Rock Spot: On The Hollies and Bus Stop
By WTJU Rock
DJ Mary Beth delights in The Hollies first hit, Bus Stop.
In April, I checked off a bucket list concert: Graham Nash. Many know Nash as one-third (or one-fourth, depending on how you feel about the Y addition) of one of rock’s greatest multi-name supergroups. But the band that made him supergroup worthy? It was a British Invasion band called the Hollies, perhaps most famous for their hits, “Long Cool Woman,” “Carrie Ann,” and their cover of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.” Before he left the Hollies in 1968 to begin a songwriting partnership with Buffalo Springfield’s Stephen Stills and the Byrds’ David Crosby, Nash played on the Hollies’ first major U.S. hit, “Bus Stop.”
Despite its success upon release in 1966, “Bus Stop” was not one of the songs I expected to hear when I saw Nash at Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater in April. He did not write “Bus Stop” or sing lead vocals. I thought for sure that it would be cast aside in favor of the laundry list of Crosby, Stills & Nash hits and Nash’s beloved solo compositions. But, as I later discovered, “Bus Stop” earned a spot on the setlist for a reason.
As a 2000s kid who grew up obsessed with a strange compilation album in my parents’ CD collection, titled The British Are Coming! Volume 2 (we didn’t have volume 1), “Bus Stop” was one of the first British Invasion songs I knew. Sanctuary Records, who released the compilation in 2001, selected “Bus Stop” as the sole tune to represent the Hollies. Listening to the CD as a 5 or 6-year-old Beatlemaniac, my ears were beginning to open to the Fab Four’s larger sonic world. The album places major hits, like the Kinks’ “Sunny Afternoon” and the Foundations’ “Build Me Up Buttercup,” next to forgotten gems, including the psychedelic double whammy of tracks 9 and 10, Marmalade’s “I See the Rain” and The Move’s “I Can Hear the Grass Grow.” I thought “Bus Stop” was one of those forgotten songs, cherished only by my parents and me. So, you can imagine my surprise and glee when Graham Nash’s band pulled out a mandolin and played that weird, raga rock-sounding opening riff.
Before playing “Bus Stop,” Nash told a story about visiting another young British songwriter named Graham. This other Graham was Graham Gouldman. You might know him from 10cc. He wrote “For Your Love” and “Heart Full Of Soul” for the Yardbirds, as well as “No Milk Today” and “Listen People” for Herman’s Hermits. Nash shared that Gouldman also wrote “Bus Stop.”
Sitting in a theater filled with people singing along to “Bus Stop” opened my eyes and ears. I finally understood, after sharing the song only with my parents for so many years, why “Bus Stop” was on the compilation CD. Generations of people love this delightful song about a guy who offers a girl his umbrella on a rainy day at the bus stop.
DJ Mary Beth can be heard on Ragtag Rebel Radio on Saturday nights at 11pm.
If you have seen a great show, have a favourite record, (was it the first one you ever bought?) watched a great music documentary (ok they are all about Paul McCartney these days but Man On The Run was pretty good) and want to share your experience with the WTJU community, write it down and send to anniedeblanco@gmail.com and see it on the Rock Spot.
