My Top 1000 Songs #997: Get Down

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Reaching waaaaay deep into the Guilty Pleasures file for this one... but it's absolute proof positive that 70s bubblegum pop was the best bubblegum pop ever. Gilbert O'Sullivan's 1973 single (also found on the LP I'm A Writer, Not A Fighter) maybe lacks the kitsch value of his other big hit, 1972's oh-so-sappy-70s "Alone Again (Naturally)," but it's a whole lot more fun. I mean, sure, the whole "you're a bad dog baby" feels like a pretty misogynistic metaphor with the benefit of hindsight, but set that aside (if you can) and it's just the epitome of the early 70s AM Top 40 hit.

Of course, I didn't become perpetually attached to my AM radio until a couple years later--discovering music at the ripe old age of 9 in 1975--and the song's instant obsolescence meant it was already banished from the airwaves by then. But I must've heard it once or twice, because when I went down the O'Sullivan rabbit-hole during my middle-age exploration of forgotten 70s music, this one immediately hit me as one of those "oh my god I remember this song I never thought I'd hear it again!" revelations, instant familiarity that still makes me smile in youthful glee.

Taking the dog lyrics a little more literally... Top Of The Pops 1973!

With Elton John, 1973: