Thank yous and congrats are in order (The "Mystery Song" has been found!)

Before I write up Darkover fully I want to take the opportunity to do two things:

1) Thank you so much twistedchick!!! Adding your cello to those two songs at my concert Saturday was MY privilege, especially on Lalena. I never dreamed a song could wake up in so much colour and vibrance as it did when you helped me play it. XXXOOOO!
I am SOO happy you're "back".

2) Congratulations go out to fizzygeek for cracking the "Mystery Song".
As many may know, there is a song in my repertoire that I play from time to time and I don't tell people the name of the song or where I got it. That was for someone to figure out.
It sounds JUST like the kind of song I like to play, but it's not from any of my usual sources.

-It came off of a record that I posessed in my youth in the early-mid 70's.
-Several songs on the album were HUGE hits. One- for the group on the album, and one song was a big hit for someone else even tho this group was the first to record it.
-The album also had some cool covers of other songs too.
-All in all the album was what you might call "above average bubble gum pop" and the group a "one hit wonder".

When I discovered hard rock and progressive rock in 1977 or so, I quickly outgrew this album, but I have to confess that it remained a guilty pleasure of mine, especially the song I chose to be the "Mystery Song".

So the contest was to tell me:
- the name of the song,
- what album it came from,
- and cite at least one of the "hits" on the record.

fizzygeek did me one better. The first thing she did was to track down the ORIGINAL version of the song (and yes, incredibly, she recognised it when I played it from that original record). I didn't know it was a cover. And now there's a whole new band I need to investigate! Nonetheless, the contest was to identify the album that I got the song from, and cruel Fate dealt her a curve ball in that regard. On my record the song title was changed slightly and the author's name misspelled. But she found it anyway, and her effort to do so, upon hearing the tale last night was well worth her prize and more. Nonetheless nothing short of an epic perseverence and dogged determination gave her what she sought. When I saw her last night she declared:

"I win.
Paper Lace.
'Love Song' by J. Gladwin
Their hit was 'The Night Chicago Died'."

Damn She's good! She declined the prize of a copy of _Patches_ in favor of my next CD when it's done. There will be more too, when I think of it.

So that's it. The First Mystery Song has been revealed.

Originally it was called "Love Sonnet" when it was recorded by The Great Blondel.
It mutated to "Love Song" when it was included on the album
_Paper Lace and Other Bits of Material_ in 1973.

Paper Lace had a HUGE hit with "The Night Chicago Died" and a minor hit with "The Black Eyed Boys".
Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods re-did "Billy Don't Be A Hero" which was a big hit in the US, even tho Paper Lace had some airplay for their version in the UK.

Paper Lace And Other Bits of Material
----------------------------------------
1) The Night Chicago Died.................(Murray/Callander)
2) Billy-Don't Be A Hero..................(Murray/Callander)
3) Hithchin' A Ride.......................(Murray/Callander)
4) Sealed With A Kiss.....................(Udell/Geld)
5) Love Song..............................(J. David Gladwyn)
6) Love-You're A Long Time Coming.........(Murray/Callander)
7) The Black Eyed Boys....................(Murray/Callander)
8) Dreams Are Ten A Penny.................(Carter/Shakespeare)
9) Mary In The Morning....................(G.Fletcher/D.Flett)
10) I Did What I Did For Maria............(Murray/Callander)
11) Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen..........(Greenfield/Sedaka)
12) Cheek To Cheek........................(I.Berlin)

Anyway, congrats, fizzygeek!! Well fought and goodly won!