1972: Music Memories

I date the start of my interest in pop music to around September 1972.

Thin Lizzy were exceptional in that they were Irish. Another popular Irish artist of that era was Gilbert O’Sullivan. And one of my favourite Irish groups of the 1970s, Horslips were just starting out around then.

I didn’t generally like Irish music much at all, but I do enjoy finding Irish oldies from that era nowadays simply because they’re so rare. I’ll list all the Irish hits that I remember from 1972. These are a mix of country music, ballads, and covers of international hits.

Some Irish Hits of 1972

• These Are My Mountains – Brian Coll
• I Don’t Know How to Love Him – Tina and the Real McCoy
• Hello Darlin – Roly Daniels
  • Roly Daniels was originally from India. He was born there in the 1940s and moved to Ireland in the mid-1960s, where he became a beloved figure in the Irish showband and country music scene.
• The Men Behind the Wire – The Barleycorn
  • This was released in 1971, but still a big hit in 1972. It was all about internment, which was introduced in Northern Ireland in 1971.
• Kiss Me Goodbye – Red Hurley and the Nevada
• The Manchester Rambler – Sean O ‘Se
  • Sean O’ Se is a well-loved Cork tenor, known as “the pucker”, for his song, An Poc Ar Buile.
• Ceoil an Ghra – Sandie Jones
  • Ireland’s 1972 Eurovision entry, the only entry in the Irish language. The national contest was held in my hometown, Cork that year.
• Johnny’s Wedding – Horslips
• Four Green Fields – The Flying Column
• Sunday Bloody Sunday – The Paddywagon
  • Not the better known U2 song. This was related to the 1972 shootings in Derry by the British army, where they fired into the protesting crowd.
• What Do I Do – Sandie, Joe & the Dixies
• Beautiful City – The Donal Ring Sound
  • A song about Cork
• Hold Me – Red Hurley and the Nevada
• Michael Collins – Sean Dunphy & The Hoedowners
• On the One Road – The Wolfetones
• Far Too Young – Brendan Shine
• The Gypsy – Dermot Henry and The Virginians
• Take the Money and Run – Joe Dolan & The Drifters
• The Entertainer – The Times
• Promise and the Dream – Tommy Drennan
  • For whatever reason, I liked this song. Tommy Drennan was from Limerick.
• Just the Way I Am – Gloria
  • I remember Gloria singing this on an Irish pop show, “Like Now”. Gloria had a huge hit in later years with One Day at a Time.
• Give Me Your Hand – Family Pride
  • Family Pride were an Irish group, perhaps something like the New Seekers. The Wolfe Tones also had a version of the song. I remember one of the Family Pride members, Ann Bushnell, releasing a few solo singles. In later years, she did an Edith Piaf tribute. and she was a backing singer for some Eurovision stars.
• All I Have to Offer You is Me – Johnny McEvoy
• Does My Ring Hurt Your Finger – Mattie Fox & The Country Blue Boys
• Keys in the Mailbox – Buckshot
• March of the High Kings – Brendan Shine Superband
• Suffer Little Children – Canon Sydney MacEwan and The Cork Children’s Choir
  • I think that this was performed at St Francis Church in Cork. It was part of the mass of St Francis of Assisi. 1972 was also the year of Brother Sun, Sister Moon, a movie on the life of Francis.
• Whiskey in the Jar – Thin Lizzy
• Darling – Pat Lynch and the Treetops
  • Pat Lynch, from Blackpool, Cork, was my welding instructor. In fact, I was taught welding my three of the lynch brothers. I wasn’t very good at it, but that was my fault, not theirs 😀.
• Cliffs of Dooneen – Planxty
• Cushy Butterfield – Brendan Grace
• How Great Thou Art – Kelly and the Nevada
  • One of my favourite hymns. I didn’t make much of it in 1972. The first time that I heard it sung in church was at the Upper Room Christian Fellowship Cork, shortly after my conversion in 1980.
• Gilbert O’Sullivan, from Waterford, had three international hits in 1972. We were all very proud of him. He became my favourite pop star until I discovered the Beatles in 1972.
  • Alone Again (Naturally)
  • Ooh-Wakka-Doo-Wakka-Day
  • Clair

Who Played Cork in 1972

I was too young to attend concerts in 1972, so I don’t remember any of these, but it was interesting to find this information in later years. I won’t list Irish showbands or ballad groups, who played regularly.

• January
  • Brinsley Schwarz – Kampus Kitchen – Admission 35p
  • Thin Lizzy – City Hall
  • Tremeloes – Stardust
  • Chieftains, Horslips, Barleycorn on the same bill at the Savoy, January 28th
• February
  • Julie Felix and Danny Doyle – Savoy
• April
  • McGuinness Flint – Stardust
• May
  • Tom Paxton – Savoy
  • Rory Gallagher + Sleepy Hollow – City Hall
  • Horslips – City Hall
• June
  • Thin Lizzy – Stardust
• August
  • Chicory Tip – Stardust
• October
  • Horslips – Savoy

It wasn’t a great year for international stars. However, if you travelled to Dublin in 1972, you could have seen Genesis, Focus, Deep Purple, Status Quo, Fairport Convention, Jethro Tull, The Kinks, and Slade.

General Personal Memories

The “Treasures of Tutankhamun” exhibition took place at the British Museum in 1972. I remember our teacher telling us all about Tutankhamun and ancient Egypt. That was one of the “happy” memories of school life. And we also learned about Moses. I remember being hugely impressed by The Ten Commandments movie, which I saw at the Pavilion cinema in Cork that year. And I saw Ben Hur at the Palace cinema. These were both old movies, even then.

I grew out of toys after that, though I maintained an interest in model railways. And of course, I discovered computer games as an adult. I went to my first disco too – in Ballyphehane Community Centre. And we always went to Crosshaven for our holidays.

I got my silver medal as part of a relay team. I think that I probably contributed very little myself. After all the sport, we retreated into a room and had a little talent contest. I think they might have been trying to use up the cardboard medals. I sung I Lost My Mammy, an Rolf Harris song. It went down very well. I remember them all laughing and clapping and the scout master giving me a gold medal 😀.

I sometimes think of all that when I think of the gospel. Those who trust in Christ go to heaven not because of their own merits but because our Lord Jesus Christ won it for us. So, it’s a bit like my relay team experience. The important thing wasn’t how good I was. I just happened to be on a good team. And if you are trusting in Christ, you’re on his team. Then what about my singing medal? Well, I didn’t think my performance amounted to much, but maybe they felt sorry for me. Whatever happened, they were kind and gracious to me. After we trust in Christ, we try to live a life pleasing to God. We won’t do very well, but now we’re adopted into God’s family and he delights in our obedience. When I committed my life to Christ in August 1980, someone reminded me that when a sinner repents, the angels in heaven rejoice. So, it was something like all those other kids delighting in what I did and the scoutmaster giving me a gold medal. The Bible speaks of heavenly reward and at the same time says that we get to heaven on Christ’s merit. Well, we give all the credit to Christ, but anything little thing that we do after we trust in him delights God.

Luke 15:7
I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Favourites

Even though I was half-way through the year before I became interested in pop music, I was aware of earlier hits of 72. Here I’ll list 20 international favourites from 1972.

• Morning Has Broken​ – Cat Stevens
• Beg, Steal Or Borrow​ – The New Seekers (UK Eurovision entry)
• Come What May​ – Vicky Leandros (Eurovision winner)
• What is Life – Olivia Newton John
• A Thing Called Love​ – Johnny Cash
• Metal Guru​ – T-Rex
• Sister Jane​ – New World
• Mary Had A Little Lamb​ – Paul McCartney and Wings
• Amazing Grace – Pipes & Drums & Military Band Of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
• Circles – The New Seekers
• Popcorn – Hot Butter
• Run To Me​ – Bee Gees
• Conquistador – Procol Harum
• You Wear It Well​ – Rod Stewart
• All The Young Dudes​ – Mott the Hoople
• Mama Weer All Crazee Now​ – Slade
• Children Of The Revolution​ – T-Rex
• The Guitar Man​ – Bread
• Love Theme From The Godfather​ – Andy Williams
• GudBuy T’Jane​ – Slade
• I Don’t Believe In Miracles​ – Colin Bluntstone
• Solid Gold Easy Action​ – T-Rex
• You’re So Vain – Carly Simon
• Happy Xmas War is Over – John and Yoko

Morning Has Broken, Amazing Grace, and A Thing Called Love had spiritual themes. I think that I’ve mentioned these elsewhere in this blog.

10 Movies of 1972

• The Godfather
• Cabaret
• The Poseidon Adventure
• Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
• What’s Up Doc
• Butterflies are Free
• The Concert for Bangladesh
• The Magnificent Seven Ride!
• Dracula AD 72
• Brother Sun, Sister Moon

I don’t remember seeing any of these, but films that I remember seeing in Cork cinemas in 1972 include the following:

• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – at the Ritz
• Scrooge – at the Savoy
• The Ten Commandments – at the Pavilion
• Pinocchio – at the Ritz
• Ben Hur – at the Palace
• The Million Dollar Duck with Charlie the Lonesome Cougar – at the Savoy
• Diamonds Are Forever – at the Savoy
• Flight of the Doves – at the Savoy

New TV shows included Emmerdale Farm, The Brothers, The Onedin Line, Mastermind, and Are You Being Served. The Adventures of Black Beauty appeared around then too.

Some Albums of 1972

• Neil Young – Harvest
• David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
• Stevie Wonder – Talking Book
• Deep Purple – Machine Head
• Roxy Music – Roxy Music
• Pink Floyd – Obscured by Clouds
• Gilbert O’Sullivan – Himself and Back to Front
• Carly Simon – No Secrets
• Horslips – Happy to Meet, Sorry to Part
• Cat Stevens – Catch Bull at Four
• Transformer – Lou Reed
• Slade – Slayed
• Little Jimmy Osmond – Killer Joe
• Moody Blues – Seventh Sojourn
• Neil Diamond – Hot August Night
• The Sweet – The Sweet’s Biggest Hits
• Status Quo – Piledriver

10 Key News Events of 1972

• Bloody Sunday – Fourteen unarmed civil rights protesters were shot dead by British soldiers in Derry, Northern Ireland — a defining moment in The Troubles
• Jack Lynch and Patrick Hillery signed the treaty to join the European Economic Community, paving the way for Ireland’s 1973 entry
• Twelve senior Irish businessmen died in a plane crash near London while en route to Brussels for EEC talk
• The Official IRA detonated a car bomb at Aldershot Barracks, killing seven civilians in retaliation for Bloody Sunday
• Following Idi Amin’s expulsion of Asians from Uganda, over 20,000 refugees resettled in Britain
• U.S. President Richard Nixon’s historic trip to China marked the beginning of normalized relations between the two countries.
• Palestinian group Black September took Israeli athletes hostage, resulting in 11 deaths and global shock.
• Watergate – Five men were arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters — the scandal that would eventually lead to Nixon’s resignation.
• A Uruguayan rugby team’s plane crashed in the Andes; survivors resorted to extreme measures, later inspiring books and films.
• NASA’s spacecraft became the first to travel through the asteroid belt and head toward Jupiter — a milestone in space exploration.

People Who Passed Away in 1972

• Cecil Day-Lewis (22 May) – Irish-born Poet Laureate of the UK and father of actor Daniel Day-Lewis
• Edward VIII (Duke of Windsor) – Former King of the United Kingdom who abdicated in 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson
• Sir Oswald Mosley (controversial figure) – Former leader of the British Union of Fascists, died in December 1972
• Mahalia Jackson – Gospel singer with a powerful voice and civil rights presence; passed away on January 27, 1972
• Joe Gallo (April 7) – Notorious New York mobster known as “Crazy Joe,” assassinated in a gangland hit. He was the subject of the Dylan song Joey from his Desire album.
• J. Edgar Hoover (May 2) – Longtime Director of the FBI, influential in shaping U.S. law enforcement
• Harry S. Truman (Dec 26) – 33rd President of the United States, known for ending WWII and the Marshall Plan
• Maurice Chevalier (French actor and singer)
• Jackie Robinson (Baseball player, first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era)
• Margaret Rutherford (British actress)

Hymns from 1972

I didn’t intend this series to cover hymns, but as it happens quite a number of hymns that I became familiar with in the early 1980s were first published in 1972:

• Come and Join the Celebration
• Father, we adore you
• For his name is exalted
• God forgave my sin
• Hallelujah for the Lord our God
• He is here
• I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live
• Seek ye first
• Therefore the redeemed of the Lord

These were the songs we’d sing in Tipperary Christian Fellowship, along with the old hymns, in my time there, which was 1994 to 2020. I’m now trying to familiarize myself with 21st Century hymns, but the old hymns and the 1970s choruses are very much my world – along with all the old secular songs 😀. So I’ll end with Ireland’s 1972 Eurovision entry and my favourite hymn from the list above: