A one-hit wonder from 1970, most people probably know it or at least have heard it on some oldies station (or 'BBC Local Radio' as we call it in the UK) and would be vaguely familiar with it. Not atypical of the time by any means, the lyrics basically a light flower-power story about a gentleman feeling a romantic attraction towards a lady who appears to be part of the hippy movement, the tune a breezy late-sixties guitar-based pop number owing a debt to the folk movement of Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul and Mary as much as to the Beatles or the Stones. And Edison Lighthouse never did anything much again. And that's that, right?
The thing about it is that it's so happy, so infectious and so unstoppably 'up' that it actually transcends its time and place to become something that really will lift you wherever you are. I think some songs take you back to where you were when it was a hit, or when you heard it, and I have plenty of those. But I wasn't around in 1970 and have never had any serious contextual exposure to this song. This is one of those songs that once you stop for a moment and pay it even the slightest bit of attention, it suddenly grows in your mind and you realise actually this is a darn fine piece of music, perfectly weighted, light and airy and - like the Bee Gees at number 31 - there's just nothing dark or low about this song at all.
There's probably plenty of other songs that would grow in my mind were I to give them a lot of attention, but there are plenty that haven't and this is one that really has. Give this song the time of day and see where you end up with it.
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