Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1976…
Oops.
I’ve made the mistake a few times in the Decades series of trusting an online source for the release dates of certain albums. Usually I catch it in time and adjust my posts accordingly before anybody knows any different.
Not this time. I failed to double-check the date of the album I had slated as my #2 of 1976 — Paul Simon’s Still Crazy After All These Years.
Turns out the album was actually released in 1975. And what’s worse (for those like me who care about the state of my memory) is that I included it on my countdown of favorite 1975 albums. To be fair, that was almost two years ago, but still.
So rather than scramble to find a fifth album for a top five that is already so thin I included Hotel California on it, I’ll just leave this song here as a reminder of Simon’s excellent 1975 album.
I hung one more year on the line
I should be depressed, my life’s a mess
But I’m having a good time
I’ve been loving and loving and loving
I’m exhausted from loving so well
I should go to bed but a voice in my head
Says “Ah, what the hell”
[Chorus]
Have a good time (Good time, baby)
Have a good time (Good time, child)
Have a good time (Have a good time, baby)
Have a good time (Have a good time)
Paranoia strikes deep in the heartland
But I think it’s all overdone
Exaggerating this, exaggerating that
They don’t have no fun
I don’t believe what I read in the papers
They’re just out to capture my dime
I ain’t worrying and I ain’t scurrying
I’m having a good time
[Chorus]
Have a good time
Have a good time
Have a good time
Have a good time
Maybe I’m laughing my way to disaster
Maybe my race has been run
Maybe I’m blind to the fate of mankind
But what can be done?
So God bless the goods we was given
And God bless the U.S. of A
And God bless our standard of living
Let’s keep it that way
[Chorus]
Have a good time (Good time, baby)
Have a good time (Good time, child)
Have a good time (Have a good time, baby)
Have a good time (Have a good time)
Meet Me In Montauk 
For shame! But at least it gave you another chance to take a shot against Hotel California!
At least you didn’t go the other way – One list of 1976 albums I consulted had Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours on it, which possibly would have made your list. Then I discovered that one was released in February 1977! Tricky business, this.
I almost made that mistake (probably saw the same list), and it definitely would have been in my rankings.