Super Hits of The 70s: Have A Nice Day, Vol. 4

The single, "One Toke Over the Line," peaked at #10 (#5 in Canada) and was the group's biggest hit. Spiro Agnew said the song with its reference to marijuana use was "blatant drug-culture propaganda" that "threatens to sap our national strength."

Mike Brewer can give this account of the origin of the song, "One day we were pretty much stoned and all and Tom says, “Man, I’m one toke over the line tonight.” I liked the way that sounded and so I wrote a song around it."[4]

A cover version was performed by Gail Farrell and Dick Dale on The Lawrence Welk Show, which billed it a "modern spiritual."[5] The song is notably mentioned in the opening of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and was notably "sung" by Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro) in the film of the same name.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8tdmaEhMHE

Not my favorite volume, but still some solid tunes. My gut says either 'Yellow River' or 'I Ain't Got Time Anymore'.

Can't remember if 'Tarkio Road' is on one of these comps, but that's a muuuuuch better Brewer & Shipley single.

I've never understood the appeal of any version of 'Mr. Bojangles'.

"Tarkio Road" is coming up in a couple weeks.

"Rose Garden" is like a Proust madeleine for me.

I'm never able to properly hear 'Rose Garden' as an isolated piece of music because I only heard it for the first time many years after being inundated by Kon Kan's 'I Beg Your Pardon'.

uuuuuugh Stay Awhile *shudder*

Lots of snooooooozes this time around. I usually put on a playlist of the entire series so this might be the first time I've really paid close attention to the individual volumes.

'Sweet Mary' and 'Silver Bird' are about the only other contenders for me.

This blew my mind slightly (from Glenn Sutton's wiki):

Sutton is also well known for his personal and professional association with Lynn Anderson, his wife from 1968 to 1977. He produced many of her hit recordings, including her signature-mega hit "(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden". The album, by the same name as the single, reached number one in 16 countries around the globe and was the biggest selling album by a female country artist from 1971 until 1997.

I'd have thought Dolly or Tammy or Reba or even Donna Fargo* would have had that pre-Shania honor.

*Happiest Girl In The Whole USA was in every $1 bin I looked at between 2000 & 2008.

xxpost Don't you mean *shiver*? Or perhaps *quiver*?

Yeah "Stay Awhile" is clearly the soundtrack to a gauzy 1971 porn scene, except truly gross thanks to the 'girlish' singing.

I'll be curious, once the series has been thoroughly polled, to learn what people's absolute least favorite song is. I already know mine (it doesn't come until much later, volume 21 to be precise).

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/cryptosicko/playlist/7uDzzK5HqgZ8XFyeqb6yTg?si=cGVUCnBuTJiPZN_ONMdviA

almost want to go for through the night bc of the MST3K runner it spawned

Having just blasted through this, the winner is absolutely 'Yellow River' by a country mile.

I remember some country crossover hits on the top 40 station of my youth, but pretty sure they never played Ray Price or Sammi Smith.

Adolescent me loved "Mr. Bojangles" for reasons I can't clearly explain. I ordered Uncle Charlie from Record Club of America and proclaimed the NGDB my favorite band at the time, so I can't not vote for it here.

I was sure that every list would have at least one song I loved; this has a few I like. "Rose Garden," probably, with an assist from Kon Kan.

XP: "FTGT" was Price's only Top 40 Pop hit (#11). "HMMITTN" did the same for Smith (it hit #8). But I definitely see both tracks not making it in certain markets.

Man that Lynn Anderson track has like all my favorite country bells and whistles.

The Glass Bottle track wouldn't play for me on Spotify for some reason. Here's a youtube (prefaced with a guy talking about the song) for anyone else having that problem...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m404nPW-hXY

First two tracks and "Woodstock" are the only two tracks I've heard.

... lol, three tracks! "Yellow River" and "Rose Garden" are classics though.

The Mark Lindsay one has the advantage of hitting the same big horn-driven high as "Arizona" without being quite as sleazy as frickin' "Arizona." But as always he works with some strange goddamn lyrics.

Get aboard the silver bird, departing gate 19.
Satisfy your Walter Mitty mind, tryin' out a dream.
Your sign is Capricorn and every corner of your mind,
Says you'll remain my friend, my friend until your mine.

...

When you come home my crazy heart will greet those silver wings.
Your pet dog will remember you, and I'll carry your things.

I've never understood the appeal of any version of 'Mr. Bojangles'.

I was 4 when it came out. QED.

As for what I would pick...Lynn, probably? Though "Mr. Bojangles" did make me realize how much of indie rock for the past twenty or so years has tried to be that but, I dunno, 'edgey.' "Yellow River"'s fun.

I don't think I'd actually heard "Yellow River" before, but I feel it's creators had heard Sir Doug's "Mendocino" before, as the chorus hook is similar.

12 year old me loved the woozy steel on "Woodstock" but present day me admires Sammi Smith's exquisite vocal more than anything else on this list.

Ray for all the good times

I don't think I'd actually heard "Yellow River" before, but I feel it's creators had heard Sir Doug's "Mendocino" before, as the chorus hook is similar.

Not sure how popular the Sir Douglas Quintet were in Leeds tbh.

Ian Hunter knew 'em!

Ah, true!

I don't understand why this volume is such a dud, relatively speaking. '71 is an embarrassment of pop riches (I have a hand-picked 400+ song playlist of 1971 tunes that I deem top notch). To the extent that we still have several more '71-centric volumes ahead of us, so I don't understand why they didn't drop a few more classics on this disc.

Agree that it's noticeably weaker than the first two. Stick "One Bad Apple" on there for a start!

IIRC, there are no Osmonds tracks in this series. Which is weird.

Must have been a rights issue.

Voted "Rose Garden" btw.

It's a pity (?) there's no formal video for the Bells travesty but some joker did this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfMPDj3Pllc

Oh and here's a photo of Ken Tobias, who wrote said tripe:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Ken_Tobias.png

In 1972, Ken Tobias released "Stay Awhile" as the lead track on his album Dream #2.

Here's a twist...and yet it isn't.

In 1978, he toured Europe, and while there he collaborated on the soundtrack of the Italian spaghetti western Sella d'Argento (Silver Saddle/They Died with Their Boots On), directed by Lucio Fulci.

Most likely (re: Osmonds). "Crazy Horses" and "Down By The Lazy River" will be sorely missed down the road.

As for the Bells themselves, sultry! *gag*

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/The_Bells_%281970%29.png/250px-The_Bells_%281970%29.png

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Here's a twist...and yet it isn't.

_In 1978, he toured Europe, and while there he collaborated on the soundtrack of the Italian spaghetti western Sella d'Argento (Silver Saddle/They Died with Their Boots On), directed by Lucio Fulci._

Did Kris Kristofferson "do a Zeppelin" and refuse to release any singles or something? Anyhow, these are top notch versions of two quality songs. Particularly taken with Ray Price's effort.

Checking wiki, apparently the only single from his s/t debut was "To Beat The Devil", which is cray when you considered how loaded with hit copywrites it is.

ooh, "Silver Bird" is good. Imagining Lalo Schifrin was asked to arrange a Eurovision Song Contest entry! I may vote for this.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Spiro Agnew EAT A DICK

THE MAN CAN'T BUST OUR MUSIC

One Toke Over the Rose Garden

or:

I Never Promised You A Toke

Trying to imagine the mash-up artist of 1971 desperately trying to splice master tapes together to create that.

Dickie Goodman, where art thou?

Super Hits of The 70s: Have A Nice Day, Vol. 5