Dwight Twilley – Looking For The Magic

I thought I would get back to the blogs name and feature two power pop songs today. 

What is that old saying? More hooks than a tackle shop? This song would fit that description. This is pure power pop where the feel is more important than the lyrics. When you listen to the song in headphones, you can hear things going on everywhere in the song. Twilley’s voice is drenched with delay, and it works in this. It’s the delivery that I like. 

The Dwight Twilley Band, Twilley and partner Phil Seymour, was a power pop duo of pure melodic instinct and harmony-drenched hooks. The magic here isn’t just in the title, it’s in the song. Of course, like so many great power pop songs, this one slipped through the cracks commercially. Twilley was cursed with bad label timing and promotion, and Shelter Records was basically a soap opera by the late 70s.

This song was on their 1977 Twilley Don’t Mind album. Shelter Records had switched its distribution around the time this was released. The album only peaked at #70 on the Billboard Album Charts, and after that, Phil Seymour quit, and the band broke up. Seymour saw labelmate Tom Petty hit it big, but not the Dwight Twilley Band. In fact, Tom Petty played some guitar on this song.

Twilley did have two songs that hit the top twenty. I’m On Fire in 1975 and Girls in 1984.

Check out the bass player on the live version.

Looking For The Magic

All my life I’m looking for the magicI’ve been looking for the magicFantasize on a silly little tragicI’ve been looking for the magicIn my eyes

Oh, oh, oh, I’mLooking for the magic in my eyesIn my eyesBaby in my eyes

Only child is a silly little raggedShe’s been looking for the magicStay awhile til the city is a desertShe’s been looking for the treasureIn my eyes

Because a photograph isLike an hourglass out of timeAnd then I never laughedBecause I never had no time

Oh, oh, oh, I’mLooking for the magic in my eyesIn your eyesBaby in your eyes

…

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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.

21 thoughts on “Dwight Twilley – Looking For The Magic”

  1. Dwight Twilley never achieved the mainstream, long-term success and his relative obscurity is largely due to bad luck with his record label, a shifting musical landscape, and a series of career setbacks.

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  2. Pingback: Dwight Twilley – Looking For The Magic – MobsterTiger

  4. a fairly catchy song. I know his name a lot better than his music. Seems like this song could have been probably not a smash but at least a chart hit back then if the music gods had aligned

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    1. I first heard of him with the song I’m On Fire…he was a pure power pop guy….that was his thing and he never changed. I never knew he had two top twenty hits…looks like with Petty being noticed he could have broke through a little more…Shelter Records didn’t help!

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  5. The only song I recognize is “I’m On Fire” but the band didn’t get much airplay if any up my way. All the more is the shame of it, this is great power pop and certainly in sync with a lot of what I like. I had not heard this name in forever.

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    1. Obbverse…for some stupid reason I get Jeff Tweedy mixed up with Dwight Twilley….I know nothing alike!
      Anyway Twilley was a top notch power pop guy.

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      1. The ol’ noggin works in mysterious ways don’t it? Perhaps something about alliteration I’d say, but I’m no expert. I’ll sometimes see with my own eyes a name like, I dunno, ‘Jimmy Smits’ and my brain see’s, say ‘Jenny Smith.’ A glitch in the (buffering, buffering) matrix I guess.

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      2. Yes it has to be the Tweedy and the Twilley…at first I thought…cool this is the guy in Wilco…but then I thought…no…not him. That has to be it though.

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  7. I like both songs you posted today, good power pop I’d never heard before. Good to get back to your roots! I’ve barely looked at the ‘Reader’ feed this month, too busy, but I’m going to try harder going into autumn!

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    1. Oh you never heard of the Greg Kihn song? Thats right I never saw a UK chart position. It was huge over here.
      Well I’m MORE guilty than you Stewart. I’m sorry I’ve been away so long! Car troubles and so much work.

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      1. No I really hadn’t… Don’t know if it was a UK hit. Britain had gone a lot more new wave/new romantic at that time. Power Pop like this didn’t impact the charts as much, I don’t think.

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      2. That is pretty good…it’s completely different but not bad! His partner Phil Seymour made some good power pop albums as well. I just wished they would have been on a better record company. That would have helped.

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