When I started researching this edition originally, I was more than a little surprised to find that there were only about three songs I could find that fit the bill. However, digging deeper I unearthed more, and now I almost have too many. It's a familiar theme, though not one that comes up all that often, but it has been treated several different ways by several different artistes, so let's have a look at some of them here.
Family man (Mike Oldfield) from “Five miles out”
One of the very few hits Oldfield had in his career, and as such, again atypical in that it's a non-instrumental. Mike Oldfield of course made his name on the back of his multi-talent on just about every instrument you can name (and probably also some you can't), with his big breakthrough coming in the continuous symphony “Tubular bells”, for which he will always be best remembered. He did occasionally use some vocalists on his albums though, most notably Maggie Reilly on the hit “Moonlight shadow”, and here again on this. The song was later covered by Hall & Oates, but as that's the same song we won't be looking at it here, and have gone for the original.
Family man (Fleetwood Mac) from “Tango in the night”
A massive comeback album for Fleetwood Mac, who had not seen any real success since 1982's “Mirage”, this put them back on the map and gave them a whole new lease of life, yielding no less than five hit singles, of which this was the last, and least successful. Still a great song though.
Family man (Colin Hay) from “Gathering mercury”
Never heard of him, you say? Ah, but what if I were to sing thusly: “I come from a land down under...”? Yeah, he's one of those Men at Work, who were so popular in the eighties, but he's apparently had a moderately successful solo career stretching back to 1987, and this is from his current, and indeed
eleventh solo album. Wow. Talk about a man at work! (Sorry)
Family man (James Taylor) from “In the pocket”
A legend who's had other songs with “man” in the title, such as “Company man” and “Handy man”, this song appears near the end of Taylor's 1976 album.
Family man (Black Flag) from “Family man”
Punk is certainly not something that makes its way into my journal often, if ever, and certainly not hardcore punk, but I'm intrigued by this. Utilising only spoken vocals by Henry Rollins, it's, well, let's say it's different... Damn scary, with a pretty terrifying message at the end, if you get it. Just listen to the anger in that voice.
Family man (Craig Campbell) from “Craig Campbell”
And to finish, to quote Monty Python, now for something completely different! This is country singer Craig Campbell, from his debut self-titled album released only last year, and in fact the first single taken from that album.