Jukebox Junior: Playing records to a girl called Junior
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Singles Of The Year 1973
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Ok, form an orderly queue for your 1973 CDs
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[1] David Bowie, 'Life On Mars?'
On ‘Hunky Dory’ in 1971, of course, yet only released as a single in 1973. Qualified.
It’s over-analysed, over the top, over some ‘My Way’ chords, overtly great and over here. Recorded before the Ziggy Stardust period, but a hit after, it’s a Bowie creative peak appearing at his commercial peak. I don’t think he’d ever manage that again. Ok, he probably did, decent theory or not. Viewers, he was brilliant.
The opaque lyrics have been pored over, but they’re best belted out when you’re stuck in a three-hour traffic jam between junctions nine and five of the M25 on a Friday afternoon with your baby daughter staring at you in wonder from the passenger seat. That’s what I find, anyway.
The 1973 chart limps to a finish at last. Who wants a CD of it, then? I’ll deal with the lawyers.
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[2] Marvin Gaye, 'Let's Get It On'
As an 11 year old soul boy, I remember where I was when I heard that Marvin Gaye had been shot. We were on holiday at the country hotel in Yorkshire where my sisters and I rather unworthily reckoned our baby brother first came into being. Mum, Dad, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry. In fact, I’d rather it hadn’t entered my mind.
It was all such a stupid waste. The Marvin Gaye bit, I mean. My little brother’s a capital fellow. Yes, most of his best work was far behind him (Gaye, that is, etc.), but ‘Sexual Healing’ had hinted at life in the old dog yet. In Marvin, I mean, not my Dad.
After the astonishing ‘woe is the world’ seamless hymn of ‘What’s Going On’, the big man (Marvin) turned to matters of the trouser, to magnificent effect. ‘Let’s Get It On’ is one of the all-time greats. Our Junior could wiggle along to the loping groove, oblivious to the lascivious rhythms and moans but in tune with the pop nous that makes the song as good as it is. She was amazed that there’d been a better single that year.
This is, of course, the ultimate lovers’ track, but let’s stop it right there.
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[3] Lou Reed, 'Walk On The Wild Side'
We listened to this last Friday, on Junior's mum's birthday. Then the laptop broke, then the library's network went down, THEN I watched a whole bunch of World Cup matches. Someone or something is conspiring against this entry. It's not Junior, I'm sure. She thought the song deserving of its Classic status, bobbing about on her mum's lap, musing over the ethics of that 'coloured girls' bit and wondering about the supposed shock value of 'shaved his legs and then he was a she'. I mean, she sees that sort of thing on Big Brother every day. With this, Lou Reed's reputation was sealed. If he so wished, he'd never have to make a decent record again. So he didn't.
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[4] Stevie Wonder, 'Superstition'
Junior knows a killer groove. She shook her Pampered booty, rocked back and forth, and, as is customary, tore over to the mixer to turn it up to 11. If there’s one thing this, erm, experiment has proved, it’s that dancing is genetic. I mean, I’m sure I didn’t teach her. She’s too coordinated for a start, and doesn’t look all that stupid.
The bassline is unimpeachable, the chorus exciting, the horns strutting. Stevie was settling into a five year strain of unusual genius that would end up choking his creative airways for good, but he can live off this and the other mid 70s classics forever. Listen to him growl the second ‘Superstition ain’t the way’. Makes you want to hug yourself.
This is your favourite Stevie Wonder single.
Secretly, you sing ‘I Just Called To Say I Love You’ in the shower.
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[5] Aretha Franklin, 'Angel'
There are certain artists Junior needs to be introduced to before it’s too late, aren’t there? When she’s interviewed about her influences in years to come she has to be able to say, ‘Oh, when I was growing up the house was filled with the sounds of Aretha, Dylan, Otis, Microdisney…’ like they all do, rather than ‘Actually, my parents seemed to listen to nothing but Kylie, Blue and B*witched…’.
‘Angel’ was one of those songs that drew the nipper towards the stereo. It’s a beautiful, baffling track. I mean, I bet Aretha didn’t realise that her sister Carolyn was going to dump all THAT on her when she came round. It’s our gain, but I don’t suppose she had a pleasant afternoon.
It may not be her canonical ‘best’ single, but it’s my favourite. Her voice is astounding, and the song’s so good that she gets away with a SPOKEN WORD intro and a dizzy mix of saxophone, strings, horns and Hammond.
The song wears its lushness on its sleeve, so why on God’s earth Mick Hucknall and the Fugees decided it would benefit from being pared down for a ginger caterwauling cover, one can only guess. I mean, that would take one hell of an ego.
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[6] Carly Simon, 'You're So Vain'
This was on my original list, but then I realised that I, er, didn’t own it. Steely Dan’s ‘Reelin’ In The Years’ was drafted in, despite protests from certain quarters (of my brain) that it wasn’t a 1973 UK single. Finally, a post mortem was avoided when Carly’s single was unearthed in a charity shop on Saturday. All clear?
The single’s a true child of the early 70s, with its sunny, comfy mix of rock and pop and storytelling candour. It’s an unabashed singalong track too, probably sung along to by just the sort of chap it’s written about. Warren Beatty? Mick Jagger? David Beckham? Who really cares- it’s enough that there are rumours. Lyrics don’t matter much to Junior yet; she’s happy to be swung around the room to a rolling tune. She wouldn’t mind frisbeeing the odd 7” single, mind you.
What of Carly Simon? The lantern-jawed popstress is still with us, but she hasn’t often troubled the chart scorers. Still, anyone who can release this and ‘Nobody Does It Better’, and work with Chic in her late 30s AND sing on ‘Kissing With Confidence’ is alright by me.
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