50-Year-Old Songs: Oh, Atlanta

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What do you know, we’re back in the national sports spotlight this week! This time it’s the PGA Championship, being played at Valhalla here in town. A lot less exciting than a horse race, but hey, we’ll enjoy it. So while we bet on how quickly Tiger Woods’ back acts up when he starts having a bad round, I’ll let you enjoy another song from 1974. Oh, Atlanta - Little Feat The way this band was treated perplexes me. They were popular in the 70s, an FM rock staple band back then. Unfortunately, unlike other bands that were FM rock staples back then (like Led Zeppelin and the Grateful Dead), when the FM rock playlist tightened up in the early 80s, Little Feat got left in the dust. I mean, they could give DJs a great bathroom break (such as that nine-minute jam version of “Dixie Chicken” on Waiting for Columbus). They were popular (all of their albums had sold in the “gold record” status). And they are still popular, nearly 45 years after front man Lowell George’s untimely death. This rocking tune that starts off at the Greater Cincinnati Airport (“a place down in Kentucky, it’s right down near Ohio, where you can watch them planes at night”) and ends up on Peachtree (oh, and for you folks who’ve never been to Atlanta, there are seventy one streets named “Peachtree” something). Long live Little Feat!!! Oh, Atlanta Written by Bill Payne Recorded by Little Feat From Feats Don’t Fail Me Now, 1974 You just keep on playing that down home beat: