Miss Springfield meets Mr Hazlewood
Listen/Download – Dusty Springfield – The Sweet Ride
Greetings all.
What I have for you this week is one of those magical intersections of pop culture threads.
Though I only came into possession of this 45 this year, the movie from which it hails has long been a favorite of mine, since I first stole a viewing of it on the Late Show as a kid.
‘The Sweet Ride’ (1968) is one of those perfect (if perfectly artificial) pictures of time and place that manage to conjure up a sense that you’re getting a real dose of the time, even if you’re not (if you know what I mean).
The film concerns the intersecting lives of a group of characters in Southern California, with enough finely rendered archetypes – the louche swinger (Tony Franciosa) , Hollywood starlet (Jacqueline Bisset) , beatnik/hippie (a post-Gilligan Bob Denver) , sinister biker (Charles Dierkop) – to keep your head spinning for 90 minutes.
I picked up the title song in passing when I was seeking out Dusty Springfield’s hanting cover of Norma Tanega’s ‘No Stranger Am I’, which happens to be the B-side of today’s selection.
The contrast between the two songs couldn’t be starker, with ‘The Sweet Ride’ – which just so happens to have been written and produced by no less a light than Lee Hazlewood – coming on with a swinging, upbeat pop feel, sounding in every way like the movie looks (if you get my drift).
Dusty’s vocal is spot on, and the backing by the Blossoms is typically excellent.
Sadly, the movie seems to be out of circulation these days, available only as a burn-on-demand disc from 20th Century Fox and Amazon.
It’s a groovy tune, and I hope you dig it as much as I do.
See you next week.
Peace
Larry
Iron Leg 
I’d no idea there was a film of the same name (it’s also one of my last fave Dusty 45’s)! Did you know Norma Tanega was her domestic partner for many years?
I did know that! I devoted a big chunk of Iron Leg Radio Show Episode #50 to Tanega’s music, including some cool cover versions. Her first LP is kind of a lost classic. I’m still trying to find the LP she recorded in the UK.
https://ironleg.wordpress.com/2015/06/14/iron-leg-radio-show-episode-50/
BTW You get mentioned in the last spoken segment of this show for turning me onto that Feminine Complex tune.
Thanks, I will have to listen, somehow someday….
Listening to it in between chores, excellent stuff!!