Forgotten Songs of the '70s: Rick Nelson

Forgotten Songs of the ‘70s: Rick Nelson

When Rick Nelson released “Gypsy Pilot,” it was before the monumental, career-reviving success of “Garden Party,” he was hoping it would be the song that would relaunch him but it sadly never happened. Which is a damn shame considering that the song is one of the best songs from his later days.

The song came off of 1971’s Rudy the Fifth, one of his more scattershot records but the song standing alone is a revelation and is it ever a creepy revelation. The song itself is about a plane crash and what people think of the main victim. Creepy ain’t it?

Lyrics like “when they claim my body, they won’t have much to say, except that he lived a good life and he lived everyday” just up the creepy quotient. The song is simply spooky but Rick’s amazing voice carries through and leads the Stone Canyon Band to one of their greatest performances as they’re carrying along behind him in supreme fashion.

In what is probably one of the creepiest and eeriest ways to end a song, the song’s fake ending comes in and then the real ending comes: the sound of a plane slowly going down and then the sound of a crash. With that, one of the creepiest songs comes to an end.

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