Nazareth is a Scottish rock band that had several hard rock hits in the UK in the early 1970s, and established an international audience with their 1975 album Hair of the Dog. Primarily an albums band, they had one notable international hit single, in 1975, with a cover of the ballad "Love Hurts" The band continues to record and tour to the present day, and I myself got the chance to see them in their prime, opening for Van Halen in 1979, great show-
Nazareth was formed in December 1968 in Dunfermline, Scotland, out of the ashes of semi-professional local group The Shadettes. They took their name from the first line of The Band's classic song "The Weight" ("I pulled into Nazareth / Was feelin' about half past dead...")
The band moved to London, England in 1970, and released their self-titled debut album in 1971. Nazareth's success grew on a string of albums, and the 1974 LP Rampant only had single released from it, Shanghai'ed in Shanghai, which somehow narrowly missed the British Top 40. This one has endured surpisingly well though, and I often hear it on the oldies station still... 35 years later:
Nazareth: Shanghai'd in Shanghai-1975
Standing on a corner in downtown L.A.
Waiting for the man to come along
She comes up to me and says "too bad, too sad"
You know that he's been dead and gone.
L.A. lady, kinda shady
She picked him up and took him home
I woke up groggy my sight was smoggy
And I knew that it had been blown
Early in the morning sitting in a hotel
Moscow's looking fine through the wine
Spaced out I crashed out
When the K.G.B. came on the line.
It's a cold one, bein' sent down
It's gotta be fifty below
Mama here's a postcard to let you know
I'm in a saltmine and looking for coal
Shanghai'd in Shanghai
Stood on in Tuscon
Ripped off and kicked right out the bed
Flyin' across the desert from Texas to Tuscon
But we're headed for a southern star
The captain says it's fine in Havana
This dude behind me needs a cigar.
He's a big one, he's got a big gun
I guess we better go along
Mister we've got a gig in Arizona
Second billing to the Rolling Stones
Shanghai'd in Shanghai
Stood on in Tuscon
Ripped off and kicked right out the bed
Shanghai'd in Shanghai
Laid low in 'Frisco
Done in and left behind for dead