Steve Miller Band: Take the Money and Run
Purchase:
I had a couple of ideas for this week, which I will still get to later, but this morning my iPod was on shuffle and all of sudden there they were: The most iconic succession of five hand claps from my early adolescence.
They headed down tooooo old El Paso... clap! clap! clap! clap! clap!
In 1976 I was nine years old. Just old enough to be cognizant of the fact that every older kid in my town, it seemed, knew every word to this song. As far as I could tell it was required curriculum at the Junior and Senior High Schools. I distinctly remember being in our kitchen with one of my older sister's totally hot friends when she sang along with this song and laughed as she clapped those five claps.
Steve Miller was never consistent enough to transcend the 70's in any meaningful way. But his handful of hits were so mercilessly catchy that they have remained on most respectable classic rock rotations, and most people over 40 remember where they were when these songs were being played every 10 minutes on the radio.