American Super Hero b/w You’re The President

Dickens was a recording name used by Toronto keyboardist, singer, songwriter and producer David Kastle, and 'American Super Hero' is the only Dickens single known to have been released.

Kastle came up through the southern Ontario band scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He played in Buxton Kastle with guitarist Jerry Doucette, and by 1973 he had already released records as a group member on RCA and Warner Bros. That year he wrote, recorded and produced two songs of his own, 'American Super Hero' and 'You're the President', cutting them at Toronto Sound and Thunder Sound for Bigeye Productions. Both were placed with Almo Music of Canada and Ashbury House, and A&M Records of Canada issued the pair in October 1973 as AMX-354. Both songs take a satirical look at American power, and they reached radio the same month as the Saturday Night Massacre, when Richard Nixon ordered the firing of Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox.

The single found an ally in American radio tipster Bill Gavin, who made it his personal pick of the week in his Canadian Special of October 12. Gavin liked the driving, colourful instrumental track but suggested stations be sent a lyric sheet, since the words were hard to catch on a first listen. CKOC Hamilton charted it within days and CHLO in St. Thomas and London added it, followed by stations in Winnipeg, Edmonton, Ottawa, North Bay and Bathurst. 'American Super Hero' entered the RPM 100 at No. 96 on October 27, 1973, climbed through November while RPM tipped it as a single headed for station top 25s, and peaked at No. 61 in mid December. It spent ten weeks on the national chart.

Kastle moved to Nashville and into the business side of music, starting at Acuff-Rose Publishing. He later became vice-president of Buddy Killen's KMG, where he signed songwriters including Holly Lamar, Vicky McGehee and Trent Tomlinson, founded the licensing service MovieCues to connect independent writers with music supervisors, and in April 2010 opened The Orchard's Nashville office on Music Row.

-Robert Williston