1977: Music Memories

In each decade, there’s generally one year that I’d happily return to. For the 1970s, it would be 1977. I was 15, with lots of delightful crushes on girls that were way out of my league 😀. I continued to discover old Beatles and Pink Floyd albums.

I also started working as an apprentice fitter, and earning. My initial training was done in AnCO, in Donnybrook Cork. It’s all changed now. We started on the top floor in October 1977, when Yes Sir I Can Boogie was number one in the charts. Then we moved to the bottom floor and did welding. After that, that we went through milling, turning, pneumatics and hydraulics, pipe fitting, and general maintenance. I can mentally walk around the building and remember most of the instructors and fellow apprentices. But there’s nothing at all on the web about it. I’m just sorry that I didn’t have a camera back then.

On Fridays, we’d go to classes in the Regional Technical College (RTC) in Bishopstown. I remember one lecturer telling me that I was the youngest student he had and that I might well be the youngest third-level student in Ireland.

I wasn’t earning much, but I bought a Hohner organ. It didn’t have the variety of sounds that you’d get nowadays, but it was a great friend to me for many years. Around that time a few of us went to a Wurlitzer organ sales exhibition in the Metropole hotel in Cork, where an Englishman demonstrated various models. They were way out of my price range, but I could probably find virtual models of them all now and play them on a midi keyboard connected to my computer.

Early in 1977, I saw Horslips at the City Hall, and I saw the show, John, Paul, George, Ringo and Bert, in Father Matthew Hall aka Everyman Theatre. It’s basically the story of the Beatles, and they performed too – a sort of tribute band. It was the closest I got to seeing the real Beatles. But I did see Paul McCartney at Live Aid, and I saw him in Dublin in 2010.

So, I was big into the Beatles and Pink Floyd in 1977. I didn’t take a huge interest in chart music, but I love it all now because it brings me back to 1977. I often heard chart music while walking around the Casbah market in Cork, near the Opera House. It opened around 1977. I think that it only opened at weekends, and it wasn’t there for long. Two songs that I remember hearing for the first time there are Hotel California by the Eagles and Maybe I’m Amazed, by Paul McCartney, off the recently released live album. And of course, there was the smell of sweet hot doughnuts. I don’t think that I ever bought one, but I liked the odour.

One of the most memorable songs of 1977 was Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder.

Spiritually, I was still searching in 1977. Being into the Beatles, I was probably exploring Eastern religion. I remember a group of Baptists handing us literature at The Lough in Cork. I argued with them and told them if we can base our faith on the Bible alone, why are you giving us your literature? A few years after, I myself was doing the evangelizing 😀. I rarely met anyone as argumentative as I was towards evangelical Christians. I met one of the evangelists in Belfast in later years. But back in 1977, I was still uncertain about which path to follow. But despite arguing with evangelicals, deep down I suspected that they were correct, simply because they seemed to be more aligned to the New Testament than my own Roman Catholic Church was. But I also wondered if God might have revealed himself in other religions.

Eastern religions seemed much more interesting than my own Roman Catholic Church. None of my friends showed many signs of genuinely believing in Catholicism. It seemed that we only practiced it because it was the cultural thing to do. And missing Mass was a mortal sin. So, if you didn’t go and you died the next day, you’d end up in hell. So, I didn’t want to switch to any other church or religion until I was 100% sure that I was doing the right thing. There was a TV show about the Bible on RTE called Best Seller but I have no memory of watching it.

Some Irish Hits of 1977

I wasn’t as aware of Irish music in 1977, or maybe I had less interest in singles in general. I never liked Irish music much to start with, apart from the handful of rock groups, but here are some Irish singles that I do remember.

• Someone Else’s Land – The Swarbriggs
• It’s Nice to Be in Love Again – Swarbriggs Plus 2 (Ireland’ Eurovision entry)
• How Much Time – Brendan Shine
• I Believe in Love – Jamie Stone
• And God Created Woman – Freshmen (A re-release of a 1970 hit)
• Hey C’Mia – Shay Healy – Joke song based on Mamma Mia
• And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda – Makem and Clancy
• I’ll Do It All Again – Tina Reynolds
• A Spaceman Came Travelling – Chris De Burgh
• There was a Dream – Colm Wilkinson
• Cinderella – Billy Brown
• Goodbye Goodbye – Chips
• Big Tom is Still the King – Susan McCann & The Storytellers
• Thinkin of a Rendezvous – Roly Daniels – originally from India, but an Irish star
• Man Overboard – The Times
• Some Broken Hearts Never Mend – Brendan Shine
• Do You Want to Do It – Gina, Dale Haze & The Champions
• Television Screen – The Radiators from Space – Ireland’s first punk single.
• When Benji Wrapped the Tractor Round the Old Oak Tree – Brendan Grace – in later years, he was the bad priest in Father Ted,
• Dancin’ in the Moonlight – Thin Lizzy
• Looking After Number One – The Boomtown Rats
• I Need You – Joe Dolan
• Me and the Elephants – Glen Curtain
• Romano – Geraldine
• I’ve Been Waiting for You – Gina, Dale Haze & The Champions
• One Day at a Time – Gloria
• Exiles – Horslips

One Day at a Time by Gloria is the one I hated most. It seemed to be in the charts forever. But it’s a Christian song, and I sang it on a bus tour in the days coming up to my conversion in August 1980. It was an odd thing to do, but I was wanting to get away from being a slave to coolness. The bus driver invited some of us to sing to entertain each other on the long journey home. Funny how I knew all the words. 😀.

When I look at the lyrics now, they are a lot more relevant to me than all the punk songs that I once adored. For example, why would I want to smash my telecaster through the television screen 😀 (Television Screen – Radiators from Space). Being a young male, you want to feel tough. I think that the best way to prove that you’re tough is to be good at sport. But I wasn’t any good at sport. So, aligning myself to punk rock made me feel tough, but I did genuinely like some of the music too.

Who Played Cork in 1977?

I saw the Stranglers in November in the City Hall. They were supported by Radio Stars. I remember hearing Exodus by Bob Marley playing before the acts came on. I wasn’t going to go, but I heard a few good songs shortly before the concert in a record store. I think that it was Kenny’s Korner, near St Peter and Paul’s Church. It’s long gone now.

I also went to my first Downtown Kampus gig in the Arcadia in November 1977. It was an Irish group (Tweed). Over the next few years, I saw The Undertones, U2, Lene Lovitch, The Pirates, The Radiators from Space, Bethnal, Dr. Feelgood, Racing Cars, and a good few other UK groups there. But the main venue for international acts was the City Hall. I sometimes kick myself for not bothering to go and see many impressive international artists. Ticket prices were astonishingly low back then. Nowadays you’d pay more for tribute acts.

• January
  • Up With People – City Hall
  • ​Horslips – City Hall and Innishannon
• February
  • Horslips – Redbarn
  • Dick Emery Show – Connolly Hall
• April
  • Bernie Flint – Opera House
  • Andy Stewart – Commedore Hotel Cobh
• May
  • Harry Secombe – Opera House
  • Glen Miller Orchestra – Opera House
  • Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen – Carnabys – Daunt Square
• July
  • Julie Felix – Majorca, Crosshaven and Redbarn
• August
  • Vince Hill – Opera House
  • Paper Lace – Stardust
• September
  • Dr. Feelgood – City Hall
  • The New Seekers – Opera House
• November
  • Rolf Harris – Imperial Hotel (Autographing Stylophones)
  • Mud – Stardust
  • Demis Roussous – Savoy
  • Berni Flint – Savoy
  • Dead End Kinds – Stardust
  • The Stranglers – City Hall
  • Status Quo – City Hall
• December
  • Andy Stewart – Majorca, Crosshaven
  • Boomtown Rats – City Hall

Favourite Songs of 1977

Here I’ll list some of my favourite international hits of 1977. At that stage I was more into albums than chart music, but some of these do bring back sweet memories😀. I do remember many more, but I didn’t want the list to be too long.

• Don’t Believe A Word​ – Thin Lizzy
• New Kid In Town​ – The Eagles
• When I Need You​ – Leo Sayer
• What Can I Say – Boz Scaggs
• Year Of The Cat​ – Al Stewart
• Sound And Vision​ – David Bowie
• Rockaria – ELO
• Knowing Me, Knowing You​ – Abba
• Maybe I’m Amazed​ – Wings
• Go Your Own Way​ – Fleetwood Mac
• Going In With My Eyes Open​ – David Soul
• Red Light Spells Danger​ – Billy Ocean
• Lay Back In The Arms Of Someone​ – Smokie
• Sir Duke​ – Stevie Wonder
• White Riot – The Clash
• How Much Love – Leo Sayer
• Solsbury Hill – Peter Gabriel
• The Shuffle​
• A Star Is Born (Evergreen)​- Barbera Steisand
• Hotel California – The Eagles
• Lido Shuffle​ – Boz Scaggs
• Tokyo Joe – Bryan Ferry
• In the City – The Jam
• Halfway Down the Stairs – The Muppets
• Telephone Line – Elo
• Sheena is a Punk Rocker – The Ramones
• Peaches – The Stranglers
• Baby Don’t Change Your Mind – Gladys Knight and the Pips
• Show You The Way To Go​ – The Jacksons
• So You Win Again​ – Hot Chocolate
• Exodus – Bob Marley
• I Feel Love​ – Donna Summer
• We’re All Alone – Rita Cooledge
• Dreams – Fleetwood Mac
• It’s Your Life – Smokie
• Something Better Change​ – The Stranglers
• Nobody Does it Better – Carly Simon
• Magic Fly​ – Space
• Way Down​ – Elvis Presley
• Sunshine After The Rain​ – Elkie Brooks
• Down Deep Inside​ – Donna Summer
• Silver Lady​ – David Soul
• From New York To LA​ – Patsy Gallant
• Another Star – Stevie Wonder
• Wonderous Stories​ – Yes
• No More Heroes​ – The Stranglers
• Star Wars Theme​
• You’re In My Heart​ – Rod Stewart
• Rockin’ All Over The World​ – Status Quo
• Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft​ – The Carpenters
• Heroes​ – David Bowie
• Name Of The Game​ – Abba
• We Are The Champions​ – Queen
• How Deep Is Your Love – The Bee Gees
• Turn To Stone​ – ELO
• Belfast – Boney M
• Watchin’ The Detectives​ – Elvis Costello
• Mull Of Kintyre – Wings
• Hollywood – Boz Scaggs

10 Movies of 1977

• Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
• Annie Hall
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind
• Saturday Night Fever
• The Spy Who Loved Me
• New York, New York
• Jesus of Nazareth
• High Anxiety
• A Bridge Too Far
• Slap Shot

I remember seeing Monty Python and the Holy Grail in 1977. It was my favourite funny film for years after. I didn’t bother with Star Wars, but I did see it with The Empire Strikes Back in 1982. I think that I did see The Spy Who Loved Me. I was irritated by all the hype associated with Saturday Night Fever. But it is a great album. I’m not sure about the movie. I saw Jesus of Nazareth in 1980. It was so impressive that I hardly ever liked any other movies about the life of Jesus after that. I think it’s on YouTube. Let me see…..Yes it is – all six hours! Jesus of Nazareth. I hardly ever watch movies in one go these days. I generally watch them in 30- minute segments, and always at home. I don’t think I’ve been to the cinema since the Covid lockdown. I use virtual cinemas on my Oculus. Bigscreen Beta is a free app.

Some Albums of 1977

• Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
• David Bowie – Low
• Pink Floyd – Animals
• Steely Dan – Aja
• Television – Marquee Moon
• Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell
• The Clash – The Clash
• Talking Heads – Talking Heads: 77
• Bob Marley & The Wailers – Exodus
• Elvis Costello – My Aim Is True
• Billy Joel – The Stranger
• Eagles – Hotel California
• Lynyrd Skynyrd – Street Survivors
• Donna Summer – I Remember Yesterday
• Kraftwerk – Trans-Europe Express
• Eric Clapton – Slowhand
• Horslips – Aliens
• The Stranglers – Rattus Norvegicus
• The Stranglers – No More Heroes
• David Bowie Heroes
• Electric Light Orchestra – Out of the Blue
• Ian Dury – New Boots and Panties!!
• The Jam – In the City
• Status Quo – Rockin’ All Over the World
• The Boomtown Rats – The Boomtown Rats
• Thin Lizzy – Bad Reputation

10 Key News Events of 1977

• IRA Murder – 1 Jan: A baby boy was killed in an IRA car bomb explosion near Belfast 
• Gary Gilmore executed, becoming the first person put to death after the U.S. reinstated the death penalty
• Apple Computer is incorporated by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. 
• Jimmy Carter inaugurated as the 39th President of the United States
• Space Shuttle Enterprise makes its first test flight atop a Boeing 747
• Peace activists Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan win the Nobel Peace Prize for efforts in Northern Ireland
• In Ireland, Fianna Fáil wins a landslide victory, ousting the Fine Gael–Labour coalition in Ireland’s general election
• Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Silver Jubilee, marking 25 years on the British throne
• Tenerife airport disaster, the deadliest aviation accident in history, kills 583 people
• Roots mini-series airs, drawing 130 million viewers and sparking conversations about race and history

Some TV Shows That I Would Have Watched in 1977

Some People Who Passed Away in 1977

• Elvis Presley
• Maria Callas
• Ronnie Van Zant
• Bing Crosby
• Marc Bolan
• Groucho Marx
• Charlie Chaplin
• Joan Crawford
• Anthony Eden
• Peter Finch

Hymns from 1977

I didn’t know any of these in 1977, but I became familiar with them in the early 1980s. Sometimes it’s hard to discern when these were first sung, but, if I remember correctly, I used the dates shown in Mission Praise for these. It could be that 1977 was when they first appeared in a hymn book.