Midnight at the Oasis

"Midnight at the Oasis" is a song written by David Nichtern. It was recorded in 1973 by American folk and blues singer Maria Muldaur for her self-titled album (1973) and is her best-known recording; it peaked at #6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and #21 in the UK Singles Chart in the spring of 1974. Billboard ranked it as the No. 13 song for 1974. It was also nominated for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 17th Annual Grammy Awards, held in 1975. In Canada, the song reached #2 in the RPM magazine singles charts and #45 in the year-end chart. Description The song is a saucy offer of a desert love affair, in a fantasy setting. AllMusic reviewer Matthew Greenwald describes the song as "so sensual and evocative that it was probably one of the most replayed records of the era and may be responsible for the most pregnancies from a record during the mid-'70s". The song includes an instrumental section that features the guitar work of Amos Garrett. The lyric, "Cactus is our friend", is used several times in the song, but cacti are New World plants (native to North America, South America, and the West Indies) and are not naturally found on the Arabian Peninsula.