Afternoon Delight

This is a double-entendre song named after the late-afternoon appetizer menu at the restaurant Clyde's Of Georgetown in Washington, DC, where they have a Gold record from the song hanging in the bar. That's the official explanation at least - the other meaning is daytime sex. The inspirational menu heading read: "Afternoon Delights."

The Starland vocal band delivered four-part harmonies with the married couple Bill and Taffy Danoff (Taffy Nivert after they split up), and another couple: Margot Chapman and Jon Carroll (the baby of the bunch, he was just 19 when the song was released). Taffy spiced up the stage banter when they performed this song, explaining that the title came from the menu, but adding some version of "...then Bill came home and we had our own Afternoon Delight. We wrote the song instead of having a cigarette." Bill says the songwriting was far from sexy. He wrote it over the course of six months, often on Sundays when he was watching Redskins football (the team was later re-named the Commanders). "All that energy coming out of the tube gets my creative juices flowing," he told People magazine.

This was the only hit for the Starland Vocal Band, who won the Grammy for Best New Artist of 1976, beating out the band Boston. In a VH1 special on one-hit wonders, Bill Danoff of Starland Vocal Band said: "We got two of the five Grammys - one was Best New Artist. So that was basically the kiss of death and I feel sorry for everyone who's gotten it since." Starland Vocal Band was a newcomer, but the Danoffs had already released four albums, two under the name Fat City and two as Billy and Taffy. The Starland Vocal Band split up after their fourth album.