Lovin' You

1974

Minnie Ripperton

Minnie Ripperton, who was SNL Alum Maya Rudolph's Mom, came up with what would be the chorus of this little tune as a lullaby, to send her Future SNL legend daughter into dreamland so she and her hubby, Richard Rudolph, could spend quality time together. Somewhere along the way, Minnie got serious about the tune, and she and Richard wrote the actual music and doodled possible lyrics, ultimately turning out the Pop classic that all of us Seventies Kids know the instant we hear the birds chirping over the piano in the intro. Minnie actually made it into a love letter to her hubby while she was at it, which may or may not have occasionally...er...delayed the writing process.. They got the finished product ready in time to include it on her album 'Perfect Angel'.which, BTW, was produced by one of the true music greats of all time.

Minnie regularly sang back-up for the already legendary Stevie Wonder, who had loads of confidence and admiration for her vocal talents, inspiring him to offer to produce her album. One problem...due to contractual restrictions, his name couldn't appear in the credits. The name of his production company...which was created for just this purpose, I believe...however, could. So, if you ever get hold of a copy of the album, take a look at the credits and look for Black Bull Productions...that's the legitimately awesome Mr Wonder himself, whose Zodiac sign was Taurus...The Bull.

So they had a producer, a label (Epic Records) and the material, and now all they had to do was put it together...and when they got to the recording portion of the 'Put It All Together' process Minnie often brought Baby Maya to the studio with her, and this is how the little one got a shout-out in her mom's song. Maya was at the studio when 'Lovin' You' was recorded, and at the very end Minnie sings 'Mayamaya-mayyaaa-mayaaa'. Sadly though, you only hear this unique and touching little personal tidbit on the album version...This, as well as a very unique piano outro, was cut from the single.

The very first thing us Seventies Kids think of when we remember 'Lovin' You' is the chorus, specifically Minnie Ripperton sending one of the longest, highest notes in recorded Pop Music history straight into the stratosphere as she warbled that long, drawn-out, ecstatic 'Ahahahahaaa!!!' Truly, gang, there are very possibly auditory nuances in that warbled series of notes that are so high only dogs can hear them, but that wasn't the only thing the song was noted for...listen to it. Hear any drums? Hear any percussion instruments of any kind?? No...you don't. Because there are none. 'Lovin' You' was one of the first hits that was recorded without using any percussion instruments of any kind.

People either loved it, or hated it (It was particularly despised by most hard rock fans), but it became obvious pretty early on that a pretty huge number of people were solidly in the 'Love It' side of the fence..enough so that it actually saved the album. 'Perfect Angel's first three singles all tanked pretty spectacularly and Epic Records was just about ready to drop both it and Minnie, so Richard Rudolph had a long meeting with various suits at Epic, and finally persuaded them to give the album one more shot, and release Lovin' You (Which he was particularly fond of, for obvious reasons) as the forth single. His instincts were pretty much spot-on. Not only was Lovin' You the first One Hit Wonder to crack the Top Ten in '75...it was also the first one to make it to #1

'Lovin You' was released in late December, '74 and debuted on the Hot 100, at # 80, on January 18^th, '75. It took it 8 weeks to crack the top 20, at #22 on March 1^st , and just one more week to break into the Top 10, at #8. It continued a steady climb, grabbing that coveted #1 spot five weeks later, on April 5^th, to stay there there for a single week, and stayed in the Top 10 for a total of 8 weeks. It dropped out of the Top 10 on May 3^rd and off of the charts all together three weeks later for a total chart run of 18 weeks...not bad at all for a song that was originally hummed as a lullaby!

It was light and airy, and pretty much the definition of a love song, and that quality's what took it all the way to #1, and I have a feeling that it was the gals that took it there...I like the song, but I really can't see a guy running out top buy the single (Unless his name was Richard Rudolph, of course). It was kind of what I think of as a 'Reverse Love Song'...the ladies imagined themselves singing it to their guy, and not the other way around.

Visa even took advantage of the 'Not A Guy Song' effect for a Visa check card commercial back in 2000. In this commercial the guy in charge of music for the stadium where a Steelers game was to be played couldn't buy the rights to 'Who Let The Dogs Out', because he had no ID to present when he wrote a check and instead had to settle for the less expensive rights to 'Lovin' You'. Hilarity ensued. Burger King also used it in a commercial at about the same time, causing a resurgence of popularity for a bit..I can't help but think Maya Rudolph's face probably lit up with that crooked little smile whenever one of these two commercials showed up on the “tube'

You'll still manage to catch this one occasionally on Oldies stations and most of us Seventies kids can't help but get a little smile on our faces when we hear Minnie Ripperton take that note into orbit, if for no other reasons because of the memories from that era that the song calls forth.

So Enjoy! Minnie Ripperton's little love song to her Hubby, Lovin' You.

Three bonus vids with this one, gang...First bonus, the full length album version, with Minnie's musical shout-out to Baby Maya, and that unique piano outro

Sadly, Minnie Ripperton didn't live to see Maya grow up. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in January of 1976...less than a year ofter Lovin' You became a #1 hit. She had a radical mastectomy, but the cancer had metastasized, and was inoperable. She was given 6 months to live, but continued to tour and record, an became an early spokeswoman for breast cancer survivors...sadly she lost her battle in July of 1979.

As a bonus, here's an interview with Maya from 'unsung...not sure when this aired, but;'s very touching and worth a listen (And yes...the uploader did indeed spell Minnie's last name wrong).

Maya, of course, grew up to become a talented and well loved comedienne, as well as mother of 4 kids of her own. I can't help but think she hummed the chorus to her mom's #1 hit to them as a lullaby.

And as a third bonus...The music of The Seventies just keeps on going, and todays kids keep discovering it...listen to this little lady perform 'Lovin' You' on Australia's version of The Voice-Kids...she pretty much knocks it outa da park! Listen for the little bits of Aussie inflection here and there as she sings. Also, that high note Minnie's so well known for hitting...just like Minnie, little Trinity puts it into orbit!

I'm Not Lisa

1975

Jessi Colter

The very first thing we Seventies Kids remember when Jessi Colter's one and only big Pop hit...and 1975's second Top 10 Country-Pop crossover One Hit Wonder...springs to mind is that beautifully haunting piano intro. It's unique, unmistakable, and leads into the song's equally haunting melody and lyrics seamlessly. 'I'm Not Lisa' sailed up to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it wasn't even a Pop song. Really, listen to it, both the music and the lyrics. It's a song about a young lady brooding over the fact that her man can't get over his former girlfriend. That, my friends is about as country as you can get without mentioning beer and pick-up trucks.

Jessi was married to a gent of some Country Music notoriety by the name of Waylon Jennings who, along with Ken Mansfield, produced 'I'm Not Lisa'. The song's signature piano intro was played by Jessi herself, BTW, as she accompanied herself while recording the track. This was her very first single after switching over from RCA to Capitol Records, and she did 'em proud. I'm Not Lisa shot up the Country charts to #1 before crossing over and debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 5^th, 1975 at #88. It took the song about two months to break into the Top 10 at #8, on June 7^th, then it peaked at #4 on the 21^st. It'd hang on to that spot for two weeks before heading back down and dropping off the chart a month or so later.

'I'm Not Lisa' was included on her premiere Capitol Records album, I'm Jessi Colter, which scored the top spot on the Country Album charts and, on the strength of I'm Not Lisa, made it to #50 on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart. This little tune gained Jessi Colter a slew of fans on both sides of of the Country/Pop fence, and rightfully so. She had (And still has) a beautiful, soulful voice and singing style that just digs into your soul. I had a friend of mine (Who is now and always has been a huge country music fan) tell me that she was one of those ladies who was just born with a country music voice. I have to agree with him on that, and I, as well as the rest of us Seventies kids, are ever grateful that she lent it to the Pop side of the fence for that one, stirring, soulful single. It was really one of a kind.

It was all over the radio during the Summer of '75, on both WLEE, Richmond's AM Top 40 powerhouse as well as WRVQ, Richmond's upstart FM Top 40 station, which hadn't quite stolen

WLEE's thunder..yet. A quick little personal story here...when 'I'm Not Lisa' came out I was active (Make that extremely active) in the fire department, which meant lot's of Oh Dark Hundred runs. As the department's photographer, I drove my own ride to the calls, which meant driving back to the station, then home afterward along the then all but deserted after midnight roads of Chesterfield County, VA. Nothing much more haunting than listening to this lovely lady start that piano, then croon 'I'm Not Liiiissaaaa' as my headlights cut a swath through the sometimes foggy darkness that was 2AM in 1975.

This lovely and soulful tune still pops up on both classic Oldies and Classic Country stations now and again...and it always seems that Oldies 107.3, in Richmond plays it at Oh Dark Hundred, dredging up memories of rolling back up Rt 10 as the wind rushed through the open windows and a haunting, lovely song played on the radio.

So Enjoy...I'm Not Lisa, by Jessi Colter.

And as a bonus, same arrangement, with lyrics. 


And as a second bonus...Lisa Colter making a guest appearance at the Waylon and the Waymore Bros Finale Concert, performing I'm Not Lisa. A very lovely lady she was indeed, and she and Waylon Jennings had a very special love.

Love Won't Let Me Wait

1975

Major Harris

There's just something about that smooth, soulful sound that typified '60s and '70s Jazz and R&B,and one of the many, many awesome examples of this sound was penned by Vinny Barrett and Bobby Eli and recorded by Richmond, VA native and former Delfonics crooner Major Harris, to become his one and only Top 40 solo hit.

It's always nice when a Hometown artist...even if Richmond's my adopted home town rather than my real home town...makes it big. Major Harris was born on Feb 9^th, 1947, then started his singing career in his late teens, singing with several bands, including 'The Teenagers' and 'Nat Turners Rebellion' before joining the Delfonics in '71 or '72 to replace the just departed (From the group...he was still very much alive) Randy Cain. He left the group to try a solo career in 1974, and immediately recorded this R&B classic. (Note, people...this is R&B. Not the stuff they call R&B now)

R&B from that era's all about that unique, brassy woodwind tone that only a truly smooth Sax player can pull off, and the Sax solo that kicks off 'Love Won't Let Me Wait' is among the smoothest of the decade, and makes the song both unmistakable and unforgettable before segueing seamlessly into Major Harris' ultra-soulful ballad sung to his lady who, if the gal in the background is any indication, was pretty pleased by his efforts in music and...er...other things.

For the numbers, 'Love Won't Let Me Wait' debuted on March 29^th at #81, and jumped into the Top 20 seven weeks later at #19. It cracked the Top 10 three weeks after that at #9, and peaked at #5 on June 21^st, hanging on th that position for a total of three weeks before dropping off of the chart at the end of July.

This was a night time, weekend song...the kind you listened to while you were in the car with your girlfriend, hoping that the suggestive lyrics might lead somewhere. It still pops up on Oldies stations occasionally, and is especially loved by those couples still together today who were once teenage couples listening to Major Harris croon his classic love balled through the speakers in a Duster or Mustang, or Camaro, if you were one of the rich kids, a Pinto, Vega, or the parents' car if you weren't.

The tune was well received by all of us Seventies Kids, but it was the true and faithful R&B fans that really took it to the Top 10, then kept it out there and I'm glad they did. It'll pop up on occasion on Oldies stations, and I have a feeling it's a regular on any station that dedicates it's airtime to classic R&B. And that's as it should be...classics like this should stay around forever.

So Enjoy! Love Won't Let Me Wait by Major Harris.

Magic

1974

Pilot

Pilot was actually a Scottish band that came into being in 1973 when former Bay City Rollers members David Payton and Billy Lyall decided to form their own group, and their #5-scoring One Hit Wonder is another song whose chorus is instantly recognizable to anyone who struggled their way to questionable wakefulness on a school-day morning in late 1974 or early 1975.

It's a simple, lighthearted , energetic little tune about nothing more serious than getting to laze around in bed as the early morning streams through the window. No hidden meanings, or complicated musical plot. Just a lot of fun, and, as noted, an instantly recognizable chorus. Listen to the instrumentals, though. Their hard edged, hard hitting precision forms a unique and pleasant contrast to the light-hearted lyrics.

'Magic' was released in November of '74, but didn't debut on the Billboard Hot 100 until April of 1975, when it hit the chart at #84. It cracked the top 20 two months later, on June 7^th, squeaking in at #20, then cracked the Top 10 three weeks after that at #9. It'd peak at #5 two weeks later, on July 12^th, and stay in the Top 10 for 4 weeks. 'Magic' finally dropped off the chart on August 16^th after a 20 week chart run.

Our neighbors to the north in Canada liked it even more than we did, taking it to # 1 on their charts. All of Us 70s Kids, be we American or Canadian, remember this one fondly. If you should happen to hear it on one of the Oldies stations...which you will...it's definitely a song that'll dredge up pleasant memories of hanging out with friends at the beach or pool or favorite Mid-Seventies teen hangouts as well as memories of lazy school mornings squeezing that last couple of minutes of sleep out before parents made the final breakfast call (Flipping the light in my room on and off as they did so in my case) and, even better, lazy weekend and summer mornings when you didn't have to wake up and could just lay there listening to the radio.

It still pops up pretty regularly on 107.3, here in Richmond, and for awhile there around 2009 or so, it even occasionally popped up on that good 'ol Richmond FM Top 40s stalwart, WRVQ...better known for the last 40 or so years as Q-94.

Say what?!?' You ask. Ahhh, Indeed, I say. Seventies music is timeless...and to prove it, it was covered by one of todays shining and rising stars...very appropriately, I might add, as the artist who covered it is also the young lady who portrayed one of the most popular...and loveliest...TV wizardesses of all time. The very lovely, very talented, and legitimately awesome Miss Selena Gomez covered 'Magic', changing the instrumentals a bit but staying true to the lyrics and melody, for Wizards of Waverly Place back in 2009. She did an awesome job with it, IMHO, cracking the Hot 100 when she did so. She also regularly performed it live when touring with her band, 'The Scene., usually winding up her concerts with it and getting the kids to join in on the final chorus. And yep...they joined in flawlessly. ' So yes, another generation will have 'OH Ho Ho it's MA-AGIC permanently embedded in their brains.

And that's a very very good thing...Our music's timeless and awesome, and I love it that a new generation enjoys it almost as much as we did.

So Enjoy! Magic, by Pilot!

As Bonus Numero Uno...Selena Gomez's version of Magic. Magic was the very first single she released...it was actually recorded for the Wizards of Waverly Place Movie...and she knocked it outa da park, IMHO!

Bonus Numero Dos...ran up on this 2011 live performance at The Concert of Hope by Selena Gomez and The Scene while I was looking for her version of the tune. She really gives 110 percent at her concerts, and one of the things her young fans love about Sel, as her fans and friends call her, is the fact that she truly and legitimately cares about them. This video shows it.

The Hustle!

1975

Van McCoy

A new and funky, upbeat sound was easing it's way into music in 1975, and it's name was Disco. Oh, there had been Disco hits earlier...the genre started going mainstream in about 1974...but Van McCoy's 'The Hustle' was one of the most popular, one of the first to grab that elusive and coveted top spot on the Billboard Hot 100, and remains to this day one of the best known and most popular Disco songs, ever.

Van McCoy himself wasn't exactly a stranger to the Music industry...he was a prolific songwriter, musical arranger, and well respected record company producer,, born and raised in D.C and introduced to music early in life...he was playing the piano, well, I might add, at the same age most of were learning the lyrics to 'Mary Had A Little Lamb, and was writing his own music at the tender age of 12...it was a pretty sure bet where life would take him, career-wise.

Name a well-known R&B act of the era, and you'll find that he either wrote one of their hits or produced an album for them. He was well respected and very much in demand, and the list of acts he wrote for, produced, and otherwise help raise to fame and renown is far far too long to include in this post.

Then, in 1975, he released an album of mostly instrumental Disco songs, titled 'Disco Baby', with the title track performed by The Styalistics, and...that one wasn't the biggest success...the albums very last track, and the last track released as a single, however, was..a nearly all-instrumental powerhouse with complicated movements, a frenetic, high-energy beat, and an intro that's arguably one of the most instantly recognizable intros of the entire decade.

Really, gang...you hear those lovely ladies singing that perfectly harmonized:

'OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,

with the guys kicking in with their semi-sung, semi-stage-whispered 'Do It!! every few beats and you know that you're on your way to hearing 3minutes and 34 seconds worth of 'Ya-Can't-Keep-Still' disco classic-ness. We loved it...enough I might add, to take it to #1.

The Hustle debuted just inside the Billboard Hot 100, at #95, on April 19, 1975, then skipped the top 20, and cracked the Top 10 two months later, on June 21^st, at #7. It stayed at #2 for three weeks before snagging #1 fifteen weeks in, on July 26^th. It dropped off the chart three weeks later after a nineteen week chart run.

The Hustle pretty much defined Disco, with it's very pronounced use of horns and orchestral instrument solos, no guitar to speak of, and a pronounced beat...it was dance music, and most definitely not slow dance music, and would define a short but iconic era in Pop music...and, for better or worse, us Seventies Kids got to watch it happen. We embraced it (In both music, dance style and fashion...I had some Disco shirts that I am truly glad no photographs of me wearing exist!).

You heard that iconic intro all summer long 39 years ago, in discos and dance clubs, and of course, on both the classic AM Top 40 powerhouses, and the upstart FM Top 40 stations that would be replacing them within a couple of years. Thirty Nine years later, the song's still goin' strong. You'll still regularly hear those golden-voiced ladies harmonizing to kick it off very regularly on Oldies stations like Richmond's WBBT...107.3, and Hampton Roads' WVVW, 92.9.

When that intro starts up now on one of those oldies stations, we still can't listen to this song and sit still...try it. Can't do it! It's a classic now, and will be considered an icon of a culture 100 years hence...and that's a good thing!

So Enjoy...The Hustle, by Van McCoy!

And as a bonus...a Filipino traffic cop shows off his moves in Manila, with 'The Hustle' as Background music!

Feelings

1975

Morris Albert

Another One Hit Wonder from '75 best remembered for it's chorus...you know the one I'm talking about...'Whoa Whoa Whoa, Feeeeeeeeeeling'...yep, that one.

'Feelings' was penned by Louis Gaste and Morris Albert, the latter who also lent his vocal talents to it, making it an international smash hit. It was about a guys inability to forget his former love, and the fact that she preyed on his mind and emotions constantly, set to a slow, s-l-o-o-o-w-w rhythm and melody that oozed from speakers for the entirety of the Summer of 1975. This was most definitely not a song to listen too right after you broke up with your girlfriend (And as such, you would inevitably hear it with-in minutes of doing so).

Feelings oozed onto the Billboard Hot 100 on June 21^st, 1975, barely making it onto the chart at #98. It didn't make it to the Top 20 until September 20^th, clocking in at #20, and took another month to crack the Top 10, at #7. It'd notch up a single place a week later, on October 25^th, to peak at #6, staying there for single week, and would hang around the charts seemingly forever. It didn't drop off of the charts until January 26^th, 1976, 32 weeks after it's debut. That's a chart run of just more than six months, exceeding the half year mark by three days. Not too shabby for a song that, today, has become a parody of the most insipid and banal qualities of the worst of '70s 'Soft Rock'. Hey, somebody must've liked it back in '75!

Feelings grabbed it's little share of controversy, too, in the form of a copyright dispute. There's a reason that Louis 'LouLou' Gaste shares authorship with Morris Albert. In 1981 Louis Gaste sued Morris Albert, claiming that he stole the melody of one of Gaste's songs...a 1957 tune named 'Por Toi'... when he penned 'Feelings', and apparently the French courts agreed...and now the two of them share authorship in the credits of the song.

It's a little sad that this song, as noted above, has almost become a parody of itself, but it did embrace a lot of things that Rock fans really really hated about some 'Soft Rock' songs (They hated the term 'Soft Rock” just as much, insisting, with a good bit of merit, that there were no elements of Rock in a majority of them).

Then one of the true legends of music, the legendary singer Julie Andrews gave it what could have well been it's death knell at a lecture she was giving at the Chautauqua Institution, in New York State, when she said she didn't sing it, and that it was too hard to sing because it had no true meaning. Along the way, it's also appeared on more than a few “Worst Songs Ever' lists over the decades.

It's still soldiered on over the last 39 years, though, and it'll still pop up on both Oldies Station and Adult Contemporary AKA Easy Listening playlists now and again.

Hey...someone liked it...it hung around the charts for six months!

So Enjoy! Feelings by Morris Albert!

Sad Sweet Dreamer

1974

Sweet Sensation

There are loads of hits from the Seventies that have just dropped off the radar...you know the ones I'm talking about...you remember hearing 'em all the time back 40 years ago, but haven't heard them in decades because they're all but forgotten, and rarely played anymore even if they're still in an Oldies station's library. Or, worse, songs that were both legitimate hits and legitimately awesome that have dropped completely off the radar.

I'm going to finish up this little list of '75's one hit wonders with one of each, both of which were recorded and released in The U.K. before migrating to the US. The first one is a soulful, insightful little ballad that was a huge hit in England before it landed on the Billboard Hot 100 on our side of the Pond. Not only was it a huge hit, it was a huge hit recorded by a group that won an early early version of what would become 'Britain's Got Talent (And ultimately, America's Got Talent ), a show called New Faces'. The group of teens, fronted by 16 year old lead singer Marcel King, that performed on the show, called themselves 'Sweet Sensation',

One of the judges on 'New Faces' was a very blunt, abrupt record producer/song writer named Tony Hatch, who allegedly made Simon Cowell look like a pussy cat. Tony Hatch also knew talent when he saw it, and immediately signed Sweet Sensation to his label, Pye Records. Sweet Sensation recorded a single called called 'Snow Fire', which flopped so hard it dug itself a crater that's still visible to this very day....not a good way to start off a record deal.

So Tony Hatch enlisted Songwriter David Parton to help him pen a hit for the group, and the two of them took a load of inspiration from The Styalistics, and knocked out a soul ballad that made full and very effective use of Marcel King's falsetto.

It was pretty, bittersweet, insightful, and the single caught on fire in Britain, shooting to #1 on the British Pop Charts in October '74. Then it was released on our side of the Big Pond, debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 at #90 on January 11^th, before breaking into the Top 20 at #18 on March 15^th, and peaking at #14 a week later on March 22^nd. The song stayed at peak for two weeks, then dropped off of the charts four weeks later for a very respectable 16 week chart run.

It was popular, got loads of radio airplay during the Winter and early Spring of '75, and had one of the catchiest, most heartfelt choruses that was ever sung. Trust me, if you grew up during the Seventies you'll recognize it instantly when you hear it. It's one of the prettier tunes to come out of 1975 (And that's saying something, because this was a Very Very Good Year for music...) but now, 39 years later, it's all but dropped off of the face of the earth. You'll hear it very very occasionally on an Oldies station (The last time I heard it was probably a year ago, during a 'One Ht Wonders' tribute). Sad, really, that a song this pretty is all but forgotten.

Of course, Sweet Sensation didn't last too well either. They had one more hit in England, named 'Purely By Coincidence', that peaked at #11 on the British Pop Chart before dropping off of the charts...it didn't even make a ripple on the Billboard, or any other, US Chart. Pye Records dropped them only two years after signing them, and other then an abortive mid-80s attempt at a solo career by Marcel King, they also dropped off of the face of the earth. 

 

All that's left is their musical musing from a young boy dreaming of the girl he lost...sort of a musical footnote that's all but over looked this day and time.

But some of us remember it...too bad it's not played more often. It really is that pretty. 
So Enjoy! Sad Sweet Dreamer by Sweet Sensation

The Last Farewell

1971/1975

Roger Whittaker

To call ‘The Last Farewell’ a forgotten hit could actually be somewhat of a misnomer…this very lovely nautically themed ballad about a young Royal Navy sailor bidding his beloved farewell before sailing off to war ended up becoming one of the very few singles, ever, to sell over ten million copies…something that only 49 singles, out of tens of thousands of them have done. It was also covered by a slew of artists, including none other than The King himself, Elvis Presley. The intro…a French horn solo…was used by Chicago TV powerhouse WGN for several years as the background music when their logo was displayed during its half-hourly Station I.D. blurbs. It was one of the very very few songs featuring a full orchestra to chart in the top 20 during the Pop era.

So people remember it fondly. And if you’ve forgotten it, you’ll instantly re-remember it when you hear that chorus. It’s just apparently dropped off of the face of the earth as far as radio station program directors are concerned.

So! Just how does a classical, full orchestra backed love ballad about a sailor in the tall-ship era British Navy saying goodbye to his girl  become a Top 20 hit in the US during the all out Pop Vs Rock music conflict that was 1975? You can thank a pair of songwriters and England’s legendarily lousy weather. The Last Farewell’s birth came about because of a typical dreary English rain storm. Seems that one uber-dreary London evening in 1971 a proper British gent by the name of Ron Webster, a silversmith by trade, and talented poet and folk singer by hobby, was on his way home from work, riding on the top deck of one of those icons of London public transportation, the double decker bus. The top deck front windscreens of those beasts didn’t…and don’t…have wipers, so he was listening to the rain spatter the front windscreen, watching  it hit and and run down in rivulets, and pretty much wishing he was anywhere that was warm and wasn’t a rain swept bus.  Thoughts of an island paradise, and a girl, and a guy telling her goodbye…for the last time... were inspired. Not only did it inspire words…it inspired Iambic Pentameter. OR Sonnet…at any rate, verse. Remember, in his spare time Ron was a poet…a pretty good one.  ‘The Last Farewell wasn’t originally a song…it was a poem.

At the same time Ol’ Ron was knocking out a pretty epic piece of poetry, a well known and popular British radio personality named Roger Whittaker was holding a contest of sorts. He invited his listeners to send in poetry and, being a songwriter of pretty amazing talent himself, he’d turn them into songs. He chose one per week. Ron sent in his poem, entitled The Last Farewell, and Roger received it. And chose it to turn into a song.

He made it a classic piece of music, a love ballad featuring a full orchestra with a French horn solo for an intro. It was, literally, classic, and not what you think of when the term '1970s Pop Music’ comes to mind. This was 1971, keep in mind…1975 was still four years off…so How…
Ahhh, read on. Roger Whittaker played it on his radio show and included it as a track to one of his albums, and a few singles were sold, and a few DJs in a England and Canada got a hold of a copy of it and played it occasionally, but it barely made a ripple. It could have dropped off of the face of the earth without even uttering a whimper had it not been for a vacationing couple from Atlanta…the ‘He’ of the couple being the program director for one of Atlanta’s premier top 40 stations. Did I mention they were vacationing in Canada?

They happened to hear ‘The Last Farewell' being played by a local DJ, and the wife fell head over heels for it…she told him he had to get a copy of the song, and spin it at his station. As any guy who’s ever been in a loving relationship with a lovely lady knows, your better half sometimes makes requests that are not suggestions. Me thinks this was one of those times.
So he got in touch with the Canadian station's program director and got all the pertinent info about the single, and snagged a copy of it, and at some point after he got home, they put ‘The Last Farewell' in the rotation. And the phones almost immediately lit up like the oft-noted Christmas Tree. People loved it. 
 
I have a feeling it didn’t take a whole lot of prodding for Roger Whittaker to re-release it in the US. It didn’t exactly blow the charts away, but it didn’t do at all shabbily either. It just did squeak onto the Billboard Hot 100 on April 5^th, 1975, debuting at #97, then slipped into the Top 20…at #20…eleven weeks in, on June 14^th,  peaking at #19 just a week later, on the 21^st. The Last Farewell would stay at peak for a single week before dropping off the charts, for a fifteen week chart run.

The Last Farewell did even better on the Easy Listening, AKA Adult Contemporary charts, snagging the top spot there.  Over in the UK…the land of it’s birth…it snagged the runner up spot (Being aced out of #1 by another nautically themed hit, Rod Stewart’s ‘Sailing’) and was one of two versions of the single to chart in the UK. The song was about a Royal Navy sailor, so the Royal Navy…actually the Royal Marines…took it on. The Royal Marine Band assigned to the legendary Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, accompanied by a goodly percentage of 'The Mighty Ark's crew took their version of it to #41 on the British Pop Chart, just before she was decommissioned, in 1979. 

It was shortly after this that The Last Farewell started disappearing from the radio airwaves, at least on Top 40 stations...it hung around on 'Easy Listening' stations for a couple of decades, and if you do hear it on the radio today, it'll be on one of those now re-branded 'Adult Contemporary' stations, probably late at night, and very likely on a request show (Think 'Delilah').
 
I haven't heard it for years, and to make a full disclosure, I was one of the ones who'd all but forgotten about it until I listened to it on Youtube, while researching this very post. I remember hearing it as a teenager, but I as also one of the ones who, well, didn't think it sounded like 'Our' music...my loss. You just get a better appreciation for the classics as you get older.

Lots of Seventies songs were awesome. And you can call hundreds of them awesome, peppy, pretty, edgy...but there were very few that were actually classically beautiful. To bad this one fell off the radar, because it was one of them.

So enjoy! 'The Last Farewell' by Roger Whittaker.

Elvis Presley stayed absolutely true to the song's melody and lyrics when he covered it on his album 'From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis Tennessee' in 1976. The King's version is just as pretty as the original, and was released as a posthumous single seven years after his death, in 1984...it reached #48 on on the Hot 100, and IMHO, should have charted higher. Here it is as a bonus

And as a second bonus, the HMS Ark Royal's Royal Marine Band performing The Last Farewell, accompanied by the ship's company. I wish the audio was better, because They absolutely owned it!