"Love Song of the Year" --> Secrets Revealed at Last!

I never said love either, I said "like". There is quite a difference.

"Love Song of the Year" --> There is no in-between.

I never said love either, I said "like". There is quite a difference.

"Love Song of the Year" --> There is no in-between.

That may be your opinion, but for most people there is a lot of space between love and hate that we feel we can inhabit with regards to songs.

Members of these boards can often be love or hate figures though, don't you think?

There are originally 3 options: love, hate or undeclared. I had to add it in one place.

There are originally 3 options: love, hate or undeclared. I had to add it in one place.

You'd better call it love slash like slash in-the-neighborhood-of-enjoying to ease the pain for the offended, so that they can sleep tonight.

Great background information Doc on what is a very average song.It neither pleases nor offends just plods along in a rather pedestrian manner.

norrie

Great background information Doc on what is a very average song.It neither pleases nor offends just plods along in a rather pedestrian manner.

Thank you, and I basically agree with your assessment.

It wouldn't make any reasonable compilation of the top 50 Presley songs of the '70s, that's for sure.

Great background information Doc on what is a very average song.It neither pleases nor offends just plods along in a rather pedestrian manner.

Thank you, and I basically agree with your assessment.

It wouldn't make any reasonable compilation of the top 50 Presley songs of the '70s, that's for sure.

You think the song is average? Surely it's either good or bad?

"Love Song of the Year" --> There is no in-between.

I would prefer an "average" song by Elvis over "stellar" offerings by MANY lesser artists. Such was his gift.

Great background information Doc on what is a very average song.It neither pleases nor offends just plods along in a rather pedestrian manner.

Thank you, and I basically agree with your assessment.

It wouldn't make any reasonable compilation of the top 50 Presley songs of the '70s, that's for sure.

You think the song is average?

You seldom read with care, and this often tends to be your downfall in a discussion.

It's one of those songs that you would have to be careful about in terms of what audience you played it for. Young fans/new Elvis fans would probably hate it, but those who are older, came of age with '70s Elvis and have experienced love and loss might actually enjoy it and identify with the lyrics. I liked Voice on the coda, and the chord changes were cool. I don't love it; it's just okay and remains pleasant as an album track.

And thanks Lonely Summer for the anecdotes about seeing B.J. Thomas & Chris Christian in concert. I learned that B.J. received death threats when he would do some of those gospel/pop concerts, and his Contemporary Christian period is somewhat off-putting to him today.

http://www.examiner.com/article/just-a- ... -interview
(taken from a July 2012 B.J. Thomas interview)

In 1977 you became the first pop artist to embrace what is now recognized as Contemporary Christian music. When you performed your gospel songs in concert, did you actually receive death threats?

Yeah, that’s true. It’s not something I really want to rehash that much. There was some conflict as to what certain portions of my new audience expected me to do. They thought I was going to be a minister and completely reject my past pop career.

Of course, I was just a singer. I wasn’t ashamed of my old material, so I would do my pop stuff along with my gospel stuff. I could probably write a book on it, but I hate to dig it all back up.


One of my favorite songs from that era is the uplifting “Without a Doubt”...

I co-wrote “Without a Doubt” with Chris Christian, and it was a reflection on the spiritual awakening that I had had. And that was part of the conflict, too. I thought it was a great song.

But my conflict with that whole industry was that I wasn’t then nor have I ever really been a religious person. I have some definite spiritual beliefs that I have dug out of my own heart, but I’m not very religious.

Regardless, Chris is a great writer, and we wrote some good stuff. He also produced several of my pop and gospel albums, including B.J. Thomas [August 1977]. I cut the first four platinum albums in gospel music history [Home Where I Belong, Happy Man, You Gave Me Love (When Nobody Gave Me a Prayer), and Amazing Grace, released 1977-1981], and I’ve always been proud of that.


What made you decide to cover the Beach Boys’ Don’t Worry Baby?”

Chris Christian and I were simply trying to come up with a classic song to do for the B.J. Thomas album. I always loved the Beach Boys, their harmonies, and that particular song. So we recorded it. It became my last Top 20 on the pop chart. While it didn’t quite smash through as a number one record, [No. 17 Pop, June 1977], it sold around 800,000 copies.

I’ve always wanted to meet Brian Wilson, but it hasn’t happened yet. I did speak to him on the phone when I was recording “Rock and Roll Lullaby” in 1971. I wanted him to add some background vocals to the track, but he was unavailable. However, I have worked with the Beach Boys on a number of occasions, but Brian wasn’t with them.

Last edited by jeremylr on Sat Oct 27, 2012 5:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

It's one of those songs that you would have to be careful about in terms of what audience you played it for. Young fans/new Elvis fans would probably hate it, but those who are older, came of age with '70s Elvis and have experienced love and loss might actually enjoy it and identify with the lyrics. I liked Voice on the coda, and the chord changes were cool. I don't love it; it's just okay and remains pleasant as an album track.

"Love Song of the Year" --> There is no in-between.

Doc,

I want to thank you for some background on one of my very favorite tunes off the Promised Land LP.

As a teenager, at the very height of popularity for such bands as Journey and Styx, I recall many weekends listening to the Promised Land disc. The close of Side A always was powerful, to me, with the one two punch of Mr. Songman and Love Song of the Year. This was me as a young man discovering Elvis piece by piece. Maybe it is, to paraphrase Elvis, "mediocre sh*t" but those songs connected with me then and continue to be part of the soundtrack to my life.

I used to laugh when I should cry.

All the best,

JosephC

Joseph, I can't help but laugh a little at your description of "The one two punch of Mr. Songman and Love Song Of The Year." Somehow, those words don't seem like they belong in the same sentence. Sorry, it's just funny. That being said, I like (not love) Love Song Of The Year.

Doc, thanks for the research.

I never said love either, I said "like". There is quite a difference.

Oh, I don't know about that.

rjm

Joseph, I can't help but laugh a little at your description of "The one two punch of Mr. Songman and Love Song Of The Year." Somehow, those words don't seem like they belong in the same sentence. Sorry, it's just funny. That being said, I like (not love) Love Song Of The Year.

Doc, thanks for the research.

You're welcome. The 1982 Christian interview actually was something I stumbled upon, and felt with a little more work it would make a nice topic for discussion. I appreciate that you and a few others here recognize the effort behind this and so many other topics I've shared with the FECC community.



P.S. I'm a tad disappointed TCB-FAN has not made note of my extensive reply to his side-query about the great Claude François ...

TCB-FAN, where are you?

AS Usual (Doc) Excellent research and topic!~

I really wonder why alot of people hate this song? I actually consider this one of my favourites, i was impressed by elvis performance of this song when i was 14 and im still impressed with this song 5 years later.

That aside great research doc

IIRC, Richard Harris covered this in an English rendition a year later. Then our dear, sweet Elvis took it to another level in 1973.

Wouldn't it have been amazing if you had been in the studio with Elvis , just about to record, "My Boy", boom, smacked him upside his head and said, "What's wrong with you dear, sweet Elvis and this mediocre sh*t ? stop recording this lame, overblown, shmaltzy ass Vegas stuff cuz it's not gonna make MY reasonable Top 50 of your songs !!!!"

IIRC, Richard Harris covered this in an English rendition a year later. Then our dear, sweet Elvis took it to another level in 1973.

Wouldn't it have been amazing if you had been in the studio with Elvis , just about to record, "My Boy", boom, smacked him upside his head and said, "What's wrong with you dear, sweet Elvis and this mediocre sh*t ? stop recording this lame, overblown, shmaltzy ass Vegas stuff cuz it's not gonna make MY reasonable Top 50 of your songs !!!!"

My Boy is actually a really good elvis song...

IIRC, Richard Harris covered this in an English rendition a year later. Then our dear, sweet Elvis took it to another level in 1973.

Wouldn't it have been amazing if you had been in the studio with Elvis , just about to record, "My Boy", boom, smacked him upside his head and said, "What's wrong with you dear, sweet Elvis and this mediocre sh*t ? stop recording this lame, overblown, shmaltzy ass Vegas stuff cuz it's not gonna make MY reasonable Top 50 of your songs !!!!"

My Boy is actually a really good elvis song...

Oh dear sweet baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph and God ...

Not again.

You can add my name to the Hate List!

Joseph, I can't help but laugh a little at your description of "The one two punch of Mr. Songman and Love Song Of The Year." Somehow, those words don't seem like they belong in the same sentence. Sorry, it's just funny. That being said, I like (not love) Love Song Of The Year.

Doc, thanks for the research.

You're welcome. The 1982 Christian interview actually was something I stumbled upon, and felt with a little more work it would make a nice topic for discussion. I appreciate that you and a few others here recognize the effort behind this and so many other topics I've shared with the FECC community.

How big could your head possibly be?

love song of the year sound to me eurovision song contest song that's why I hate and skip that everytime..
I think only one album had to released from stax sessions
1-Promised Land
2-If You Talk In Your Sleep
3-It's Midnight
4-You Asked Me To
5-Help Me
6-Loving Arms
7-My Boy
8-I've Got A Thing About You Baby
9-For Ol' Times Sake
10-Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues

I love listening to the rehearsal version of "Love song of the year" on the recent "Promised Land" FTD. This was a gem hiding in the vaults for years, it seems and shows the song was spoilt by too many syrupy overdubs. I still like the original master, but that rehearsal, to me, was a revelation and makes me smile every time. Great stuff.

Great song...great performance !!

Why never on stage ?