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91977 was a tough year for Randy VanWarmer.
First, he went through a devastating breakup with his girlfriend, and then his beloved car—the car he'd been driving and taking great care of for years—died forever.
After a period of mourning...and brooding...he wrote and recorded a song about the sadness he felt. He presented the finished product to his record company, Bearsville Records, and they thought it was a great DEMO—and MIGHT be a hit, IF they could find someone else to record it, and lose the weird auto-harp solo. Talk about adding insult to injury.!
But if you've been following this blog for any length of time, you can probably figure out what happened next.
In 1979, Bearsville reluctantly released Randy's version as a single, and much to their surprise, the song went to #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Chart, as well as #4 on the Hot 100. It was also a Top 10 song in Canada (#2), Ireland (#5), The UK (#8) and New Zealand (#9).
Fans told Randy they could empathize with the lyrical scenario...and they LOVED the auto-harp solo (which, by the way, was played by John Sebastian of the “Lovin' Spoonful”).
“Just When I Needed You Most:” A “Great Song of 1979.” Take THAT, Bearsville!
On a sad note, in 2004, Randy VanWarmer died from leukemia at the age of 48.
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