The Great Hits and Albums of 1971

 You know how you envy people, especially when you're young? I'm well over that now.  I used to wish I could be as handsome as David Cassidy and as talented a musician as Karen Carpenter, both close to my age. They both died after years of unhappiness, Carpenter at 32 and Cassidy at 67. I'm still here, and despite the pandemic, the usual problems of being over 70, and not being rich or adequately famous, I have a good life. The last six weeks, I've taught a class called "The Great Hits and Albums of 1971," as a volunteer at Osher Life-Long Learning, through West Virginia University's School of Public Health. David Cassidy, as part of The Partridge Family, and Karen Carpenter, who formed Carpenters with her brother Richard, have been  featured in this class. 

I've gained an appreciation of the hard work and commitment of people in music who were also politically involved, people like Aretha Franklin, Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield and Gladys Knight. I have more  respect for David Bowie and Elton John, and "Lola" by the Kinks, breaking  barriers around masculinity. While many people were blaming John or Paul for the breakup of The Beatles, videos from 1971 show Paul and Linda and John and Yoko in love. I have memories of young women I knew who swooned over Carole King's Tapestry  Joni Mitchell's Blue, and "Best New Artist" at the Grammys, Carly Simon. I still think of "So Far Away" from Carole King when I think of friends I miss in California. I played a video of Joni Mitchell accompanying herself on dulcimer, singing her song "California" that knocked me out. 

I was too old for The Partridge Family and The Osmonds, but I am still in awe of The Jackson Five, especially little Michael, who had a brilliant career as an adult, but an early and sad end to his life.

I look at The Bee Gees, three brothers, the younger two twins my age. Someone in class noted that their syrupy ballads, moving syrupy ballads, but still,  were nothing like Saturday Night Fever. Barry Gibb, the oldest brother, is still with us, but the twins died a few years apart some time ago. 

The Beach Boys also were three brothers, where the younger two have died, and the eldest is still here. This was a time of a lull in their career, but their albums from 1970, 71 and 72, Sunflower, Surf's Up  and Holland, have always been among my favorites. I played "Until I Die" from Surf's Up in class, and fifty years later, I still cried when I heard that song. 

I'm ending my class tomorrow with two songs from Gonna Take A Miracle by Laura Nyro, a songwriter who decided to do an album of covers of songs by other writers, and recruited Patti Labelle's new group, Labelle, to sing backup. Although the album never cracked the Top 40, had no singles, and was not on recommended lists from Rolling Stone or Spin, it is my favorite album from 1971. The Word magazine listed it as one of "The 60 Best Underrated Albums." There's a cult of Laura Nyro fans, and I'm in it, and it centers especially around this album. I could earn a PhD. from explicating it. The album is on YouTube. Check it out.

I don't know if I'll teach another OLLI class. I do a lot of research and these classes take way too much of my time. I've been doing this for more than eight years, and I've done a class for every year from 1960 to 1971. Still, I enjoy it, and I think people in my class do, too. I would like to do some other writing, maybe a book, and clean up the piles of trash in my office space left over from my time on Morgantown's City Council.

But just yesterday, I had a thought about classes I might teach. 1972 would bring us Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen and Steely Dan, and a new era for Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon. Or maybe six weeks of R&B heroes: Isaac Hayes and David Porter, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Nikolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson and Holland, Dozier and Holland. Or six weeks of women artists: Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Carly Simon, Janis Joplin, and Gladys Knight. How about women in country music from Patsy Cline to Loretta Lynn, June Carter, Dolly Parton, Lynn Anderson and Sammi Smith? Make me stop! I don't want to work this hard. But maybe I will.