Some impressive knowledge amidst the levity — I bow down before you who can credibly discern “key changes” and “middle eights” in pop songs. Oddly, I see I have almost *never* payed attention to rock-era love-song lyrics in any kind of serious way. My bad. I missed out on years of cheap entertainment, as these “Adventures” amply demonstrate. But now I am paranoid. Are “Whole Lotta Love” and “Baba O'Riley” wimp songs in disguise? How about “We're An American Band”? Juuuuuust kidding. Time to revert back to semiconsciousness …

A history of mellow gold is definitely called for. When did she-men start giving away their balls? There is a fine line here. One can be devastated from an actual or impending breakup and still retain some dignity. When did watching TV as an OK alternative to sex even become a possibility? Inquiring minds want to know. I came up with Terry Stafford's “Suspicion” (not to be confused w/ Eddie Rabbitt's song) ca. 1966 an early mellow gold candidate. I am sure there are earlier ones. Which brings us to …

Go to the front of the class, those of you who recalled mellow HoF'er Paul Davis's “breakthrough” being “A Little Bit of Soap” in 1970. Did it make the national top 40? It made the local top 30 in Boston for a few weeks — one of those deals where a song goes from 30 to 27 to 25, and then the musical director goes “WTF?? Outta here!”

The original version of “Soap” has a catchy '50s-ish arrangement. The words say “you broke my heart and the scars may never heal entirely” but the music says there will be joy again. Davis's version, OTOH … Long before he hit the mellow motherlode with “I Go Crazy” and “Cool Night” his “Soap” remake registered a 98 on the wimp-scale. That Nigel Olsson basically re-remade Paul Davis's remake is inexplicable. Or *was*. Now made aware of all the self-titled LPs, it suddenly makes sense in a weird kind of way.

As for “Dancing Shoes” … always liked the song well enough. It certainly never suffered from overexposure. The comparison with the Eagles version of “Ol' 55″ is a good one. Did not notice that before … which I find I am somehow able to forgive myself for.

Okay, go to youtube and type in “Little Bit Of Soap”. The original Jarmels version is actually a cool little tune. You'll also find a not-bad version by Garnet Mimms.

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Nigel's 1979 version, meanwhile, sneaks a little “What A Fool Believes” riff into the proceedings.

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For those who want to hear how far the material deviated from its source material, here's the original Ben E. King-like hit, by the Jarmels from 1961:

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