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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJohnny Nash's career 'Clearly' had more depth than one song - nice read
https://www.chron.com/news/article/Johnny-Nash-s-career-Clearly-had-more-depth-3637089.php<snip>
Informed by a hard-edged optimism without a whiff of detestable escapism, "I Can See Clearly Now" has an ageless quality that often evades songs that are generally referred to as "happy." That word, in fact, is often misapplied to Johnny Nash's hit song, with a surface-level simplicity that hides an underlying complexity.
It is, as veteran rock critic Robert Christgau once claimed, "the kind of song that can get you through a traffic jam." But it comes to its blue skies through trials.
"I did wonder sometimes about the lines about 'blue skies' and asked myself, 'Is there a blinkered point of view here?' " says Liam Omaonlai, frontman for the Irish folk rock band Hothouse Flowers, one of dozens of acts to have covered the song during the years. "The tone, however, has the blues of generations of resistance and survival in it."
"I Can See Clearly Now" was released 40 years ago this summer.
It wasn't an instant success, because Nash was a difficult act to sell to American radio and its rigid formats. It didn't top the pop charts in the U.S. until October of that year, where it resided for four weeks. It spent more than three months in the Top 40.
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Johnny Nash's career 'Clearly' had more depth than one song - nice read (Original Post)
malaise
Feb 2018
OP
panader0
(25,816 posts)1. Only 40 years ago? It seems longer.
Marking to read article later.
ProfessorGAC
(65,195 posts)2. Same Here
Was thinking it a high school song. I was out of college >2 years by the summer of '78.
malaise
(269,182 posts)3. Makes me realize I'm ancient
I think I'll change the words when Mueller gets the Con
dchill
(38,541 posts)4. Article must be 6 years old...
The song was released in 1972. It's 46 years old. I'm way older than that!
ProfessorGAC
(65,195 posts)8. Thanks
I could have sworn that was a high school era song for me.
PatSeg
(47,605 posts)10. The article is from 2012
Very interesting read.
spanone
(135,880 posts)5. K&R...
vsrazdem
(2,177 posts)6. Now the same song for a new generation, Grace Vanderwaal on tour this month.
Never posted a link, so don't know if this will work or not.
[link:
Mad-in-Mo
(229 posts)7. It was 1972 --- my second year in college. Vivid recollection of dorm room.
Definitely not 1978.
malaise
(269,182 posts)9. Yes indeed and I know better
Bob was on top of the world by 78.