by Paul
In 1970 Creedence Clearwater Revival released their album “Cosmo’s Factory”, with hits like “Lookin’ Out My Back Door”, “Up Around the bend”, “Who’ll Stop The Rain, “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” and “Long As I Can See The Light”.
From another album that year, “Pendulum”, the only tracks I can remember were “Have You Ever Seen The Rain?” and “Hey Tonight”.
Creedence Clearwater Revival accompanied me from the late Sixties into the Seventies, although by 1972 they had broken up.
Although from 1969, “Bad Moon Rising” and “Lodi”, which I had on single, and “Midnight Special” and “Down On The Corner” from the album “Willy And The Poorboys” were popular long into the next decade, as were songs like “Born On The Bayou” and “Suzie Q” and of course the iconic “Proud Mary”, with which Ike and Tina Turner also had a hit in 1971.
So here’s what I have found, first, a classic CCR song, “Long As I Can See The Light”:
Read the rest »
by Paul
Driving 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”:
Read the rest »
by Paul
I first saw the lascivious lips of The Rocky Horror Picture Show singing “Science Fiction/Double Feature” in the cinema of a small town in New Zealand, which has since burnt down.
The film came out in 1975, so it must have been some time after that.
I remember being amazed to learn that creator Richard O’Brien was also from New Zealand (actually he was born in the UK but emigrated there with his family as a child).
Another shock was seeing my father’s name in the sound credits, but it was obviously a different person. I’ve never come across the same combination before or since, so it was a strange coincidence.
Anyway, here is that song about the late night double picture feature show (“I wanna go…”), unfortunately without the moving lips, but with the lyrics in case you want to sing along:
Read the rest »
by Paul
Last 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.
Read the rest »
by Paul
Possibly the biggest hit from Dutch band Golden Earring was “Radar Love”, which came out in the early Seventies.
The band itself was founded way back in 1961 by 13-year-old George Kooymans (vocals and guitar) and his 15-year-old neighbour Rinus Gerritsen (bass and keyboard), and close to 50 years later they are still going strong!
And, despite a number of comings and goings, with the same lineup since 1970, when drummer Cesar Zuiderwijk joined the group (Barry Hay, on vocals, guitar, flute and saxophone became a member in 1968).
You can count the number of acts that can say that on one hand!
Another song I remember well is “Buddy Joe”. It’s on the Best of Golden Earring album I taped off a room mate’s vinyl back in 1974.
Golden Earring never made it to Down Under, but they certainly toured with some big names in the United States and Europe, and continue to perform frequently in their native country, the Netherlands, espeially in Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
In 2009 they did gigs in the UK, and as I write this, they are due to perform at the Ahoy in Rotterdam on 20 February 2010 (and today in Zaandam!).
While putting this post together I discovered versions of the two songs mentioned spanning decades, and it’s fascinating to see the people transforming while the songs remain pretty much as they were.
First here’s a video production of “Radar Love” from around the time it first came out:
Read the rest »
Tags: Bad Moon Rising, Born On The Bayou, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Doug Clifford, Down On The Corner, Have You Ever Seen The Rain, Hey Tonight, I Heard It Through The Grapevine, John Fogerty, Lodi, Long As I Can See The Light, Lookin' Out My Back Door, Music of the Seventies, Proud Mary, Seventies Rock Bands, Stu Cook, Suzie Q, Tom Fogerty, Up Around The Bend, Who'll Stop The Rain
![[Valid RSS]](/wp-content/themes/expertwp/images/valid-rss-rogers.png
"Validate my RSS feed")