Classic Songs #30 – Midnight at the Oasis
For some reason the music to this song has been floating around in Adam’s head this weekend.
Bought the LP when it first came out. A couple of years ago found a CD version of the album to replace the long lost LP.
“Midnight at the Oasis” is a 1974 rock song which was performed by singer Maria Muldaur and was her best known hit, peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Written by David Nichtern, the would-be naughty song is a teasing offer of a desert love affair, in a setting which owes more to Rudolph Valentino sheik movies than to real middle eastern deserts.
Allmusic reviewer Matthew Greenwald describes the song as “so sensual and evocative that it was probably one of the most replayed records of the era and also may be responsible for the most pregnancies from a record during the mid-’70s”.[1] Some of the lyrics are mildly suggestive (i.e., “let’s slip off to a sand dune … and kick up a little dust”), but not sexually explicit.
“Midnight” features an instrumental bridge (also by Nichtern), which is particularly memorable for the guitar work of Amos Garrett.[2]
The lyric “Cactus is our friend…” is used several times in the song. The droll reference suggests an ersatz Hollywood “oasis”, since cacti are New World plants native to North America, South America, and the West Indies; they are not found on the Arabian Peninsula naturally.
So here is Classic Song #30 – ignore the talking head at the beginning:-
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