No Sad Song

Last updated
"No Sad Song"
No Sad Song.jpg
German 7-inch single cover
Single by Helen Reddy
from the album Helen Reddy
B-side "More than You Could Take"
ReleasedNovember 1971
Recorded1971
Studio Capitol Studios, Los Angeles
Length3:00
Label Capitol
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Larry Marks
Helen Reddy singles chronology
"Crazy Love"
(1971)
"No Sad Song"
(1971)
"I Am Woman"
(1972)

"No Sad Song" is a song written in 1971 by Carole King and Toni Stern. It was recorded by Australian singer-songwriter Helen Reddy, appearing on her album Helen Reddy , released in November 1971. The single peaked at number 62 in January 1972 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, [1] staying on the chart for eight weeks. "No Sad Song" showed up on the Easy Listening (Adult Contemporary) chart for 4 weeks, rising to number 32. [2] It also reached number 51 on the pop chart in Canada's RPM magazine. [3]

Village Voice critic Robert Christgau described "No Sad Song" as a minor hit for Reddy, and a missed chance for King to have a "tougher" song on one of her own albums. [4] Stern's lyrics for "No Sad Song" describe the history and the death of a ladies' man, "stabbed in his bed" where he had brought so many women. [5] The New Yorker called the song "Brecht-and-Weillian", referring to Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, famous for the murder-minded song "Mack the Knife". "No Sad Song" was called a "ballad about the unlamented murder of a rake." [6]

"No Sad Song" was released in North America on 7-inch, 45 rpm vinyl with Reddy's own "More than You Could Take" on the B-side. In early 1972, several European printings of the single were released. Reddy recorded a French-language version of "No Sad Song" translated to "Plus de Chanson Triste", making it available in both languages in France. [7] French singer Sheila recorded this French version as "Plus de Chansons Tristes" (making it plural "Songs") for her 1972 album Poupée de Porcelaine (Porcelain Doll). Pierre Delanoë wrote the French lyrics about a "suburban Don Juan". [8]

The song is one of two low-performing singles that Reddy put out in 1971, the other being her version of "Crazy Love" by Van Morrison, which rose to number 51 in September 1971. Reddy's first big success was "I Don't Know How to Love Him" which hit number 12 in June 1971, so the next two singles were considered disappointments. It was not until 1972's "I Am Woman" that Reddy hit the top of the charts, the song appearing in frustrating fits in June and September charts then finally breaking through to number 1 in December. [9] Reddy said later to Ms. magazine's Susan Lydon that "No Sad Song" was too antagonistic: "it never took off because it put down men too much." [10]

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<i>Love Song for Jeffrey</i> 1974 studio album by Helen Reddy

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Music, Music is the eighth studio album by Australian-American pop singer Helen Reddy that was released in the summer of 1976 by Capitol Records and later described by J. Scott McClintock for AllMusic: "There are breezy, Bacharach-ian excursions, bluesy numbers, light country ('Mama'), jazzy ballads, and even a little Philly soul. On August 2 of that year the Recording Industry Association of America awarded the album with Gold certification for sales of 500,000 copies in the United States. It debuted on Billboard's Top LP's & Tapes chart that same month, in the issue dated August 14, and got as high as number 16 during its 13 weeks there, and in Canada's RPM magazine it peaked at number 14. The third album recorded by Reddy with producer Joe Wissert, Music, Music was cited in 1977 by Reddy as a personal favorite from among her albums. On August 23, 2005, Music, Music was released for the first time on compact disc as one of two Helen Reddy albums on one CD, the other album being her 1975 studio release, No Way to Treat a Lady.

<i>Ear Candy</i> (Helen Reddy album) 1977 studio album by Helen Reddy

Ear Candy is the ninth studio album by Australian-American pop singer Helen Reddy, released on 25 April 1977 by Capitol Records. The album included a modern take on the doo-wop genre, a Cajun number that gave the Melbourne native her first and only appearance on Billboard magazine's Country chart, and a dark self-parody on which Reddy proclaims: "I don't take no shit from nobody". Unusually, half of the songs recorded for Ear Candy were co-written by Reddy herself, including the second single: "The Happy Girls", Reddy's first self-penned A-side single since "I am Woman". The album's first single, a remake of the 1964 Cilla Black hit "You're My World", gave Reddy a final Top 40 hit.

References

  1. "Chart History: Helen Reddy". Billboard. Archived from the original on September 10, 2020. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  2. Whitburn, Joel (2007). Joel Whitburn Presents Billboard Top Adult Songs, 1961-2006. Record Research Inc. pp. 226, 805. ISBN   978-0-89820-169-7.
  3. "RPM 100 Singles". RPM . 1972-01-22.
  4. "Carole King: Five Million Friends". Robert Christgau. Archived from the original on July 29, 2018. Retrieved August 27, 2020. First appeared in November 1972 in Newsday.
  5. "Songs: No Sad Song". Carole King. Archived from the original on September 10, 2020. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  6. "Review". The New Yorker. Vol. 49, no. 111. 1972. p. 138.
  7. Reddy, Helen (2006). The Woman I Am. Penguin. p. 102. ISBN   9781440649868. Archived from the original on 2020-09-10. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  8. Quinonero, Frédéric (2018). Sheila, une histoire d'amour (in French). City Edition. pp. 197–199. ISBN   9782824630434. Archived from the original on 2020-09-10. Retrieved 2020-08-30.
  9. Bronson, Fred (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. Billboard Books. p. 334. ISBN   9780823076772. Archived from the original on 2020-09-10. Retrieved 2020-08-28.
  10. Lydon, Susan (July 1973). "And Now Here's... Helen Reddy". Ms. Vol. 2. p. 28.