A 70’s collection of songs about avoiding crowds, either by choice… or not. I played all of these, except for ‘Isolation’, during my AM radio DJ days on an Adult Contemporary station.
Eric Carmen’s ‘All By Myself’ is based upon Rachmaninoff’s Concerto for Piano #2, featured 30 years earlier in the superb David Lean film, Brief Encounter. Written by Noel Coward, this deftly nuanced, devastating study of two married, middle-aged people who fall crashingly in love is the finest example of a truly adult film in the best sense of the term. Celia Johnson is beyond wonderful in this role.
I had such a huge crush on Miss Sunderland. Shorter edits of songs are very easily explained. There were single versions for AM radio and album versions for FM radio. The first song of note to be thought of in that way was ‘Light My Fire’ by The Doors. But even the single cuts came in both mono for AM and, on the flip side, stereo for FM. By the 70’s the mono versions weren’t mixed that way, they were simply “folded in” by hitting the mono switch.
Being a Doug–of-all-trades DJ must have been fun. All great songs! Even Lennon, who often rubs me the wrong way. Not here.
I always thought “Alone Again …” had the most upbeat pop song tempo for such a depressing subject matter. It’s an earworm I love to sing.
For me, Boz is either super-romantic or jivey. Here’s he’s the former. For my money, his “Look What You’ve Done to Me,” is a the ultimate female swoon song.
“All By Myself,” is great, if a bit melodramatic. I HATED how most stations cut out his great piano solo.
Barry Manilow, of course, based his Drama Queen opus “Could It Be Magic” on Chopin’s Prelude in C Minor, Opus 28, #20. Again, his most excellent, if rushed, piano bridge is excised on most radio stations.
My beloved “Groovy Kind of Love” by The Mindbenders (minus Wayne Fontana) rips off Rondo from Muzio Clementis, Sonatin, Opus 36, No. 5. I still prefer it over the Phil Collins version, which is slower and very good.
I remember our 5th grade music teacher, Mrs. Sunderland, playing “Bach’s Minuet in G Major,” and all of us immediately recognizing “A Lover’s Concerto” by the Toys. She was awesome, and “The Mikado is still the pinnacle of my Silvermine experience, next to Art Club.
I’m sure there are plenty of other classically influenced pop songs. My favorite is the use of Ives’s “Central Park in the Dark” in the bridge of the Buckingham’s “Susan.” Even DENNIS didn’t recognize that one right away when you quizzed him.
But none of those are lonely 70s songs. Here’s an arcane 60s favorite of mine: “New York’s a Lonely Town” by the Tradewinds, 1965, an obvious Jan & Dean/ Beach Boys rip-off. Can you post it? There’s Bobby Vinton’s “Mr. Lonely, too!
Finally, my commentary on “Brief Encounter,” another female fave, would take even longer! Much better than “Love is a Many Splendored Thing.”