40 Year Itch: A Message Floating In The Air

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Heavy metal guitar riffs and an environmental message.

Yes, this is exactly what we were expecting from the Osmonds when they finally got to write their own songs and play their own instruments on their fourth album Crazy Horses, released in September of 1972. The same month The Osmonds cartoon debuted on ABC Saturday mornings.




 Turns out Merrill Osmond liked to get the Led out. He's the main singer on this cut while teen idol Donny is content with making the horse neighing sounds on his synth.

 Say what you will, the single "Crazy Horses" topped the charts in Holland and France and went Top 20 in the US and UK. And about that "message floating in the air": The Osmonds say the song is about auto pollution. Very topical. 1972 is the year government mandated the use of catalytic converters and proposed new cars reduce hydrocarbons by 35% and carbon monoxide by 20%.

Merill says during a French concert in front of a heavy metal crowd the band vamped "Crazy Horse" for half an hour. That probably would have impressed the Black Sabbath fans more... if it weren't for the pimped out jumpsuits.

 

Back To Schooldays

I had a terrible education. I attended a school for emotionally disturbed teachers.

Woody Allen


Summer seemed especially long this time. Looking forward to dropping the small people off at school. By the way, that J Geils tune is especially worthy.


1. Various Artists : Schoolhouse Rocky --a 15 second intro from the Schoolhouse Rocks compilation
2. Jimmy Reed : Goin On To School -- blues legend's track from 1958 debut album I'm Jimmy Reed
3. The Mindbenders : Schoolgirl -- risque 1967 single written by Graham Gouldman for future 10cc bandmate Eric Stewart's band
4. NRBQ : Still in School --classic Joey Spampinato pop tune from 1977's All Hopped Up
5. MC5 : High School --sounds like post punk but it's from the 1970 Jon Landau produced Back in the USA
6. Graham Parker : Back To Schooldays-- Graham Parker live solo effort of Howlin Wind classic
7. Tammy Wynette : Don't Make Me Go Back To School--from Stand By Your Man
8. J. Geils Band : Homework -- cover of Otis Rush single from the 1970 J Geils debut

And as a special bonus:

                                                          DEAF SCHOOL

UK art rockers from 1976 who masterfully combined new wave with cabaret. ( It shouldn't work and even if it works I shouldn't like it...but it does and I do). Discovered this in a library that year, apparently donated by the local radio station which would never play anything this unique.

40 Year Itch: John Lennon Does Jerry Lewis

On September 4, 1972 John and Yoko performed "Imagine" and a reggae-ish version of "Give Peace A Chance" on the Jerry Lewis telethon. One YouTube commentator claims Jerry Lewis joined the band during the latter and played his trumpet so loudly and so badly John and Yoko left before the song was over.

 

 After the performances, when it became clear John and Yoko weren't going to return despite chants from the crowd and Jerry playing his trumpet again, Jerry got serious for a moment:

 I would suspect that John Lennon is probably one of the wisest showmen I've ever met. He knows what he's doing. He did two things tonight. He came here to help -one- I think this was the primary purpose of his visit. And two, he meant to say something. I think he did both those things. He has split. Let's thank him very much




The next day The London Art Spectrum showcased five avant garde films by John and Yoko: Cold Turkey, The Ballad of John and Yoko, Give Peace A Chance, Instant Karma and Up Your Legs Forever, a portion of which can be seen below

40 Year Itch : My Friend The Sun

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English hard rockers Family explore their softer side on this amazing track "My Friend The Sun" which kicks off side two of Bandstand, released in September of 1972. Family never really caught on in the US. They could be eccentric, (like most Brits). There was always plenty of inner band turmoil in Family and even a big break, like opening for Elton John on the second leg of his 1972 American tour, never led to great success in America.

Bandstand is a grower. Plenty of the hard rock Family had become known for. But more melodies as well. And that brings us back to "My Friend The Sun", which could have been a great lost cut from Rod Stewart's Every Picture Tells A Story. Released as a single in 1973, it failed to do much more than win some music fans fervent adoration for life.

Well, I know that you're lonely, come in from the cold
 Your shoes they need mending, your clothes they look old
Won't you pick up your pieces, it's never too late
Though it's never early to make a mistake
 As soon as you wake
Although there's been rain and it's coming again
Change has to be here obviously
 Though my friend the sun looks well on the run
He's there in the distance if you care to see

 

40 Year Itch : The Erie Canal Soda Pop Festival

Is this the rock fest that killed the Woodstock nation?

 The Erie Canal Soda Pop fest on Indiana's Bull Island certainly drew a huge crowd -- an estimated 200,00 hippies who came from all over the country Labor Day Weekend of 1972 to see Santana, Foghat, Canned Heat , Black Sabbath, the Allman Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, Joe Cocker and Nazareth.

 That's not who showed up though.

 Black Sabbath was a no show. So were the Allman Brothers. Nobody saw Fleetwood Mac. When Joe Cocker saw the crowd he reportedly asked for more money and left when organizers turned him down.

 The traffic was a nightmare.

So were the drugs. Somebody was selling bleach. Two people died. And it rained.

 One very entertaining blogger who claims to have been there writes:

 If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would swear that the festival was a set-up, a sort of psyops to put an end to the ideal of the Woodstock nation. If it wasn't, then it was the biggest f**k up in the history of rock festival promotions.

40 Year Itch: Oh Lordy! Oh Lordy!

On September 1, 1972 David Bowie released the single "John, I'm Only Dancing". A gay anthem? It never struck me as such in my teenage years. I figured Bowie was dancing with John's girlfriend and explaining to his mate "we're only dancing". But because of the supposed subject matter, the song didn't get played in the US even as Bowie strutted onstage in full Ziggy Stardust mode, drawing full houses for his concert tour.

 In the UK, the single peaked at #12 as would the 1979 sequel "John, I'm Only Dancing ( again)". Queen stole the strumming guitar intro for "Crazy Thing Called Love". Trevor Bolder is playing the walking bass lines. The official video, seen below, was banned for its sexually suggestive dancers.


 

I'm Up And I'm Leaving

Going to take some time away from 1001Songs to recharge the batteries. My friend Lewis has put together a canoe trip down the Cahulawassee River before they flood the valley to build a dam. Bobby's coming and Drew's bringing his guitar. Sounds like fun!

Be back in September.

In the meantime, scratch that 40 year itch and enjoy the 1972 #1 Australian hit by Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs "Most People I Know (Think That I'm Crazy)".