When Gilber O'Sullivan Wrote "Alone Again Naturally," He Turned Self-Pity Into a Religion

It was 1972 or so when I remember the song took the world by storm. I was ten years old and the song was ubiquitous. People with plaintiff expressions would open their windows and the song would be blaring from their radios. Everyone was crying. It was as if O'Sullivan had sprayed the world with a drug that induced a torrent of tears.

He became rich off that song. Everyone I know loves the song, but feels guilty for liking it.  To turn cathartic self-pity into an all-consuming religion that no one wants to fess up to. What a genius. 

Comments

[Angelo]

And this little ditty opened the floodgates for others, like Terry Jacks "Seasons In The Sun."

[Jeffrey McMahon]

Yes, Terry Jacks kept the religion alive.

[Scott Atkinson]

I believe 'Seasons In The Sun was out - and a hit - before the O'Sullivan monstrosity.

There were those of us who hearing 'Alone Again, Naturally' reached for their revolvers. In a dismal time for pop music, this was the worst.

s.

[Angelo]

We should Bing or Google---but I'm pretty sure "Alone Again" was from around 1972-73 and "Seasons In The Sun" maybe '74-75???

[dorpmuller]

Good God! I hate both of those songs, as I do all of that farty 70's crap. Only thing good about the 70's was Sony and Panasonic shortwave radios. Good riddance to the rest.

[Jeffrey McMahon]

But Bloodstone gave us "Natural High" and Tower of Power gave us "I Could Never Make You Unhappy." The 70s on balance were good to me. Plus the ICF-5900 and the RF-888. Long live the 70s.

[Angelo]

George Clinton Parliament/Funkadelic were red hot in the 70's. Great stuff.

[Scott Atkinson]

If this ends up as a dp, apologies. I tried posting a minute ago, but it apparently didn't take.

First, y'all right and I'm wrong about the order of the hits. 'Alone' was 72' and 'Seasons' was 74.'

What can I say? It was a rough decade ).

Also: the 70s ended up being one of the finest decades for music, with the twin poles of funk/disco - Angelo has already pointed out George Clinton's crew - and punk. But a lot of that music ended up being more influential over the long haul, as opposed to being the dominant sound of the day.

I was merely arguing that the stuff on the radio hit an ugly low in the early 70s.

s.

[Keith Beesley]

Music from past decades always sounds better in retrospect. I hated disco at the time, but some of it sounds pretty good now ;-)

[Ed S.]

Let's see, in the 70's I was listening to the LP's and FM music on a great preamp/amp combo, the Harman Kardon Citation 11 and 12, and the classic Acoustic Research AR-3a speakers. For most of the decade I had the original surround sound system, then called "Quadraphonic"... I had a 4-channel Teac open-reel Tape Deck. I produced several vinyl records using that recorder. Here's one:
http://badcatrecords.com/BadCat/COUNTERWEIGHT.htm

[Angelo]

Scott: Great point. I love P.Funk from George Clinton and Bootsy---but the late 70's new wave and punk----Sex Pistols, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Ramones, Iggy Pop---not to mention Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers and Lou Reed---the 70's punk and funk ruled.