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

SOCK IT TO ME BABY!!!

Friday, December 22, 2017

Time Machine co-ordinates VIXXXIV122267



Today we go to December 22, 1967- the day the movie The Graduate was first released.  Which of course is a musical development because of the work of Simon and Garfunkel on it.  But the three big songs that were on the soundtrack were each a story unto themselves.  The Sound Of Silence was one of their first acoustic songs but never became a hit until a DJ overdubbed an electric guitar over it... suddenly it and they were big hits.  Scarborough Fair/Canticle was the lead (but unreleased) track on their previous lp Parsley Sage Rosemary And Thyme, that got released as a result of being on the soundtrack.  And Mrs. Robinson?  At the time of the movie it was an unfinished tune with a working title of Mrs Roosevelt, and was missing a lot of lyrics (hence the "dee dee dee" at the beginning, that the movie producer loved), and wasn't actually finished (the soundtrack only got an abbreviated version, because that's all there was) until they went into the studio to cut their next lp, Bookends.


"So where did you THINK I was going?"
Well, I don't know, but thanks for sneaking Marilyn into the Beauty Contest for the second straight year, at the very last minute!


And with that, I have 11 of 12 semifinalists picked for the upcoming Beauty Contest!  And you have ahead of you two great new M10 debuts, the Joe South chartbook, and a classic battle for the top spot between the two biggest bands of the year- and one of them is looking for a second POTM in a row!  And for a change, I have no meaningless trivia so we might get done at a decent hour!  So pull up a seat next to Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman, and let's go!


"Maybe you could give us a minute... this idiot is no better hooking it than unhooking.."

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Sure, Mrs R!  Why don't we check out our first debut.  This was a song that this act has recorded on their debut EP as Audrey Hepburn... but someone suggested that they try recording it the different, dreamier way they did it at their live shows, and now, under the new title Audrey (Spending All My Time With You) it is their new single!  Coming in at #7- The Shacks (In a slightly less dreamy than the single live video!):






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As you all know, the Monkees won the Presidency of this week's Time Machine, so they are here to give the Panel list this week!  Welcome, guys!

Davy:  Glad we could be here.  Where are the girls?
Girls?  Let me guess, Elvis said there'd be girls...
Peter:  Yeah, he said girls with big...
Guys...
P:  ...sandwiches.  Do you have a deli?
Guys, first let me say, Don't listen to Elvis, he lies.  Second, we had 83 stations, which is still a lot, but the number of contestants is down to 24 because two songs hogged over 51% of the vote!  So what we're going to do is have you guys save those two for last...
Mickey:  And one of 'em is ours right?
(Everybody talking at once)
Yep, so let's get everything in alphabetical order here...
D:  Oh, let me do that!
Michael:  No, you can't do alphabetical...
I'll do it... you four just read them, okay?
P: Got it.  The first one...
D: Hey wait a minute? Shouldn't we read them in alphabetical order for US, too?
Mickey:  But if we did that, you wouldn't know when it's your turn!
P: How about by height?
D:  I know when I'll be going then...
Michael:  Look, I'll do the first 6, Pete will go second, Mickey gets third, and Davy, you can go fourth.
Mickey: So does that mean Davy gets to do the big two at the end?  Because I wanna do...
(Everybody talking)

Guys, a one-day show here.  Davy can go last and do the big two.

Mickey:  Ohhh kay...

Michael:  So we have first the Ohio Express with Beg Borrow Or Steal, which dropped off the Cashbox charts last week.
Mickey: What kind of deal is that?
We call it "they didn't get the memo".
Michael: Then we have the Fantastic Johnny C with Boogaloo Down Broadway at #10.
Glen Campbell was at #29 with By The Time I Get To Phoenix...
P: What?
Michael: Which what?
P: By the time you get to Phoenix, what?
D: Come on, it's not Mike that's going, it's Glen Campbell.
Michael: Hey? Davy, you are on my list!
D: Really?  Let me do it!
Michael: Okay, here, give me one of yours...
D: Not that one, that's one of the big two.  Here, take this one...
Michael: All right, next we have The Royal Guardsmen with Snoopy's Christmas at #13.
Next, I have Dream Time by some outfit out of New Zealand called Larry's Rebels.  Sound like a wild bunch, eh?
And My last one is the Lemon Pipers with Green Tambourine at # 62.

P:  That would be me, next.  I have... no, that's the other big one.  Here Davy, give me one of yours.
D:  Here, try this one.
P: Okay, I have Gary Puckett and the Union Gap at #7 with Woman Woman.
Then, the Beatles with I Am The Walrus, which is the flip side of one of the big two, at #48.
D: Shouldn't I have had that one, too?
P: No, because it wasn't that big.  And besides, I already did it.
Anyway, Gladys Knight and the Pips are next with I Heard It Through The Grapevine at #4...
Mickey:  I thought Marvin Gaye did that.
P: Well, yeah, him too.  And CCR will do it too.
Michael: Who's CCR?
P: I don't know, I saw it on one of Chris's screens while he was banging his head before.
I WAS NOT... just get on with it.

P: Smoky Robinson and the Miracles were at # 3 with I Second That Emotion.
The Small Faces were at #81 with Itchycoo Park.
And my last one is a local act who never charted anywhere else, Jon and Robin and the song I Want Some More.  Mickey:

Mickey:  Thank you, and good morning ladies and gentlemen...
Michael: It's not a news show...
Mickey:  I can do it anyway I want, right, Chris?
As long as you get my name right, I don't care anymore.
Mickey:  Thank you. My first song is Judy In Disguise by John Fred and his Playboy Band at #17.  I'll bet HE's got girls...
Next is the Hombres at ... well, they peaked in November... with Let It All Hang Out.
Then came Little Becky Lamb and Little Becky's Christmas Wish.  This was a real little girl's letter to her brother in Vietnam, and it was at #69.
Then comes Wayne Newton...


"Yes!  I'm Back!"
Wayne, out! Get out!

... with Love Of The Common People- which seems to be in short supply here- which peaked at #106.  Didn't get much love at the record store either.
The Bee Gees get a vote for their hit Massachusetts...er, (The Lights Went Out In) Massachusetts... at #14.  Should this have been Davy's?
P: Naw, he's got enough already.
Michael: And none of them are in alphabetical order anymore.
Mickey: And my last one is Human Beinz with Nobody But Me at #72.  Davy?
D:  Okay, here's what you have all been waiting for- I was at #1 in Australia with a little tune called Dream Girl.
Then I Have The Cowsills with The Rain, The Park, And Other Things at #5.  Been a lot easier if they'd have just called it Flower Girl.
P: Then it would have been Mike's.
D: Henson Cargill was at #87 with Skip A Rope.
Lulu's To Sir With Love peaked in October. 
And the last two- the big two- these are your choices to vote for.  Either vote for the Beatles with Hello Goodbye at #2...
(Everybody) BOOOO!!!
D: or us with Daydream Believer which was #1!
(Everybody) YAYYYYYY!!!!!

Mm?  Oh, thanks, guys.  So there you have it.  Just for the sake of notation, Snoopy's Christmas got 3rd with 8.4% of the vote.  So will it be the Beatles- or do I have to go through this again NEXT time?  Light a candle for me and place yer bets...


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Here's your second debut- and it gives us 2 albums with two hits in this week's M10!  One is Shilpa Ray's Door Girl; and at #6, from the lp The Details, here's Mo Kenney...





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So this week's 6D victim was Aretha Franklin's Chain Of Fools, on which Joe South was guitarist.  Joe had a pretty good singing career himself, but was even bigger as a writer.  In addition to ones you might easily know (which I will get to in a bit), he did one of Laurie's favorites- the flip side of his own biggest single- called Don't It Make You Want To Go Home.  He also did a gaggle of charting hits, writing wise, for others, so here we give you the Joe South Top Ten:

10- Hush, Billy Joe Royal, #52 in 1967.
9- I've Got To Be Somebody, BJR again, #38 in '66.  You begin to see the pattern here.
8- I Knew You When, Linda Ronstadt, #37 in 1982.
7- Same song, BJR version, #14 in 1965.
5 (tie)- Games People Play, his own big hit, #12 in 1968.
 (tie)- Walk A Mile In My Shoes, also his own, #12 in 1970.
4- Down In The Boondocks, BJR, #9 in '65.
3- Hush, Deep Purple, #4 in '68.
2- Yo-Yo, the Osmonds #3 in 1971 (BJR got stuck at #117 back in '66).
And Joe South's biggest hit?



1- Rose Garden, Lynn Anderson!  Not only did she top CB and the country charts in 1970, she also topped the charts in Australia, Belgium, Canada (pop and country), Finland, Germany, New Zealand, and Switzerland, as well as top five in the Netherlands, the UK, and Austria!  All this with a song that, while at least three men had recorded and failed to chart, her hubby told her not to do it because "it's a man's song"!

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Stat pack time!

I knew a big 4-0 this week!  Good on me!

The #67 in '67 was Al Greene and the Soul Mates -yes that's the Reverend Al with the original final "E" still attached, and two buddies in the recording biz that encouraged him to do it with Back Up Train.  Unfortunately, this was the extent of his climb on CB.

The #101 was a buddy of the Fantastic Johnny C, Joe Simon, with a tune called No Sad Songs.  Though he would have a couple of big hits later, the soul star only got to #49 with this one.

The UK #1 was one of the big two- Hello Goodbye.  The other, Daydream Believer, was #7.

And finally, the big mover was the Animals with Monterrey- 29 spots from 76 to 47.

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And the remainder of the M10.

The Foo Fighters feel the squeeze, dropping from 6 to 10.

Brian Fallon edges up a notch with Forget Me Not.

Shilpa Ray also up one with SR's Got A Heart Full Of Dirt- a song she wrote in less than an hour after a record exec told her her new demo wasn't "hooky enough".  She said, "You want hooks, I'LL give you hooks!" and this was the result.

You've heard 7 and 6...

Holding at #5 are the Strawberry Runners with Garden Hose.

Slipping a spot to #4 are Plume Of Feathers with Rhyl Love.

Mo Kenney reverses course and moves back to #3 with Unglued.  Anything over 6 next week not only ties the mark for most weeks- it makes Unglued the biggest hit in M10 history...

Shilpa Ray gets held off another week with Manhattanoid Creepazoids at #2.

And that means another week at the top for...



...POWERS and Beat Of My Drum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And on top of the Panel this week?  Well, my guests today got 22.9% of the vote, but the winner with 31.3%...




...the Beatles with Hello Goodbye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next week, since many of you won't be paying attention anyways, will be just an M10 update, but be back the week after for the week-long countdown of the top on the M10 in 2017!

2 comments:

  1. Chris:
    Okay, now you can say "I" am behind MY times...lol.
    ---I remember seeing The Graduate on a real theater...best part about the flick was the SOUNDTRACK (imho).
    (Ann Bancroft didn't so much for us in those days)
    (BTW, the S&G songs from the Graduate are different than the studio/album cuts...and I still got 'em all.
    ---Nice way to get Marilyn in there, too. (Joe is smiling down on you)
    ---Thwe Shacks - a might on the "breathy" side...bet the studio version would sound better.
    ---Nice Monkees banter...I think I knew MORE black artists/songs than white opne this week...(when music was better by far).
    ---Mo Kenney - looks like another #1 here.
    ---Can't recall Joe South, but I DO recall a LOT of the songs he wrote...always good to learn something here.
    ---Another M10 first...WTG.
    ---Had a bad feeling that the Beatles would get it this week.
    And so my winning streak comes to an end (went with the Monkees)...sorry, Laurie)
    Still a very enjoyable ride this week.

    Keep those hits comin' up there, brother.

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    Replies
    1. Opted for the Shacks live because well, live, and How much better Shannon looks when she lets her hair grow out a little.

      Laurie and you finally diverged, and she got it right!

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