Today’s classic song of the day is “Castles in the Air” by folk troubadour Don McLean. It’s a wonderful song with trenchant lyrics and a memorable melody.
McLean wrote “Castles in the Air” and originally included it as the lead track on his 1970 Tapestry album. (Not to be confused with Carole King’s 1971 album of the same name, of course.) He released it as a single in 1971 but, partly due to lack of promotion, it only rose to #40 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart, missing the Hot 100 altogether.
That original version had a kind of folk/country feel, with a subtle double time beat. McLean rerecorded and rereleased “Castles in the Air” in 1981, this time with a more sophisticated ballad sheen and a more prominent half-time backbeat. This version is probably the one most people know; it hit #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #7 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
Whichever version you listen to, “Castles in the Air” is about a disillusioned city dweller (Mr. McLean) who leaves his socialite girlfriend because he’s tired of their superficial lifestyle; he wants to ditch the city and adopt a country life. I particularly like the verse that goes:
For I will not be part of her cocktail generation
Partners waltz, devoid of all romance
The music plays and everyone must dance
I’m bowing out, I need a second chance
That bit about the “cocktail generation” so accurately describes middle and upper class life in the ’60s and early ’70s, full of cocktail parties, lounge music, and lots of cigarettes, the women wearing sophisticated dresses and pearls, the men in suits and ties. As the ’60s progressed and morphed into the ’70s, women’s dresses got shorter and more mod, the jewelry less pearly and more baublish; the men traded button down shirts and ties for turtlenecks and gold chains. But it was still the same, all superficiality and no substance, using drink (and later drugs) to dull the impact of their dreary lives.
I identified with that line so much it stays with me today. I am amused, however, how so many people who disavowed their parents’ “cocktail generation” spend time today in martini bars drinking fancy cocktails. Perhaps this type of social evolution is inevitable.
McLean’s Tapestry album was initially released on the small Mediarts Records label. It was picked up a year later by United Artists when UA purchased Mediarts and also released, for some reason, on Liberty Records. The singer-songwriter followed up Tapestry with the American Pie album, which contained not just the blockbuster title song but also gems like “Vincent,” a previous classic song of the day. He’s still performing today, aged 78.
