Max Picks …songs from 1974

1974

After appearing on the covers of Time and Newsweek in October 1975, Springsteen sometimes changed the words to “Tell your papa I ain’t no freak, ’cause I got my picture on the cover of Time and Newsweek” when he performed it live. This wasn’t a “hit” at the time but it still lives on in classic radio and is a key song in Bruce’s catalog.

I’ve seen Bruce do this song live and it is special. It’s one of the best live songs I’ve ever heard along with The Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again. The song is exciting as he pleads with Rosie and calls out the nicknames of their friends.

I was around 7 years old when this was released. I remember being in a tire swing in my Aunt’s front yard when I heard this Hollies on a radio that was playing from a car that someone was working on. I still remember smelling the grass and the green surroundings of that day.

This song would be way up in my favorite songs ever. Graham Nash had left by this time and the band turned a corner when he had gone. They went from a pop sixties band to more of a rock/pop band with hits like Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress, He Ain’t Heavy (He’s My Brother), and finally this song which was their last top ten hit in the US and Canada. It was written by Albert Hammond and  Mike Hazlewood. 

Great song great music great voice. This song was performed by Rufus with Chaka Khan and written by Stevie Wonder. The Talk-Box which Frampton later used sounds great in this song.

Rufus evolved from a group called The American Breed, who had a hit with “Bend Me, Shape Me.” They took their name from a column in Popular Mechanics magazine called “Ask Rufus,” later shortened to Rufus when Chaka Khan joined the band in 1972.

Paul McCartney‘s Band on the Run was one of his best songs since the Beatles. This song fell in a grey area. The album was released in December of 1973 but the single was released in April of 1974 so it could have gone in either year.

The song was recorded in two parts, in different sessions. The first two were taped in Lagos while the third section was recorded in October 1973 at AIR Studios in London. Paul was robbed at knifepoint in Lagos, Nigeria and they took the tapes that he had at the time. They were never recovered and Paul figured they recorded over them.

The song was off the album Band On The Run which was I think Paul’s best solo album. It was written by Paul and Linda McCartney.

Trying to figure out Elton’s lyrics has always been interesting…not what they mean…I won’t even try that. No, it’s… what is he singing?  “He’s got electric boots a mohair suit You know I read it in a magazine, oh” I wasn’t even close. I thought “masseuse” was in there. I don’t think I can even spell what I’ve been singing along with for years. Mick Jagger does this well also.

Regardless of the hard-to-decipher words…I love the song.

Elton wrote the music to this song as an homage to glam rock, a style that was popular in the early ’70s, especially in the UK…and of course, Bernie Taupin co-wrote it with Elton.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

41 thoughts on “Max Picks …songs from 1974”

  2. another good year for music! I’d have a tough time knocking it down to 5. I don’t think my personal list would have ‘Tell me something good’ but it’s a decent song and still my favorite thing I’ve heard by Chaka Khan. Getting to the time where both Elton and solo Paul M were at their peak, I think. Anyway, good calls! (Just noticed now, we both included a Paul song from ’74 on our posts today)

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    2. LOL…we did it again. Oh that Tell Me Something Good has always been a favorite of mine…that is why it’s on here. Something about it does it for me.

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  3. I got to see Rufus open for the Rolling Stones after this song was a hit. 1974 was historic for Maria Muldaur’s hit with “Midnight at the Oasis”. She was instrumental in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the early 60’s (actually growing up in Greenwich Village) singing with the Even Dozen Jug Band with John Sebastian, David Grisman, and Stefan Grossman (another student of the Rev Gary Davis) and then the Jim Kweskin Jug Band. She also sang with the Jerry Garcia Band and Linda Ronstadt (“Heart Like a Wheel”) among others. She was truly a bridge. That was also the year of Little Feat’s great “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now”. One of the greatest live albums also came out that year – Van Morrison’s “It’s Too Late to Stop Now” – the CD that stayed in my car for years for every long trip. It’s hard to pick anything best involving Ry Cooder, but 1974’s “Paradise and Lunch” was a definite winner.

    Thanks for another trip down memory lane.

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    1. Thanks for the suggestions… Midnight at the Oasis was on there…I just liked the Rufus song more…Van is someone I wish I could have put on there. I’m a huge Van fan and he will come up on the missed list.
      I may do one soon…1975 will mark the halfway point of this series…so I might have one soon….songs like Stand By Me and others I missed.

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  4. Damn, both you and Dave have both picked out cool Paul tracks. When I saw Paul live back in 89 and he went into Band On The Run the Skydome in Toronto exploded and just think all those years later I was jamming that tune with my daughters on Guitar Hero!

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      1. I think McCartney was the second show in there after The Stones. I went back to the dome in Jan 91 to see Aerosmith. That place will always be the Skydome to me Randy lol

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  7. The American Breed was a Chicago band. Chaka Khan, who’s also from Chicago, went to the same grammar school my mother did (about twenty years later). She’s still got a great voice…

    I started listening seriously to Elton John when I got to college, despite the fact that he was all over the radio all through my high school days.

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    1. Yea I love Khan’s voice…just love it. Perfect song for her as well. I didn’t know they were both from Chicago.
      His singles in the early to mid seventies are really good…he never matched them again to me….but he didn’t have to.

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  8. Never knew the Rufus/American Breed link; The AB were a one hit wonder here, ‘Bend Me Shape Me’ was also released here at the same time by the Amen Corner.
    I keep a’learning on these music sites.

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  9. Great picks, Max. Springsteen’s “Rosalita” definitely is a staple of his live sets. I’m pretty sure he played it during all three shows I’ve seen since the late ’80s. The audience loves it!

    That Hollies song is just beautiful with amazing harmony singing. I’ve always loved it.

    I hadn’t heard that Rufus song featuring in a long time – cool song!

    Macca’s “Band On the Run” has to be one of his all-time bests, while B-B-B-B Bennie and the Jets is one of the many g-g-g-g gems on Elton’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”!

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    1. I always thought Band on the Run was his best post Beatles album. It was up there with his best.
      I love Bennie and the Jets…always have…and his next song in 1975…something about “Freedom”

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      5. Gotta say ‘Philadelphia Freedom’ was my favorite EJ single…and I am a big fan of his, so no slam dunk. I fluctuate between that song & ‘Baker Street’ as best song of the entire decade.

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      6. I have a certain memory about Philadelphia Freedom that is wonderful…so I do love the song. It will be here next week.

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  12. That was a very 1974 list. Rosalita didn’t get much airplay here at the time, but I knew of it, and liked it. Now it’s among my fave Springsteen songs. Same with Rufus and Chaka Khan. They were mentioned everywhere that year, but I didn’t hear them on the radio much except for this song once in awhile. The Air That I Breathe didn’t get that much airplay either, but I’d savor it every time it came on. It was one of my most favorite songs ever. Then there was Band on the Run and Bennie and the Jets, both of which got played to death here. Years later, I enjoy Band on the Run, but I’d rather hear just about any other Elton John song. 😀

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    1. Well in 1975 you will hear another John song.
      I have to say all of these except Rosalita was played here locally. I see that it depended on where you lived back then determined what you heard in some respects.

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  13. I like the Springsteen best, and I don’t really know any Rufus and Chaka Khan songs. I have a bit of a dislike of 1970s Hollies- their songs always feel a bit long and ponderous for me. Great chorus on Air that I Breathe though.

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  15. Hmm. I left a comment about Minnie Ripperton’s Loving You and I don’t see that it has been posted. I then left a comment about Howard Kaylan’s book which was posted. Hmmm. I mentioned in the Minnie Ripperton post that it was off topic. Do ya think maybe WordPress is reading the comments before posting?

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