Go back to the early 1970s and there were two British, piano-playing singer-songwriters beginning to find fame in America: Elton John and Gilbert O'Sullivan.
I think it's fair to say that in those days they were seen as being equally talented, though Elton John had zero British number ones against Gilbert O'Sullivan's two.
The suddenly it was decided that O'Sullivan was irredeemably naff, and the two have never been spoken off in the same breath since.
Yet as he told a Guardian interviewer a couple of weeks ago, Gilbert O'Sullivan has never stopped writing songs.
And now and then there are signs that people are rediscovering his early songs. Many are vignettes of working-class life that deserve to be better known.
We Will is one of them. It got to number 16 in 1971, giving O'Sullivan his second top 20 hit.
Rumer has had problems coping with fame since I chose her for my Sunday music video back in 2011. And seeing my comment there, I smile to see she has since recorded an album of Bacharach and David songs.
But like Gilbert O'Sullivan she has kept going.
No comments:
Post a Comment