Walter Egan-"Magnet And Steel"

My commercial 45 has a listed time of (3:25) and an actual time of (3:24). I only post this info because current database CDs for this song feature run times ranging from (3:18) and (3:25). I also have two little "factoids" that you might enjoy. In the late 70's/early 80's, our station's Music Director/early mentor of mine, and the guy who initially added this song to our station's playlist back in 1978, would always use this song as the "poster child" for a "mega-hyped, record company top priority", but a song that showed absolutely NO signs of life, according to both our weekly retail sales calls and our station's "request sheets" (at the time, we had an in-studio list, updated each week, which included all "current" songs we were spinning, as well as some "hot prospects" we were considering for airplay in the near future. If the on-air jock got a request for one of the songs on this list, he was supposed to "add one to its tally", so we would have some idea of both what songs were being requested, and during what time of day, to use as additional data at the next week's "music meeting.") He always said that he never received even a SHRED of evidence that "Magnet And Steel" ever had a SINGLE request come into our station, or ever sold a single 45 copy in our area. When I pointed out that it was a "certified gold single", according to my Whitburn book, he said, "I bet all of those 'sold' copies were all shipped back a month later by the stores, and are all now collecting dust in some warehouse in Terre Haute!" (which was a major Columbia pressing plant in Indiana, at the time.) Of course, this was just "one man's opinion", and who knows how much of what he said was actually fact, and how much was simply his opinion. But, as our MD, he was the "point man" in our station's "hit-song-fact-gathering" activities. I greatly respect his opinion, to this day, and he was never the type of guy who was "prone to hyperbole." All I knew was that I both bought and liked the song. I know Pat, who has previously questioned the accuracy of Billboard's Hot 100, and personally considers Cash Box to be more reliable as to a song's actual popularity (although this #8 BB hit also got to #9 in Cash Box) would enjoy this story. Also, back in the late 80's/early 90's, there happened to be a "game show" on TV ("Wheel Of Fortune", I think.) Well I'll be damned, but one of the three contestants happened to be Walter Egan. (I did recognize him, since a close-up of his face was on his "Not Shy" LP, which I owned - same guy.) When Pat Sajak asked Walter to tell the audience a little about himself, he said, "I'm a musician - I even had a hit once." Sajac skeptically said to him, "Really! Hey, Walter, why don't you go ahead and sing a line or two for us; maybe we'll recognize it!" Sure enough, Walter goes ahead and sings a quick, acappella "You are a magnet, and I am steel" for both Sajac and the studio audience. Apparently, not a SOUL, either in the audience, Sajac, or even Vanna White, had even the slightest recollection of the song (maybe if Egan had Stevie Nicks handy, it would've helped!) A perplexed Sajac then tries to transition by saying, "Well OK, Walter, welcome to Wheel Of Fortune - why don't you go ahead and give the wheel a spin!" I cracked up - EVERYONE thought Walter was completely delusional! Wonder if anyone ever captured that moment on YouTube?

Edited by jimct

Sometimes a song's popularity, even national top 10 hits, varied greatly between regions. I can tell you that as a kid in southern Illinois, I heard the song on the radio frequently, and both myself and best friend bought the 45.

Doug, your "shameless plug" happens to involve shows during the May sweeps... but I'm sure that's just a coincidence. (j/k :)

Interesting stories, Jim! "Magnet And Steel" is one of those songs that doesn't have an easy, convenient recall handle, as anyone who's ever put together callout hooks knows. The song's "ooooo-ooo-ooo-OOOOO-ooo" refrain might be more recognizable than the segment that Walter sang on the show. But he really would've needed the multipart harmony to pull that off, too. Maybe it would have worked out better for Walter if "Only The Lucky" had been his biggie. :)   So how did he fare on his Scrabble appearance?

In addition to regional variables, "Magnet" could have been one of those cases where positive callout research made up for what it might have lacked on the sales and requests sides of the aisle.

Edited by Yah Shure

jimct wrote: Doug, my friend, last week my lady and I bought a new Scrabble dictionary, to bone up after a couple of narrow losses to two of my sisters, so I am a Scrabble fan. We now know that "phx" is a word, for example. But as for which show Egan appeared, I had never seen the game show "Scrabble" until last month, when I stumbled upon a Game Show Network rerun, with Woolery a shost. I now suspect that good ol' Walter may have been makin' the "Game Show Rounds," because I certainly would've remembered Charlie Tuna (an old DJ fave of mine) saving the day, and vouching for the song's hit status.

To be technical, Jim, GSN does not currently own the rights to air Scrabble--what you probably saw was a show called Lingo--which is a word game where people have five chances to guess a randomly generated five-letter word, then pull numbers in an effort to fill out a Bingo-styled card. Scrabble hasn't aired here since USA Network ran reruns in the mid-90s (although scattered bits and pieces are viewable on YouTube).

As for Yah Shure's question, I think Egan was only on for one or two days--so he didn't win a lot of money.

And of course, Wheel's visit was definitely a sweeps stunt, but one benefit I got was a nice conversation with long-time Wheel announcer (and also veteran DJ) Charlie O'Donnell (I had met him a couple of summers before in L.A. at an event called the Game Show Congress [I've gone the last three years, and I met Ian {torcan} at the event two years ago]). Charlie O. is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet.

when we were playing this on the radio in 1978, nobody had heard of walter egan, but "magnet and steel" was produced by lindsey buckingham, and featured the crack rhythm section of mick fleetwood and john mcvie... how could a record featuring 3/5 of fleetwood mac go wrong back in 1978??? even chuck woolery or pat sajak could have supplied the vocals, and the "mac" would have put it over the top! who remembers walter's first album, which got him in trouble for a suggestive back cover photo, or his 1983 "almost top 40" hit, "fool moon fire?" (my station in upstate NY gave "fool" some heavy airplay)...