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| Not bad, also not dead-sexy. |
The Hit
Whether you know it from commercials for ads for a medication that’ll either fix you, kill you, or bring on psychosis (Ozembic?) or oldies radio, you know Pilot’s 1974 hit, “Magic.” That said, if you learned it through the commercials, you might not recognize its surprisingly heavy opening, but it breaks into the familiar chorus about ten seconds in.
It’s a hard song to hate so long as the Ozempic(?) commercials haven’t made you sick to puking of it. Bright melody balanced by a surprising heft on the bottom end, cheery, tight vocals, the whole thing does exactly what it’s supposed to: feel fucking good. Pure uplift in just over three minutes.
There’s not much story about the song itself: the two key members of Pilot - David Paton and Billy Lyall - wrote and recorded a bunch of demos between 1972 and 1974 and “Magic” was the hit. They co-wrote most of Pilot’s material, but a 2012 interview with Paton for a Scottish radio station (Golden Brown, they call the show) suggests Paton took the lead. In it, he talks about talking ideas and melodies into a tape recorder he kept on top of his piano, and having the bones of the song lined up. He got further inspiration one early morning when his wife said something about “I’ve never been awake to see a day break,” a line you’ll hear immediately after the chorus.
The best story, though, followed from the friendly competition that Pilot’s label, EMI, set up between them and a couple label-mates signed at the same time - one called Steve Hearly & Cockney Rebel, the other a band called Queen. All the bands wanted to record the first No. 1 single, of course, and EMI’s suits leavened the competition with camaraderie by way of having the bands eat together and generally mingle. On one of those occasions - and this was after Pilot had landed its first No. 1 - Paton spotted Freddie Mercury and walked over for a chat. When he got there, Mercury’s first question was, why walk over to talk to me? Taken aback, Paton sputtered a polite response. Mercury came back with, “When I have a number one, I won’t talk to anyone.”
For the record, “Magic” wasn’t Pilot’s No. 1. It topped out at No. 11 on the UK charts; it did better in the States, hitting No. 5 on the Hot 100. Pilot’s scored their first No. 1 with a song called “January,” but that was only in the UK. That one stalled on the cool side of the Hot 100. And Queen, of course, became QVEEN! (As in, who doesn’t know them?) There were a couple reasons for that, as it happens.
Whether you know it from commercials for ads for a medication that’ll either fix you, kill you, or bring on psychosis (Ozembic?) or oldies radio, you know Pilot’s 1974 hit, “Magic.” That said, if you learned it through the commercials, you might not recognize its surprisingly heavy opening, but it breaks into the familiar chorus about ten seconds in.
It’s a hard song to hate so long as the Ozempic(?) commercials haven’t made you sick to puking of it. Bright melody balanced by a surprising heft on the bottom end, cheery, tight vocals, the whole thing does exactly what it’s supposed to: feel fucking good. Pure uplift in just over three minutes.
There’s not much story about the song itself: the two key members of Pilot - David Paton and Billy Lyall - wrote and recorded a bunch of demos between 1972 and 1974 and “Magic” was the hit. They co-wrote most of Pilot’s material, but a 2012 interview with Paton for a Scottish radio station (Golden Brown, they call the show) suggests Paton took the lead. In it, he talks about talking ideas and melodies into a tape recorder he kept on top of his piano, and having the bones of the song lined up. He got further inspiration one early morning when his wife said something about “I’ve never been awake to see a day break,” a line you’ll hear immediately after the chorus.
The best story, though, followed from the friendly competition that Pilot’s label, EMI, set up between them and a couple label-mates signed at the same time - one called Steve Hearly & Cockney Rebel, the other a band called Queen. All the bands wanted to record the first No. 1 single, of course, and EMI’s suits leavened the competition with camaraderie by way of having the bands eat together and generally mingle. On one of those occasions - and this was after Pilot had landed its first No. 1 - Paton spotted Freddie Mercury and walked over for a chat. When he got there, Mercury’s first question was, why walk over to talk to me? Taken aback, Paton sputtered a polite response. Mercury came back with, “When I have a number one, I won’t talk to anyone.”
For the record, “Magic” wasn’t Pilot’s No. 1. It topped out at No. 11 on the UK charts; it did better in the States, hitting No. 5 on the Hot 100. Pilot’s scored their first No. 1 with a song called “January,” but that was only in the UK. That one stalled on the cool side of the Hot 100. And Queen, of course, became QVEEN! (As in, who doesn’t know them?) There were a couple reasons for that, as it happens.
