Description
The song is a saucy, teasing offer of a desert love affair, in a fantasy setting that owes more to Rudolph Valentino sheik movies than to real Middle Eastern deserts. Allmusic reviewer Matthew Greenwald describes the song as "so sensual and evocative that it was probably one of the most replayed records of the era and also may be responsible for the most pregnancies from a record during the mid-'70s". Some of the lyrics are doubtlessly suggestive (e.g., "let's slip off to a sand dune ... and kick up a little dust"; "you won't need no camel . . . when I take you for a ride"). But the tone is playful throughout. "Midnight" features a 1970s-defining instrumental bridge, particularly memorable for the guitar work of Amos Garrett.
The lyric "Cactus is our friend..." is used several times in the song. Cacti are New World plants native to North America, South America, and the West Indies; they are not found on the Arabian Peninsula naturally.
In 2008, Muldaur remembered that she wanted to add the song to her album as a "afterthought" at the last minute, and surprisingly enough acknowledges that people do come up to her at her concerts or events that because of this song it did result in numerous sexual encounters (losing their virginity and pregnancies) as alluded by the aforementioned Greenwald review.
Read more about this topic: Midnight At The Oasis
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