HOF Inductee No. 10: "Come And Get Your Love," Redbone

 

Get it from the main vine!

Remember the old Sara Lee commercials from many decades ago. To paraphrase: Every doesn't like some song, but nobody doesn't like Redbone's "Come And Get Your Love."

This is not just one of the best earworms you can ever hope to get lodged in the right hemisphere on your brain. This is one of the happiest, peppiest, most likeable songs there ever has been. And thank you very much, makers of the film "Guardians of the Galaxy," or to the movie's protagonist Peter Quill, for bringing this awesome song to a whole new generation of music fans.

Anchoring this Native American rock band were brothers Patrick and Candido Vasquez, who we know better as Pat and Lolly Vegas. Only Pat is still with us, as Lolly passed away in 2010, before the major resurgence in popularity experienced by their greatest song thanks to "Guardians of the Galaxy." The Vegas Brothers originally started as a surf rock band. In the 1960s, they became the house band for the teen-themed music TV show "Shindig!" But their Native American heritage was in the background at that time. Inspired by Jimi Hendrix's embrace of his Cherokee roots, the Vegas Brothers fully embraced their own, deeper, indigenous heritage.

Their self-titled debut album was released in 1970. But it was with their second album, "Potlatch," also released in 1970 -- it was not unusual back then for groups to release more than one LP in a calendar year -- that Redbone began hitting the pop charts, with the lead track "Maggie," a swamp rock ode to a dead hooker, getting up to #50. The B-side was even better: the quirky "New Blue Sermonette." Their third album, "Message From a Drum," released in 1971, featured their first Top 40 hit, with the bluesy voodoo-themed "Witch Queen of New Orleans" reaching #21 in the Hot 100. Like many of Redbone's singles, it was an even bigger hit in Europe. "Witch Queen" reached #2 in the UK. (The New Orleans connection for Redbone ran deep, with the name "Redbone" itself being a cajun term for someone of mixed race.)

But Redbone would have to wait until 1974 to have their biggest hit:  "Come And Get Your Love." Not only is this Redbone's greatest hit, it's the biggest hit ever in the US for a Native American recording act. Interesting, while the song peaked at #5 on the weekly charts, it spent so much time in 1974 in the upper reaches of the Hot 100 that it was the #4 song for the entire year of 1974. It is a very unusual accomplishment for a song to chart higher on the annual chart than it did on any weekly chart. Redbone did it with their greatest earworm.

Hail Redbone. Hail "Come and Get Your Love." You now are in the Earworm Hall of Fame. Given your accomplishments as the greatest Native American rock band of all time, when is Redbone going to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?