There were a ton of contenders I considered to fill out the number ten slot on this list.

I’ll go through what came close in detail when I get to the honorable mentions, since I’ll be giving quite a few of them away should I discuss them here.  But, in short, they were from all different genres across the board.  Most of the songs I considered were classic rock songs, most of which are classic rock staples to this day with their hard rock and blues rock sounds.  What can I say, 1977 was a good year for rock music, as if the genre was having one last hurrah before having its worst two years to date for the rest of the decade thanks to the disco explosion.  I also considered a handful of disco songs as well, from both sides of the Atlantic.  In the wild and unpredictable seventies, where pop, rock, disco, R&B, and funk were all competing for attention, the answer to what got the final slot on the list could have been anything.

Those genres would all have to compromise.

“Couldn’t Get It Right” – Climax Blues Band

#3 peak (May 21, 1977)
#32 year-end, 22 weeks on chart

One of the joys of music criticism is finding that new song that exceeds your expectations and ends up joining the ranks of your old favorites by the time your projects are complete.  And that sums up my feelings on “Couldn’t Get It Right.”  It is one of those songs that has become a hidden gem, a song that may not gain nearly as much attention as songs like “Dream On” or “Give Up The Funk,” but is just as good as them.  And it all comes from its ability to combine almost all the genres that made seventies music so great into one glorious package.

The Climax Blues Band are from Stafford, United Kingdom.  While the band has gone through many drummers and keyboard players (by 1977, they were on their fourth keyboard player), their core members were saxophonist Colin Cooper, guitarist Pete Haycock, and bassist/multi-instrumentalist Derek Holt.  By the time their eighth album Gold Plated was released in 1976, they had only one song that charted on either side of the Atlantic… which charted at 110th.  At the last minute, as is often the case with hit singles, RCA called for the band to write more radio-friendly material, specifically demanding an Elvis Presley cover song.  This tactic has historically drawn mixed results.  At best, as with “Pork And Beans” by Weezer, it results in the album’s best song.  At worst, as with “Why Can’t I?” by Liz Phair, management probably shouldn’t have bothered.  Fortunately for all involved, the Climax Blues Band hit a goldmine when they quickly put together this song in response.

“Couldn’t Get It Right” is all about hard living on the road, specifically overseas.  Before the band became successful enough to go through America on a tour bus, they would fly intermittently between locations and drive by car to the show, then again by car to an anonymous hotel to stay overnight.

I kept on looking for a sign in the middle of the night
But, I couldn’t see the light, no, I couldn’t see the light
I kept on looking for a way to take me through the night
Couldn’t get it right, couldn’t get it right

The “sign in the middle of the night” is a hotel, specifically a Holiday Inn, where the band would frequently stay at the time.  Hey, it could be worse.  It could be a crappy motel with bed bugs and no hot water.  But the song’s themes of struggling on the road and attempting to make a name for themselves is probably the closest connection the song has to the band’s roots.  You see, true to their name, the Climax Blues Band started off as a blues band before their sound evolved into a soft rock band.  By the time “Couldn’t Get It Right” was released, the band was receiving opposition from their die-hard fans for straying too far from their roots.  But this song represents an evolution in the best way possible: a jack-of-all-trades band that were just as rocking as Foreigner, and just as soulful as Hall & Oates.

So many bands and artists fall flat on their faces when they attempt to incorporate other elements to their standard sound, or are advertised as such.  A good recent example of this is “Yummy” by Justin Bieber.  Not only did this song fail because of its horrendous lyrics, but listen to its sound.  When it was released, it was heavily promoted as Biebs transforming into an R&B crooner.  Well, take it from a guy who knows: “Yummy” is not R&B.  It’s a pop song with a trap beat, and the trap elements and generic instrumentation stand out much more than the attempts to make it soul music.  So how does “Couldn’t Get It Right” succeed?

Let’s start off with its rock elements.  Listen to those Bm and E chords and plucked strings in the intro and verses.  They are slashing and come in with a swagger that most rock bands fail to match.  Then we get to the solo, where Pete Haycock’s guitar evolves from a visceral and powerful recitation of the vocal melody to its staccato descending pentatonic scale.  Rock music is all about the focus on the music, and the song succeeds with riffs to spare.

But not only does “Couldn’t Get It Right” come in with all the force of a rock song, the Climax Blues Band come in with grooves that stand up with the best of them.  The opening guitar pattern is so funky.  Hearing that groove, with its syncopated two-hit opening rhythm followed by its plucked string and four sixteenth notes, makes me want to cruise down the main drag of town at night.  Forget the midtempo beat, I could totally see people getting up and dancing to that funk groove.  And finally, the four-part harmony of lead vocalist Colin Cooper, Haycock, bassist Derek Holt, and drummer John Cuffley is just blue-eyed soul goodness.  I could see someone citing the chorus as the song’s weakness, since the song musically turns it down a notch when we hit the main hook.  But the group’s falsetto harmonies bring it through.  It’s a hook that numerous R&B/soul performers would have shot someone for.  Also, even though the Climax Blues Band produced this song themselves, I could have sworn The Bruce Dickinson came in to produce because… more cowbell!

“Couldn’t Get It Right” is a summation of everything that made the seventies great.  With its hard-hitting guitars, funky groove, and soulful harmonies, the song offers something for everyone.  It’s a song everyone reading this should check out, especially if their last memory of the song was… one of the worst commercial jingles in recent memory.

Ashley Madison commercial (2014):
I’m looking for a someone other than my wife
Other than my wife
Ashley Madison’s right

Oh God, this is laughably bad!  Aside from the obvious problem that it’s glorifying and normalizing adultery, the melody isn’t sung correctly, the song’s in the wrong key… Good God, I could spend all day ripping this commercial.  Let’s move on to something positive, my gosh!

UP NEXT: More British genre-busting rock at #9 from one of my favorite bands.

SOURCES

“Couldn’t Get It Right by Climax Blues Band.” Songfacts 2022. Web. 4 August 2022 https://www.songfacts.com/facts/climax-blues-band/couldnt-get-it-right.

Perrone, Pierre. “Pete Haycock: Guitarist With The Climax Blues Band Who Went On To Write Film Music For John Badham and Franc Roddam.” Independent 22 November 2013. Web. 4 August 2022 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/pete-haycock-guitarist-with-the-climax-blues-band-who-went-on-to-write-film-music-for-john-badham-and-franc-roddam-8958117.html.

Micallef, Rachael. “Record Number Of ASB Complaints in 2014.” AdNews 15 December 2014. Web. 4 August 2022 https://www.adnews.com.au/news/record-number-of-asb-complaints-in-2014.

IMAGE SOURCES

Single cover from Top 40.nl

Photo of the band from uDiscover Music

GIF of Will Ferrell playing the cowbell from Saturday Night Live, aired 8 April 2000. GIF from Tenor.