Song Of The Day 3/9/2015: The Hudson Brothers - "So You Are a Star"

Overpop: The '70s: A power pop theme week is long overdue from these quarters. I was probably putting it off because I’m sure most people were expecting a power pop theme week from me at some point. I was delaying it to challenge myself, I think. I didn’t want to play the power pop card because it would be too easy. Y’know, the somewhat static music aficionado of a certain age and cultural background, pulling out a power pop week from his back pocket to school everybody on music that was so catchy and universally accessible that absolutely nobody bought the records when they were available. And then the blogger would sit back, fold his arms over his chest, kick the Funyons back underneath the entertainment center and laugh, laugh, laugh that evil, know-it-all laugh. I wanted to forestall that as long as possible. However, I decided that the scheduled theme for this week, “Stop Using Sax As a Weapon,” wasn’t going to fly. So, time to open up the military ration and throw power pop up for a week. As is my wont, we’ll start with the ’70s.

Today’s song was nearly a big hit, actually. “So You Are a Star” hit #21 on the charts in 1974. The Hudson Brothers from Portland had their own summer variety and kiddies’ show on CBS between 1974 and 1975, uniting bored teenagers and young children in asking the musical question “Who the hell are the Hudson Brothers?” But they were fairly fabulous pop replicators, and “So You Are a Star” is a song I love wholeheartedly, despite my disagreement with its paranoid narcissism. It was written by Mark Hudson, the one with the mustache, as a kind of executive summary of what he saw with his brother Bill’s relationship with Goldie Hawn, which eventually blossomed into marriage, two kids and a spiteful divorce. Call me persnickety, but having a pending brother-in-law tell inform you "you've got to love only (my brother)" this early in the negotiation process sounds a little close to racketeering. Leave the emotional blackmail, take the cannoli. But a gorgeous song nonetheless which I'll gladly karaoke at the first joint that has it.