albums in a span of twelve months, simultaneous chart toppers in the U.S and the U.K.the chart topping single of 1967 (I'm a Believer) as well as a tie for third in that same year with the very song featured in this post. Oh...they snagged a pair of Emmys along the way, too. Not too shabby for a band than many sidmissed as what they would call 'posers' today. Another little known fact...due to the way the TV show was filmed, using lots of quick cuts and breaks, many of the songs are actually considered to be the first true music videos, thirteen years or so before MTV.

As for Davy Jones...I actually saw two women at work...both my age...crying when they found out about his death. They were, of course, two of the uncounted millions of young girls of the 60s who'd had crushes on him (Hey, even Marsha Brady was smitten by him.) As for all of us who grew up in the 60s and 70s...a little bit of our child hood was gone. So hoist a cold one for Davy and enjoy.

Daydream Believer by The Monkees:

And as a quick bonus to the above post...The late 60's two heart throbs meet! Marsha...meet Davy.

Michael Martin Murphey's WILDFIRE - Classic 1975 - Slideshow Tribute

...On a pony she named Wildfire...

'Wildfire'

1975

Michael Martin Murphy

For my first bit of proof that 70s music kicked today's music's butt..Michael Martin Murphey recorded 'Wildfire' in 1975. The song was released as the first single from his album 'Blue Sky-Night Thunder' and was his biggest hit in the US, spending two weeks at # 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. I can tell ya for a fact that it was played constantly by Richmond, Va's upstart new FM top 40 station, WRVQ (Then as now, 'Q-94').

On the day we graduated in early June, 1975, Thomas Dale High School's much beloved long time principal, J Wilson Crump, grabbed several of us and dispatched us to his house, just off of Harrowgate Rd in Chester, for extra folding chairs for the football stadium. (This was back when graduations were still held outside). After an inevitable and absolutely necessary stop at Mr. Swiss for the best milkshakes in the Richmond area, we headed down Harrowgate to the huge, old, and immaculately kept Victorian house that J. Wilson called home, and loaded down a pickup truck with chairs. When I say 'Loaded Down, I mean 'as in stacked up over the cab'...with a couple of us sitting on top of this precarious load to keep it from ending up in the middle of Va. State Rt 10. (I think luck rather than our presence had a lot to do with that not happening). It was a typical early June Virginia day...hot and humid, and the windows were down with Q94 blasting. As we sat at the light at Chester Rd and Route 10 us 'Load Riders' were giving all in earshot a concert as we warbled 'She ran calling WIIIIIIIIIIILD fire!' in our best voices, which I might add, were none too good. One of those little memories I'll keep until I die.

So Enjoy. This version's the version we usually heard on the radio, the one we were singing along to, and I think most everyone’s' favorite version..

This is a slightly different version of 'Wildfire', but I included it because the graphics for this video are just beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc3OnSQc48s

Every generation thinks they had the best music in history...Thinks you note I noted...or said...or somethin'. Thing is, those of us who were born from about 1955 to 1965... and graduated from High School from about 1972 or '73 to the early 80s (Class of '75 here)..Know we grew up listening to, dancing to, rocking out to, and singing along with the absolute best music ever written, sung, recorded and performed.

  Do I have proof?? They're remaking loads of Seventies songs and trying to claim them as their own. Thing is it's not gonna work. With all their flaws, and there were many, the Sixties and Seventies were ours, and the music was awesome, classic, and forever...and most importantly, it belonged to us. The Teens of The Sixties and Seventies.

And that's what this blog's dedicated to...the music of The Sixties and The Seventies...with a few fifties and eighties tunes that approach the proper level of awesomeness thrown in. (Notice I said approach...none of'em quite make it!) I know, there are tons and tons of similar blogs on The Web...and this will just be another one. Will it be better than any of the others...I hope so, but I'm a realist. But I know I'm gonna enjoy working on it. And I hope you all enjoy listening to them. And a bunch of you'll sing along with 'em...and you KNOW ya will!