These are a few of my favorite feel-good sing-along tunes from the early seventies. None of them are true one-hit wonders, but none of the artists had a sufficient number of major hits to warrant a Night Owl dedicated just to them. Basically they’re a few odds and ends that, in my memories anyway, kinda sorta go together.
A couple of notes:
You might not remember “One Toke Over The Line” if you grew up in one of the regions where it was banned (I’ll let you guess why, but it may not be the first thing you think of). It was a top 10 hit everywhere else.
Free’s “All Right Now” video below is from a live show recorded in 1970. After disbanding, Paul Rodgers (power vocalist) and Simon Kirke (wildman on drums) formed Bad Company in 1973.
Although “Hitchin’ A Ride” was released on album and as a single elsewhere in 1969 (Vanity Fare is a band from the U.K.), it wasn’t released in North America until March 1970. So, for my money, it’s a song of the seventies.
1969/March, 1970 (U.S.)
Hitchin’ A Ride (2:58)
Vanity Fare
1970
All Right Now (4:43)
Free
1970
Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) LIVE (7:25)
Melanie
(with The Edwin Hawkins Singers)
1970/1971
One Toke Over The Line (3:20)
Brewer & Shipley
1971
Signs (4:02)
Five Man Electrical Band
1971
Look What They’ve Done To My Song, Ma (3:48)
Melanie
1971
Put Your Hand in the Hand (2:57)
Ocean
1971
Brand New Key (2:28)
Melanie
1972
Alone Again (Naturally) (3:35)
Gilbert O’Sullivan
1972
It Never Rains in Southern California (3:54)
Albert Hammond
1972 (album)/1975 (single)
Amie (4:20)
Pure Prairie League
1972
Clair (3:04)
Gilbert O’Sullivan
1973
Brother Louie (3:58)
Stories
1973
Get Down (2:45)
Gilbert O’Sullivan
