Just to let you folks know, I'll be doing two Reminiscings of Youth articles today. Nope, there's no national holiday today. Frankly with yesterday's water outage emergency due to a burst pipe, I was too frazzled and tired to put up my usual two articles so I had to settle for one. And then a moment of providence arrived when I heard yesterday about The Doobie Brothers getting into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame this year. I already got my scheduled one which I will do last tonight but I just had to get a Doobie Brothers' song in here today as tribute to Michael McDonald and the band.
Now to be honest, this song really belongs not as a ROY but as a DIA entry...i.e. Discoveries in Adulthood. I really didn't know about "Takin' It to the Streets" until I had bought a BEST compilation of The Doobie Brothers during my time in Japan, and as is the case with many AOR/soft rock bands of the time, the guys are very popular in the country. The song was released as a single on St. Patrick's Day 1976 and was the title track on the band's 6th album which came out a couple of days later.
The Doobie Brothers' go-to song for me will always be "What a Fool Believes" which wouldn't see the light of day for another few years, but "Takin' It to the Streets" is also a fine song in that Doobies' way with even more punch as the lyrics by McDonald seem to encourage listeners to sound the alarm bells to fight injustice of all types. I found out that this was the first Doobie Brothers' song to have former Steely Dan member McDonald as the lead vocalist, replacing the ailing Tom Johnson. I can't even imagine a song by the band without McDonald behind the mike and behind those keyboards, so this is quite the beginning for him and the band.
"Takin' It to the Streets" made it to No. 13 on America's Billboard while in Canada, it went as high as No. 7 on RPM. And I think with this song, the Doobie Brothers took it all the way to the bank. So, what was hitting the Top 10 in Japan on March 15th 1976? Let's take at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 10.
1. Masato Shimon -- Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun (およげ！たいやきくん）
2. Hiromi Ohta -- Momen no Handkerchief (木綿のハンカチーフ）
10. Masatoshi Nakamura -- Ore tachi no Tabi （俺たちの旅）
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