June 14 – Martin Helped America Make ’70s Magic

One of the smoother, laid-back hits of the ’70s had it’s shining moment on this day in 1975. “Sister Golden Hair” by America hit #1 on Billboard; the second chart-topper for the band which curiously enough was founded in Britain. Their first was their debut single, “A Horse With No Name.”

America was, as we said, technically at least a British band but one whose heart (and soon bodies) was always in the country they took the name of. The trio of Dewey Bunnell, Gerry Beckley and Dan Peek met in the UK, all sons of American military personnel stationed there. They formed the band in 1970, determined to not sound like the popular British acts of the era, and before long would relocate to California. Just as the country is known for its industriousness, so to have been the band. America is still rolling (as a duo of Beckley and Bunnell) and have put out 20 studio albums, but were most active in the early days. “Sister Golden Hair” was the lead single off Hearts, the fifth album they’d put out in under four years. Two names connected to the album remain interesting: George Martin and Phil Hartman. Hartman, later on the famous comic actor, designed the album cover (with the trio standing in front of the Golden Gate Bridge); he also drew the cover of a Poco album and came up with the concept for Steely Dan’s Aja cover.

Martin of course, was world-famous by then for being the producer for The Beatles. It was the second America album Martin had worked on, evidently he was impressed by the band as he even left his traditional studios in the UK to record it with them in San Francisco. George’s touch might help explain the Beatle-esque tone of many of their songs including “Sister Golden Hair.” the effect is enhanced by the striking steel guitar on the single, played by Gerry Beckley who wrote it. He says that George Harrison, and in particular “My Sweet Lord” influenced his sound on the single.

Beckley wrote the single (as well as the next one off Hearts, “Daisy Jane”) and sang lead on it. Besides Harrison, he says the sounds of Jackson Browne were an influence on him at the time. “Sister Golden Hair” wasn’t one real person; he says he wrote it with “poetic license” and it was an amalgam of various girls he’d known and dated. It was not he stresses, about his real sister although his parents thought it was! “The must not have listened to the lyrics,” he notes, adding “John Lennon famously said ‘We don’t know what the songs are about ’til people tell us,” which also applied to America’s songs.

Whatever or whoever it was about, it was a great easy-listening summer song that spent the week at #1 before being dethroned by that year’s biggest single, “Love Will Keep Us Together” by Captain and Tennille.

America’s status dropped off somewhat after “Sister Golden Hair.” Hearts was their last top 10 album of new material and the single, their last top 10 until they’d have one more #1 with “You Can Do Magic.”