Thursday, February 24, 2022

THE BEST BEFORE DATE - 1976 - SSSS Single Bed by Fox

The charismatic Australian singer Noosha Fox heads up the British based band Fox. SSSS Single Bed was their third hit single ,,- 1975 (No 3) following on from Only You Can - 1974 (No 3) ,Imagine Me Imagine You - 1974 (15). The band was formed by band member, songwriter and producer Kenny Young. All their hits were written by him.

As you can see from the Top of the Pops appearance of the time, Noosha Fox's dress sense was eccentric. Here its half pierrot, half trapeze artist in black silk hot pants. The band however, now just take a look around that band. Its like they told Noosha it was fancy dress just for a joke. They are uniformly a dull, ugly looking lot, dressed in workmanlike jeans and the best acrylic jumpers they could buy from off the local open air market. Noosha's sense of style and unusual vocal delivery is entirely what elevates the band out of the ordinary.

The song itself is, lets say, ambiguous. On one level it looks like the woman in it has laid a trap to get someone ( no gender is mentioned )  into that single bed. But keeps saying she only has a single bed and it's for her and no one else. Definitely not you. And so even though you may have missed your last train, its only a glass of wine as a nightcap and a polite chat she's got to offer. So no bed, not even the single one. Cos that's for her, OK. 

Its a very cleverly written song, playing very much to Noosha Fox's alluring strengths. But bar a brief solo hit for her a few years later, this was their last showing in the UK chart. Noosha and Fox, having since disappeared pretty much without trace.

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