The great seventies countdown week 11

The host's voice is growly as he approaches the mike.  "Almost didn't make it, " he says, "A cold is no way to enjoy this.  But I feel a little better now than I did most of the night, so here we go..."

130- Sugar Mountain, Neil Young, 1970, B-side of The Loner.  This song was never on an album until Decade in 1977, but has been a cult favorite since The Loner missed the charts back in 1970.  Live at the Canterbury House in Ann Arbor, MI in November of 1968. "You can't be 20 on Sugar Mountain... though you're thinkin' that you're leaving there too soon..."

129- Live And Let Die, Paul McCartney And Wings,  1973, #2.  Another song that oddly enough never saw an lp until years later (on 1978's Wings Greatest), it was the biggest Bond theme at that time.  Wasn't he great with this on the Super Bowl halftime years back?

128- Last Night (I Didn't Get To Sleep At All), the Fifth Dimension, 1972, #8.  I so wish that Billy Davis would have let Marilyn have the lead part on You Don't Have To Be A Star.  It would have been a far better song, maybe even like this one.

127- Bungle In The Jungle, Jethro Tull, 1975, #12. This kinda fits the trend the first two started; it was one of three songs left over from what would have been the follow-up to Thick As A Brick.  A nifty allegory of life at the office.

126- Rhinestone Cowboy, Glenn Campbell, 1975, #1.  More 8-track at the lake fun.  This whole album was great.

125- Rhiannon, Fleetwood Mac, 1975, #11.  Fleetwood Mac had that incredible 2 album run in the mid seventies, but the songs on Fleetwood Mac often get overshadowed by the ones on Rumours.  This was my favorite.

124- Carefree Highway, Gordon Lightfoot, 1974, #10.  "... I wonder how the old folks are tonght... Her name was Ann and I'll be damned if I recall her face..."  well, almost.

123- Summer, War, 1976, #7.   Take a trip through the lyrics of this one and you'll see why.



122- Emotion, Samantha Sang, 1977, #3.  Real name Cheryl Lau Sang, had some mid-sixties hits in her homeland of Australia under the name Cheryl Gray, and hit it big under Barry Gibb's wing as Samantha Sang. George Bitzer's keyboards made this.

121- The Things We Do For Love, 10cc, #5.  The anthem of my freshman year of high school.

120- Island Girl, Elton John, 1975, #4.  A lot of good but ubiquitous songs didn't make my chart.  Thus you don't see Stevie Wonder much, and EJ only three times.  The more hits you had, the more they had to stand out.

119- Couldn't Get It Right, Climax Blues Band, 1977, #3.  One of those songs that did a long, slow, grow-on-you sort of thing.

118- Best Of My Love, The Eagles, 1974, #1.  This was the best song on the first album I ever bought- Eagles Greatest Hits.

117- Rock Me Gently, Andy Kim, 1974, #1.  I had a mini-crush on a certain girl all through grade school.  This is one of "her" songs.

116- The Needle And The Damage Done, Neil Young, 1972, unreleased.  Like other Neil songs, you gotta pay attention to the lyrics (particularly the last line) to get this one.




115- No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature, The Guess Who, 1970, #1 (as the b-side to American Woman on Billboard) or #39 (on its own on Cashbox, both without New Mother Nature attached).  I'm not sure why it was ever seperated one from the other.  They sound naked apart.  Just listen to the album cut.

114- A Trick Of The Tail, Genesis, 1976, non-charting.  A delightful faerie tale which, according to our theme of the day, was mostly wrote in 1972 and intended for the lp Foxtrot.





113- Sweet City Woman, The Stampeders, 1971, #8.  #1 in Canada, both on their pop and country charts.  I still don't know what a macaroon is, honestly.

112- Just Remember I Love You, Firefall, 1977, #11.  I didn't know then the rich history that ran through Firefall- elements of the Flying Burrito Brothers, the Byrds, and Poco.  I just knew that "when you feel like sorrow is you're only friend/knowing that tomorrow you'll feel this way again" resonated with me, and I could have used someone to remind me I was loved.

111- Only 16, Dr. Hook, 1976, #6.  This song has me at the opening chords.

"Yes, I was much too young to... AHEM", the host says as he realizes the mike's gone live.  "Next week, we'll be entering the top 100- where it will be very much like 93 songs fighting for spots 10, 9, 8, and 7.  Until then, may your highways be... care free."