Holy chit I never even heard this song before. Great intro and video. I met Dr. Hook around 1990 when I installed his cable tv. He lived on A1A in Flagler Beach. I had no idea who he was, my work order said 'Ray Sawyer'. He told me about how they hoisted the piano with pulleys over the 2nd floor balcony to get it inside the room. Conversation about music led to finding out he was Dr Hook. Many years later they moved to Ormond Beach, where he passed away about 5 years ago. He was a kind, modest, humble, fun loving man. Just like in this intro from 1990 in Netherlands. I wish he had played a few more local gigs in all those years he lived here.
Back in the 70's there was a radio show on KAAY out of Little Rock, AR. Clear channel with 50K watts so the station could be heard across the entire country at night. That show--Beaker Street---was aired nightly from 11pm-2am central time and hosted by an icon DJ....Clyde Clifford....whose goal was to play nothing but 'underground' music--the kind of stuff which didn't ever air on mainstream AM radio(FM was in it's infancy for the most part, so AM was king). He played music by groups that never even got a sniff at mainstream radio. The show had a HUGE following and really somewhat gave birth to what FM became. When I was young, I listened nightly over here in Pensacola. Lost a lot of sleep!
Point being is Beaker Street used to play Dr. Hook ALL the time along with others--many who never did make it to mainstream although Dr. Hook did eventually get played some on regular radio. Dr. Hook and Leon Russell were two similar artists who experienced 'laying low' for years and eventually got their dues and started being heard on traditional radio. Another was Warren Zevon. The list goes on with examples like these folks....among those of us who followed Beaker Street and the music that show played, heard of so many artists years before most people ever had a clue who they were.
It's cool story you posted about meeting him---as soon as I saw the image on the YT you post, it brought back memories of hiding a pillow speaker under my head on school nights so I could listen to Beaker Street till 2 am taking in the likes of Dr. Hook and so many others. Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show did a lot of good stuff back in the day, and even though he kinda remained obscure to the masses....he was a giant attraction among the fortunate ones who were lucky enough to get a jump start.
Thanks for posting....great memories just seeing his name again.
