I hated this song with a passion in '75. I liked John Denver up to that point and bristled at the negativity he got from both the country aficionados as well as the rock community. I liked his ballads as well as his homespun, I-love-country sentiments even though I wasn't much of a fan of the genre and wasn't raised in that location. What I don't like is the we're-better-than-you attitude inherent in that community and this tune was just another put down dressed up in an aw-shucks, ain't farmin' and hoe-downs a grand way of life. My circle of friends concurred and Denver was forever referred to as "cakes on the griddle" as we practiced our own brand of snobbism. Somehow, somewhere I started paying more attention to the music itself, the infectious nature and exuberance in the performance and lo and behold, I became a fan. Closeted to be sure but a fan nonetheless. These days, even the lyrics don't grate. 'Course, it could also be that I hated his next chart topper, or one half of it even more but we'll deal with that in a bit.
I agree. I can't think offhand of the upcoming song you're thinking of, but I am thinking of another one several years down the line.
John Denver just couldn't win Imagine living in a decade as corny and tacky as the 70's where Elton John wears Donald duck suits, Barbra Streisand has a perm and Barry Manilow has a full fledged career and STILL being considered uncool.
He only did that once in 1980 at the Central Park concert. Elton's crazy costumes and glasses were pretty much gone by that time.
It was set in Santa Monica, California. You really should watch it. It is one of the funniest shows in television, and John Ritter was a slapstick comedian on the league of Lucille Ball. In fact, she hosted the anniversary show.
There have been many instances of where the live version is better than the studio version. We've already had Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water" on the chart, though it didn't hit #1. Most people today are familiar with the studio version, but, it was a double-sided single with the edited live version from "Made In Japan" on the other side. Some radio stations played the studio, some played the live version. My local station only played the live version, which is the only version I play and put on my comps.
Things got even worse for John Denver when fans discovered that he was really born in Roswell, New Mexico, not Colorado, and his last name is Deutschendorf. Minor issue, but it was just another criticism that was piled on. Like his British peer Olivia Newton-John, he was never really a country artist, and despite his awards for such, country fans complained about that, too.
The Waltons though was a million miles removed from the tacky crap that got the axe in the "rural purge" back in '71. Both it and Little House On The Prairie were a lot smarter - and a lot more daring - than the kitsch that had gotten the axe. Especially in their first few seasons, before series rot set in (neither program probably should have gone on beyond 5 seasons, especially as major cast members began peeling off).
The only place where I heard the live version of "Smoke On The Water" was on a Warner Special Products compilation LP which was in the summer camp I stayed summers in during the latter part of the '70's. WABC Musicradio 77 played the studio version, and having heard both, I prefer the studio'.
I had never heard the studio version until I got it on a Warner Special products CD in the 90s. I much prefer the live version.
It does seem that who prefers which version is contingent on what they'd heard on the radio, way back when . . .
If two Country flavored #1s in a row isn't enough to convince anyone what a big year '75 was for that genre, consider the fact that 4 out of the Top 10 songs this week were Country tunes: Thank God I'm A Country Boy - #1 When Will I Be Loved - #6 Before The Next Tear Drop Falls - #7 I'm Not Lisa - #8 Well, golly!
I like TGIACB, don't love it or hate it. My go-to version is the Live at the Sydney Opera House one (and it was that way long before I moved here) - he really takes a fairly weak song and breathes a lot of life into it.
These two songs are hard to categorize. "When Will I Be Loved" is an old Everly Brothers rock & roll song, but had wide appeal with country artists. I'd say Linda's version is a rock & roll song with a slight country flavoring. The Freddy Fender song is tex-mex, traditional Mexican music with, again, wide country appeal. I can't call it country. His next single that we'll get to soon is decidedly blues.
I'm not sure why what I said is/was so amazing, but if you want to think that, then go right ahead! I only heard the studio version of "Smoke on the Water" and it is the only version I know. Never bought a 45 of it. I eventually obtained a copy of the song via the Deepest Purple compilation LP, and that LP also contained the studio version.
I was going to upload a YouTube video of the edited live version but there was only one, and the uploader decided to remove the audience clapping and live ambiance, and the sound is horrendous. It's apparent to me that the uploader was also used to the studio version.
I'm lukewarm towards Thank God I'm a Country Boy, but that still makes it one of the better chart-toppers over the previous couple of years.
As far as Fender's tune, if the C&W chart thinks enough of it to push it to the top, I'm not gonna argue the point.
The Freddy Fender song sure sounds like country. It plays regularly on Sirius-XM's Willie's Roadhouse, which plays "traditional" country music, from the 1940s to the 1980s. I have become a regular listener to that channel. It joins the other ones I listen to (in order): 60s, 70s, 50s, 80s (only for 1980-84), Prime Country (80s-90s).
Linda's cover of "When Will I Be Loved" easily crossed over the country line of country/rock. It went to #1 on the American country charts, her first and only single to do so. It in fact sounds like the template for much of the country music to come over the next decade.
Another thing to consider is that in 1975 the Back to the Land movement was still very much a thing, with city and suburban folks dropping out of the rat race (or usually just dreaming of it) and living the rural lifestyle. TGIACB played right into that impulse, as did the Wilderness Family movies that started coming out around then.
