[geodeticman]

Thanks Mike - I guess "Windy" isn't exactly a one-hit wonder! I recall the Association having multiple hits over time.

mnmouse - thank you for correcting my bass-ackwards memory of the song we both liked. The "flower" I thought was in the group's name, not the song, and I totally forgot Skylark as the song's name, thought it was "She's a Lady". Well, glad u knew both and brought back fully such a great memory of that song. Made me think of my first girlfriend when it came out.

Janice - like u and several others, I like "The Captain of Her Heart" by Double. And B-stone - I never would have guessed the pronunciation of Double was "doo-belay" phonetically. The song really sticks in your head after you hear it; those piano riffs (?) are perfect.

Its odd how right in the middle of "America's Top 40" pop/rock stations lists, a song that could be timeless and of definately non-rock or non-pop nature "crosses-over" from other categories more non-descript than obvious crossover sources such as country, etc. comes along and captures listeners hearts, out of context so often, e.g. the Macarena, and:

"Be Happy" I forget his name. Great catchy tune.

And songs that seem from another generation sometimes capture our ears in songs like :

"The Last Farewell" by Roger Whittaker.

That caught even teenagers off guard, as it did me in the middle of listening to Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, and the Eagles. It is, as I'm sure many of you find, especially British folk (Bru? John ?) to be an invogorating and timeless song.

You can feel the salt spray and here the creaking of the mast and ropes. And such a voice ! Whittaker had a hit with this at the same time TWOTEF/"The Wreck" came out on LP in Summertime Dream.

While greatly overshadowed by Gord's masterpiece, The Last Farewell still stood out enough to functionally captivate a good portion of the teenage population (and certainly adult) in the USA and I assume elsewhere perhaps even more, as he toured in Europe and the UK more as I understand.

This song, if described broadly, was a strong deep baritone/bass voice singing with a noteworthy and charming (as my parents said when they heard it and liked it too!) British accent, and sounded somewhat like a throwback to Bing Crosby, singing with the accent, to a full orchestral background, with presumably *zero* predictable appeal to the teenage segment.

But it did, at least me and my friends. It is a song that makes u feel like you just splashed on the most invigorating aftershave ever made, and are standing on the bow of an oceangoing wooden vessel, and the waves are splashing high on a bright sunny day (corny, I know..).

If you haven't heard it, you might be surprised to feel some of this is true if you check it out. I'll try and find a hyperlink to it. For now, take my word for it please. He followed quickly with about 4 other great songs with good airplay, mostly on easy listening stations though:

New World in the Morning
Durhame Town (The leaving)
I don't believe in If Anymore
Dirty Old Town

Well the 4 above by Roger Whittaker, along with "The Last Farewell" are my new entrants. These strictly speaking do not apply to the thread's premise, if but only in one regard: He came out of nowhere (to American young audiences), had first the one hit that crossed over into top40, and then as I recall slipped into easy-listening relative obscurity (in America) with the above 4 more noteworthy songs.

I doubt if top40 listeners ever heard any but the Last Farewell, making it an unusual but *great* entry in the thread.

While continuing his career primarily in Europe and the UK as I understand, and playing some unusual mixes of old standards along with musicals and "easy listening" standards of the day in the 70's, one more Whittaker album stands out to me.

I believe it is called "Great Irish Folk Songs"
with wonderful stripped-down acoustic guitar and his *powerful* voice performing familiar-sounding -old- folk songs like "The White Cliffs of Dover" and a wonderful rendition of the "The Ash Grove" .

True "old-fashioned" pre-civil war folk songs heard frequently in the American West by immigrants often relegated to the awful conditions and prejudice of working in the mining and railroad industries in the USA.


He sings and does some full period-dress old showtunes in concert anymore, dressing as a clown, a peddler, etc. At times odd now to my taste, he can still belt out a tune that'll shatter a glass window such as his old version of "Waterboy" - another American West folk tune.

If you pick up ONE CD of his on this reccomendation alone, be SURE to get the album entitled "The Last Farewell and other hits", with an oblique profile and extreme close-up of his face covering the photo, with all the above songs shown as the first 4 except Dirty Old Town, great if you can find it along with the Irish Folk Tunes album.

Watch-out though, there are myriad remixes, re-recordings of those first four songs listed w/o Dirty Old Town, and the defining sign of the original full-orchestration productions of the magnificent four is the album I mention also containing the song "Sunrise,Sunset" as a definitive feature of the right album. You'll find numerous versions of all the first 5 songs I mentioned by him in various packages, but beware the sometimes awful re-recordings and K-tel TV compilations. IMHO (and windy tonight) form, I hope u enjoy the above songs I added as new this posting.
- Geo Steve