Luckiest Music Generation: Moody Blues - I'm Just a Singer

[Genki Hikari]

My poor mother. It was my 11th birthday, and she was at a loss for what to get me. I was outgrowing dolls, and I wasn't old enough for makeup and nail polish (well, too young in 1973). The one thing she did know: I L-O-V-E-D listening to music on the radio. So she tentatively bought one of those "portable" record players for me (with an AM radio built in!). Couldn't find a photo of the one I had, but it looked sorta like this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/275482213605?hash=item402404fce5:g:-b4AAOSwpj9ik8L~

Anyway, she realized a record player was nothing without records, and took the scariest step of all for a lounge music lover: Going to a record store.

My younger brother went with her, and said the all-time hippiest of hippie sales clerks came over to help. My mother explained why she was there, my age, and so on. The hippie braced herself and asked, "So what kind of music does she like?" You just know she expected to hear, "Donny Osmond." Or "David Cassidy." Her jaw dropped when my mother replied, "It's a song about a singer in a rock and roll band. I don't understand it, but she nearly breaks my eardrums when it comes on the radio."

And that's how Seventh Sojourn by the Moody Blues became one of the first albums I ever owned. I literally played it to death. And I still love the song, "I'm Just a Singer (in a Rock and Roll Band)," 50 years on:

[ProfessorGAC]

1. Fun Story!

I too dig that song.
I had just started playing in bands (after bailing on competition jazz piano) and every drummer i knew was nuts about that opening.
Came out my junior (and final) year of HS. It came out winter of '73. In September I started college, and the AOR stations in Chicago were still playing it regularly. 9 months later! In fact, one of the guys at the tiny college Station was a drummer & he played it almost every other show.