We lost two big names from the charts of my youth on Tuesday this week, and I wanted to pay tribute.
First was Mac Davis, who the headlines will tell you wrote a few big hits for Elvis in the 70s, including In The Ghetto, Don't Cry Daddy and A Little Less Conversation.
But Mac was also a singer-songwriter in his own right, responsible for one of the best songs about being a frustrated songwriter you'll ever hear...
Rock and roll, I gave you all the best years of my life
All the dreamy sunny Sundays, all the moon-lit summer nights
I was so busy in the back room makin' love songs to you
While you were changin' your direction, and you never even knew
That I was always, just one step behind you
All the dreamy sunny Sundays, all the moon-lit summer nights
I was so busy in the back room makin' love songs to you
While you were changin' your direction, and you never even knew
That I was always, just one step behind you
And then there was Helen Reddy, justly hailed by the press as the woman who wrote "feminist anthem" I Am Woman.
But the song I'll most remember her for was Number One on My Top Ten Twilight Zone Songs a few years back. She didn't write it, but she made it hers...
The headlines read that a boy disappeared
And everyone thinks he died
'Cept a crazy girl with a secret lover who
Keeps her satisfied
It's so nice to be insane
No one asks you to explain
Radio by your side, Angie baby
I'll be sleeping with the lights on tonight after listening to it again now.
Yes, heard about the sad death of Helen Reddy but not Mac Davis. You've beaten me to it with Angie Baby as that was the song I most associate her with - What happened to the boy? Did he become a radio airwave, trapped forever in her room, or was is something a whole lot more sinister?
ReplyDeleteA real 70s post this with Mac's song too and hadn't realised he'd written all those great songs for Elvis.