Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Who's so vain?

Voice recording #164, from Dec. 9.
I believe this is my fourth or fifth day listening to the '70s on Sirius XM Channel 7.
Chicago, "Old Days", I didn't catch the year. I believe it was in the latter part of the decade. 2,700.
Marvin Gaye, I think it was called "Got to Give It Up Part 1" from '77. 4,600
Supertramp, "Logical Song", '79, 1,250.
Loggins and Messina, "Thinking of You", '73. It's kind of Ricky Nelson goes country, with lots of fiddles in it. 4,700.
Eagles, "The Long Run", '79. 1,900.
Dawn, "Knock Three Times", '73, I think. 3,300. It has the pretty good sound effects and the rhythm effects of knocking three times with three words: "knock ... three ... times," and banging on the pipes, "donk, donk."
Styx, "Staying Together" (possibly, I don't remember). It had some good guitar and organ, but it's a really boring song. At the end I couldn't even remember what it was called. I'm not sure of the year, maybe '79. 4,350, which sounds high from my original description.
Captain and Tennille, "Love Will Keep Us Together" from '75. There was a time when Captain and Tennille was huge on the music scene, but that was during a time that wasn't really a highlight of 20th-century music. Toni Tennille was hot in a big-smile, big-teeth kind of way. She also had kind of a bowl haircut, short with bangs. I don't think the Captain was really a captain of anything, but he wore a captain's hat and jacket while he sat and played at the keyboard while she sang. 3,700, with a little extra bonus for their homage to Neil Sedaka in the line at the end of the song, "Sedaka is back."
Leon Russell, "Tightrope", '72. I don't really remember this weird one. It has kind of a honky tonk piano, and some of his singing is scatting. He does mix up the tempo some, but it's not very good. 4,750.
The Emotions, "Best of My Love", maybe '70? 4,000.
Stories, "Brother Louie", '73. I'd forgotten what this song was until I heard the lyric, "Louie-Louie-Louie-Louie-Louie-Lou eye." It's pretty good. 3,100.
Earth , Wind & Fire, "Serpentine Fire", '77. I think the two 7s in the song title are trying to tell me something. 4,770.
Elvin Bishop, "Fooled Around and Fell in Love", '74 perhaps. I'll give him a few bonus points for the part when he sings what sounds like "I food around, food around, food around." 4,150.
John Paul Young, "Love Is in the Air", 1978, I think. It has maracas in it, and seems to have a bit of a Calypso vibe. 4,300.
Jackson Browne, "Doctor My Eyes", '72. It has a good '70s mix of guitar and drums, with what I believe are bongos in there. 2,900.
Carly Simon, "You're So Vain", '73. An all-time great. 200. Speculation remains to this day about who is so vain. The lyrics lend themselves to what could be a whole roman a clef novel. She sings in such a clear voice. Plus, she and James Taylor were like the '70s folky power couple. Another thing about her is that her dad was the Simon or one of the Simons of Simon & Schuster publishing, and he was a big fan or part owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers. So when Carly was a little girl, her dad would take her down in the dugout and there are stories about her sitting on Jackie Robinson's lap while he was talking to people. (Not in a creepy way.) She's had an interesting life, it would seem.
DeFranco Family, "Heartbeat It's a Love Beat", '73. Ani DiFranco is not a member of this bubblegum family, and was a toddler in 1973. However, they were practically neighbors. She grew up in Buffalo, and they were from across the Niagara River and west on Lake Erie in Port Colborne, Ontario. 4,850.
Bachman Turner Overdrive, "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet", '74, maybe? This is one of the best stuttering songs, "B-b-b-b-baby, you just ain't seen n-n-n-nothin' yet." It's good, hard-driving BTO. 1,400.
Andrew Gold, "Lonely Boy, '77. I'm a sucker for family-type tales, and this one's a little sad. 2,200.
Pilot, "Magic", '75. 3,000.
I'll pick this up with voice recording #168.

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