American Top 40 PastBlast, 4/22/78: Earth, Wind, and Fire, “Fantasy”

I had a couple of athletic endeavors going on in the spring of 78. At school, I was on the track team, a sprinter. Until my senior year, I was strictly doing 100s and 200s, either solo or part of a relay. My downfall was always reaction time coming out of the blocks; you really didn’t want me on the first leg in the 4 by 100. On the plus side, I wasn’t going to false start!

I was also taking golf lessons, at Twin Oaks in Covington. I’d been getting out with Dad on the links since I was about 6 years old but my game was still extremely raw at age 14. The club pro tried to help me get rid of my slice and deal with other facets that really needed work, but it probably wasn’t until I was close to fully grown that things started coming together, at least a little. Twin Oaks was always a course I enjoyed playing with Dad (the Licking River runs right alongside several of its holes), though we went to it much less frequently after I got out of high school.

I have many Top 40 tunes from that spring swirling around my head that remind me of both track meets and learning some of the important aspects of golf; here’s one of them. Even though it wasn’t among their biggest hits (it’s at #32, its peak position), this has long been one of my favorite Earth, Wind, and Fire songs. That soaring ending is mighty mighty.