Starland Vocal Band -- Afternoon Delight

 

Ahh...yes. "Anchorman", the gift that keeps on giving through reaction videos and the actual movie itself. I recall that back in 2022, I thanked "Anchorman 2" for highlighting a 1976 song from my radio days titled "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight" by England Dan & John Ford Coley. Well, I got another one right from that year that got highlighted in the first movie.

And the wonderful thing is that the actual main cast was behind covering it. It was simultaneously hilarious and heartwarming as Ron Burgundy and his buds on the news team sang (in wonderful harmony) "Afternoon Delight" which was originally by Starland Vocal Band. Now back in those halcyon days of the 1970s, I was about as sweet, naive and thickheaded (probably still am) as Brick Tamland (and yes, I love lamp too), so I hadn't been aware of the hidden message of getting a "nooner" in the lyrics. "Afternoon Delight" was about a friendly country ditty that mystified me because it sounded as if someone were shooting fireworks in broad daylight...which probably was the case, figuratively speaking. Plus, there was that mighty guitar twang right after "...skyrockets in flight..." that made me able to remember the song after all these decades.

Perhaps there were a lot of nudges and winks at the Grammys that year as "Afternoon Delight" won for Best Vocal Arrangement and was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Group. It also hit No. 1 in both Canada and the United States. For one of those No. 1s, that was on July 10th 1976 which begs the question: What hit the top on Oricon on July 12th 1976? I have here Nos. 1, 3 and 4.

1. Momoe Yamaguchi -- Yokosuka Story （横須賀ストーリー）

3. Hiromi Ohta -- Akai High Heel（赤いハイヒール）

4. Akira Inaba -- Wakatte Kudasai（わかって下さい）