I love that in
this video I can honor at the same time two creations that themselves honored
the lesbian pioneers of the 1930's through the 1960's. On Judy Reagan's 1983 LP
"Old Friends," she included the wonderful song "Hollywood
Haircut," and it deserves so much more attention than it has received over
the years.
At
the same time, a book I very much respect is "Boots of Leather, Slippers
of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community," by Elizabeth Lapovsky
Kennedy and Madeline Davis. It provides an important look at the emergence of
the lesbian community, in this case in Buffalo, NY, but those insights would
likely apply across the country.
If anyone knows how to reach Judy Reagan, I would love to interview her.
In 1974 an English group called the Rubettes had a big power
pop hit with "Sugar Baby Love." It immediately hit #1 on European
charts, selling millions. By the next three years they had ten on the UK charts
(though only their first one reached America, only making it to #37). I loved
the band, including their songs "Tonight," "Juke Box Jive,"
and especially "I Can Do It." But it was another song that had a
deeper meaning and was a radical change from their up-tempo pop. It was called
"Under One Roof," and was written by group members Alan Williams and John Richardson. It only charted #40 in the UK, in September of
1976, due probably to its very radical subject matter, homophobia, and that it
was such a departure from what the band's fans were used to hearing. It was
about a runaway teenager, taken in by a gay man, and the teen was later killed
by his father, for being gay. This was no "Sugar Baby Love."
Already on the UK charts at that same time was Rod Stewart,
with a song about a gay bashing ending in murder, "The Killing of Georgie,
Parts I & II." That song reached #2 in the UK, and I give it credit
for being released before the Rubette's song, as it was on the huge world hit
album "A Night on the Town," which came out in early Summer. In the
U.S. as songs were gradually released from that album "Georgie"
didn't really reach mainstream radio here until a year later, when it reached
#30. Both of these songs can be credited as very early ones tackling the
subject of homophobia.
I had several versions of the song on YouTube to choose from but liked the live one for this purpose, and also I thought the comments interesting. Note especially the second one where someone mentions buying a copy of the record for a friend, as he was too scared to do so.
And for those wanting now to hear the Rod Stewart song, "The Killing of Georgie"....
I happened upon the above 1976 issue of Image, The Quarterly Magazine for the Sophisticated Crossdresser, and figured I might as well share it. This was a publication edited by Sandy Mesics, out of Philadelphia, and begun in 1974. And, yeah, this is generally a music blog but I seem to find GLBT history everywhere.
In the 1960's Coca
Cola recorded at least 50 commercials with rock & pop stars of the day
singing that "things go better with Coca Cola," or variations. These
were the big names of the day. Lesley Gore, as far as I know, recorded the
"Things Go Better" ad in three lengths: 30, 60 and 90 seconds. The
90-second ad was actually released on a 45 rpm record, given out for promotion.
It also featured Roy Orbison, The Drifters and Los Bravos. This was good stuff,
and that disc today is usually in around the $40 range. In 1967 more
commercials were produced and Lesley got another one, usually called "Her
Little Sister," done in 60 and 90 second versions. I do not believe this
one or the others done then were pressed on vinyl. I've read that both of
Lesley's songs were written by the team of Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield,
and their sound fit that completely. As I could not find all three of these on
YouTube I put them together in this medley.
Things Go Better
With Coca Cola, 90 seconds
Her Little Sister,
60 seconds
Her Little Sister,
90 seconds
And, I don't want to leave out our other lesbian diva of the 60's, Dusty Springfield. Her contribution to the music of commercials was in 1967 for a product called Great Shakes, which was a powder added to milk to make it into a milkshake. That company also recruited a number of popular acts, including The Tokens, The Yardbirds, The Who, The Chiffons, The Happenings, and others.Fortunately, there was already a video slide show on YouTube for this ad, and it can be found on a 2011 CD as a bonus track, on the Dustycollection of rarities, "Heart & Soul."
