Song Of The Day 10/8/2013: The Keane Brothers - "Amy (Show The World You're There)"

Not to be confused with the British band Keane (who don't even have anyone with the name Keane in the band), the Keane Brothers were a game attempt to bring the excitement of '70s boy bands to the flaccid genre of soft rock. Their dad was the founder of Del-Fi Records, a great label that ushered Ritchie Valens and Barry White into the world. He closed Del-Fi up and in 1976 started promoting his sons, John and Tom, aged 12 and 13 at the time respectively.

What the Jackson 5 were to Motown soul, what the Osmonds were to Jackson 5 ripoffs, and what Lorde is to current dark pop, that's what the Keane Brothers were to tunes like "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)." No less than slickmeister David Foster got in on these kids and produced their debut album. Things went really far when the Keane Brothers got their own summer replacement variety series on CBS in 1977, with no hit albums, hit singles, face recognition or driver's learning permits to their credit. CBS was doing this all on spec. It lasted four episodes.

I saw one episode of the Keane Brothers' variety program. This was the song they played. It was written for Amy Carter,  daughter of then-President Jimmy Carter. She was 9 years old when this song came out. I don't know why the Keanes felt the need to offer Amy this unsolicited advice. I don't know why they thought the world didn't realize Amy Carter existed. We had People magazine back then, you know. How was a 9-year-old supposed to show the world she was there, especially with the Secret Service tailing her every move? Way to put the pressure of the public spotlight on a kid, Keanes. We don't all have your cherubic feathered-hair suavity, therefore enabling us to boldly go leaping into the greasepaint and footlights, sonnys. Let Amy do what she wants! Geez!

The Keanes went on to have decent careers behind the scenes in the music business. Amy was fine. She was just fine.