It's February 2, 2014, Super Bowl Sunday. I've spent the night at my mother's townhouse and, following breakfast and a shower, have made it over to Mom's room at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Florence.
Dad's been gone since early December; several months before he died, Mom learned that she had inoperable lung cancer. She managed well overall at first, getting out and about more or less as she normally would, but a spell of bad weather in January kept her home for a number of days. It could be that the inactivity contributed to fluid buildup around her right lung. Getting it drained in the ER the previous weekend turned out to provide only temporary relief, so they've decided to insert a catheter in order for home health services to swing by as needed for draining her. This requires a couple of nights at the hospital, followed by time in a rehab facility. It will turn out that she'll need to have supplementary oxygen going forward, as well.
I'm sure I have grading to do, but come around noon I'm fiddling with the TuneIn app on my iPad, looking for a station playing that weekend's 70s AT40 rebroadcast. It's been a little over eighteen months since I became re-obsessed with these countdowns. I'd heard parts of 2/1/75 the day before, but I'm about to discover that was actually the alternate show (provided for stations who don't want to dive deep into the earliest parts of the decade)--the primary offering is from 1/30/71. I'm about to discover some tunes I'll come to associate with this place and moment in my life.
Here are four that I've heard again this weekend, when the 2/6/71 show was rebroadcast. I'll put them in the order they were played on 1/30/71.
Little Sister, "Somebody's Watching You"
To be honest, this one registered less with me back then, but now, I'm thinking ten seconds in that it sounds an awful lot like a Sly Stone joint. As indeed it is: the group consists of the Family Stone's backup singers, and the song itself appeared previously on S&tFS's Stand! album. This was Little Sister's second and final Top 40 hit.
Jackie Moore, "Precious, Precious"
Ho-lee cow, is this awesome. Moore co-wrote "Precious, Precious" with Dave Crawford, who Wikipedia cites as her cousin (Crawford would later also write "Young Hearts Run Free" for Candi Staton). She must have been strictly a singles artist at the time, as it would be another two years until she released an LP. Moore had just this one foray into Caseyland, but did hit #1 on the disco chart in August '79, covering a Bell & James jam originally recorded by the O'Jays, "This Time Baby."
Liz Damon's Orient Express, "1900 Yesterday"
Another one-hit wonder and another complete charmer of a song, though the act is far more obscure than Ms. Moore. Damon and company were based in Honolulu; Casey mentions that Liz was only 22 at the time "1900 Yesterday" made the charts. This article notes that the act continued to record but never came close to another hit. It's a side note the author makes in passing that caught my eye, though: he mentions that at the time the article was written (which I can't discern), Damon is serving as "casino host and entertainment director" at the Westward Ho, on the Las Vegas Strip. That was the hotel at which my bridge friends and I stayed in July of '91 during the summer national tournament. I didn't spend any time at the Westward Ho's casino, but I can't help wonder if it's possible that I passed by her in the lobby during my stay.
Rufus Thomas, "(Do the) Push and Pull (Part 1)"
Perhaps Thomas's biggest claim to fame is that his daughter Carla beat him to the Top 10 on the pop charts, as her "Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes)" got there before his "Walking the Dog" by nearly three years. He was an entertainer through and through, practically from cradle to grave. Almost a year before "Push and Pull" (#31 on 1/6/71, heading toward a #25 peak), Thomas hit with another dance number, "Do the Funky Chicken," that had reached #28. While hearing the song now doesn't ring the slightest bell, I've known there was such a dance ever since I picked up the October 1971 issue of Archie's Joke Book:
I still have about a dozen Archie comic books from the early 70s--I think I'm going to be revisiting them all again soon.
Fun as "Do the Funky Chicken" is, "(Do the) Push and Pull" is much better, a stunning piece of Memphis soul.
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I stayed with Mom overnight at the hospital--I think I was concerned about the weather. We (well, I doubt she cared too much) watched Seattle demolish Denver. Her procedure the next day went just fine. She was still in rehab on my 50th birthday ten days later; my family and I visited her the weekend following to celebrate belatedly.
As it happens, it was one year, one month, and one day after those four songs entered my life that my mother passed away.
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