Rainbow - the Marmalade
The first band I ever noticed was Scottish (apart from the ill fated Lulu and the Luvvers -after their first single, "Shout", Lulu went solo and the Luvvers were stuffed) was the Marmalade. They started as a Brit bubblegum band with the 1967 hit "Lovin' Things" and later had a smash number one hit with a cover of the Beatles' inane "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da". At this point, they figured they had sold out and elected to take the not untypical route of going "progressive" which basically meant making more serious music that by implication was less commercial. One label switch later and a new deal which allowed lead singer Dean Ford and guitarist Junior Campbell to write and produce their own songs they were, for a short while, more successful than ever. And this was the second of their self-penned hits.
So far as I'm aware they were the first band to consciously promote their Scottishness, though I'm not sure if the rolling fields, the herd of cows and the bizarrely dressed dancing woman on this video are particularly Caledonian.
But this is a gem, with perfectly judged pre-CS&N harmonies, beautiful harmonica and a great vocal by the underrated Dean Ford.
A few years ago, I talked on the phone to a guy called Dean Ford who sold inflatable event structures out of Battle, East Sussex. Reading his name on the website, I hoped this was the original Dean, after a change of career, having moved down South. A few words were enough to dispel the notion though, no soul, no subtlety, no music in his voice. And he'd never even heard of the Marmalade!
"I was dreaming of the love I had to share
Never thinking you were here, you were there....."