Jan 202008
I can’t profess to ever knowing much about former Kingston Trio member John Stewart, but as a lad I always was fascinated by the Lindsey Buckingham-produced “Gold”, on which Stevie Nicks duets. Maybe it was the shades! I do recall reading the story of mutual influence between Stewart and Buckingham.
that riff was in my unconscious mind already.
i must have heard that song when it ws out, and not since.
I remember driving around in cars that only had AM radios back then, and John Stewart was a welcome relief from disco and Nick Gilder. Kind of like finding almost enough shade to cool off on a hot day, but ultimately not satisfying. I had no idea he was in The Kingston Trio. I always thought he came out of nowhere and just had great friends.
2000 man, you have PERFECTLY described the simple pleasures of Stewart’s output on the AM radio at that time.
This really is a total triumph of production over content. Not that that’s such a bad thing, but — imagine the song didn’t have that arrangement, and those guitar/keyboard sounds. It’d suck!
kilroy, we share the same experience with this song. i think it was in heavy HEAVY rotation for a solid two weeks and then *poof*, it was gone forever.
In support of HVB’s point, Stevie flubs the words at 1.35 (“the story…s’there…takin’…”) and they just left it in.
her track was was probably finished after a few lines of blow, one or two takes and a few punch-ins.
this song could’ve only been a hit in the post-Rumors / pre-Tusk era, when the Mac could do no wrong.
i remember thinking, as a kid, that a very popular song about people making money off of songs was pretty cynical, especially since it was the sound Stevie’s voice that probably put it over the top, commercially.
not bad for some blow and a few takes.