1979 Dr Hook: When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman

Dr Hook had been purveying their own brand of country tinged pop since the late sixties, but even such old hands as them found that disco thang irresistible, and 'When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman' comes attached to a bleached white 'Rock Your Baby' groove that although out of time in 1979, suited their audience and the more laid back barroom vibe of the tune to a tee.

To my mind, Dr Hook have always had an air of mischief about them, but even at this remove I can't tell if that "When you're in love with a beautiful woman, it's hard (It's hard, you know it gets so hard)" entendre is intended or not (though I'd like to think it is). I can give them the benefit of the doubt on that one, but what's less forgivable is the overall 'message' of the song - i.e. that good looking women are a bunch of lying, scheming, untrustworthy bitches who will horse around behind your back with your mates at the drop of a hat, with the corollary being that ugly women will stay faithful and because they're grateful for anything they can get. And nobody else fancies them anyway. Hmmmm.

Well I'm not going to dip my toe into the murky waters of sexual politics here - it would be like trying to explain why the anvil floated by a balloon in a Tex Avery cartoon is impossible physics. Suffice it say the whole thing is as tongue in cheek as a saucy seaside postcard and it breezes along at such a clip that you're not really given time to ponder anything too deep. File this under "A harmless enough diversion".