55 songs in 55 days - one for every year of
my life...so far.
So at the very end of 1970 I was given a record player, then for my birthday in 1971 I received one of those new fangled cassette tape recorders. It felt like I'd achieved almost total independence - could life get any better? Meanwhile, in 1972, a ridiculous amount of great records were being released, some became the soundtrack of my life then ('Virginia Plain', 'Silver Machine', 'Take Me Bak 'ome', 'I Can See Clearly Now', 'Rocket Man', 'School's Out', 'John I'm Only Dancing', 'American Pie', 'All the Young Dudes', 'Mother & Child Reunion', 'Walk on the Wild Side', 'You Wear It Well' and many more), while others I discovered retrospectively, the following year or even later. In fact I'm still bumping into great music that I've never heard before, from 1971, 1972 and 1973. It was a rich period.
And of course, in 1972 there was T.Rex. Read about my first LP, 'The Slider' (here) and memories of my first gig (here), (here) and (here).
Let's leave music momentarily though, to discuss the thorny subject of my waistline. The eagle eyed amongst you might have noticed from the photo in the previous post, that by 1971 I had started to fill out a little, but by 1972 my growth spurt had temporarily stopped, erm, spurting - in an upwardly direction at least. I continued to grow in an outwards direction though - just look at this black and white Polaroid, taken in November 1972! Count those chins!
So as I'm spoiled for choice when it comes to selecting a song to represent this pivotal year, I thought I'd throw in a bit of a curveball. In addition to being a big year for several of the names I've already mentioned, 1972 was a massive year for Donny Osmond. 20 years later, I met Donny Osmond and i'll tell that tale one day, but for now I'm not focusing on the mawkish monster solo hits, but his parallel career as a member of The Osmonds. The Brothers had a run of three rockin' singles during this period, which made me and my pals briefly sit up and take notice. The third was 'Goin' Home', issued in 1973. In the middle is the one we all know, 'Crazy Horses' from October 1972. The first of the run, 'Hold Her Tight', came out in the Summer of '72 and, though I didn't know it at the time, tips its hat very strongly towards Led Zeppelin's 'Immigrant Song'. Ignore the date on this brilliant clip, it's definitely 1972 all the way.
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4 comments:
Haha, yes you have thrown us a curveball, I wasn't expecting that! Great clip, the Osmonds rawk...
You're channelling a bit of an Osmond look there yourself too, young man.
It would be a couple of years later that my crush on Donny led to me briefly joining the Osmonds Fan Club... I say, briefly...
I had no idea that the Osmonds had it in them - I'll have to "eat my words." Though I admit the '70s don't hold much interest for me, musically speaking (plus life was getting complicated, so I missed a lot), there were some gems mixed in that I enjoyed - the Rod Stewart LP, Cat Stevens 'Tea For the Tillerman' and lots of singles in between (yes, including some disco guilty pleasures.)
Receiving your very cool gift of the cassette recorder must have set off a flurry of "compilation tapes." Did you keep any of them?
All the songs you have listed have stood the test of time.Have always lved Crazy Horses by The Osmonds
C. Glad you enjoyed the tune. Me & my pals were a bit shocked at the time, anticipating something along the lines of 'Puppy Love', but for that brief period The Osmonds did indeed rawk! We didn't join the fan club though!
Marie. Oh yes I was a habitual compilation maker and still have a few old 'uns knocking about!
CC. There really is such a lot of great music to be had from 1971/72/73. I was only scratching the surface.
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