Anne Murray - There's a hippo in my tub

There's a unicorn in my Vortex

It’s quite easy to pick a bunch of really intense, popular, progressive, or otherwise important albums in 1977, some of which are no doubt well known amongst the Vortex. But another aspect of music is its ability to uniquely soundtrack our lives, which of course is the reason that it holds a unique power to bring up nostalgia over basically all of the other arts, but also to give us association with powerful memories or feelings even outside of nostalgia per se. So, in that context, I present my 1977 pick by Anne Murray, There’s a Hippo in My Tub.

Anne Murray, for those not in the know, is one of the most famous Canadian artists of all time. While this album didn’t chart, it was grammy-nominated and certified platinum, and it was a fairly common practice for big artists in those days to create these types of records. This particular record is a typical example of the country-tinged pop that Anne Murray would peddle on her more traditional releases throughout her 40-year, chart laden career.

Given the context, there isn’t a real purpose in drilling through individual songs (although, a couple here stand up fine as pop songs, and the slightly dark 70’s vibe is pretty fun in comparison to the over-saturated colour of modern children’s entertainment). But this album is a progenitor to the soundtrack of my life, and in listening to it again for this project, I was immediately singing along with almost every tune, as if it was just yesterday my mum put on the record for us, no doubt in the hopes of achieving some slice of quiet time. It helps that Murray has an excellent voice, and the songs are very short (and probably helps that I have kids of my own and went through this phase many years ago).

As much fun as unique records, or genre starting albums, or restless statement pieces are, sometimes it’s ok to remember that music is a unique art amongst (arguably, I suppose) all of the arts in the ability to bring back emotions, individual memories, and strongly connect with those ‘where were you when’ moments we hopefully all have in our lives.