It's a lovely new day in DD, albeit a little cold for my liking. The rain had been going on since yesterday evening. The husband drove to the other town for errands, and we (Yongi and I) chose to stay. And there was not much we could do but sleep, eat, and sleep some more. What a life we have, huh?
Not the best, but we are thankful for the freedom we have. No deadlines to beat, no boss to answer to, no one telling us what to do. Well, except for the voice in our heads sometimes, lol!
We watched Black Widow earlier, and I liked one of its soundtracks, which I'm now including in my picks of 1970 songs. After all, it's Tuesday, which equates to the TTT initiative by Ablaze. And so, here we go!
Most might have heard or encountered this song at least once. I did too, I don't recall when exactly, but it must have been many years ago. Hearing it again today made me curious because I didn't even know who the singer was.
A quick search led me to the folk-rock singer Don McLean, the "King of Trail" or the "American Troubadour," whatever these mean.
Anyhow, the single was probably the longest song I've ever listened to (can't name any other). It was recorded over 5 decades ago (1971) and became the singer's biggest song. Accordingly, it stayed on the top chart as the longest song for 50 years until Taylor Swift unseated it in November 2021. What a record that must be for McLean!
Interestingly, it was referred to by critics as "folk-rock's most ambitious and successful epic endeavor," a "monumental accomplishment of lyric writing," and in 2017, the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Recording Registry as a "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" (src)
I can't say more, but I love this - the rhythm, the singer's voice, the melody, and the accompaniments.
Moving on, here's tune two from the same artist:
This song, released in 1970, is so soothing, it makes me want to doze off and adventure into Wonderland.
Accordingly, it is the singer's tribute to Vincent Van Gogh, the first line of its lyrics referring to the painter's The Starry Night painting. He wrote the lyrics after reading about Van Gogh's life, and I quote:
In the autumn of 1970 I had a job singing in the school system, playing my guitar in classrooms. I was sitting on the veranda one morning, reading a biography of Van Gogh, and suddenly I knew I had to write a song arguing that he wasn't crazy. (src)
What an artistic way to tell the painter's life story in a song! It's a beautiful piece for sure!
And not to make this post lengthy, here's the third:
Tender vocals, soft guitar, good lyrics. It was the singer's debut single in 1971. This song landed in the Adult Contemporary and Easy Listening category, reaching the top 40 on the US Billboard. (src)
Wiki says it became his final pop hit before he shifted into the country music genre in the mid-1980s.
And there ends this edition of 70s tunes. They're oldies but goodies. Hope you enjoyed them as much as I did😉
Lead image by Suzy Hazelwood via Pexels. No copyright infringement intended. 17062025/13:43ph