Song of the Day 3/4: Nazareth, “Shot Me Down”

The downing of three American combat jets in the early hours of the War on Iran were blamed on friendly fire from Kuwaiti air defenses. It now appears that it wasn’t ground-based missiles that brought them down but a Kuwaiti fighter pilot who mistook the American planes for Irani attackers. I’m sure the lack of planning and communications that have marked pretty much everything in the Trump administration had nothing to do with it.

Nazareth, the Scottish band known for hard rock, incongruously took their name from the town in Pennsylvania that The Band name-checked in the opening line of “The Weight.” Their biggest U.S. hit came back in 1975 with their cover of the Everly Brothers tune “Love Hurts,” a power ballad created before the term existed. They’re still together, though bassist Pete Agnew is the only original member left.

Their commercial peak was already behind them when “Shot Me Down” appeared on their 1977 LP “Expect No Mercy.” The video was typical of the promo films British groups released in those pre-MTV days. Singer Dan McCafferty, who left the band in 2013, died in 2022. So did founding guitarist Manny Charlton, who wrote this song and produced several of their albums.