Here's another recycled picture of me in the 70's. Look at that lovely gold velvet chair and that paneling behind me. Pretty.So, I have this friend who foolishly told me he secretly liked pop songs from the 70's and 80's. I asked him if he wanted me to make him some mix CD's of that kind of music and he said, "yes, please." I bet after he gets some of this music, he'll never ask again. Most of the Mixes are already made, so it will just be a matter of burning them. I did make another one for him tonight.
I know I've mentioned over and over again how when I was a kid, I had a hard time sleeping and so my mom let me listen to the radio to block the scary noises that I would hear and was sure were bad guys trying to get me. In the 70's late night radio included a lot of the more mellow, singer songwriter stuff of the decade. It was my comfort music. Just in case you're wondering, I know that most people think this music is bad and wrong. I get that, but to me it was my best friend and savior in the wee hours of the morning when everyone in my house was asleep and I would enter the darker places in my brain.
So, here's my scary list. Feel free to hate me all you want:
1. "How Long" - Ace.
2. "Year of the Cat" - Al Stewart. My sister actually owned this album and if I worked at it, I could probably remember the lyrics to every song.
3. "Ventura Highway" - America. "Horse With No Name" was a bigger song when I was a kid, but for some reason, I don't own that song. Oh yeah, I remember why now - it's annoying. "Ventura Highway" was part of my fantasy of growing up and moving to Southern California and living the life I imagined my Malibu Barbies must live after I put them away in my closet.
4. "The Courtship of Eddie's Father Theme Song" - unknown artist. While this technically isn't a song that was played on the radio, it was one of my comfort shows when I was a kid.
5. "Ode to Billie Joe" - Bobbie Gentry. Didn't they make a movie about this song with Robby Benson in it, or did I just dream that? I'm sure I had a lot of interesting dreams about Robby Benson in the late 70's.
6. "Superstar" - The Carpenters. Mr. B. once told me that he loved both Olivia Newton John and Karen Carpenter. I understood Olivia Newton John, because almost every guy I know who's in his mid-thirties seems to have a crush on her, but Karen Carpenter? His response was, "She plays the drums and she has that voice." Okay, I guess I kind of get it now.
7. "How Can I Tell You" - Cat Stevens. I'm a huge Cat Stevens fan and Todd Totale was just talking about this song on his Glam Racket Blog.
8. "King of the Road" - Roger Miller.
9. "Rhiannon" - Fleetwood Mac. This song reminds me of when we first moved to the Chicago area and my sister and I had to take turns sleeping on the floor. I would listen to WLS at night on my sister's portable radio with a built-in record player.
10. "Wichita Lineman" - Glen Campbell.
11. "Sara Smile" - Hall and Oates. For some reason, guys want to sing this song to me, even though my name starts with a T and is pronounced like star. I guess it's because the only other song with my name, is by the Knack and not that many people know it.
12. "Fire and Rain" - James Taylor.
13. "Miracles" - Jefferson Starship. It seems like this band got worse and worse with every name change. By the time they were just Starship, they stunk so bad I couldn't even stand to listen to them. But I do love this song.
14. "Operator (That's Not the Way it Feels)" - Jim Croce.
15. "Rocky Mountain High" - John Denver. I don't think we need to get into my childhood obsession with John Denver again, do we?
16. "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" - Paul Simon. There was a time right before junior high started where I would hear this song and fantasize about moving to New York and being cool and hip and funny like the Saturday Night Live people.
17. "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" - Steely Dan.
18. "Lorelei" - Styx. Because we lived in the South suburbs of Chicago in junior high, I don't think I could make it through a day without hearing Styx in the late seventies.
19. "Chico and the Man Theme Song" - Jose Feliciano. This show used to come on on Friday nights. My mom would get paid that day and we'd go grocery shopping at Smitty's and come home and watch it. I loved Friday nights back then.
20. "Summer" - War.
There ought to be enough ear worms in there for one post.
13 comments:
That's a whole can of earworms.
"By the time they were just Starship, they stunk so bad I couldn't even stand to listen to them. But I do love this song."
"We Built This City" had to have had one of the worst videos of all time
wow that is some scary list.. I bet you fell asleep no problem after listening to all of them.. Good choices too..
People let me tell you 'bout my best friend. He's a one boy cuddly toy, my up, my down, my pride and my joy.
I LOVE that theme song!
You aren't pulling any punches with that list are you? Sheesh. *winces*
I think I might need to make that playlist.
now how scary am I?
dmarks - what? you didn't like the clips of "Metropolis" ;-)
I own that Al Stewart album...still. And yes-I remember that movie about Ode to Billy Joe and it was really disturbing as I recall. I love that you love all the same cheesy music that I do. it calms me as well.
Two things:
1. I own entirely too much America music.
2. The only thing more frightening is my John Denver music collection.
The Courtship Of Eddie's Father theme was done by Harry Nilsson.
Churlita,
Awesome list!
I know every engineer on every train, all of their children and all their names.
I love John Denver.
rel
Nice! I feel like I just relived my youth.
You know what would go great on that list? Sometimes When We Touch by Dan Hill. :-)
My wife is the ultimate Hall and Oates fan. We even went to see them in concert at UCLA last year. Have to admit they put on a great concert with all their hits...
There is never, I say NEVER enough John Denver. He rules.
And Sara Smile is the best song, no? Too bad they spelled it wrong... I am switching my cell ring to Sara Smiles now.
I love your music posts!
Dmarks,
"We Built This City" was heinous all the way around. When I lived in San Francisco in the 80's, they were trying to get the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame built there, and they played this song all the time like an anthem. No wonder Cleveland got it.
Mrs.
I hope so. That was the whole point of that kind of music, to mellow me the fuck out enough to get to sleep.
Jenny,
Me too. It's so sweet and hopeful.
Mr Atrocity,
Yeah, sorry. It is awfully wince making, isn't it?
Not,
As scary as me, apparently.
DJ,
Oh good. I wasn't making it up. I do own a DVD of "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" a made for TV movie with John Travolta. And that's disturbing in its own way.
Susan,
I knew I liked you.
Todd,
Thank you. It wasn't on my TV's Greatest Theme Songs CD and I was too lazy to goggle it. I changed my playlist today. I took off the Styx (it didn't really fit) and added Harry Nilsson's "Everybody's Talking at Me" and Vicki Lawrence's "The Night the Lights Went out in Georgia".
Rel,
We're kindred that way.
LauraB.,
I'm sure you won't be surprised when I tell you that I do own that song.
Mike,
That probably works in your favor, because most of the women I know get a little frisky from Hall and Oates.
Poptart,
Did you really change your ringtone? That's awesome.
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