1971: Music Memories

• Who Put the Lights Out​ – Dana
  • Her follow up to All Kinds of Everything was a long time coming, but this was a very catchy song. I still quite like a lot of her 1970s songs, though I wouldn’t have been a fan of middle-of-the-road (MOR) music at the time
• Rose Garden​ – Lynn Anderson
  • Everyone seemed to know this one, which began with “I beg your pardon”. Though Lynn Anderson wasn’t Irish, country music was quite big in Ireland at that time.
• Sweet Caroline​ – Neil Diamond
  • I was never really a Neil Diamond fan, but you’d hear his music everywhere, and it was the sort of song that people would often sing in pubs, dancehalls etc.
• One Day Love – Angela Farrell
  • Dana had won the Eurovision the year before, so Ireland hosted the Eurovision Song Contest, and this was Ireland’s 1971 entry. I was also familiar with Jack in the Box, by Clodagh Rodgers, and the winner, Un Banc, Un Arbre, Une Rue​ for Monaco.
• When We Were Young – Pat Lynch
  • Pat Lynch was from my own hometown, Cork. And some years later, I had him as a welding instructor. People used to sing it at football matches etc.
• Hand Me Down My Bible – The Dubliners
  • This wasn’t a Christian song. It was more of a sendup of people who wanted to sound pious but weren’t very pious. Perhaps it was a dig at Protestants, who emphasize the Bible more than Roman Catholics. Luke Kelly often referenced Ian Paisley when he introduced it. The writers, Phil Coulter and Bill Martin were responsible for many other hits, such as Bay City Rollers songs, Congratulations by Cliff Richard, Puppet on a String by Sandie Shaw, and Back Home, by the England football team.
• Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep​ – Middle of the Road
  • All the kids used to sing this one. We knew it as “Where’s your mama gone.”
• My Heart Keeps Telling Me – Dickie Rock
  • I’m not sure if this was a huge hit, even in Ireland, but I remember it quite vividly from the Summer of 1971. In the subsequent years, I hated Irish music apart from rock groups, such as Horslips, The Undertones, Thin Lizzy etc. But nowadays, I love to hear all those old 1970s Irish hits. Maybe because they’re rarely played, they have a bigger emotional effect on me.
• Never Ending Song of Love​ – The New Seekers
  • They’re another group that I started to dismiss when I really got into pop music, but they had some really nice songs in the early 1970s. They even recorded a few nice Christian songs.
• (Is This the Way To) Amarillo​ – Tony Christie
  • This became a bit of a joke song in 2005, when Peter Kay mimed it for charity, but back in 1971, all the young kids used to sing it,

I’ll mention a few others that didn’t make my list 😀:

• I Don’t Know How to Love Him, was from the musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, which was quite controversial. They did the musical in Ireland. Tony Kenny played Jesus, Colm Wilkinson, Judas, and Luke Kelly, King Herod. I remember hearing an early recording of Abba’s Agnetha Faltskog singing it in later years.
• Amazing Grace. It was unusual to see a hymn hit the charts. Judy Collins had a hit with it in 1970, and the very next year, it hit the charts again, this time played by a pipe band, Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. The only other pipe bands that I remember making the charts were Scotch on the Rocks by Band Of The Black Watch in August 1975, and Mull of Kintyre by Wings in 1977, which featured Campbeltown Pipe Band. And Kelly Marie’s 1981 hit, Loving Just for Fun featured a pipe band. 😀
• Butterfly was recorded in Cork by The Montford Singers with Cathal Dunne. I can’t find the recording on the web. I found Danyel Gérard singing it on YouTube. But some sites say Cathal Dunne wrote it and others that Danyel Gérard wrote it. But the version I heard in 1971 would surely be the Cork version, though Danyel Gérard sounds the very same. I’m puzzled. Maybe I should ask Cathal. I think he’s on Facebook. Ah sure, what does it matter? 😀.

Next, I’m gonna list my top 10 songs from 1971 that I would have heard in subsequent years:

• No Matter What​ – Badfinger
  • I don’t know a lot of Badfinger songs, but I watched a few documentaries after discovering them in the 1990s. The story was very tragic. I enjoy rock documentaries and biographies. What surprises me is how difficult life is at the top. It’s sometimes tragic, but even those who have avoided the worst pitfalls often struggle.
• My Sweet Lord – George Harrison
  • I heard that in Crosshaven in the Summer of 1975, and I realized that I had heard it before. Christians sometimes complain that he snuck in “Hare Krishna” towards the end, but Beatles fans would have always known that George was into the Hare Krisha stuff. Someone said that just before he died, he dedicated the song to Jesus. It was inspired by O Happy Day from Edwin Hawkins Singers in 1969.
• If Not for You​ – Olivia Newton John
  • Bob Dylan wrote the song, and George Harrison also recorded a version.
• Won’t Get Fooled Again​ – The Who
  • They sang this one when I saw them at Live Aid. The famous line “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss” isn’t about your boss at work. It’s about revolutions and new movements that make big promises and turn out to be the same as everyone else. You even get that in churches. It’s never wise to wholly trust people.
• The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down​ – Joan Baez
  • The original was by The Band a few years earlier. I heard about them in the late 70s, but sometime in the current century, we bought The Last Waltz DVD, and it’s something that we watch again and again. It’s a wonderful song.
• No Matter How I Try​ – Gilbert O’Sullivan
  • I think that I first saw Gilbert on The Late Late Show in 1972. I was a huge fan from 1973 to 1974, when I discovered The Beatles. I saw Gilbert at the University Concert Hall, Limerick in 2015. And I saw Paul McCartney at Live Aid and in Dublin in 2010. I saw a few Beatles tribute bands, but I regret never seeing the real Beatles.
• Another Day​ – Paul McCartney
  • I discovered this on a Wings Greatest Hits album around 1980.
• Riders On the Storm​ – The Doors
  • I think I probably discovered The Doors in the 1980s.
• Bangladesh – George Harrison
  • Being a Beatles fan, I took an interest in all their solo work. I probably only discovered this one in the 1990s.
• Hot Love​ – T-Rex
  • I remember seeing T-Rex albums and posters in 1971. I was big into dinosaurs so they stuck in my mind. But I only really discovered them after Children of the Revolution in 1972. It was fun to discover their older hits, such as Metal Guru, Get it On, and this one.

Personal memories of 1971 include going to Killarney and the ring of Kerry for the first time and Dublin Zoo. And we almost always went to Crosshaven for our summer holidays. I remember going to West Cork in our new secondhand car and the Upton Steam Rally. And we went to a military display in the Mardyke.

I think I was into Elvis, war movies, and Disney movies. Movies that I remember seeing include Elvis in Tickle Me, The Last Grenade, and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth. I think that I saw Ben Hur at the Palace cinema. I also saw a free film that the Mormons were showing in the Group Theatre in the South Main Street. Back then, you’d watch anything if it was free. I didn’t become a Mormon of course. I think that I remember seeing Walt Disney in it. Maybe he was introducing The Osmonds, but I wouldn’t have known about them in 1971.

Famous groups who played in Cork in 1971, include Thin Lizzy, who were billed as Tin Lizzy in February. T-Rex played the Savoy in March. Tickets cost 80p, 63p, and 50p. Roy Orbison played the Stardust in April. Slim Whitman played the Capitol in September. Tom Paxton played Cork around the same time. The Sweet played the Stardust in November. Tickets were 50p. And Rory Gallagher played the Savoy in June and the City Hall in December. I saw him in the City Hall in 1980.

Everyman Theatre had a Luther play in November. I didn’t know anything about Martin Luther at that stage, though I do remember going to a Luther play in the Everyman around 1984.

In 1971, I was more into circuses. Fossett’s, Duffy’s and Courtney’s circus would regularly come to Gillabbey rock in Cork. I used to get the Whizzer and Chips comic. And I got two white rabbits that year. They were quite dull as pets really. I joined the 7th Cork cub scouts too. I don’t know why. I didn’t like it much. My party pieces were Rolf Harris’s I Lost My Mammy and Jake the Peg. You’d be deplatformed for singing these nowadays, but back then, we all liked Rolf.

In Cork, we had our first pedestrianized street, Princes Street. It felt quite strange. A new bridge, Parnell bridge was opened near the City Hall. And Roches Stores got an escalator. It was the coolest and scariest thing ever. And Douglas got a new Quinnsworth Shopping Centre. It seemed huge to us.

Mary Tyler Moore was big on TV as was Sesame Street, and all the time you’d hear about murders in Northern Ireland. And Aer Lingus bought its first 747. We were all shocked to see Joe Frazier defeat Muhammad Ali. Joe Frazier brought his band to the City Hall in 1971. I don’t remember him having a band, but he clearly did.

I used to attend Cork Hibernians football matches at Flower Lodge. I saw Glasgow Celtic play them at one stage.

10 Albums of 1971

• Tapestry – Carole King
• What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye
• Who’s Next – The Who
• Hunky Dory – David Bowie
• Ram – Paul and Linda McCartney
• Aqualung – Jethro Tull
• Every Picture Tells a Story – Rod Stewart
• All Things Must Pass – George Harrison
• Imagine – John Lennon
• Meddle – Pink Floyd

10 Movies and TV Shows of 1971

• Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
• Bedknobs and Broomsticks
• Fiddler on the Roof
• Diamonds Are Forever
• Dirty Harry
• The French Connection
• Death in Venice
• Bananas
• Sesame Street
• Upstairs Downstairs

10 Events of 1971

• Decimalization Introduced in Ireland (15 February)
• Led Zeppelin Plays Dublin (6 March)
• U.S. Ends Trade Embargo Against China (14 April)
• Internment Introduced in Northern Ireland (9 August)
• A tragic crush at a Rangers vs. Celtic football match in Glasgow killed 66 people and injured many more
• Bangladesh Liberation War & Independence (March–December)
• Idi Amin Seizes Power in Uganda (25 January)
• Walt Disney World Opens in Florida (1 October)
• Zaire Established (27 October)
• U.S. Ends Trade Embargo Against China (14 April)

Internment in Northern Ireland was big news. Even if you weren’t sympathetic towards the republican movement, it seemed unfair to jail those who committed no crime. The Barleycorn released The Men Behind the Wire around then. We all knew the lyrics to that one. I consider myself fortunate not to have grown up in the troubles. Back in the early 1920s, Cork itself was in the midst of the troubles. Maybe most countries go through it at one time or other. I have no sympathy for terrorists, but I do sympathize with those who don’t support terrorism but are unfortunate enough to live in communities that shelter terrorists. Of course, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter, but I generally regard most of them as terrorists. I was sympathetic to those who attempted to assassinate Hitler though.

10 Famous People Who Died in 1971

• Harold Lloyd Mar 8
• Igor Stravinsky April 6
• John Charles McQuaid April 7
• Seán Lemass May 11
• Audie Murphy May 28
• Jim Morrison July 3
• Louis Armstrong July 6
• Nikita Khrushchev September 11
• Gene Vincent October 12
• Duane Allman October 29

I was big into war films in 1971, so I think I saw the biography of Audie Murphy, To Hell and Back, around that time. Louis Armstrong was well loved in our house. These are probably the only two people on the list who I would have known back in 1971.

Hymns

The focus on this series is on general music rather than hymns, but several modern hymns that I’m familiar with were first published in 1971. I wouldn’t have known them at the time, but these probably begun in the charismatic movement and gradually spread to other evangelical churches around the world (including Ireland) by the late 1970s and early 1980s, which is when I first started attending evangelical churches.

Two things used to puzzle me about Because He Lives:

… How sweet to hold a newborn baby,
And feel the pride and joy he brings;
But greater still the calm assurance:
This child can face uncertain days because He Lives!

I initially thought “Should it not be certain days rather than uncertain.” But our lives are full of uncertainty. If there wasn’t a Saviour, everyone would share the same ultimate fate as the devil and demons. And even life in this world can be full of uncertainties. So, just as my faith in Jesus helps me to cope with life’s uncertainties and gives me an assurance that I’ll be safe in the world to come, that newborn baby will have the same opportunity to trust in Jesus.

The other thing that confused me was the following line:

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone

I always find that singing that verse diminishes fear, but is it really gone? Maybe, it’s poetic license. And maybe, our ultimate ground for fear is gone. I sometimes think of this life as being a little bit like the boot camp in Bands of Brothers. It isn’t going to be easy, but it has a purpose.

James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.