As I was saying…the decade harboured no illusions,
What you saw was what you got, glitter and satin;
Loud, in your face, up front, no fear, no fusions;
So come back, once again, let’s throw our hat in

The Eagles soared with melodies and classics,
Some superb songs, were American troubadours;
The Doors themselves were never skint or brassic,
In the U.S., they had huge albums galore

Plenty more Yanks then came forward with their sundry
Works, diversity was very much the thing,
Dolly Parton and Glen Campbell crossed from Country,
And Chuck Berry offered us his ‘Ding-A-Ling’

No disconcerting gaps in seventies’ astronomical tracks,
We walked ‘Under The Moon Of Love’ with Showaddywaddy,
We had Four Seasons, spent more ‘Seasons In The Sun’ with Terry Jacks,
And had ‘Venus and Mars’, from Linda and Paul McCartney

Punk and Prog Rock were two genres less of us chose,
A bit peculiar, were you ever a real fan?
A big contrast with top selling acts and combo’s,
Eurovision winners, such as Brotherhood Of Man

Career paths diverged, and ‘Wings’ took off, and flew until
The early eighties, all they touched turned ‘solid gold’,
But Tom Jones and Cilla Black came to a standstill,
Whilst the Rolling Stones…just rolled…and rolled…and rolled

Freddie Mercury, who, we’d guess, would do most things to excess,
As a solo act would make the occasional sortie;
Stripped of Hank Marvin and the rest, though still thriving nonetheless,
Was good old Cliff, pop’s ‘Peter Pan’, even then forty

Nights spent boogeying were what attracted Heatwave,
The Nolans caught ‘The Mood’, and George McCrae
Rocked his baby, and, though no one cared to talk ‘raves’,
The Rubettes jived, and Roxy Music danced away

As ever, drink would be the theme of this and that tune,
Gravel voiced Elkie Brooks quaffed ‘Lilac Wine’;
And good old Laurel and Hardy, from the steps of a saloon,
Hit No 2 whilst on ‘The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine’

Now we come to the ‘banned’ verse, where yesteryear
Renounced all its PC rights to censor, cavil,
Stars and songs that you’ll no longer see or hear,
Gary Glitter, ‘Delilah’, and Jimmy Savile

‘Diddy’ David Hamilton and Tony Blackburn,
Listeners’ favourite DJs, plied their trade with zeal,
But Kenny Everett got the sack, he never did learn
To tread a pro-establishment line, same as John Peel

Places featured in the names of many singles,
Espagna, ‘Baker Street’, and ‘Northern Lights’;
And there was a scattering of literary titles –
‘Exodus’, ‘War Of The Worlds’ and ‘Wuthering Heights’

There was just the occasional foray into history,
To events and times where we had never been,
Whose lyrics sought to unravel the mystery,
Like ‘Waterloo’, then ‘Ra-Ra-Rasputin’

What was your favourite song to sing
When the heatwave hit the country?
Was it ‘You To Me Are Everything’,
Or Candi Staton’s ‘Young Hearts Run Free’?

The Stylistics’ altar boy falsetto voices,
Tributes, prayers and gospel chants (‘Rivers Of Babylon’)
Charted each year, you were never stuck for choices,
But how then do you classify Kraftwerk (doubtless now sadly gone)?

Changes to singing fashion weren’t that easy,
Sometimes you’d need to practise every night;
You bet it made your throat feel sore and queasy
Growling, from deep within, like Barry White

T Rex was neither dinosaur nor butter,
A band for glam rock, flaunting sequins by the ton,
And lurex, and false eyelashes to flutter,
Mark Bolan rode up to heaven, on his white swan

I can’t remember any soap stars who would dare
Pick up a mic, and change career, like Kylie,
But we did have real life characters, back there,
Like ‘Radio 1 On The Road’s’ own Smiley Miley

So that was it, we’ve come full circle one time more,
Our lives, not just our memories, set to ‘fade’;
A time it’s been a pleasure to account for,
No flies (just opened zips) on this decade