It wasn't one of my favorite songs in the 70's, but it's a pleasant way to pass a few minutes. The Native American rock band, Redbone, had a hit single with this song in 1974 (from their album, Wovoka). According to the Wikipedia:
...the name Redbone itself is a joking reference to a Cajun term for a mixed-race person ("half-breed"), the band's members being of mixed blood ancestry.The band referenced Cajun and New Orleans culture many times in their lyrics and performing style. ...According to [co-founder] Patrick Vasquez, it was Jimi Hendrix who talked the musicians into forming an all-Native American rock group
and so they signed as the band "Redbone" to Epic Records in 1969...
Redbone played primarily rock music with R&B, Cajun, Jazz, tribal, and Latin roots.
Here's their 1976 performance from The Midnight Special:
I thought I was familiar with all of Elton John's hits in the 1970's so I was surprised to hear Amoreena at the opening of Dog Day Afternoon (which we recently watched, but which I was too young to watch when it came out in 1975):
Amoreena comes from his 1970 album, Tumbleweed Connection, which I need to get someday.
...Tumbleweed Connection is simpler than
John's last album and next time around I hope he goes all the way and
gets down to nothing but the basics. He is one of the few who is good
enough not to need anything else.
I had forgotten this song until I saw it mentioned at At Water's Edge. Our high school had a "radio" station, which played in the lunch rooms. The DJs enjoyed playing certain songs unusually fast, and this was one of them.
In honor of voting day, here's "Elected" from Alice Cooper's 1973 album, Billion Dollar Babies. "Elected" came out as a single in 1972, a presidential election year:
It's so funny that people think I actually ran for President. I am maybe the most un-political person you're ever going to meet.
When I put "Elected" out, it was definitely a satire ... "Alice Cooper
for President" ... when everybody realized I was running against Nixon, you known, even on a joke level, I think I got a lot of write-in votes. (Wikiquote)
When I go onstage as Alice to this day, I play Alice to the hilt — I
play him for everything he is worth, but when I’m offstage, I never
think about Alice Cooper. He never occurs to me. .. I walk off
stage though and I turn away from the audience, I go back to being me
again. Whenever I see an audience, that’s when I turn into Alice. If
there was no audience there, there would be no reason to be Alice. . If
I tried to be Alice Cooper all the time — I’d either be in an insane
asylum or in jail or dead. Alice is just too intense, and you just
can’t be Alice all the time. (Wikiquote)
I enjoyed Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody - about the first 500 times I heard it. There are many 70's songs that have been overplayed for me, and Bohemian Rhapsody is almost at the top of the list. De Dannan has given it a Celtic twist here, and I can actually listen to it again.
The penny whistle makes the opening theme sound haunting. At around 3 minutes (3:00), the section which, after 500+ listens, was the most wearing (the "Scaramouche" section), gets revitalized with some wonderful harmonies, and a responsive section with the penny whistles and the accordion, and then they turn it into a joyous reel at 3:48.
De Dannan was one of the first groups I got to know when I started listening to Celtic music. Some of my favorite Celtic musicians (Maura O'Connell, Andy Irvine, Dolores Kean, and Mary Black) got their start in De Dannan.
This song was originally a hit in 1967 for Robert Knight. It's been recorded by a number of different artists, including Gloria Estefan and U2, but my favorite version is Carl Carlton's from 1974.
I used to have the 45 of "I Believe in Love" by Kenny Loggins (click here for a clip). It's a nice, bouncy song with interesting instrumentation. The B side, "Enter My Dream," from his album, Celebrate Me Home, is a favorite of my husband's. I like the dynamics and the orchestration on this one also.
Maybe I should have a category labeled "Songs I'd forgotten." I ran across this song while wandering on YouTube. It's from Ringo Starr's, 1974 album of the same name. Some of the album's other songs ("Only You," "The No, No Song") did better; "Goodnight Vienna" only made it to #31 on the American charts.
Still, it's a fun song, with odd words, written by John Lennon (who also played the piano and spoke in the intro), and with clavinet playing by Billy Preston (particularly noticeable in the bridge). The cover art comes from the sci-fi movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still, with Ringo Starr's head replacing that of one of the actors.