With this column riding the endless wave of '70s nostalgia (we've done a lot lately about Canberra beauty pageants of that era), here's a cute Canberra musical fossil from 1976.
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Late in that golden, never-to-be-forgotten year, or perhaps early in 1977, The Canberra Times issued as a Canberra Times Community project a toe-tappingly melodious recording of a song, The Cover of the Canberra Times. You can hear it now by going to The Canberra Times website.
It was recorded by the band SAGA. They were Jeff Gallimore (drums), Hugh Moran (keyboards), Hugh Packard (guitar) and Graham Patrick (bass) and their song was a wholesome, family-friendly version of Dr Hook's quite adult The Cover of the Rolling Stone.
Rolling Stone is, of course, the journal of the popular music industry and Dr Hook's song was a satirical lament about a band that, despite its runaway success, its fabulous wealth, the devotion of the ''little teenage blue-eyed groupies who do everything we say'', the one thing the band really wanted, to be on the cover of Rolling Stone, eluded it.
''We keep gettin' richer
''But we cain't get our picture
''On the cover of the Rolling Stone.''
The Canberra Times, a model of decency then and now (despite this week's blush-making, out-of-character series of articles about penis size) saw to it that SAGA's version was much nicer than Dr Hook's. Changes to the lyrics included dropping Dr Hook's references to drug-taking and to fleeting liaisons with teenage groupies.
But in their version SAGA is showing the same frustration about how, somehow, despite all its successes, not being important enough to get on to the cover of one of the world's most prestigious and influential periodicals. Their life is full of lots of average thrills, the SAGA boys sing, but the one they really crave is:
''The thrill that really hits yer
''When you get your picture
''On the cover of The Canberra Times.'''
But SAGA is living in hope, and the chorus of the ditty dreams of the day when it all comes true and when:
''I'm gonna see my picture on the cover!
''I'm gonna buy five copies for my mother!
''I'm gonna see my smiling face on the cover of The Canberra Times.''
The Canberra Times donated all profits from the sale of the record to the ACT Society for Physically Handicapped Children.
