1970s – Page 91 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Jim Stafford – Swamp Witch

Since it is Halloween I thought I would post this song by Jim Stafford. It reached #39 in the Billboard 100 and #46 in Canada in 1973. My sister had this single but to this six-year-old it was scary. The song described a town by the bayou with an uneasy relationship with the local Witch…which seems to be a prerequisite of a town near the bayou.

The town gets hit with a plague and the Witch (Hattie) helps the town out but not before they all thought Hattie caused the plague to begin with… She cures them and after that, they decide to fetch her from the woods…bad idea.

I think the lesson here is…leave well enough alone.

Swamp Witch

Black water Hattie lived back in the swamp
Where the strange green reptiles crawl
Snakes hang thick from the cypress trees
Like sausage on a smokehouse wall
Where the swamp is alive with a thousand eyes
An’ all of them watching you
Stay off the track to Hattie’s Shack in the back of the Black Bayou

Way up the road from Hattie’s Shack
Lies a sleepy little Okeechobee town
Talk of swamp witch Hattie lock you in when the sun go down
Rumors of what she’d done, rumors of what she’d do
Kept folks off the track of hattie’s shack
In the back of the Black Bayou

One day brought the rain and the rain stayed on
And the swamp water overflowed
Mosquitoes and the fever grabbed the town like a fist
Doctor Jackson was the first to go
Some say the plague was brought by Hattie
There was talk of a hang’n too
But the talk got shackled by the howls and the cackles
From the bowels of the Black bayou

Early one morn ‘tween dark and dawn when shadows filled the sky
There came an unseen caller on a town where hope run dry
In the square there was found a big black round
Vat full of gurgling brew
Whispering sounds as the folk gathered round
“It came from the Black Bayou”

There ain’t much pride when you’re trapped inside
A slowly sink’n ship
Scooped up the liquid deep and green
And the whole town took a sip
Fever went away and the very next day the skies again were blue
Let’s thank old Hattie for sav’n our town
We’ll fetch her from the Black Bayou

Party of ten of the town’s best men headed for Hattie’s Shack
Said Swamp Witch magic was useful and good
And they’re gonna bring Hattie back
Never found Hattie and they never found the shack
And they never made a trip back in
‘Twas a parchment note they found tacked to a stump
Said don’t come look’n again

Toss Across

I had this as a kid and would play it at family gatherings at our house. I bought an original one from 1969 from eBay a couple of years ago and still once in a while will play it. It plays like a carnival game. My son didn’t think much of it at first but when he started to play it…he liked it.

The game came out in 1969 by the Ideal Toy Company. The game was designed by Marvin Glass and Associates and created by Hank Kramer, Larry Reiner, and Walter Moe.

They still sell a version of it today.

It’s tic tac toe with bean bags…that about sums it up. Go Go Go for 3 in a row!

Now… please tell me what the little girl says after the dog drops the bag…please

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toss_Across

Stretch Armstrong

I remember having Stretch and stretch him I did. He lasted a few months before it happened. Mr. Armstrong sprung a leak and out came this gooey liquid everywhere.

Jesse Horowitz designed Stretch… he tried a sumo wrestler but it was too big and he dropped the idea. He thought about a stretch woman to rival Barbie but smartly dropped that idea.

In 1976 Stretch Armstrong was sold to the masses, and the $11 toy that made Kenner over $50 million in revenue had a secret: He was basically just a big sack of corn syrup… but to a kid…a fun $11 big sack of corn syrup.

The fad wore out after a while other companies started to do their own Stretch dolls. The Mega company started their own line with Batman, Spider-Man, and Superman stretchable figures. Kenner sued but by the time anything was done Stretch’s time in the sun was over and his popularity faded.

Maybe I shouldn’t have stretched Stretch so much…

Armstrong dolls in a box that aren’t leaking profusely from ’70s wounds can fetch over $1000 on auction sites, with especially rare versions or prototypes worth more.

8-Track Tapes

I had a stereo that had a record-able 8-track system built in. I would record straight off the radio to the 8-track and from records. I will add that it could be a miserable format to listen to music. If you had a favorite song that you wanted to hear a couple times in a row…get ready to wait till it came back around and then for the infamous “click” and you would switch tracks…and either wait some more or miss the beginning.

But there is more… you may be listening to a song and suddenly the song fades out for a while because it’s too long for the track and then finally the “click” and it finishes out on the next track.

William Powell Lear, the man behind LearJet, was also the inventor of the 8-track cartridge tape system. In 1964 William Lear convinced Ford to install the 8-track in their cars.

In September 1965, Ford Motor Company offered 8-track players as an option in their 1966 model cars. A Ford spokesperson reported that 65,000 players were installed in the first year. As a result of the popularity, the 8-track player soon became standard in all Ford cars.

In 1966 home units and portable units were offered. Now people could share their tapes with each other. The peak years of the eight-track were 1967 through 1975. Then, improvements in the tape quality of smaller cassettes and decreasing quality in eight-tracks led consumers away from the eight-track tape.

The last official release on 8-track was Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits in 1988. By then though Compact Disc had taken over the market.

I did have quite a collection of official 8-tracks and self-made 8-tracks. I also have an old 8-track system in my closet…hey you never know.

This video is a must. It shows an Eight Track Museum. It is interesting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8-track_tape

CB Radio

Before chat rooms, My Space, Facebook, cell phones, WordPress, or messenger we had CB Radio. In the 1970’s this fad took off.

When Al Gross invented the CB radio in 1945, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) quickly opened up radio services for personal users of the radio. in the 1960s businesses and hobbyist used the radio frequently.

In the early 1970s, the oil crisis caused gas to go up in price and the speed limit dropped to 55 mph. It was then people realized that CB’s could be used to spread the word about what gas stations had gas and what speed traps were set up ahead. Not only truckers were using the CB but it had caught on as a fad.

Movies such as Smokey and the Bandit helped popularize it more and also songs such as Convoy.

As a kid, I remember cars having the CB antennas and people at home. Everyone was getting into the game. People used CB slang and nicknames. Even The First Lady, Betty Ford, was on as “First Mama”…yea some cringe-worthy moments.

CB radio is still used today but the popularity is not like it was through the 70s and 80s… 10-4 (I just had to add that)

Chi Coltrane – Thunder and Lightning

Chi Coltrane can sing rock, blues, and anything in between. I remember this son,g but I’m stunned that she didn’t have more hits. She was signed by Clive Davis and had this hit single and a couple of critically acclaimed albums. This song was her only hit back in 1972. It peaked at #17 in the Billboard 100, #4 in Germany, and #18 in Canada. She moved to Europe in 1977 and started a career there. She gained a large following with many hits and still performs to this day.

She is an excellent musician, producer, singer, and songwriter. She wrote Thunder and Lightning. Unlike some other singer-songwriters of the time…Chi was said to have been equal to a session musician in her piano playing.

Thunder and Lightning

Oooh, what a good thing I’ve got
Oh, it’s such a good thing I’ve got
I don’t think I can stand it

Thunder and lightning, oh yeah!
I tell you it’s frightening, oooh!
It’s thunder and lightning
And you’re in control

I thought my life was complete
But look what you’re doin’ to me
Oh, you’re makin’ me crazy

Thunder and lightning, oh yeah!
I tell you it’s frightening, ooohooo!
It’s thunder and lightning
And you’re in control

I don’t know how to handle it
It’s more than I would dare
I wouldn’t try to run from it
It reaches everywhere

I’m feelin’ dizzy and weak
You make me forget how to speak
I can feel it happening

It’s thunder and lightning, oh yeah!
I tell you it’s frightening, ooohooo!
Thunder and lightning
And you’re in control

Oh, thunder and lightning, ooohooo!
I tell you it’s frightening, oh yeah!
I tell it’s thunder and lightning, ooohooo!
I tell you it’s frightening, oh yeah!

I tell you thunder and lightning, oh yeah!
Don’t you know that it’s frightening, oh yeah!
I know it’s thunder and lightning

Lava Lamps

I own a couple of lava lamps and I run them quite a bit. I didn’t get my first one until the 80s and I still have it. They do nothing but do their thing…and they create a mood. I have one in my office at work…it helps at times.

The lava lamp was invented in 1963 by Edward Craven Walker. He was passing the time in a pub when he noticed a homemade egg timer crafted from a cocktail shaker filled with alien-looking liquids bubbling on a stove top. Craven Walker’s company was manufacturing millions of “Astro Lamps,” as he called them, per year. In 1965, he sold the U.S. manufacturing rights to a company called Lava Lite.

Lava lamps caught on in the sixties and continued to be big to the late seventies. The sales cooled off until the Austin Power movies and the sales started to pick up again in the hundreds of thousands a year. Now Lava Lite supplies millions of lava lamps to retailers.

Far Out Man

Dr. Hook – The Cover of the Rolling Stone

At one time this novelty song was true…you wanted to be on the cover of Rolling Stone when it was a good magazine…but that is a different discussion. This song was released in 1972 and peaked at #6 in the Billboard 100 and #2 in Canada. Dr. Hook was very successful with 6 top ten hits in their career. They were also known as Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show.

From Songfacts.

This is a parody of the rock and roll lifestyle. It pokes fun at all the things that rock stars indulge in when they’re successful: groupies, shady characters hanging around, limo rides, etc.

The group had a funny side and a serious side, but it was the funny side that came out on stage and framed their image. The pirate theme added to the novelty of the group: originally known as the Chocolate Papers, they took the name Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show after the character in Peter Pan, which also played up the eye patch worn by their singer Ray Sawyer, who many people assumed was “Dr. Hook.” Sawyer wore the eye patch as a result of a car accident.

Cover of the Rolling Stone

Well, we’re big rock singers
We got golden fingers
And we’re loved everywhere we go (that sounds like us)
We sing about beauty and we sing about truth
At ten-thousand dollars a show (right)
We take all kinds of pills that give us all kind of thrills
But the thrill we’ve never known
Is the thrill that’ll gitcha when you get your picture
On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone

(Rollin stone) want to see my picture on the cover
(Stone)Wanna buy five copies for my mother (yes)
(Stone)Wanna see my smilin’ face
On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone (that’s a very very good idea)

I got a freaky ole lady name a cocaine Katy
Who embroideries on my jeans
I got my poor ole grey haired daddy
Drivin’ my limousine
Now it’s all designed to blow our minds
But our minds won’t really be blown
Like the blow that’ll gitcha when you get your picture
On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone

(Rollin Stone) want to see our pictures on the cover
(Stone) want to buy five copies for our mothers (yeah)
(Stone) want to see my smilin’ face
On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone
(talking) Hey, I know how
Rock and roll

Ah, that’s beautiful
We got a lot of little teenage blue eyed groupies
Who do anything we say
We got a genuine Indian Guru
Who’s teaching us a better way
We got all the friends that money can buy
So we never have to be alone
And we keep getting richer but we can’t get our picture
On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone

(Rollin stone)Gonna see my picture on the cover
(Stone) Gonna buy five copies for my mother (wa wa)
(Stone) Gonna see my smilin’ face
On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone
On the cover of the Rollin’
Stone) Gonna see my picture on the cover
(talking) I don’t know why we ain’t on the cover, baby
(Stone) Gonna buy five copies for my mother
(talking) We’re beautiful subjects
(Stone) Want to see my smilin’ face
(talking) I ain’t kiddin’, we would make a beautiful cover
On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone
(talking) Fresh shot, right up front, man
I can see it now, we’ll be up in the front
Smilin, man
Ah, beautiful.

Etch a Sketch

Oh, how this toy teased me as a kid. I would start drawing something halfway decent and then I would hit a wall because I would get so close to what I wanted and then make a wrong move…then came the shake part and start all over again. The definition of insanity would be this toy in my hands…but yet I still tried. Some people can do interesting things with it…I’m not one of those people.

In the late 50s French electrical technician André Cassagnes applied his experience with the clinging properties of an electrostatic charge to invent a drawing toy with no spare parts.

The Ohio Art Company took a look at the toy and invested $25,000. It has sold more than 175 million units worldwide since it hit stores on July 12, 1960.

They have new versions of it now with more options.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etch_A_Sketch

Climax Blues Band – Couldn’t Get It Right

I remember this song from when I was growing up. The Climax Blues Band had been playing since the late 60s, more of a blues-rock outfit at first (the name sort of gives that away). But by 1976, when they cut Gold Plated, the band shifted gears. Paul Carrack-style keyboards, funky guitars, and a dance-floor beat crept in. The result was this song, and it was a perfect slice of transatlantic pop.

This wasn’t supposed to be the single. The label wanted a hit, the band knocked this one together, and boom: lightning in a bottle. Climax Blues Band never really matched the success of Couldn’t Get It Right again, but that hardly matters. One song like this that still plays on classic rock radio and quietly fills dance floors decades later.

They scored with this song in 1976, which peaked at #3 on the Billboard 100, #8 in Canada, and #10 in the UK. Their other big hit was “I Love You,” released in 1979. A version of this band is still playing today.

From Songfacts.

This song is a great example of the dual vocal technique The Climax Blues Band was known for. Holt explains: “Colin Cooper used to sing the lead – the low vocal, and I used to sing an octave higher. And then, because 4 of us sang in the band, we used to harmonize. The fact that we had the dual singing the same line but with an octave split made the sound very unique, and it’s still very unique today. Whenever people use it I think it’s great. That was one of our trademarks, we just used to sing together in unison.”

Couldn’t Get It Right

Time was drifting
This rocker got to roll
So I hit the road and made my getaway
Restless feeling, really got a hold
I started searching for a better way

But I kept on looking for a sign
In the middle of the night
But I couldn’t see the light
No, I couldn’t see the light
I kept on looking for a way
To take me through the night
I couldn’t get it right
I couldn’t get it right

LA fever made me feel alright
But I must admit it got the best of me
Getting down, so deep I could have drowned
Now, I can’t get back the way I used to be

New York City took me with the tide
And I nearly died from hospitality
Left me stranded, took away my pride
Just another no account fatality

I kept on looking for a sign
In the middle of the night
But I couldn’t see the light
No, I couldn’t see the light
I kept on looking for a way
To take me through the night
I couldn’t get it right
I couldn’t get it right

Billy Preston – Will It Go Round In Circles

Billy Preston and Bruce Fisher wrote this song as well as “Nothing from Nothing” and You Are So Beautiful. Will It Go Around In Circles peaked at #1 in the Billboard and #1 in Canada. Billy Preston played with the biggest names including The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. When he was a teenager he played keyboards in Little Richard’s band and met The Beatles while they were still playing in Hamburg.

During the difficult recording of Let It Be George Harrison invited Billy to play with The Beatles and it eased the tensions with the group somewhat and Billy contributed to the album and movie.

He toured with the Stones in the seventies also.

From Songfacts.

This was borne out of a joke Preston made to his songwriting partner, Bruce Fisher, about having a song but no melody. The comment inspired the opening refrain, “I got a song that ain’t got no melody, I’m gonna sing it to my friends,” and set up similar proclamations, such as having a story with no moral and having a dance with no steps.

The song’s success allowed Fisher to finally quit his job in the mailroom at NBC in Burbank, California. He went on to collaborate with Preston on his next #1, “Nothing From Nothing,” and the Joe Cocker hit “You Are So Beautiful.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDehYXKI31g&ab_channel=driftbolt

Will It Go Round In Circles

I’ve got a song, I ain’t got no melody
I’ma gonna sing it to my friends
I’ve got a song, I ain’t got no melody
I’ma gonna sing it to my friends