Baby Blue never gets old to me…it is the perfect powerpop song. It has the right combination of crunch and pop with an irresistible guitar riff. I love the way they used the song in Breaking Bad that fit the scene perfectly. The song peaked at #14 in the Billboard 100 in 1972. The “Dixie” in the song was Pete Ham’s ex-girlfriend, Dixie Armstrong.
The song came off of the album “Straight Up” that also contained the hit “Day After Day” and it is considered by many their best album. I’m happy that Breaking Bad showcased this song so that another generation knows the song and hopefully that will lead more to learn about Badfinger.
Baby Blue
Guess I got what I deserved Kept you waiting there too long, my love All that time without a word Didn’t know you’d think that I’d forget or I’d regret The special love I had for you, my baby blue
All the days became so long Did you really think, I’d do you wrong? Dixie, when I let you go Thought you’d realize that I would know I would show the special love I have for you, my baby blue
What can I do, what can I say Except I want you by my side How can I show you, show me the way Don’t you know the times I’ve tried?
guitar solo
Guess that’s all I have to say Except the feeling just grows stronger every day Just one thing before I go Take good care, baby, let me know, let it grow The special love you have for me, my Dixie, dear.
Now, this was cool. I had a few friends with one but it was one thing I could not get. We lived on a dirt road with a gravel driveway. Big Wheels didn’t really work on gravel and dirt too well. I loved the pull-up brake you could engage on one wheel while you were coming to a stop and spin around.
You were low to the ground and with a good hill, you could really go. If it rained you would pedal that plastic wheel and go nowhere until you caught some traction.
The Big Wheel was developed by Louis Marx and Company in 1969. The toy was hugely popular in the 70s and 80s because of its low cost and partly because consumer groups said it was a safer alternative to the traditional tricycle or bicycle.
Different versions came out as it was copied by other companies. The Green Machine made by Huffy was a version of the Big Wheel.
Just in case you want to own an iconic 1970s Big Wheel…not just a Big Wheel but a Big Wheel Deluxe with the box…no problem just shell out $2,500.
This is a great country – rock song and its acoustic feel is great. The song peaked at #27 in the Billboard 100 and #40 in Canada in 1975.
This is an article from the Tennessean about Amie… written by Dave Paulson in 2016
“Amie, what you want to do? I think I could stay with you for a while, maybe longer if I do.”
“Aime” certainly has stuck around. The Pure Prairie League song — recorded in 1972 — took three years to turn into a hit, but has since endured for decades. The band’s Craig Fuller told the story of “Aime” to Bart Herbison of Nashville Songwriters Association International.
Let’s take it back. Pure Prairie League is a band out of Ohio. You’ve done it the hard way; you’ve played the clubs, been on the road for years. In 1971 you finally attract the attention of RCA.
CF: RCA New York. They came to see us play a festival in Cleveland. … I think they brought the (A&R) fellow back with the power to sign. Then we played on the front porch of our house and they said, “Oh, that’s good, let’s do that.”
So you recorded the album “Bustin’ Out.” In terms of musicianship, it’s still one of my favorite records ever. It still actually sells CDs. And RCA signed you, but then they drop you. But “Amie” gets some airplay on country stations and airplay on pop stations and college stations and AOR stations. … So in 1975 they re-sign the band and put the single out.
CF: Well, when we recorded it in that mecca of country music Toronto, Canada, it was longer, and I think they edited it for radio and got it shorter. I guess you’re right. It kept bubbling there along and they decided to give it another shot promotion-wise.
Who is Amie?
CF: Just a song I wrote. Just an exercise in song craftsmanship.
Boy, people really dissect that song — about what it’s about. I’ll give you my take on it: The guy may have waited too long. You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.
CF: That’s just as fair as my take on it, because all I was doing was stringing words and music together.
There’s some genius to it. You fell into one, Craig, I’m telling you.
CF: I think the track on that song had a lot to do with it. We were up there luxuriating (with) a large budget for back then. We were in Toronto all summer right across from Maple Leaf Gardens. It took us all summer to record that record. It wasn’t even mixed yet and at that time Gordon Lightfoot came in. We had the whole (studio) blocked out in the days and Gordon Lightfoot would come in and record in the evening. He did a record in two weeks. Stompin’ Tom Connors, who was a guy from Canada, country kind of guy, he did a record in two nights. So we were just up there having a good time.
So tell me about the resilience of that song. Through the decades you’ve played it around the world. That’s one that everybody recognizes. So the lead singer of Evanescence, Amy Lee, apparently was named after that song, even though she spells it with a Y. I told you we were just in D.C. lobbying for songwriters two or three weeks ago and ran into another Amie that allegedly was named after that song. You’ve got to hear that a lot.
CF: I’ve had mothers come up and say, “I named my daughter Amie — and she named her daughter Amie.”
Wow. That means it’s been a while, right?
CF: Exactly. That was the joke.
So one last question, Craig. In your mind’s eye, did you get back with Amie?
CF: Amie is just a song so I get along with Amie really well.
Yeah, but did you get back with her? Have you ever thought about that?
CF: Does the character?
Yeah, does the character get back with her? Do they end up happily ever after or is it a hard lesson learned for him for the rest of his life?
CF: I suppose the protagonist of the song is just laying it out and then it’s up to her.
I love that version.
Amie
I can see why you think you belong to me, I never tried to make you think, Or let you see one thing for yourself, And now you’re off with someone else and I’m alone, You see I thought I might keep you for my own.
Amie, what you wanna do? I think I could stay with you, For a while maybe longer if I do.
Don’t you think the time is right for us to find, That all the things we thought weren’t proper could be right in time, Can’t you see which way we should turn together or alone, I can never see what’s right or what is wrong, ‘Cause that take too long to see now.
Amie, what you wanna do? I think I could stay with you, For a while maybe longer if I do.
Come on now, Amie, what you wanna do? I think I could stay with you, For a while maybe longer if I do.
Now it’s come to what you want, you’ve had your way, And all the things you thought before just faded into gray, And can you see that I don’t know if it’s you or it’s me, But if it’s one of us I’m sure we both will see, yeah, Won’t you look at me and tell me.
Amie, what you wanna do? I think I could stay with you, For a while maybe longer if I, longer if I do.
Amie, what you wanna do? I think I could stay with you, For a while maybe longer if I do.
I keep fallin’ in and out of love with you, Fallin’ in and out of love with you, Don’t know what I’m gonna do, I keep fallin’ in and out of love with you.
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
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
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.
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.
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 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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 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.
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.”
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
Will it go round in circles? Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky? Will it go round in circles? Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky?
I’ve got a story, ain’t got no moral Let the bad guy win every once in a while I’ve got a story, ain’t got no moral Let the bad guy win every once in a while
Will it go round in circles? Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky? Will it go round in circles? Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky?
I’ve got a dance, I ain’t got no steps, no I’m gonna let the music move me around I’ve got a dance, I ain’t got no steps I’m gonna let the music move me around
Will it go round in circles? Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky? Will it go round in circles? Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky?
Well Well Well Well
Will it go round in circles? Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky? Will it go round in circles? Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky?
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
Will it go round in circles? Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky? Will it go round in circles? Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky?
Go round in circles Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky? Will it go round in circles? Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky?
One of my favorite toys growing up. To this day I like collecting any vintage lighting fixture like soft drink clocks or signs probably because of this toy. They came with designs that you could use to create different cartoons and clowns but I never used those. I liked to create my own masterpieces.
This toy allowed you to be creative in a very different way. It brought out the artistic side in you. You could design different things and it would light up your room in the dark with colors.
Lite-Brite was invented by Joseph M. Burck, a senior designer at Chicago toy and game design company Marvin Glass and Associates.
Of course…when I got older I would make crude messages on the Lite Brite for friends.
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 