Sister Golden Hair
1975
America
If you asked anyone who grew up in the Seventies to name
three songs by America, I can just about bet money that this one will
be on the list...everyone remembers it, and everyone pretty
much loved it. Sister Golden Hair was penned by Gerry Beckley, and
the concept is pretty simple...some poor guy trying to persuade his
beloved and betrothed to forgive him for backing out of their wedding
and skipping out of town.
Gerry Beckley had a completely different writing style
from Dewey Bunnell...while Dewey thrived on cryptic lyrics and lots
of poetic license in his song writing, Gerry's lyrics were
simpler...he noted that Sister Golden Hair was the first time he ever
used 'Ain't' in a song, because it just sounded right, and as for who
the song was for, he said that was poetic license. Of course people
still try to analyze Gerry Beckley's lyrics...take a look over at
their Songfacts page and you'll find few real
facts, and 62 comments, a good percentage of which try to do
just that. These learned analysts cover a broad range of topics. Nuns
are mentioned. As is the concept of carpets and drapes matching.
Like teenagers listening to music since time eternal, I
dare say we really didn't give a whole lot of thought to what the
song meant...we just knew we really liked the sound, and
what's not to like about Sister Golden Hair? From that that
classic 70s synthesizer backed guitar at the beginning to the high
energy, upbeat rhythm to that kickin' drum to the subtle nod to early
'Do-wop', this, IMHO, was America at their very best. It was an
awesome, catchy, up-beat, up-tempo Summer tune that was meant to be
cranked up while you were hanging out with your friends at the
hang-out of choice.
Sister Golden Hair was the Tail End Charlie of their
second Top-10 hat trick, and they took it to #1 eleven weeks after
it's April 5th, 75 debut on the Hot 100. It snagged the
top spot on June 14th, '75 the week after I graduated from
high school, so I can just about bet we heard it multiple times while
heading down 460 towards Va beach, enroute to 'Beach Week'. Though FM
was rapidly overtaking it, AM Top 40 radio was still the mobile music
venue of the day, so we probably switched the dial from WLEE's 1480
to 'WGH's 1310 somewhere around Waverly or Wakefield.
It was all over the radio that summer, and you
can still hear it pretty regularly on Oldies stations. It's timeless,
and takes a whole lot of people back to a summer that made a lot of
memories, and put smiles on a whole lot of faces whenever that
classic intro cranks up. And when it does...you will sing
along to when you hear it...Ya know ya do!
It's well remembered, well loved, and a whole lot of
peoples favorite song.
So Enjoy! Sister Golden Hair, by America.
Three bonus vids for this one...First, same classic arrangement, with lyrics
Bonus Numero Dos..., a live performance of Sister Golden Hair from 1975. Not sure where this was, but man, it was awesome!
And for the third bonus...Gerry Buckley and Dewey Bunnell showin' that they still got it...Sister Golden Hair live, thirty years later, in 2005.
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