This is not only one of the best singles of the 70s, it's one of the best Pop singles of all time. It hit me at a time when I began to see the world as being inherently magical, though certainly not in the rose-colored-glasses sense you'd expect from a typical eight year-old.
Magic was both dark and light to me: growing up in a shithole like 70s-era East Braintree, where children were hated and preyed upon by adults, will disabuse even the most Pollyanna-minded kid of the illusion that life was nothing but a smorgasbord of delights just there for the taking.
Even so, there was magic to be had. There were the Red Sox to obsess over, and girls to daydream about, and Jack Kirby comic books waiting to expand a young mind for less than the price of a can of tonic.
There was violence and abuse and sometimes worse, but it all was part of a tapestry of darkness and light. There were the ever-present toxic fumes from the shipyard and gasoline depot on Quincy Ave, but also the intoxicating ambrosia of spring. There was the minefield of elementary school but also the cool green wonder of the forest.
And then there was the congregation of the spirits, but we'll save them for another time.
This song hit me after one of the major traumas of my childhood, an event that destroyed my Second World (as Jeff Kripal would put it). But just as I discovered Jack Kirby following an earlier traumatic event, songs like 'Magic', 'Fame', 'Lady', 'Ballroom Blitz', and 'Killer Queen' and so many more (1975 was a banner year for the Top 40) burrowed into my imagination and showed that rock 'n' roll could help dig me out of the hole I'd been thrown into by the mind-numbingly irresponsible and thoughtless adults in my life.
I had no idea that Pilot were Scottish until much, much later, nor did I know that two of them were involved with an early version of the Bay City Rollers. But in hindsight, I'm not surprised. I didn't know Pilot had a greatest hits CD, either. Which strikes me as kind of strange, considering they only had one hit.
But oh, what a hit.
Produced by the great Alan Parsons, whose I, Robot would later become another landmark in my precocious life.
I don't think I'd ever heard anything but the chorus/hook of this song until now. Very much Beatles worship by way of ELO.
ReplyDeleteAlso, don't know if you watched the Peter Jackson Beatles doc on Disney+, but it was very cool seeing a very young Parsons doing his job as the tape machine operator for the Let It Be sessions. Him and Both Johns, man, there's some fucking rock n roll history.
ReplyDeleteThat was supposed to be Glyn Johns and got autocorrected to "both"
DeletePilot's "Magic" truly justifies its title because it is indeed aural MAGIC! I've loved it since I was a kid. They're considered a one-hit wonder over here, but they scored an even bigger hit in the U.K. and Australia with "January", which hit #1 in both countries. Curiously, it only managed to reach #87 in the U.S. and didn't even chart in Canada.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt, you are right about, "There was violence and abuse and sometimes worse, but it all was part of a tapestry of darkness and light." The year "Magic" was released, 1974. also coincided with the release of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" and the official beginning of the "serial killer" phenomenon in the U.S.