The first four songs performed on ‘Saturday Night Live’
Saturday Night Live is one of those rare TV shows that escapes its audience and enters the culture at large. Since debuting on this day in 1975, it has been commented on by Presidents and dignitaries, it has launched the careers of comedy legends like Norm McDonald, and it has thrown up a slew of truly controversial moments. Love it or loath it, you simply have to accept that Saturday Night Live is a cultural institution.
Beyond all the comedy and tomfoolery, the music can often be a segment of salvation. When the jokes swing and miss, the blessed moment where the host announces, “And now music from…” is the nod for quiet relief—a vital cog in the live machine. And it has been that way since the get-go.
The very first show back in 1975 offered up a particularly notable double-act of musical guests. In the early days, the music was decidedly alternative, bringing audiences the best acts in the alternative music scene. While the second episode saw Paul Simon host and reunite with Art Garfunkel for a stellar performance which was matched by fellow masters on display, Randy Newman and Phoebe Snow, the first episode was even more niche.
Folk star Janis Ian kicked off proceedings with her beloved ditty, ‘At Seventeen’. She later followed this up with ‘In the Winter’. Then Beatles collaborator Billy Preston played ‘Nothing from Nothing’ and ‘Fancy Lady’ in a night of top-tier entertainment. While these names might not be as esteemed as luminaries like Chuck Berry, Brian Wilson and Bob Dylan, who soon followed in the golden ‘70s era, they are as gifted as any and in a fateful way, ‘At Seventeen’ is pretty much the most fitting track you could imagine for the show.
Relatability is a beautiful aspect of art and lord knows millions have felt the same as Janis Ian over the years. As she told Songfacts of ‘At Seventeen’: “I never went to a prom, but I did go to my 6th-grade dance. That’s the trick, it’s just like acting. How many people are playing Hamlet whose father is a king? You take your own experience, find something similar in it and draw on that. Even though I didn’t go to the prom, I knew what it was like not to get asked to the dance.”
Far from infantile, the song has a timelessness to it making it a crutch for any generation to prop themselves upon when self-esteem might be dwindling. It is this air of vulnerability that gives the song its unflinching sincerity. In fact, it’s the sort of song that a thousand SNL rejected auditionees have probably wept along to.
