This week's Reminiscings of Youth article is the second one to feature the great band Earth Wind & Fire. Of course, the first one I did was the celebratory favourite, "September" which I did, naturally enough, on the 21st of September. And in all likelihood, I will end up doing a few more ROY articles with EW&F over the next several months.
The first time that I heard "After the Love Has Gone", EW&F's July 1979 single, it wasn't on the radio. Actually, it was on a TV show about a radio station..."WKRP in Cincinnati", to be exact. In fact, it's in the above video of a second season episode called "For Love or Money" (go to 22:37...regrettably, the song sounds like it's been largely muffled due to the usual copyright issues), and though I don't really remember the plot for this season opener, I do recollect the scene of poor Bailey Quarters being stood up by Johnny Fever while "After the Love Has Gone" is playing.
I know about Loni Anderson as the beautiful Jennifer Marlowe and how her posters were flying off the shelves while the show was on the air, but I was always drawn to (the just-as-beautiful) Jan Smithers as Bailey, and watching that scene while the EW&F classic was playing really had me wanting to stomp on Johnny for stomping on Bailey's heart.
Although it's been over 40 years since "After the Love Has Gone" was released and that episode of "WKRP in Cincinnati" was broadcast, whenever I listen to this ballad, at least during part of those 4 minutes and change that the song is playing, my memories unearth that particular scene at the radio station. It just seemed like the perfect match between scene and song for a TV show, and in fact, the Wikipedia article for the song mentions about that scene on "WKRP". Apparently, it's also been used by a number of sports teams whenever they lose at home.
And that's the crazy and amazing thing about this song. It's a beautiful and romantic creation about the loss of romance. With those soft horns and strings and the crooning by the vocalists, when I first heard this, I'd thought that it was all about a wonderful courtship between two people when it was actually about the separation of them. Maybe there is something very Japanese about "After the Love Has Gone".
That same Wiki article has plenty of information on the making of the song but suffice it to say that I couldn't imagine Hall & Oates singing "After the Love Has Gone". This is truly my favourite EW&F ballad, and it's truly a masterpiece by David Foster, Jay Graydon (aka Airplay) and Bill Champlin with Maurice White behind the production and main vocals. I'm glad that it got its Grammys.
So, what were three singles that got their release in July 1979 when "After the Love Has Gone" itself was released?
Miharu Koshi -- My Blue Summer （マイブルーサマー）
Circus -- American Feeling
Bread & Butter -- Ano Koro no Mama （あの頃のまま）
If ever there was a show that deserved to have the studio spring for the music rights for the DVD/streaming release, it's WKRP. WKRP was naturally very popular here in Dayton, being only an hour from Cincinnati, but also because Gordon Jump and Gary Sandy were both from here. Few shows used music as effectively. As for the Jennifer/Bailey debate, I can only think of one or two people who preferred Jennifer.
ReplyDeleteThe episode whose use of music stands out most to me, even to this day, also focused around Bailey. It was the one with the Russian defector. "Tiny Dancer" was central to the plot and used throughout the episode. As he's being taken away at the end, he tells Bailey, "Hold me closer, tiny dancer." Even as a kid, I could tell what a moving moment it was in the episode. Nowadays, since they didn't spring for the rights, the line makes no sense and it really ruins the episode.
That said, WKRP is still one of my favorite shows. We watch "Turkeys Away" every Thanksgiving.
Hello, Scott.
DeleteYeah, I really liked "WKRP" and it was too bad that the original show never got a fair shake although it did last a few seasons. I liked the theme song and knew about the "mystery" regarding whether the actor who played Les was the singer. Didn't know that Jump and Sandy were from the area.
It's too bad about the music rights since it's very jarring hearing generic music when I knew that some great songs used to be in there. Not sure if I would have bought the DVDs but definitely not having the original music in there was a deal breaker for me. Glad to know that I'm not alone in my affinity for Bailey.
Along with the famous Thanksgiving episode, I really liked the giddy silliness of Herb's daughter's frog getting painted pink. I always wondered whether Loni and Jan actually corpsed in the episode.
The Jennifer/Bailey debate always struck me as being almost as lopsided as the Ginger/Mary Ann debate. To this day, I've never met anyone who preferred Ginger.
ReplyDeleteI think Jump and Sandy have always been overshadowed a bit around here by Martin Sheen, Rob Lowe, Jonathan Winters (who was a close friend of one of my great uncles when they were young), etc. I believe Gordon Jump made some appearances around here later in his life. Gary Sandy did some live theater nearby at some point, but I don't think he's done much else around here. He's actually from our suburb, Kettering, the same as Nancy Cartwright (Bart Simpson).
Hulu carried season 1 for years. They finally dropped it, so I had to buy the streaming version from Amazon this past Thanksgiving. I haven't seen any of the later episodes in years since they never carried anything past S1.
Hello, Scott.
DeleteGordon Jump was one of the more prolific character actors that I saw on American TV since he showed up on a lot of other programs and had his stint as the Maytag repairman. I only saw Sandy in "WKRP" so I kinda wondered whether he was happier on the stage.
Probably out of all of the characters, I think Bailey is the one who evolved the most during the four years of the show. She started out as this slightly mousy gofer and then turned into a much stronger reporter who wouldn't hesitate to tell anyone in the station off if they blew it.