I am therefore sorry if the following piece of information puts you off your food for any length of time.

As Neil Reid was mentioned earlier in the thread, by Marcello, I was sure someone would have pointed out the the b-side to “LHLFL” was in fact Little Jimmy’s version of Neil Reid’s “classic” “Mother of Mine”. (See pic sleeve above for confirmation)

It is all you would expect it to be!

What’s the opposite of synergy?

Hoser is both a slang term and a stereotype, originating from and used primarily in Canada.[1]

Like the very similar term hosehead, it originally referred to farmers of the Canadian prairies, who would siphon gas from farming vehicles with a hose during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The expression has since been converted to the verb ‘to hose’ as in to trick, deceive, or steal - for example: “That card-shark sure hosed me.” Hosed has an additional meaning of becoming drunk - for example: “Let’s go out and get hosed.”

The term “hoser” refers to an era in hockey before the ice resurfacing machine came into use. The losing team had to hose off the ice. The term “hoser” can then be construed to mean loser.

——–and that pretty much says it - Also the term hoser was revitalized by the characters of Bob & Doug Mackenzie ( played by Rick Moranis & Dave Thomas ) in a sketch developed for Saturday Night Live to take the piss out of Canadians. It’s still so true it’s frightening !

Waldo – no idea what a hoser is, but the drought would have been a good time for a ban on them!

Re the scarcity of novelty chart-toppers on the other side of the Atlantic, couldn’t the different chart methodologies also be a factor? I obviously can’t remember 1972, but most of the recent for-profit novelty Number Ones I can think of haven’t been major radio hits.

Ray Stevens was always around but not that often at # 1 in Canada - again , from a Canadian point of view, he had a very American sense of humour, methinks.

At his time the only song that comes close is ” Brand New Key ” by Melanie.

But more about that/him when Popular reaches the golden year of 1976…

It was however a good time for Canadian based bands with Lighthouse ( Sunny Day ) , Edward Bear ( The Last Song ) & Foot in Cold Water (In My Life ) and The Guess Who ( Running Back to Saskatoon ) in the charts.

The Guess Who’s ” Running Back to Saskatoon ” - should be enough of an oxymoron to keep anybody laughing - if you have ever been there - most folk I know run away from it.

“Let Me In” is an absolute classic though, had it been the Beach Boys, etc.

Wwolfe – oddly enough Radcliffe and Maconie played “Crazy Horses” last night on Radio 2, and surely that has to stand out among the Osmonds oeuvre? Ohhh God, those awful family gatherings where everyone sang along to “Paper Roses” (or “Snotty Noses” as we called it) – glad Marie won’t be troubling this series!

However, I’ve seen the album that contains the single in about a million used record racks over the past three decades. There’s always a sticker on the cover that says, “Contains the hit ‘Long Haired Lover From Liverpool’!” And I always wonder where exactly it was a hit. Now I know!

I think it was ‘73 when sister Marie had her first hit with a re-make of “Paper Roses.” For a while there in the early ’70s, the sun never set on the Osmond Empire. Out of all their works, I enjoy “One Bad Apple” and “Down by the Lazy River.” That might be the worst ratio of effort to (artistic) success there’s been.

It’s not that we are too serious over ‘ere , it’s more that we have no shared sense of humour on North American soil.

I’ve been all over Canada & the States and what people think is funny changes alot from place to place. I think the distinctions are more marked in the USA than Canada.

It’s also probably due to the fact that the UK has the BBC , acting as a shared outlet for songs or shows that make everbody laugh. Likewise, Canada has the CBC , but I’m pretty sure that broadcasting in the USA is not as homogeneous.

Phew, that’s enough thought for 1 day.

Anyway it pales beside Billy Connolly’s contemporaneous “Short Haired Police Cadet From Maryhill.”

Brian – needless to say, this isn’t a UK novelty song that didn’t translate “over there”… more an early case of social dumping.

I only know number because it occasinally pops up when all my Liverpool FC budddies get together and after too much ale - break into song. YNWA

Trouble is, JG has insufficient swerve and a surfeit of plod…Woody “Woody Woodmansey’s U-Boat” Woodmansey + that damned harmonica > (personal end of ‘72 life-affecting level) Lynsey de Paul + “Sugar me my baby” + whip + Fred Frith on viola.

(however, if Tom is SUPER-SCRUPULOUS with double/triple A-sides, Popular will get to “Velvet Goldmine”…)

But what’s most exciting to me is that I can now accurately pinpoint my musical coming of age because “the next Popular entry” is the first song of “my own” from my childhood…

*©j.kortbein