And it was not uncommon for these songs to hit the heights in the illustrious pop top 40. It was downright normal to see people your parents’ (occasionally even grandparents’) age, with sideburns and unbuttoned shirts, performing their latest frothy radio-friendly single on prime-time network television.
LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER TV
It was surprisingly common for songs performed by artists 35 and up to be rubbing shoulders with the songs by the “kids.” Not only did radio embrace the “ageless” approach, but all the afternoon talk shows and nighttime variety hours on TV were complicit with the notion. You didn’t have to be a hot young thing in your early twenties (or younger) to score a massive hit. When it came to the pop charts in the ’70s, age literally was just a number. “Love Will Keep Us Together” was the musical embodiment of everything the Captain & Tennille seemed to be about, a mission statement if you will, a song so aligned with their whole persona, so custom fit to their sugary weirdness, that even 45+ years later it’s still hard to believe it was a freakin’ cover. If asked to pick a song that best encapsulates the swinging ’70s in all its shag-carpeted, Pet Rock’d, earth-shoed glory, you’d be hard pressed to find a better specimen than the Captain & Tennille’s 1975 #1 hit “Love Will Keep Us Together.” Infectious, bouncy, and supremely sticky, sounding like both a commercial jingle and the kind of thing a Disney World in-house performing arts ensemble would include in the love-themed portion of their act (see the legendarily tacky incredible-ness of “ Up With People,” or even better, The Simpsons‘ reimagined take “ Hooray For Everything“), it was POP with a capitol P and Proud of it.
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