My best friend's parents wrote "Afternoon Delight."

Yesterday

Where the Streets Have No Name

Stairway to Heaven

Afternoon Delight

Space Oddity

London Calling

I hated that song OP. When it came on the radio I turned it off. I once heard one of the band members interviewed and she said it was her least favorite song on the album. Years back I was watching some game show and there was a young female contestant who said her parents wrote Afternoon Delight. Was that your friend.

The song was a cheesy joke at the time and it was the kind of cheese that doesn't age well. Everyone made fun of it.

Yes, OP, it's not a major classic, more like a "classic" of 70s super-cheese.

Its super cheese for sure, made popular again by Will Farrell. But I love my friend. And it for sure is nothing to sniff at. Huge cultural hit. They also co-wrote John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High." My friend's mom has COPD now and is dying. She's a wonderful lady. Toffy. It's just weird how life works.

The most Caucasian beat I’ve ever heard - polka sounds like hip hop in comparison. Didn't they have a TV show featuring David Letterman?

That song hit #1 the week I was born, and my mother noted that in my baby book.

My parents bought the 45, and when I played it later on I was skeeved out.

This video reveals there was an attempt to make Starland Vocal Band an American ABBA. Unfortunately, they didn't have any other songs.

The secondary male was a hot twink.

I posted about In the summertime by mongo jerry (sp?) being one of the biggest selling songs ever. So really whats the difference? My generation had i’m too sexy

[quote] Its super cheese for sure, made popular again by Will Farrell. But I love my friend.

Well, good, OP. It would be silly to stop loving your friend because her parents wrote a cheesy song. I kinda want to kill you for getting that song stuck in my head, though.

Perverts.

It is a classic, one of the biggest hits of the '70s and a true cultural reference point.

No one's going to argue it's an artistic high point of the decade, but it was a sensation in '76 that sold a kajillion copies.

It seems like there was a whole genre of music in the '70s meant to be played while you fucked in the back of your shag-carpeted van. I would place the early Heart records in this category.

OP, do you have any idea how much money your friend's parents made from that song? What did they do after their stardom faded?

Did the copd cause taffy to become toffy?

"Afternoon Delight" always reminds me of the Luv-ahs from Saturday Night Live. Those two would have loved that song.

OP here. I am not sure about their financial fortunes. Dad (Bob) and the mom are divorced. The dad has a humble shack in Otis, MA. I've met him, he's very very sweet. My friend's mom (Taffy) lives in DC. The other sister seems spoiled rotten and on drugs. The younger half-brother was on the Voice and got pretty far. My friend is a script supervisor in LA. The family seems dysfunctional but not horribly so. They don't seem wealthy. They are humble.

I used to listen to American Top 40 every weekend when I was a kid in the mid-70s, and even then I put Afternoon Delight in the same league of cheese as Run Joey Run, Sky High, and Muskrat Love.

It’s filth. Filth! They’re talking about sex. Daylight sex. Disgusting.

There was no Bob. It was Bill Danoff. Are you sure you have the right family, OP?

R7 American ABBA!?! Eat shit!!!

It seems cheesy now, and it was cheesy then, but it was also quite subversive for a #1 song to be all about fucking and coming ("sky rockets in flight").

And there was talent there: The playing and harmonizing were very good.

They were not well packaged. But I'm not sure how they could have been — there wasn't really a place for a new Mamas & the Papas in 1976, with New Wave coming in and Fleetwood Mac dominating AOR just months later.

Oh Bjorn/R19, look at the profile shots. They totally ripped off your videos.

There was a difference: You did get the sense they actually fucked each other.

Good kid? The song was released in 1977. Are you sure they're not her grandparents?

Wow - BF was in the news a few years back, OP?

It was a dirty song about sex.

[quote]On July 4, 1976 it was featured as the theme song for CBS's all day Bicentennial coverage hosted by Dan Rather.

I loved it as a kid, I didn't know it had sexual connotations until I was older. I still think it's catchy.

R23 Yes! That's my friend! She stood up for Johnny. She wouldn't lie, she's a wonderful person. Totally legit.

R18 Sorry it is Bill, not Bob. I'm tipsy. He's super nice and a good person. I misspoke.

I’m sorry to hear your friend’s mom is dying of COVID, OP. It has not made the news yet, and is quite a shock.

The half-brother is quite cute.

I wonder what it's like to get "the talk" from a father who's famous for writing a #1 song about fucking.

R29 No it's COPD, probably from smoking her whole life. But you are a very nice person and I love you . It's been rough and sad. Taffy (her mom) moved to Florida to retire, and convalesce. And my friend can't see her mom very much, cuz if you peace-out on your script-supervising job in Hollywood, you will lose your spot and start from the bottom.

Did Taffy and Margot ever do the lez-lez?

R 32 Nope

[quote]No it's COPD

Oops - my bad. Still, that’s terrible to hear, and I wish her and your friend the best. It sucks that she can’t take leave to see her mom.

Also covered by country singer Johnny Carver:

[quote]Starlight Vocal Band

Oh, dear.

The ultimate "one-hit wonders," yet CBS gave them their own TV series.

OK - David Letterman DID write and perform bits on that show. It’s not an acid flashback:

Nice harmonies though.....

So you get the name of the band wrong, as well as the name of both parents in the band, yet this person is your best friend? Well, that's a real noggin scratcher.

Wow, you should take your investigative skills into private practice, Jessica Fletcher/R39.

Rubbin' sticks n stones together makin' sparks ignite!

At least your friend’s father didn’t write “You Light Up My Life.” That guy was a real asshole.

If you take your sarcasm detection skills anywhere anytime soon, R40, they certainly won't weigh you down.

I HATED that song. It was so corny.

The only other song from that era that irritated me that much was "Midnight at the Oasis."

Starland won the 1976 Grammy for best new artist. OP, where does Toffy keep her Grammy? Find out, ok?

The younger guy aged pretty well.

Oh my G-d, it IS dirty!

I remember an interview where they said that sometimes they were told to change one of the lyrics. Sometimes it's "And the thought of loving you is getting so exciting", and sometimes it's "And the thought of rubbing you is getting so exciting".

Sorry to hear about Taffy's COPD. My Dad had that.

Well, it was no "Almost heaven, West Virginia..."

Um. Not sure about you, OP. Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert co-wrote Country Roads with John Denver, not Rocky Mountain High.

R47: It talks about all the things I want to do to him.

The Washington Post did an oral history of the song a while ago. It's pretty entertaining.

I like taffy Davenport better.

Then why'd you kill her after you cut off my hand, Dawn Pig-pork?

It was released April 1976. I lived in Potomac MD at the time I was 10 and one of my neighborhood friends parent did some kind of work for this group and they had the record which is how I heard it.

OP, Love Country Roads. Sang it at camp, especially on the hiking trail.

Didn't quite understand what ALL of the words meant in "Afternoon Delight." Luckily my ultra-Conservative mother didn't either otherwise it would be no more radio listening time.

Looks like there was *some* critical acclaim:

[quote]At the 19th Grammy Awards ceremony in 1977, "Afternoon Delight" received three nominations for recordings from 1976. It won the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement for Voices and was also nominated for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Song of the Year.

[quote]In 2010 Billboard named "Afternoon Delight" the 20th sexiest song of all time

It gave Emma Pillbury and the celibacy club one of their best numbers even if it earned them scorn from Goop.

OP has gotten every single fact about Afternoon Delight and its writers wrong. Do we believe him?

It reminds me of fun and free part of my life as a teen, so I love the song.

R52 Paywall

I love Otis MA, OP.

Bill Danoff and Emmylou Harris wrote "Boulder To Birmingham," Harris' devastating ode to her doomed boyfriend, Gram Parsons.

I remember driving with my mom and this song came on. Awkward silence.

I thought it was about a visit from the ice cream truck. "Skyrockets in flight" = bomb pops.

OP, I want to hear some John Denver gossip!

Once, John Denver took my ice cubes without permission, but he refilled the tray with and put it back in the freezer. With mountain spring water.

Did he give you a box of Post Raisin Bran, too, R67?

R68 How did you know? I detest raisins, so I picked them out and gave them to my dog, who got sick from the toxins in the grapes. And there was no toy in the cereal box either. JD was a MONSTER.

Classic P. O. S.

As teenagers back then we all made fun of the song, which was on the radio nonstop for a while. Today I admire the gorgeous harmonies. Tell your friend's parents hi and thanks for the memories!

Love the song. Its part of my childhood.

Was way too young when it came out to understand the subtext of the song. I just thought it was about skyrockets and fish that could't be caught and rubbing sticks and stones together until the sparks ignite.

Was much later that I finally understood all the subtext. Now, when I hear the song, it reminds me of a much more innocent time.

[quote]Sorry to hear about Taffy's COPD.

I'm sorry she's gonna have the name Taffy on her headstone.

The song is like thinking about your parents or Ozzie and Harriet having sex. Just ICK!

[quote] The song is like thinking about your parents or Ozzie and Harriet having sex. Just ICK!

How else do you think Ricky and David happened?

I remember when Afternoon Delight came out. All the kids sung it, be we know idea what it meant

You should be ashamed to bring up your personal connection to this drek. It's something to be laughed at, not venerated. It was part of the stake that was driven into the heart of Top 40 AM radio.

But what about the Grammy? Where exactly is it? Attic or mantle??!

If I wrote a song that millions of people remembered 40 years later I would be very happy.

Like many of you, this brings me back. I also had no idea what the skyrocket line meant. When I finally wised up to it, I realized the same was probably true for the fireworks at the beginning of "Love, American-Style."

This was the summer of the Bicentennial. Seems like a zillion years ago.

1970s Grammy best new artists: The Carpenters, Carly Simon, America, Bette Midler, Marvin Hamlisch, Natalie Cole, Starland Vocal Band, Debby Boone, A Taste of Honey, Ricki Lee Jones.

I was in first or second grade when this was popular, and I remember a group of older girls doing a baton/dance routine to this in the school talent show. Of course we all had no idea this song was about FUCKING, but surely the teachers did???

r63, "Boulder to Birmingham" is indeed devastating. A classic.

Well, OP....I guess someone had to write it.

Hi Op here. It's all true. Unfortunately I was heavily intoxicated when I started this thread. Probably wouldn't have started such a random thread if I'd been in my sober mind. But it's true, I do know these people, and I am telepathically apologizing to my friend right now for using her and her family as fodder for a random late night drunken post.

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't "Afternoon Delight" at one time the song being played over the closing credits of "Good Will Hunting?" Do I not remember humming to it as the birthday car was driving to California along that endless highway?

I saw the movie again and was surprised to hear a completely different song playing in the final scene.

[quote] Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't "Afternoon Delight" at one time the song being played over the closing credits of "Good Will Hunting?"

I don’t remember but that sounds improbable.

That part when they go, "aaah ahhh ahhh aaaaaffff..." reminds me of my sister wailing after she stubbed her toe.

[quote]Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't "Afternoon Delight" at one time the song being played over the closing credits of "Good Will Hunting?" Do I not remember humming to it as the birthday car was driving to California along that endless highway? I saw the movie again and was surprised to hear a completely different song playing in the final scene.

The end credits play a different song first, r85, but if you start this clip at around 1:05, you'll hear the Starland Band excrescence.

Yes, Afternoon Delight plays over the end credits of Good Will Hunting!

But it doesn't play at the start of the end credits. The song at start is an original song called "Miss Misery." It's a pretty forgettable song, but it did get an Oscar nomination for original song.

When that song ends, Afternoon Delight plays. That's a very appropriate song because at the film's end Matt Damon's character goes off in search of his girl, Skylar (Minnie Driver) and the opening line of Afternoon Delight is "Gonna find my baby, gonna hold her tight."

In the video below, Afternoon Delight starts at 1:45.

[quote]The only other song from that era that irritated me that much was "Midnight at the Oasis."

R44 I loved that song! I thought it was very sexy and cool. Now I can't remember who sang it or any of the words other than something about putting a camel to bed!

I love that song for the harmonies. Gorgeous.

R90, "Midnight at the Oasis" is by Maria Muldaur. It was very popular during Watergate and reminds me of cruising the block in Georgetown, which some would refer to as "the oasis" as the clock struck twelve, during that era.

I was a small country boy and I knew what it was about.

It's funny, for better or worse back in those days we sort of *knew* what things were about, but didn't openly acknowledge or talk about them that much. I guess social media ushered in this thing of analyzing everything to death.

Not to derail the thread here, but "Midnight At The Oasis" speaks of camels, sultans, harems, belly dancers, etc., which means it's set in the Middle East, right?

And yet there's that weird line about, "Come on, the CACTUS is our friend, he'll point out the way . . ."

No cacti in the Middle East.

Wasn’t the Oasis a big gay or swingers club at the time?

R92 Thank you for the link and R95 thanks for the comment. Now that I've listened to it again, it still sounds sultry but I don't know why I was so enthralled by it at the time. Not so much now.

OP, they should not be allowed to live.

Maria Muldaur sounds as if someone is shaking her out of a stupor.

[quote] It’s filth. Filth! They’re talking about sex. Daylight sex. Disgusting.

The maiden aunt brigade is here.

Can you imagine? Daylight sex! With the lights on!

[quote] It was very popular during Watergate and reminds me of cruising the block in Georgetown, which some would refer to as "the oasis" as the clock struck twelve, during that era.

So was "put your camel to bed" a euphemism for ass fucking?

OP, I believe you. I don't know who these posters are who accuse others of making up stories about incidents with the nearly-and/or once famous. Who is going to make up a story about a tangential connection to the Starland Vocal Band? It is quite random which gives credence to the veracity of your story. Your foggy recollection of the details is to be expected as well - I am guessing you may not have been born or were a toddler when the song was released. If I recall correctly Starland may have been the name of a defunct local DC-area venue where the group got their start. As another poster said above, even as a kid I knew It was a cheesy song but it's nice to know your friend is doing well. Sorry to hear about her mom and wishing her well.

[quote} And yet there's that weird line about, "Come on, the CACTUS is our friend, he'll point out the way . . ."No cacti in the Middle East

Somehow I doubt that the author of "Midnight at the Oasis" put a lot of research into the effort.

My favorite line from Midnight at the Oasis is "you won't need no camel when I take you for a ride "

As far as Taffy, I heard Country Roads by John Denver this weekend on Sirius/XM and Taffy is all over that song harmonizing with Denver.

No cacti in the Middle East? Are you sure? I'm sure I saw cacti-looking, prickly thingies while hiking in Israel and Jordan.

Bitch, so what, tell him we had a summer replacement variety series for 19 seconds in the '70s, too!

Rock the Boat by the Hues Corporation was much better.

Rock the B oat was annoying. The kind of dull, repetitive drivel that helped sink disco.

I remember lighting up a joint listening to Afternoon Delight on the way to the beach in the summer of 1976. She must be very rich on royalities.

I knew it was 76. Bicentennial beach trip to the outer banks in a wood paneled station wagon with back benches up full of kids, and going over the bride at Mann's Harbour.

R110, you went over a bride? How awkward and how Frau of you!

In Good Will Hunting, Will sang it to the psychiatrist he was faking out. 3:15.

r106 Pink Lady and Jeff wasn't a summer replacement series.

The original title was "Lunchtime Anal" but the label watered it down.

Do not disparage Rock the Boat! It's a stone-cold classic, widely considered to be either the first legit disco song or the first disco song to hit #1.

R115: that would actually be "Love's Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra. But "Rock the Boat" was no more repetitive than any other pop songs of 1974.

"Rack own witch-o bed's elf!"

"Rack own witch-o bed's elf!"

"Rack own witch-o bed's elf!"

"Rack own witch-o bed's elf!"

I guess I'm not going to get my John Denver gossip.

John Denver and i went to the same high school.

I heard this timeless classic yesterday on the Music Choice Soft Rock station. I thought of OP.

I can take or leave Afternoon Delight, but SVB's vocal arrangement of Paul Simon's American Tune on the same album is amazing. I believe Paul Simon thought so, too.

[quote]Who is going to make up a story about a tangential connection to the Starland Vocal Band?

Someone who claims in their OP that the Starland Vocal Band is the "Starlight Vocal Band," that's who.

Washington DC native here. That stupid song was on the radio constantly, since the band was based there.

But going to summer camp in West Virginia the year that John Denver song came out was, if anything, even worse.

So OP's friend was conceived when the sun was still out?

R119, what was he like?

I always thought it was Starlight Vocal Band, too. I think I like that name better.

R117: that was the refrain at the end of the song