The year 1974 was a peculiar post-hippy pre-disco time in music when funk was just gettin' its groove on, arena rock was big and loud, prog rock found an audience, glam rock was making people uncomfortable, and punk rock was still only protopunk (as if they could know). I'm not going to discuss any of these genres. Instead we're going to check out some folkish and soft-rocky gems. Why? Because in an era when music and music's image was so brash and obtuse, the introspective and low-key tunes get kind of overlooked. But don't worry; none of the following songs are too schmaltzy.
Al Stewart - Nostradamus
Past, Present, and Future was released in the UK in '73, but was released in the US the following year, SO IT COUNTS. Though this song is a bit proggish, Stewart had yet to shed his folk influences as the song (nearly ten minutes long... you better set aside a block of listening time) is carried by acoustic guitars and some manner of bongo. Lyrically we have a odd history lesson about the things Nostradamus saw years before they happened. In pseudo-poetic language he sings verses like this:
I will admit that the chorus makes me really paranoid:
Anyway, that's a pretty cool album cover, isn't it? Doctor Strange, travelling through time or something. The previous year's UK cover is a much more drab one of an urbane Stewart hanging out next to a mantle.
Harry Chapin - W*O*L*D
Most songs about radio are pretty lame. This one is the opposite of lame. Rather than just encouraging the listener to crank up the volume, Chapin tells the story of a radio DJ who's been a part of the ups and downs of the biz, who's loved and lossed and still pines, who's aged yet still yearns for the good ol' days. It's actually a pretty sad story and makes me want to reconsider this Broadcasting degree I've got hanging on the wall.
What intrigues me as much as the story are all the subtle odes to golden age and early jock radio. Harmonious background singers, when they sing "W-O-L-D", sound like they're crooning the call letters to some long-forgotten station. Chapin calls himself a daddy-o, and later a doo-wop bass nudges in a great 1950's "yeeeah". And he's "feeling all of forty-five", y'know, like his age or like the vinyl singles they would spin.
This is a bittersweet song, to say the least. But DJs are like the truck drivers of the music industry, so it fits very well.
Leonard Cohen - Who By Fire
I suppose this could be considered a duo as Janis Ian backs Cohen up word-for-word. Anyway, I like how initially this appears to be a very simple song (sparse instrumentation, each line begins with "who...") and yet there are deep spiritual implications found within the lyrics. Inspired by a Jewish prayer (where the first line is taken) the song explores various ways a person might pass from this earth, and yet all the same nobody is beyond God's scope, and each person will be righteously judged. It's like a moodier "Gotta Serve Somebody" (which was released five years later).
Tom Waits - (Looking For) The Heart of Saturday Night
Before he got all weird and his voice went to gravel, Waits wrote sweet little lounge ditties about women named Martha or, like this one, havin' yourself a good ol' Saturday night. Waits sings this like he's singing about YOU, and goes so far as to kick the song off with car sounds before singing about you driving your car. As you listen you become Joe Everyman, blowin' your fresh paycheck on beer and pool. You're a working man, of course, so you're living for the weekend and moments like these. But maybe this is a paltry existance for you to live, and you consider it as there's a "melancholy tear in your eye."
Now I'm all bummed out, but I'll meet you next week.
Chicago - Wishing You Were Here
While beginning a song with car noises might be innovative, beginning a song with crashing waves is not. However this song is completely and wholly redemed by the melting harmonies done by (and never done better) three members of the Beach Boys. Lead vocalist Terry Kath, in a very subdued manner, does a call-and-response thing with the BBs until unexpectedly Peter Cetera blasts in with the bridge. The bridge is short and ends before you realize what an odd thing it is considering the rest of the song's context.
Thematically this song is about life on the road. Peter Cetera's got a job to do, and doggone it, he does it well. But that doesn't prevent Chicagoans and Beach Boys alike from pining for their far away loves.
I suppose bittersweetness is today's theme.
Al Stewart - NostradamusPast, Present, and Future was released in the UK in '73, but was released in the US the following year, SO IT COUNTS. Though this song is a bit proggish, Stewart had yet to shed his folk influences as the song (nearly ten minutes long... you better set aside a block of listening time) is carried by acoustic guitars and some manner of bongo. Lyrically we have a odd history lesson about the things Nostradamus saw years before they happened. In pseudo-poetic language he sings verses like this:
From Castile does Franco come and the Government driven out shall beIf this sort of wordaging drives you crazy I understand, but the tune is a catchy one, and those guitars sound really good, and if you're patient you'll get to enjoy the fun claptrack three-and-a-half minutes in.
An English king seeks divorce, and from his throne cast down is he
One named Hister shall become a captain of Greater Germanie
No law does this man observe and bloody his rise and fall shall be
I will admit that the chorus makes me really paranoid:
Man, man, your time is sand, your ways are leaves upon the seaNostradamus, just sitting there knowing all your stuff. Creepy.
I am the eyes of Nostradamus, all your ways are known to me
Anyway, that's a pretty cool album cover, isn't it? Doctor Strange, travelling through time or something. The previous year's UK cover is a much more drab one of an urbane Stewart hanging out next to a mantle.
Harry Chapin - W*O*L*DMost songs about radio are pretty lame. This one is the opposite of lame. Rather than just encouraging the listener to crank up the volume, Chapin tells the story of a radio DJ who's been a part of the ups and downs of the biz, who's loved and lossed and still pines, who's aged yet still yearns for the good ol' days. It's actually a pretty sad story and makes me want to reconsider this Broadcasting degree I've got hanging on the wall.
What intrigues me as much as the story are all the subtle odes to golden age and early jock radio. Harmonious background singers, when they sing "W-O-L-D", sound like they're crooning the call letters to some long-forgotten station. Chapin calls himself a daddy-o, and later a doo-wop bass nudges in a great 1950's "yeeeah". And he's "feeling all of forty-five", y'know, like his age or like the vinyl singles they would spin.
This is a bittersweet song, to say the least. But DJs are like the truck drivers of the music industry, so it fits very well.
Leonard Cohen - Who By FireI suppose this could be considered a duo as Janis Ian backs Cohen up word-for-word. Anyway, I like how initially this appears to be a very simple song (sparse instrumentation, each line begins with "who...") and yet there are deep spiritual implications found within the lyrics. Inspired by a Jewish prayer (where the first line is taken) the song explores various ways a person might pass from this earth, and yet all the same nobody is beyond God's scope, and each person will be righteously judged. It's like a moodier "Gotta Serve Somebody" (which was released five years later).
Tom Waits - (Looking For) The Heart of Saturday NightBefore he got all weird and his voice went to gravel, Waits wrote sweet little lounge ditties about women named Martha or, like this one, havin' yourself a good ol' Saturday night. Waits sings this like he's singing about YOU, and goes so far as to kick the song off with car sounds before singing about you driving your car. As you listen you become Joe Everyman, blowin' your fresh paycheck on beer and pool. You're a working man, of course, so you're living for the weekend and moments like these. But maybe this is a paltry existance for you to live, and you consider it as there's a "melancholy tear in your eye."
Makes it kind of quiver down in the coreAnd maybe the heart of Saturday night can't be found cruisin' the strip with your "sweet one" or flirting with the waitress. But you'll take it because this is all you've got to look forward to.
'Cause you're dreamin' of them Saturdays that came before
And now you're stumblin'
You're stumblin' onto the heart of Saturday night
Now I'm all bummed out, but I'll meet you next week.
Chicago - Wishing You Were HereWhile beginning a song with car noises might be innovative, beginning a song with crashing waves is not. However this song is completely and wholly redemed by the melting harmonies done by (and never done better) three members of the Beach Boys. Lead vocalist Terry Kath, in a very subdued manner, does a call-and-response thing with the BBs until unexpectedly Peter Cetera blasts in with the bridge. The bridge is short and ends before you realize what an odd thing it is considering the rest of the song's context.
Thematically this song is about life on the road. Peter Cetera's got a job to do, and doggone it, he does it well. But that doesn't prevent Chicagoans and Beach Boys alike from pining for their far away loves.
I suppose bittersweetness is today's theme.
