EVIL SQUIRREL: I just got done spray painting my record collection gold like you suggested!
SCRATCHY: (Looks up from her phone) Huh? Oh, you really did that….. ha! Of course you did.
ES: And it was a great idea! Now all my wonderful vinyl from the 80’s looks spiffy and keen! Good thing I keep a can of gold spray paint handy to touch up Hung Lo’s belly when it scrapes the ground. Let’s see how one of these gold records sounds!
BZZZZT…. FBBBBTZZZ……CRRRRKKKKKZZZZ…..
ES: Strange…. that’s not how Boy George should sound.
SCRATCHY: I should have told you to do this years ago so I could finally only play good shit on this turntable! Speaking of good shit…. Sponkies! Give us the next critter who thinks they have musical taste!
SPONKIE 1: Lucky number seven in the request countdown is…..
SPONKIE 2: Miss Rainy!!!!
RAINY: Oh goody! They finally picked me! Wish me luck up there, Mr. Fox!
MR. FOX: ……………………………..
RAINY: I’m so excited! You’re finally going to let me pick a song! And it’s even number seven!
SCRATCHY: Don’t get a big head there, Raindrop. I had no say in ranking these songs, so their order is highly suspect!
ES: I’ll bet you had a whole bunch of favorites to choose from too! Like Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head…
SCRATCHY: Here Comes the Rain Again…
ES: Rainy Days and Mondays…
SCRATCHY: I’m Only Happy When It Rains… that song’s Garbage!
ES: Umbrella!
SCRATCHY: You can stand under my umbrella!
ES AND SCRATCHY: ELLA! ELLA! EH! EH! EH!
SCRATCHY: You can stand under my umbrella!
ES AND SCRATCHY: ELLA! ELLA! EH! EH…..
ES: I guess we deserved that… I mean, we could have suggested “Dead Skunk.”
SCRATCHY: Totally worth it! And besides, this skunk smell will make me blend right in down at the club…
The 1970’s were rife with singer/songwriter types, most of whom were much better at the latter half of their made-up titles. Not everyone could be Carole King, James Taylor or Barry Manilow…
And that’s probably a good thing…
Occasionally, some of these singer/songwriters would record one of their own songs that somehow managed to break through and become a hit without someone flashier behind the mic. One such s/s man is the British born musician Albert Hammond. Hammond’s name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue when one thinks of pop music artists, but he made a dent in many parts of the world, oddly enough, for different songs in each country.
Here in the US, we know him for his lone hit of any renown, the #5 smash from 1972 “It Never Rains In Southern California”…
It’s kind of ironic that Hammond’s lone American success was a song about how the Hollywood business isn’t as easy to crack into as it might seem. As slow paced and sappy as this song is, I love the hell out of it… and he actually outdid this song with the hit he co-wrote for The Hollies, “The Air That I Breathe,” which is another huge guilty pleasure of mine.
He also co-wrote “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” for Mannequin. How can you not love this guy?
Here’s to you, Albert Hammond, OBE, for making it rain for five decades now!
Come back next Monday for another awesome shelf critter request!
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
love it… you can jump up and down in turns to the instrumental part with your co-pilot … if you have a beetle convertible O)
While you’re jumping up and down you can help pedal it as well!
Never knew about this guy- and I like those songs. Very singable!
Yep! I knew his hit, but didn’t know he’d written so many other songs I knew…
Never heard of Albert Hammond BUT I know the songs you mention of his and the one by The Hollies is an old fave of mine.
Pam
I love that Hollies song, especially the drums in the chorus! The Hollies were a band that was all over the place. “The Air That I Breathe,” “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress,” “Bus Stop”…. talk about three completely different songs!
Good job. He wrote so many good songs for other singers. AND his son Albert Hammond Jr. is the guitarist for The Strokes. That alone gets him on my good list.
On another note, it still surprises me that people still name their sons after themselves. So many Juniors, thirds, fourths, and so on. Can’t a boy have his own name?
Tradition dies hard. I kinda got my father’s first name, though my first name is the formal version, where my Dad…. well, you’d guess his family was redneck by his legal first and middle name. as much as my middle name makes me cringe, at least I’m not a Billy Bob.
I’m glad this guy had success at his songwriting. I like the first one a lot, remember it well, and the second one I love everything about it. 🙂
He’s another one of those people who I never knew was so involved in writing so many other songs until I checked him out for this post. He definitely wrote some good ones!
The Barry Manilow insert was interesting…and why was anyone surprised that he was gay? I knew that the first time I listened to him in 1970 (ish) with the song “Mandy”. Albert Hammond did a great job on all his songs! Thanks, E.S. Interesting Musical Monday.
I don’t think I knew Manilow was gay (though it doesn’t surprise me), but that hideous photo came from a post I did on one of Barry’s songs a few years ago. That prompted one of my readers to relate a story about someone she knew who attended one of Barry Manilow’s parties back in the day. His way of entertaining his guests was to tell them about how awesome he was all night long. That didn’t surprise me either…
I liked a song of his called “The Free Electric Band”. It only reached #48 in the U.S. but went Top 20 in the U.K.
I checked that song out….. not bad. I’d have to hear it another ten or twelve times (over time, of course!) to know whether it’s a keeper or not, but it sure is a departure from It Never Rains…
Aw, Mannequin!
One of those 80’s movies me and my sisters watched over and over!
Yes, I love it!
Such a shame to see Kowlifurnya go downhill.
Right into the sea…
Terrific Monday song! Well done Rainy.
You’re just saying that to not anger the skunk….
I quite like that song, I know it as it frequently shows up on various compilations from back in the day.
That kind of surprised me since it was apparently not a hit in the UK. When I put together a compilation of the best of The Nest’s Monday Muzak, I can count on you putting in an order, right?
Oh, for sure…
I’m in!