Nights Are Forever Without You

Today is the birthday of Jim Seals of Seals and Crofts fame. I normally wouldn't care enough to pass that information on to anyone, except that Jim Seals is the brother of Dan Seals of England Dan and John Ford Coley fame. And that information is noteworthy.

England Dan and John Ford Coley are so long forgotten they don't even have a fan-based website that I could dig up with a google search, but for a couple of passing years in the mid 70s, I was their fan.

Growing up outside of Chicago in the 70s, WLS radio was the only station someone with a hankering for the top 20 could listen to--AM--on a transistor radio hooked to your belt or slung from a wrist band. "Superjock" Larry Lujack played each hit twice an hour, so you could hear Sad to Belong, Where Do I Go from Here, and Nights Are Forever Without You ten times a day at least. (sample them here) After listening to these samples and pairing them with the very unattractive photo on the album cover pictured here, you may ask why a teenage girl would be so attached to these songs and these singers--I have no answer to that. It was the 70s.

One of the best hits to sing along with while riding on a dark, smelly band bus across the midwest was I'd Really Love to See You Tonight:

We could go walkin' through a windy park
take a drive along the beach
or stay home and watch T.V.
you see it really doesn't matter much to me...
*Chorus
I'm not talking 'bout movin' in
and I don't want to change your life
but there's a warm wind blowin' the stars around
and I'd really love to see you tonight...

In my freshmen year, WLS joined with Carefree Sugarless Gum to sponsor a contest. The school that turned in the most Carefree gum wrappers, or 3x5 pieces of paper with Carefree Sugarless Gum written on them, would win a free concert with--yes--England Dan and John Ford Coley--to be held in their own school gym. That's big time for any band.

My little school in Indiana went nuts for the challenge. Cheerleaders tore pieces of paper to the correct size and passed them out. Kids sat in study hall writing out Carefree Sugarless Gum until their fingers cramped. Even my pastor's daughter who was not allowed to listen to WLS and would not be allowed to attend the concert scrawled on dozens of 3x5 sheets--Carefree Sugarless Gum.

Then one afternoon while I was sitting in my typing class, the principal broke in on the loud speaker to announce that we had won. Larry Lujack and England Dan and John Ford Coley would be playing in our very own gym. I was so excited--I was not normally allowed to attend concerts for what my father called "that dadblamed rock and roll," but I was pretty sure I could beg for this one since it would be heavily chaperoned, and there would be no pot smoking and no hibbity-jibbity dancing.

At the concert, England Dan and John Ford Coley sang all of their hits from every album they had released up to that point, and Larry Lujack threw WLS T-shirts out to the sweaty mob of teens on the gym floor. What I remember most about Lujack was his apparent disdain for having to be part of this commercial spectacle and the way he talked down to all of us. I was offended at the time, but now that I look back on it, I suppose I might have felt the same way if I were him.

His attitude aside, I got to see my favorite band in person, in my own hometown, in my own school, and it was free.

Turn on the radio
We'll play it way down low
There's a tear in your eye
That's reflecting the fire's glow
And I wish that this night would never end
The sun ain't gonna be my friend