Clint Holmes is conflicted about the song. It is his one hit, which as he says is one more than you have.
It also is one more hit than was recorded by Shane Mosley against Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night. But I digress.
It's a fun song, certainly. But it’s not an anthem. It’s a hit, no question. But we question, is it a classic?
Holmes himself is not sure.
Clint Holmes and his wife Kelly Clinton Holmes perform during the Las Vegas Celebrates the Music of Michael Jackson concert in The Pearl at the Palms on Aug. 28, 2009. Photo by: Justin M. Bowen
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The tune is “Playground in My Mind,” which reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts in 1973, famously nestled between Paul McCartney (“My Love” at No. 1) and Elton John (“Daniel” at No. 3).
If you’re not familiar with the tune from its title, you'll likely know it from the line, “My name is Michael/I got a nickel/I got a nickel, shiny and new.” (Now, if you want to get the song out of your head, start humming Rupert Holmes’ “Pina Colada Song.”)
It’s a catchy little number, but Holmes himself would admit that it is not the sort of song that helped shape pop culture. For years, he didn’t even perform the song, as it served as much as a distraction from Holmes’ standard-driven set list as a revealing assessment of his best work.
But as Holmes turns 65, which happens to be happening today, he has become more reflective about the tune. This is owed, in part, to me asking, “Clint, can you be reflective about this tune?”
Even decades after its release, it has become clear that all sorts of people have been touched, somehow, by the little ditty. About a month ago, during a cruise ship tour on Holland America, a woman approached Holmes and, speaking gingerly, brought up the song.
“She told me that, years ago, her 4-year-old son was killed in an automobile accident, and when it occurred, the song was on the radio,” Holmes says. “She has the memory of him singing the song on the day he was killed. It’s an incredible thing to be a part of, an unbelievable thought that something you sang is such an important part of someone’s life.”
More recently, during a Holland America tour that Holmes just finished, a fan approached Holmes and said that back in 1973, he’d been treated for a rare form of a typically fatal disease (Holmes believes it was leukemia). The man checked into an experimental program and was hospitalized for 17 straight days.
“He was being given drugs that were worse than the disease,” Holmes says. “Every morning, when the nurse came in, she played ‘Playground in My Mind.’ He got through that period while listening to the song.”
Not all of the memories fans have expressed to Holmes have been so emotionally weighty. A couple of years ago, a woman told Holmes that whenever she watches a boxing match and one of the combatants is getting the tar beaten out of him, she says, “Boy, did he get Clint Holmsed!”
The story here is, when the woman was a kid, she played “Playground” relentlessly. Her brother grew to hate the song and finally pulled the 45 off the turntable, smashing it into several pieces.
When the siblings’ father learned of this, he gave the brother the biggest spanking of his young life. Thus, he was the first to be “Clint Holmsed.”
“I hear these things, and it tells me I should keep the song,” Holmes says. “Yes, I’ll be singing it forever.”
More from Clint
Holmes is being feted tonight at 9 at Bootlegger Bistro as part of Kelly Clinton Holmes’ weekly “Open Mic Cabaret.” … He learned of the killing of Osama bin Laden while aboard the cruise ship near Lisbon, Portugal. “I was watching Fox News and Geraldo Rivera was saying, ‘The president is going to be speaking to the nation, and we don’t know what it is. Could it be a nuclear attack?’ ” Holmes recalled. When it was noted that the real news here is that Holmes, who made campaign appearances for President Obama, was watching Fox News, he said, “That’s all they got on the ship!” … Holmes returns to Feinstein’s in New York next year. His appearances there in late April were a hit with fans and critics, which is no small feat in New York, especially if you once headlined on the Strip.
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