Cusp Song of the Day: Tubular Bells

The Exorcist was a massive and creepy hit in 1974, and its theme "Tubular Bells (Theme from The Exorcist)" by Mike Oldfield the perfect accompaniment. One of many instrumental hits of the 1970s discussed in a previous post, it spent 10 weeks on the pop charts, rising to number 7.

I'm cheating a little by including this as a Cusp song of the day because the theme isn't actually played in the story. Mark owns a parrot who speaks only one single, filthy, line from The Exorcist. I won't repeat it here, but it starts with "Your mother..." and that's never good.

After the bird blurts out his sole expression, Mark explains to a shocked Karen, "'My friends and I had just seen the movie when I got him and we thought it would be hysterical. I’m sort of sorry I didn’t teach him anything else when I had the chance. Now he’s not interested in learning anything new.' The bird acts insulted, turning his back on us."