A Subjective Selection Of Great Music From The Seventies…
Arlo Guthrie, the famous son of the famous American folk singer Woody Guthrie, was already a legend himself by the early Seventies when “City Of New Orleans” hit the airwaves. In particular he had made his name with the 18 minute 34 second long “talking blues song” “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”, better known simply as “Alice’s […]
“Dust In The Wind” from Kansas features strongly in a short story I once wrote that takes place in a bar in (then West) Berlin, which in turn always reminds me of a Kate Bush song that begins with the line “You’ll find me in a Berlin bar in a corner, brooding” (“Saxophone Song” from her first album “The Kick Inside”.)
Last time I went back to that bar, some years ago, it had turned into a bright, slightly sterile pizzeria. No atmosphere and certainly no “Dust In The Wind” playing.
Anyway, back to “Dust In The Wind” itself.
This is the studio version accompanying what appears to be a privately made music “video” filmed on 8 mm film in 1977 and recently salvaged by the filmmaker’s son:
In 1975 Scottish rock band Nazareth released their version of the Everly Brothers track from 1960, “Love Hurts”.
It was the only version of several to become a hit.
Here’s the video recording of the studio version:
Tags: Dream On, Love Hurts, Music of the Seventies, Nazareth, Scottish rock band, Seventies Rock BandsDriving down country roads in New Zealand in my late teens, often the melody of the John Denver song, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” would come to mind, and I’d find myself singing it as I drove along.
I say late teens because I sold my car to go on my first trip to Europe just before I turned twenty. In fact, I had my 20th birthday on the plane back home a couple of months later.
Because of the time differences and the international dateline, I actually only had about an hour of birthday, at Honolulu International Airport in Hawaii.
Anyway… I used to find the song particularly appropriate when I was driving home from university along State Highway 50, actually a series of practically empty back roads that run the length of Central Hawkes Bay parallel to the main road, State Highway 2.
It follows a range of mountains and crosses numerous rivers…
As you are perhaps aware, John Denver lost his life in a plane crash, flying solo, in 1997. Long before then, this had become one of his signature songs.
Here is a live version of “Take Me Home, Country Roads”:
Tags: Annie's Song, Blue Ridge Mountains, calypso, Grandma's Feather Bed, John Denver, Leaving On A Jet Plane, Miss Piggy, Muppets, Music of the Seventies, Rocky Mountain High, Shenandoah River, Sunshine On My Shoulders, Take Me Home Country Roads, Thank God I'm A Country Boy, Toots And The Maytals, West Jamaica, West VirginiaLast night in the car listening to someone talking on a CD I picked up the words “staying alive” and my mind immediately turned to the Bee Gees – born on the Isle of Man, they spent their childhood near Manchester, England and in Redcliffe on the outskirts of Brisbane, Australia, before going on to become one of the top acts in the USA.
The Bee Gees were really a Sixties band who reinvented themselves in the Seventies, beginning with “Jive Talkin'”, “Nights On Broadway” and “You Should Be Dancing”, and really taking off with songs like “Night Fever”, “Stayin’ Alive”, “How Deep Is Your Love” and “More Than A Woman” from the hit film “Saturday Night Fever” starring John Travolta.
Tags: Andy Gibb, Barry Gibb, Bee Gees, Brisbane Australia, Brothers Gibb, Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You, First of May, How Deep Is Your Love, I Can't See Nobody, I started A Joke, I've Gotta Get A Message To You, Isle of Man, Jive Talkin', John Travolta, Manchester England, Massachussetts, Maurice Gibb, More Than A Woman, Music of the Seventies, New York Mining Disaster 1941, Night Fever, Nights On Broadway, Redcliffe Queensland, Saturday Night Fever, Seventies, Seventies Rock Bands, Sixties, Spicks and Specks, Stayin' Alive, You Should Be Dancing
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