Back in the 70s there was little opportunity to hear your favourite songs if you couldn't afford to buy the record. You'd have to sit by the radio for hours on end with a cassette recorder waiting to tape the song. In my bedroom I only had a crystal radio set which somehow ran off astrip of metal on my bedroom window. I first heard this song on a radio show beamed in from the USA called kasey Kase's Chart Rundown or something like that.
I was in my teens and still trying to work out this girl thing and getting my heart broken. This time I think her name was Bernadette. Anyway this song was just so emotional and Nillson's voice just captured everything I thought I was feeling.
The other way you could hear songs was to ride your bike down to a phone booth. (I didn't have a phone until I was about 22 and moved into my own flat) and other than the weather, time etc you could get a free call to song of the week. I think I spent a week in a phone booth in Blackburn South.
later my mate Tommy got the album Nillson Schmillson so I could listen to it at his place but by then I was sick of the song.
Its meaning as been tinted a little by some of the overwrought covers. It's also wrapped up in the terribly sad story of Badfinger's Pete Ham and Tom Evans who wrote the song and never saw any money from it both eventually committing suicide.
Mate of mine had the album back in the 70's as well as most Bowie and Beatles albums. Loved the album and recently bought it (for the first time) on CD. Brings back memories!
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