What is it about nice people that attract total idiots?Nice people are martyrs. Idiots are evangelists.

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Friday, June 10, 2016

Time Machine week 77



So this week we bop on over to June 10th, 1965, and unless you are the South Vietnam Army and American special forces (in which case you are outnumbered and taking a whupping at Dong Xaoi), nothing of note is happening.  So instead I'll lead in with an unrelated story:

Bing sucks.  Bing is a mouth-breathing, drooling idiot.

I once again solidified that conclusion a couple of days ago at work.  You see, I had heard the lovely Ruth B. was going to B. in town soon, and I decided to look it up at work.  Our computers are set default on Bing, so I typed in "Ruth B. coming to Ft Wayne".  And several permutations thereof.  All of which netted me various obits of women from Ft Wayne named Ruth, and the wiki on "List of people from Fort Wayne, Indiana." Yes, I even tried adding the word singer.  Frustrated, I typed in Google.  Went to Google, typed in  "Ruth B. coming to Ft Wayne", and immediately got a site that said Ruth B. would be at Summer Jam 2016.  Relieved over my partial victory, and concerned lest I get in trouble for unauthorized computer use, I closed the window.  But then, I decided I needed to know where in town Summer Jam 2016 was.  Again, I tried Bing.  One listing of a video commercial (which I had neither time nor sound to watch- I'm on the shop floor, for gosh sakes- and being the computer is on XP would have been EXTREMELY slow anyway) and about a dozen other cities having summer jams in the last ten years later, I typed in Google.  Didn't even have to pick a suggested site, it was right there on the first entry.

Bing sucks.  Bing is a mouth breathing, drooling idiot.  And Summer Jam, which includes another five hip-hop acts, only one of which I have heard of and none of which I have listened to, is at the U of St Francis, tickets in the $25-to-$70 range.

But I'm worth it...

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Well, maybe...

With that, welcome to this week's Time Machine!  Breaking news:  NO new records on the M10 this week (unless you count the number of singles at the top from lps that have an exclamation point in the title- because that would be the top 2)!  Plus, a couple of surprises down 6D way, and a pretty easy victory in the Panel Four!  Bing can't find anything, but we can!


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Our semi-legendary Panel comes to us courtesy of:  KEWB, San Fran; WDRC Hartford; KIMN Denver; KQV Pittsburgh;  WKFR Battle Creek MI; WDIA Memphis; WVON Chicago; WHLO Akron; KJR Seattle; WKBW Buffalo; WKLO Louisville; and KPOI Honolulu!  They teamed up for a whopping 34 different songs, which included the return of Wayne Newton to the Panel charts!

"YES!"


Of course, his one vote for his rendition of Apple Blossom Time was the #5 slot in Hawaii...

Anyway, the four #1s that didn't make the Panel 4 this week:

The Rolling Stones and Satisfaction (San Francisco)
Unit 4 + 2's Concrete and Clay (Hartford)
Barbara Lewis and Baby I'm Yours (Battle Creek)
 and Ian Whitcomb and Bluesville with You Turn Me On (Seattle)

The low charting nationally song that got Panel Love goes to Baby I'm Yours, which was in its first weeks of release and had only made it to #102- which has to be close to the lowest actually on the chart in the TM week to be a panel #1.  However, there were some "shirttail relation" here as well.  Reparata and the Delrons' hit Tommy- which had peaked at 92 (undeservedly low) in May, was in Louisville's countdown, as was a cover of Land Of 1,000 Dances by a LA outfit called Thee Midniters.  It was counted in with the numbers for the Cannibal and the Headhunters version (at #50 this week) by Cashbox.  In addition, another song that was off the charts but on the Panel was the Temptations' single It's Growing, which had peaked at #18 last month but was #3 in Memphis.  Maybe I should start a "better late than never" feature...


On the other side of the disc, the panel race was close through the early returns until ONE song ran off a streak of 4 #1s in five stations to put things away.  The Panel list:

At #4, with 12 points and no #1s, the national #3, Sam The Sham and the Pharoahs with Wooly Booly.

At #3, with the #1 from Honolulu and 15 points, the national #14 *, Herman's Hermits with Wonderful World.

* And a funny thing because as it was rising, Peter Noone and crew were also dropping with Mrs Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter at #11 and Silhouettes at #15!  Three songs in a 5 spot area...

At #2, with 26 points, 11 back of the winner, and the #1s of Denver and Buffalo, the National # 5, the Byrds and Mr. Tambourine Man.

And I have to let you know that the national top dog, the Beach Boys and Help Me Rhonda, got only a #4 from Pittsburgh.  Really?  Could be worse.  The nation's #4, the Supremes' Back In My Arms Again, got only a pair of #5s (Chicago and Akron).

Meanwhile at the top of the Panel, with 37 points and five#1s, the national runner-up.... stay tuned.


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Let's kick the next couple of stories off with videos.  Debuting at #10 in the M10 this week is a band out of Chi-town called Whitney.  Fun fact here:  They record for a label called Secretly Canadian.  It must be a BIG secret, because they are based in Bloomington, Indiana- with branches in Brooklyn, Austin, LA, London, and Paris- but no Canada.




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And next, as a special bonus to kick off an extended six degrees, here's Ol' Blue Eyes and a former Beauty Contestant, Keely Smith





Frank and Keely only got to #22 back in 1958 with that one, but certainly it was no dent in Frank's fender.  He totalled 43 top tens, including 15 top fives, which also included six number ones- Oh, What Seemed To Be, Five Minutes More (both in '46), Mam'selle ('47), Learnin' The Blues ('55), Strangers In The Night ('66), and Somethin' Stupid with daughter Nancy ('67).  He was strong at Grammy time too, with 7 nominations for Record Of The Year:  Witchcraft in '59 (a top ten hit on Billboard),  High Hopes in '59* (which peaked at #22), Nice and Easy in '61 (peaked at #55), The Second Time Around in '62 (another #55), Somethin' Stupid in '67, Theme From New York New York in '81 (#35, are you kidding me?), and his winner, Strangers In The Night.  The lp of the same name won for best liner notes- yes, that's a category- for writer Stan Cornyn.  Now Stan  had some notoriety years later when the highly hyped debut lp by Brian Wilson's guru Van Dyke Parks, Song Cycles, came out.  It did less than well, and Cornyn took out a full page ad for the record company, starting with, "Lost $35,509 on the 'album of the year' (Damnit)" and went on to suggest that since those who DID buy it had prolly worn it out in the two weeks they had it, he offered to send out two brand new copies if the buyer turned in their old, worn-out disc.  Parks was not amused.

What brings this up?  One of the performers on the lp was Ron Elliot, guitarist and leader of the Beau Brummells, who'd also been roped into such big name spots as an appearance on the Flintstones...



..as well as being in the movie Village of the Giants, which our good friend Shady Dell Knight can tell you all about here...




And if they can take one further blow, their tune Just A Little was at #7 nationally but got not a drop of Panel Love...

* Apparently they had two Grammys in 1959, and then skipped to '61.
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Well, I thought since it is his birthday, we could get Queen Elizabeth's hubby, Prince Phillip, to give us a quote or two.  I found out, to my amusement, that he is probably best described as the British answer to Joe Biden.  And music is one of his outspoken topics, to wit:

The Duke said to Tom Jones after his Royal Variety Performance: "What do you gargle with, pebbles?".
He later added: "It is very difficult at all to see how it is possible to become immensely valuable by singing what I think are the most hideous songs."

And...

In Cardiff he told children from the British Deaf Association, who were standing by a Caribbean steel band: "If you're near that music it's no wonder you're deaf".


And...

To Elton John: "Oh it's you that owns that ghastly car is it? We often see it when driving to Windsor Castle."


And while we shudder to think of what he might say about THIS, it is time to...



10- The Hollies were on their way to #1 with a tune called I'm Alive.  It stopped at a mere #103 here.

9- Jackie Trent, more a songwriter than performer, was here on the way down with Where Are You Now (My Love), a non-charter in the US of A.

8- Marianne Faithful another former Beauty Contestant, peaked in July here (#32) with This Little Bird.

7- Shirley Ellis peaked in the top ten back in April with The Clapping Song.

6- Burt Bacharach wrote the tune Trains And Boats And Planes for Gene Pitney; Gene rejected it, saying, "It's not one of your best."  So Burt recorded it himself, and here he sits.

5- The Rockin' Berries, named for idol Chuck Berry, and featuring for a time a young lady named (at the time) Christine Perfect (now McVie of Fleetwood Mac), did not chart here with Poor Man's Son.

4- Another sub-100 bomb here was the Everly Brothers and The Price Of Love.  I'll give the Hollies an edge in this battle.

3- The Seekers had just debuted on Cashbox this week at 71 with A World Of Our Own.

2- Elvis was at #6- and that's exactly how many Panel points he got- with Crying In The Chapel.  


And Tops Of The Pops?


Sandie Shaw, who was at #124 this week in the States (on her way to a soaring peak of 97) with Long Live Love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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And that brings us to the M10...

You've listened to #10; moving up a notch to #9 are the sisters Youseff AKA Krewella with Surrender The Throne.

The Ruth B Era is coming towards a close;  Superficial Love drops from 4 to 8, while in its 8th week, 2 Poor Kids slips from 3 to 6.

And at #7 is an act I never thought would grace the M10, but stranger things in heaven and earth... that person?  K.D. Lang, who has joined with fellow singer/writers Neko Case and Laura Veirs on a new lp called case/lang/veirs.  And this tune promises to make things very crowded at the top very soon...





The Jayhawks grab their second top five from the lp Paging Mr. Proust, with Lovers Of The Sun up 2 spots this week.

Dami Im moves up one to #4 with Sound Of Silence.

Giving ground grudgingly, Telekinesis' former #1 Lean On Me slide a notch to #3.

The Monkees clear 4 spots to land at #2 with She Makes Me Laugh.

And at the top?

M10 says....



.... a second week for Tangerine with You'll Always Be Lonely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And, Panel says...




... the magnificent Four Tops with I Can't Help Myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next week, take two giant steps backwards to 1963!  See you then!

4 comments:

  1. Hi, Chris!

    I agree that Bing sucks. Bob Hope was definitely the more entertaining member of the act. (Road to Zanzibar was a hoot! :)

    I hope you get the chance to see Ruth B up close and personal (as in front row seat and backstage pass.) Little known fact: She is Obama's oldest daughter.

    1965 was berry berry good to me. "Satisfaction" was a monster, a Jaggernaut, the most memorable song that summer, played in heavy rotation on my local WSBA radio. The second most memorable was a regional hit, "Out In The Sun (Hey-O)" by the Beach-Nuts (the same F-G-G team that I am currently featuring in my post on SDMM.) As I mentioned before, the only version of "Concrete and Clay" played in my neck of the woods was the 45 by Eddie Rambeau. I swoon whenever I listen to the velvet vocals of Barbara Lewis. "Baby I'm Yours" is my favorite song by the talented pop/soul artist. I remember watching Ian Whitcomb perform his jittery jukebox jiant "You Turn Me On" on the TV music shows of the mid 60s. I still own the 45 "Land of 1000 Dances" by Thee Midniters, another popular record in the mid-Atlantic region. The Temps' mid tempo side "It's Growing" was a Dell biggie, conducive to shuffle style line dancing. Trivia: I remember being sick as a dog the evening I made my dad take me to the store so that I could buy "Wooly Booly." I couldn't wait to have it. I needed it YESTERDAY! I could go on and on here. I owned 99% of the records you mentioned in this post because 1965 was a year that didn't suck. It was a great year to be age 15!

    I'm not sure if I like that Whitney band, but I think the babe in the video should be in your B.C. Keely Smith was one of my mother's favorite female artists and Frank was one of her favorite male artists. Dean Martin was her #1.

    Thanks for plugging SDMM in your paragraph about Village of the Giants, a movie that featured the future Mrs. Shady - Joy Harmon. ("I was feelin' Mary... now I'm jumpin' for Joy!") The Beau Brummels were an underrated band. I love their recordings!

    Me likey Jackie Trent. Jackie's vocal performances have been and will continue to be regularly featured on SDMM. I love c/l/v and "Honey and Smoke"! It has a retro sound that reminds me of something Ruby & the Romantics might have recorded. Wonderful! The Four Tops were frequent fliers on the Shady Dell jukebox and I am happy to see that "I Can't Help Myself" is top of the list - king of the hill -
    A-number-one... top of the heap.

    1963 didn't suck either and I am eager to travel back there in next week's Time Machine. Have a Scrappy weekend, good buddy Chris!

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  2. 1- I knew you or Al would make that comment. I thought about putting in Frank and Bing's Well Have You Evah from the great movie High Society, but figured you guys had it handled. Your mom had excellent taste in music.

    2- Ignoring the Obama slander, the price is a little rich for one act out of five. Maybe I could hang in the bushes the day of the show...

    Listening to the Beach-Nuts right now, let you know in a bit. We'll have to listen to the Temps song too. I thought I remembered you mentioning Thee Midniters before at your place.

    4-Beach-Nuts verdict: EXCELLENT! Playing Whitcomb for Laurie right now, not as impressed.

    5- The thing for me with Whitney that is surprising for me- and same for Honey And Smoke- is that the LYRICS are making the bigger impact. I told Laurie, though, that Lang's silhouette on the video makes her look like a ground hog.


    6- I hadn't thought about it, but I see your point with c/l/v and Ruby and the Romantics. I know it almost gives me shivvers with every play, and I agree with what one YT commenter said- "This song IS honey and smoke!"

    Little red squiggle thinks shivvers should have one "v". I disagree.

    Liked the Temps. Hard to go wrong with them. TM's version of Land Of 1000 Dances might be the best I've heard. I can actually stand it, which I can't say about the others.

    Hopefully I'll have something just as fun as the Sinatra thing on '63 next week! Maybe a Bing tribute, lol!

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  3. Chris:
    ---One thing (of many) I "love" (he said sarcastically) about the Internet - FUNZZY LOGIC (when searching)!
    ---Sam the Sham - made some MEMORABLE songs, that's for sure.
    ---Whitney - sounds retro and from Bloomington (college kids with SOMETHING to do?)
    ---Can't go wrong w/ Sinatra.
    Don't remember this song with Kelly Smith, just her association w/ Louis Prima. She was a looker in her day (and still alive, too).
    --- Village of the Giants...LOL - seen that flick a few times.
    Got make me to dislike rowdy teens at a young age...heh.
    --- The comparison to Philip & Biden - hey, EVERY country has to have (at least) ONE, right?
    --- You ALMOST aced me w/ the ENGLAND list - Elvis save the bacon (probably for humself).
    --- CASE/LANG/VEIRS - very good song. Never thought I would like it that much. Vocals are excellent.
    --- Huzzah - TWO weeks w/ Tangerine.

    Very good ride this week.
    (and the admission price was right, too).

    Keep those hits comin' up there, brother.

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    Replies
    1. You weren't the only one. I saw it in my feed, said, "kd Lang? Really?" And promptly ate my words...

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