Golden Flamingo Orchestra feat. Margo Williams — The Guardian Angel Is Watching Over Us (1979)
Bumping breakbeat on this track from the Golden Flamingo Orchestra, with Margo Williams’ honeyed vocals on top. Coupled with the subway service announcements in the background, this is a classic. (yeah, Patrick Adams had a hand in it)
“May I have your attention please. There is no uptown A service today. You are advised to take the uptown D train to 125th Street and take the downtown local to your stop… Clear the doors.. we will not move this train until you clear the doors.”
The subway announcements aren’t just there for fun. This dancefloor hymn is dedicated to the Guardian Angels, the red-bereted youth who took crime fighting into their own hands, patrolling the NYC subways in the late 70s and early 80s in an attempt to keep riders safe.
(credit: unknown)
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, who was night manager at a McDonald’s in the Bronx when he started the group, called New York City of the 1980s a “seething cesspool of criminal activity.”
(credit: Bruce Davidson)
(photo I used at top for album art is Danny Lyon’s IRT 2, South Bronx, New York City, 1979)
