Helen Reddy ~ Angie Baby 1974 Disco Purrfection Version

Helen ruled the airwaves for the week of December 28, 1974 with "Angie Baby" her third #1 single 43 years ago. I love story songs, and Helen regards "Angie Baby" as the best written song she has ever sung. Alan O'Day took a long time to write this one, citing The Beatles "Lady Madonna" single as an inspiration to write a song about some one with the radio playing in the background of their life. Originally, "Angie Baby" was not so menacing since O'Day used an ingenue type to write about. Then the song became more interesting when Angie took a darker turn and then the hunter became the hunted. Alan swears the boy's disappearance made the song. He took the finished demo and submitted it to Cher, who declined and then Helen's manager Jeff Wald grabbed it for her. The producer, Joe Wissert approached O'Day to find out what he wanted to convey musically with the lyrics of the song. The music of Angie Baby is menacing like a Louisana swamp tune, perfectly matching with the cryptic words of O'Day. The part where she sings "and as she turns the volume down, he's getting smaller with the sound" the music becomes a bit surreal and Helen's voice gets louder, the lyrics make clear that the boy disappeared into the radio. Alan says he got a call from a DJ who suggested that the boy who disappeared was a DJ...get it "getting smaller with the sound"? Anyway, Reddy and O'Day have both declined to give their take on what happened and the mystery was born, just like Bobbie Gentry's "Ode To Billie Joe" where listeners were intrigued by what got thrown off that bridge than the implied meanness of the protagonists family comments over his death. Her story song stayed at #1 pop for four weeks. Cher had "Dark Lady" that drove her character to madness and murder as a surprise ending. This was Reddy's last #1 pop hit, after the anthemic "I Am Woman" and "Delta Dawn" singles. Does anyone remember her hosting "The Midnight Special", her portrayal of a nun singing to a sickly Linda Blair in "Airport '75" or her appearance in the Bee Gees/Peter Frampton vehicle "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hears Club Band" movie from 1978? I have it on DVD, right next to my copy of "Xanadu". Here's two things you probably did not know, Helen sang background vocals on Gene Simmons 1978 solo LP on "True Confessions" and was name checked by Frank Zappa in his song "Honey, Don't You Want a Man Like Me?" on his "Zappa in New York" LP from 1977. Those relationships were as obtuse as Snoop Dog and Martha Stewart but worked just as well. She retired from performing but returned for sporadic concerts in 2011. Her most recent appearance was in LA for the January 2017 "Women's March" held right after the inauguration of the 45th and final Prez.