Let’s hear it for the sounds of the 70s
Looks at the UK hits of 1971 as the Rolling Stones’ Brown Sugar notches up 50 years
A MOVIE set in the Australian outback saw the birth of Rolling Stones hit Brown Sugar.
Sir Mick Jagger was filming Ned Kelly about the real-life 19th-century Aussie outlaw when he began writing the song which would eventually appear on the album Sticky Fingers.
It has been claimed over the years that the track is about drugs, sex and slavery. Mick’s then-girlfriend, American-born performer Marsha Hunt, is also said to have inspired the rock ’n’ roll classic.
It was released in April, 1971, and became one of the soundtracks of the year. Mick has said “a good thing never ends”, and 50 years later, Brown Sugar has become part of music culture.
Beatle George Harrison reached number one in the UK singles charts the same year with his first solo single My Sweet Lord.
“I wasn’t Lennon... I wasn’t McCartney,” he said. “I was me and the only reason I started to write songs was because I thought ‘Well, if they can write them, I can write them’”.
The song was his biggest hit and was recorded at Abbey Road using much of the same equipment the Beatles used. It reached number one again in 2002 when it was released following George Harrison’s death from cancer at the age of 58.
Marc Bolan and T Rex were chart regulars in 1971 with a multitude of hits including Ride A White Swan, Get It On, Jeepster and Hot Love.
“There is so little time for us all. I need to be able to say what I want quickly and to as many people as possible,” said Marc, who tragically died in a car crash in 1977 when he was just 29.
Maggie May was a hit for Sir Rod Stewart that year and reached number two in the charts.
In 2007 Rod told music magazine Q that the song was about the first woman he had sex with.
Slade also brought rock and roll to the charts with their first number one hit Coz I Luv You. Singer Noddy Holder said it took 20 minutes to write and two days to record it. The single remained in the charts for 15 weeks.
Other song favourites of the year included Cher’s hit Gypsys, Tramps And Thieves, which gave the American singer her first US solo number one and also brought the release of her first music video.
“I’ve always taken risks and never worried what the world might really think of me,” she has said.
Tony Christie was enjoying chart success with murder ballad I Did What I Did For Maria, while BBC radio presenter Tony Blackburn was responsible for the Diana Ross album track I’m Still Waiting being released as a single.
He championed the number and promised to make it his record of the week and play it every morning on his show if it was released as a single. Record label Motown did just that and it became the first solo UK number one hit for the former Supreme. “If I have someone who believes in me, I can move mountains,” Diana has said.
Scottish band Middle Of The Road came out with upbeat pop song Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep with the lyrics “Ooh, wee, chirpy chirpy cheep cheep, Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep chirp”.
Novelty records thrived in 1971. Nancy Sinatra, daughter of Frank Sinatra, teamed up with Lee Hazelwood for the duet Did You Ever? It sold more than a million copies and was nominated for three Grammys.
Dad’s Army actor Clive Dunn was 51 when he had a number one hit with Grandad and the single spent
nearly 30 weeks in the charts. Herbie Flowers and Kenny Pickett wrote the song specially for Clive.
He once said of the single: “It sold 90,000 copies in one day. I bought a house with it”.
Benny Hill had the last laugh with his comedy offering Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West). The single was a Christmas number one and the lyrics had Ernie fighting for the love of widow Sue against his rival, bread delivery man, Two Ton Ted from Teddington. Henry McGee appeared as Ted and Jan Butlin as Sue in the accompanying film for the song.
Benny, himself a former milkman, wrote Ernie in 1955 for a film that was never produced and he dusted if off for his 1971 comedy album Words And Music. The single also reached number one in the Australian charts.
As for Brown Sugar, it has been called one of the greatest songs of all time and topped the charts in America and Canada, but only reached number two in the UK. It was kept off the top spot by Knock Three Times by American pop group Dawn featuring singer Tony Orlando, and his plea to a girl in the flat below him to “Knock three times on the ceiling if you want me, twice on the pipe if the answer is no.”