To purchase the Original Cast Recording of FOLLIES, click on the image above.

1. “Waiting for the Girls Upstairs” from Follies

Follies. That most legendary of musicals. Oddly enough, it wasn’t difficult for me to choose a number from this show for this list. I love the emotionally stripped “Losing My Mind” and the simply astounding “I’m Still Here” as much as anyone, of course. But there is just something about this song. For me, it is this song that gives Follies its context and grounds its emotional resonance, the key song that outlines the then and the now that affect the lives of the characters. As such, it is this song that defines the tragedy around which Follies is crafted and which in turn kicks into gear the commentary in this piece on overall devolution of American society from the 1940s to the 1970s, which in an increasingly globalised world has affected and continues to affect us all. The tragic flaws put on display here, in true Tennessee Williams style, are mendacity and fantastic delusion. That we are doomed never to recognise our own culpability in the way we conduct our lives, the way we conduct our social interactions and the way we conduct our politics because of these flaws is the tragedy of Follies. But choosing to stop “Waiting for the Girls Upstairs” is just as hard a path to follow. When you look back, which is better to be seen as ‘the road you didn’t take’? I don’t know, but what I am going to do is quell my existential crisis with some good coffee and a listen to Bruce Kimmel’s remastered pressing of the original cast album.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed reading through this list of ten of my favourite show tunes from the 1970s. What are some of your favourites? Share your thoughts using the comments box below.