Today’s classic song of the day is another song that didn’t sound like anything else on the radio at the time (or even after), “Midnight at the Oasis” by Maria Muldaur. This sultry ode to a desert love affair was released in February of 1974 and peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard ranked it as the #13 song for the entire year and it was nominated for (but didn’t win) Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards. (It lost to Olivia Newton-John’s “I Honestly Love You” and Barbra Streisand’s “The Way We Were,” respectively.)
“Midnight at the Oasis” was written by David Nichtern, a guitarist who was working with Maria Muldaur at the time. He actually wrote it earlier and when Ms. Muldaur came up one song short for her self-titled debut album, she remembered the tune and had Nichtern play it for producer Lenny Waronker. Waronker had been looking for a mid-tempo tune to balance out the album’s slower and faster numbers, and “Midnight at the Oasis” fit the bill.
David Nichtern remembers, sort of, what inspired the song:
“…the details are a little bit intimate, but let’s just say there was a girl, a waterbed, feta cheese and grape leaves, and a Martin 000-18 near by.”
Here’s what Ms. Muldaur remembers:
“… we were almost finished recording, the producer came in the studio and said, ‘You know, I’ve been listening to the rough mixes, and I think we’re in pretty good shape.’ He said, ‘You know, we’ve got some up tempo stuff and we’ve got some nice ballads. I think if we had one more medium tempo song, then the album would be nicely balanced out, we’d be in good shape. Does anything come to mind?’
So David was standing right there, and just off the top of my head, kind of as a gesture of gratitude to him because he had been so supportive to me, kind of holding my hand through all of this, which was very overwhelming, you know, I’d never been in that position before of being a solo artist and trying to make my way through an album that was all about me. And I said, ‘Well, David has this song. It’s a funny little song, really, but it is medium tempo.’ I said, ‘David, play them ‘Midnight at the Oasis’ and see what you think.’ Which I’d heard before and I thought it was just a goofy little song; I didn’t think much of it one way or the other. So he whipped out his guitar and started to play it on the guitar, and I sang it. And the producer cocked his head, he said, ‘Oh, that’s cute, okay, wanna do that one?’ So as a gesture to David, I said, ‘Yeah, let’s do that one. I have no other bright ideas.’ And we called in some great studio players and we cut it. And the rest is history.”
The song was a hit—and apparently the background to many evenings of lovemaking among listeners around the world. Ms. Muldaur tells how that connection keeps the song fresh for her:
“I love the look of the faces of the audience when the band strikes that number up, when the band goes into the intro of that number. Because apparently, from all the stories that have been told to me when I meet my fans after the show to sign my CD, that song was the soundtrack to many a love-and-lust affair, and if I had been writing down all the stories of what people tell me they were doing or were inspired to do because of that song, or as that song was playing, I could have written quite the little X-rated book. So when I start that song, people’s faces light up and I see very happy, maybe slightly X-rated memories flitting across their faces. And so that’s worth more than any Grammy nomination or award—to hear first hand from your fans, from hundreds and hundreds of fans, how a piece of music I didn’t even write, but that I selected and recorded and just put out there in the airwaves, just had such a happy impact on people’s lives. What a gift is that?”
I like the tune because it has its own unique sound and groove. That’s partly due to Nichtern’s jazzy chords and melody but also a factor of the musicians who put it all together in the recording studio. Those musicians included Famous Amos Garrett on electric guitar, David Nichtern himself on acoustic guitar, Mark T. Jordan on piano, Freebo on bass, and Jim Gordon on drums. It’s Garrett’s snaky, sinewy guitar that makes the sound, at least to my ears—along with Ms. Muldaur’s slinky, sensual vocals, of course. It’s a unique song and a unique-sounding record, one that sounds as fresh today as it did fifty years ago.
And, just to make your day, here’s a picture of Maria Muldaur back in 1974, sharing a bottle of Jim Beam with Linda Ronstadt and Bonnie Raitt. What a bunch of great ladies!
