Songwriter: Marty Balin
Original Release: Red Octopus
Year: 1975
Definitive Version: None
The highlight of our final
whole-family vacation to Florida in 1976 was the side trip to Disney World. We
had gone to Disney World the past two Florida vacations, but this was
different, because we were going for more than one day. Even better, we were
going to stay at the Contemporary Resort, which at the time was the epitome of
’70s futuristic cool.
Unfortunately, we didn’t
stay in the main building where the monorails filed through the open lobby but
in one of the outer arms, but we still had full hotel privileges, and, of
course, we could come and go to the Magic Kingdom as we pleased. There was no
time restraint. If we wanted to go for a couple hours to ride a few rides, then
come back and go swimming, we could do that.
It turns out that was a good
thing, because pretty much everyone got sick at one point. I recall that I
spent most of the first afternoon there in bed, but Jin and Scott had it far
worse than I did. They were out of commission for more than a day.
It was nice in the sense
that we didn’t have to have the whole family together to go to the park, but it
also forced us to spend more time at the hotel to check in if anyone needed
anything, because either Mom or Dad had to take care of Jin and Scott, who were
7 and 4, respectively. The good news here was a massive game room that had
pinball and Tank was available, and I wiled away a few hours there.
As the stay progressed,
however, everyone started to get a little stir crazy, and at one point, Mom and
Dad had one of their bigger fights before their divorce. It was obvious that we
needed to do something else.
Bay Lake, where Disney’s
funky nighttime water show took place, surrounds the Contemporary Resort. One
afternoon, Dad and I went down to the lake and rented motorboats that couldn’t
have been much longer than I was tall. They had one side-by-side seat, and Dad
rented two—one for each of us.
Now think of that: I wasn’t
yet 12, and Disney was letting me take a motorboat out on the water by
myself—with no helmet. I think we had to wear a safety vest, which was no big
deal, but we didn’t have to sign any release form or anything regarding
liability. Different times.
After many summers at Torch
Lake where I had driven the old Lyman motorboat, I knew the basic rules of
water safety, so that wasn’t an issue. We just jumped in and took off, opening
the throttle all the way almost as soon as we left the dock. We spent the
afternoon bombing around Bay Lake, jumping waves and having a blast.
That was my favorite part of
the trip to Disney World by a mile. I mean, you can go through the Pirates of
the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain (the new ride that year)
only so many times before it all becomes the same. In fact, being out in those
boats is one of my favorite memories of all of my Florida trips and of being
with Dad while I was a kid.
I’m not sure, but either the
boats had radios in them or they pumped music out into the lake over
loudspeakers, because I would sweat that I was heard top 40 while we were out
on the lake (Games People Play by The Spinners seems to particularly stand
out). Whatever, I would be willing to bet we did NOT hear this song, though.
When we went to Florida that
year, this song still was on the radio. But it always bothered me that of the
two versions of this song, radio always played the shorter version. I think I
heard the full, twice-as-long version once in the car late at night.
It wasn’t until much later
that I realized why this was the case (and why I’m certain we didn’t hear it
that day in the motorboats). You probably know this, but until I heard all the
words on the uncut version as an adult, I wasn’t aware what a dirty song this
is—particularly for top-40 AM radio in 1975-76.
Back then, I had no
understanding of what Marty Balin was saying as long as he didn’t use the
naughty words I was forbidden from saying except on the school playground.
Nowadays, given the death of subtlety and suggestion in light of how pretty
much every rap song drops multiple f-bombs, most people probably would shrug
when hearing Balin’s homage to glorious sex.
Like I said, different
times.
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