M10 show week #149

 

Dude, I just read the best story about you- and now I know all this stuff about you not liking the Beatles was utter BS!

Yer crazy!  What're yew talkin' about!

Well it all starts with the song at #1 in Australia this week in 1975...

Say huh?

But I have 3 debuts this week, so I gotta go there first.  First at #9, this is one that's been hanging out in the shuffle for some time and finally squeaks in for the Linda Lindas...

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So my story begins when I looked up the #1 song in Australia this week, and found out it was a chap named Daryl Braithwaite doing a cover we in the US knew best by the 1977 Helen Reddy version- You're My World...

UH-oh... oh no...

...so I got curious and started digging.  A song that hit number one in many countries in many versions by many artists- Helen herself hit #1 in Mexico... a UK group named Guys'N'Dolls hit the top in Belgium and the Netherlands... a dude named Richard Anthony hit the top (in French) in France and (in English) in Spain.  Ria Bartok hit the Canadian French-Language chart #1.  But the poor guy who first came up with it, Umberto Bindi, never even got a hit out of it in his native Italy!

Well, that's a good story!  Why don't we lookit the other number ones?  Here, I'll even do it fer ya!  In the US it was Barry Manilow and Mandy, which hit the top in Canada, and 4 in Australia...

You KNOW you aren't getting out of things this easy, right?  So anyway, he wrote an English version that was given to Cilla Black, whom I am to understand my Big Buddy here kept the single on his personal jukebox...

Well, Pris loved it, an' they had the same actual first name...

...but here's where the story takes a bit of a turn... first, though, here's the debut at #8- which is another odd story.  Years ago, Roseanne Cash hit the top of the country chart with this song, and I knew after 3 notes, this was a Tom Petty song.  Thing is, I would have sworn I heard it on one of his lps- BUT IT WASN'T ON ANY OF THEM!  I searched for years, knowing I had to have heard the Heartbreakers do this song, but never finding it.  Then, a couple months ago, it was FINALLY released on an anniversary redeux of their Long After Dark album.  At long last, at #8- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers...

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Wow... that actually brought a tear....

And I sure hate to break the mood, but the story must go on.  August 27th, 1965...

Yew weren't never supposed ta find out about that....

...after three days of arranging it, the Beatles were introduced to Elvis at his Bel Air mansion...

The Beatles came in with Brian Epstein, their manager. They walked up to Elvis and were introduced, and Elvis sits down on the chair. The Beatles all sit down on the floor right in front of Elvis, in a semi-circle, and they look up and they are just gaping & staring at him.

There's this dead silence in the room until Elvis says, 'Well, what-the-hell, if you guys aren't going to talk to me I'm going to my bedroom'. And then everyone started to laugh and that broke the ice.

                                                           -ElvisAustralia: the Elvis Presley fan club

And the reason I found out about it:

"After a bit Elvis said, 'Somebody bring in the guitars'. Again one of his men jumped up, and within moments three electric guitars had been plugged into the amplifiers in the room. Elvis took a bass guitar, and I took a rhythm guitar. Elvis obviously wasn't that familiar with his instrument, so Paul gave him some instructions.

'Here's how I play the bass', he said, strumming a few chords. 'It's not too good, but I'm practicing'.

George was busy looking over his instrument, and it was a few minutes before he joined in. If I remember correctly, it was Cilla Black's hit record 'You're My World' that we first got off together."

                                                                      -John Lennon

Yeah, yeah, we had a li'l jam, Pris came out an' said hi, they invited me to go party with 'em, but that wasn't my thing.  Happy?

Ecstatic!  So now let me give you the high debut- it comes in at #6! Another delightful lady who's bopped around the shuffle a couple of time, here's Hana Vu:

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Well, sometimes the video helps the song, and...

An' that one helped if'n yer a Hitchcock fan...

Uh, yeah.  Might be a good time to bring up that the #12 in Canada this week in '75 was Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, by Elton John, with some help from Dr Winston O. Boogie, aka John Lennon....

Y'know, I got on pretty good with John... 

So I heard.  For my fave of the week, you don't have to go farther than Mandy at #1.  And the biggest mover- since it's something of a John Lennon week anyway- was his #9 Dream, climbing from 45 to 31.

All right, since ya did such a good job a' keeping humilarating me to a minimum, ah'll do the rest of the ten...

10- Midlake and Roscoe, down 3...

7- Maggie Rogers an' Don't Forget Me, also down 3...

5- Linkin Park's Cut The Bridge, up 2...

4- Geowulf an' Stay Baby, up 4...

3- an' holdin' Japanese breakfast an' Kokomo, IN....

2- finally out a' the top spot, Junior Senior an' Move Your feet...

and the new #1....

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And with that, we'll see you next time!

Wednesday Bible study: Abraham plank by plank part IV

 

Gen 12:1  Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 

Gen 12:2  And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 

Gen 12:3  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 

This is the second time God has spoken to Abram (that we know of from the Bible), and this time, he listens, and heads for Canaan.  And when he gets there, God speaks a third time:

Gen 12:6  Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 

Gen 12:7  Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Note: THIS land.  God is telling Abram, "You are there!"  This is where God wants him.  But...

Gen 12:8  From there he moved ...

Abram is really having a hard time getting the message.  So he moves a little farther down.  What was wrong with where God told him?  But he's not in trouble yet; he' goes to "between Bethel and Ai", still in the land, just about 20 miles south.  And he builds an altar and calls on the Lord.  But then...

Gen 12:9  And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb. 

Catch that?  "STILL GOING..."  Why?

I believe it is a matter of TRUST.  He's looking at a land that is okay... but surely God can do better?  Or maybe it's the famine conditions that are still drying out a land just 360-some odd years after the worldwide flood, three generations since the re-arrangement of the world in the days of Peleg.  Either way, for some reason, where God told him to stay put wasn't good enough, and he ended up...

Gen 12:10  Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 

Egypt.  I can think of, including this one, four times someone on God's heart went to Egypt- two on God's urging, two against His will.  Joseph led his family to Egypt under God's design, to let them grow as a people, before the utter dipstickery of the sons of Jacob- marrying Canaanites, sleeping with Dad's concubine, getting the daughter-in-law pregnant- undid all of His plans.  Mary and Joseph also took the child Jesus to Egypt on God's urging, to protect the child from Herod. 

But I want to look at the two that should NOT have happened, because we learn something of God's carpentry on Abram from them.  There are two main reasons to disobey God:  One is, you don't trust enough, and decide he needs YOUR help.  This was Abram's problem, and if you know the story, you know it takes a LONG time to get that fixed in him.  That other time came after Jerusalem fell, and the last king, Zedekiah, was dragged in chains to Babylon.  There were Jews left in Jerusalem.  and God through Jeremiah told them to trust the Babylon-appointed governor, Gedeliah.  If they stayed there and obeyed Gedeliah and the Babylonians, God would protect them.  But oh, no, they had to assassinate Gedeliah and run things their own way.  Even then, Jeremiah told them, "God will still help you just DON'T GO TO EGYPT."  And they replied, 

Jer 43:2  Azariah the son of Hoshaiah and Johanan the son of Kareah and all the insolent men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie. The LORD our God did not send you to say, ‘Do not go to Egypt to live there,’ 

Jer 43:3  but Baruch the son of Neriah has set you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may kill us or take us into exile in Babylon.” 

Now it's time for US to practice trust.  For Jeremiah, as he was being dragged with them into Egypt, prophesied, 

Jer 43:9  “Take in your hands large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement that is at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, 

Jer 43:10  and say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. 

Jer 43:11  He shall come and strike the land of Egypt, giving over to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword. 

Jer 43:12  I shall kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive. And he shall clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin, and he shall go away from there in peace. 

Only thing is, if you listen to the experts, this never happened.  They know of Nebuchadnezzar attacking Egypt more than once- and failing.  BUT- one of those supposed failures occurred during a time of Civil War in Egypt- and a lot of details in the history are missing.  One of the sources I looked at mentioned a 40 year span of very cloudy history- and from his place among the earlier exiles to Babylon, Ezekiel backs up Jeremiah, predicting a 40-year destruction of Egypt- and both prophets claim Egypt would recover, which it did.  Don't let scientists scare you.  No one thought the kings of Israel were anything but myths until Ahab's name was found an an Assyrian monument in 1861; no one thought Troy was anything but a legend until Schleimann found it in 1871, and no one thought King Tut was real until Howard Carter found his tomb in 1922.

One day, perhaps, the evidence of Nebuchadnezzar's invasion will be found.  But if you trust in God, and you follow the true science that has confirmed nearly every other history the Bible has shown us, you will be one step ahead of Abram at this point, and be able to trust God with everything- even staying put in a famine.

The return of pictures

 So we did stagger out New Years Morning...

At least it isn't raining...

...sure looks like it could, though

Plenty of water in Misty's drinkin' holes

A new item in the field south of the Swamp.  What will this be?

Almost looks like a river again, but here it is, January 1st, and the river has frozen over twice, but no "Stay off the ice" sign.  Last year it was out before Thanksgiving...

Then came COLD weather, a return to work, and other such things, and so it is that it wasn't till this morning we returned to the trails...

...in the snow!

Now, the complex had been shoveled last night, but about another half-inch fell.  Here, though, we hit the "you're on your own" phase

"Look, NOW the ice sign is up!"

They actually shoveled the trail from PFW to the Holiday Inn...

Snowplow running down Coliseum

Snow-nose!  She eats snow the whole way

Purdue Logic:  Clean the sidewalk, but not the lot

More Snow-Nose-ing

First ones into the ravine trail

At this point, we're playing, "Your best guess where the trail is, winter edition"

Squirrel says, "Was that a right or left at Albuquerque?"

Big (White) Guy

M10 not-so-show week 148

 

Not so much of a show tonight mainly because I am starting round three of sneeze-a-thon '25 for today and have a doubt my humor would be anything but, well, snotty.  So A quick look at 1976, and this week's top ten.  I have one debut this week- and it debuts at 8 after just 2 listens, so you know this will soon be a contender for another #1 for this lady.  Here's new Geowulf...

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All right, lets have that look at this week in 1976!  First, what was #1? In Australia, ABBA was about to replace Mama Mia (which surprisingly Billboard peaked at 32 here- but played much higher here in Ft Wayne- and 18 in Canada) with SOS (My favorite of theirs, which got 15 here and 9 in Canada).

In Canada, they were about to replace KC and the Sunshine Band's That's The Way (uh-huh, uh-huh) I Like It (Also a #1 here and 5 in Australia) with the Bay City Rollers and Saturday Night (Again a #1 here, but a #45 in Australia).

And here, Cashbox was about to replace Barry Manilow's I Write The Songs (5 in Australia, 3 in Canada) with Diana Ross with the Theme From Mahogany- maybe my second favorite of all of hers (4 in Canada, 38 in Australia).  And the big movers this week on Cashbox include:

14 songs that moved up just one;

3 that moved up 2;

8 that went up 3 to 5;

and the top movers were a ten spot for Donna Summer's Love To Love You Baby, a #1 for Canada, 2 here, and 4 in Australia, that moved up to 14 this week;

and a 14- notch for Rhythm Heritage's Theme From SWAT, which topped North America and made #11 in Australia, dropping in at 33 this week.

AHH-CHHOOOOO!  Excuse me!  My favorite from this week in 1976 is a toughie- we were at the late end of my wheelhouse here.  But I would have to say this week I would have topped my chart with the song at #20...

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Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds (but really Dennison) took Winners And Losers to 18 on CB and 21 in Canada.  

Now, for the rest of the M10:

10- Robert Finley holds with Age Don't Mean A Thing.

9- down 2 in week #10 for the new member of the 4-way-tie-for 23 all time club, Lucinda Williams and While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

7-Up one for Linkin Park and Cut The Bridge.

6- down one for Midlake and Roscoe.

5- down 3 for Geowulf's other top ten song, Dreaming.

4- and holding for Maggie Rogers and Don't Forget Me.

3- Up a big 4 for Japanese Breakfast and Kokomo Indiana.

2- up one for the Cowsills and She Said To Me.

And still at the top for week #3:

...Junior Senior and Move your feet!!!!!

Well, I'm off to see if a shower might clear this stupid nose!  Have great weekend from lovely 19F (-7.2 C) Indiana!

Wednesday Bible Study: Abraham plank by Plank part III

 So Abraham, still known as Abram at this point, spends 16 years in Haran, with his entire family.  And at this point, though we've only seen these words once, Stephen tells us God spoke to Abram a second time:

Gen 12:1  Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 

Gen 12:2  And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 

Gen 12:3  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 

Notable here is "From your kindred, and your father's house".  He was to leave family behind in Haran, as he hadn't when he left Ur.  The Book of Jubilees tells us that daddy Terah was fine with this, to a point...

And Terah his father said unto him; Go in peace:  May the eternal God make thy path straight.  And the Lord [(be) with thee, and] protect thee from all evil,

And grant unto thee grace, mercy and favour before those who see thee,  And may none of the children of men have power over thee to harm thee;

Go in peace.

And if thou seest a land pleasant to thy eyes to dwell in, then arise and take me to thee and take Lot with thee, the son of Haran thy brother as thine own son: the Lord be with thee.

And Nahor thy brother leave with me till thou returnest in peace, and we go with thee all together.'

So according to the Jubilees story, Abram was supposed to go back and get them!  But the problem is, God didn't call them, for they were still idolaters, and given to excuses not to leave their idols behind.  Again from Jubilees, Abram tries to talk his father out of his idolatry.  His excuse:

And his father said unto him, I also know it, my son, but what shall I do with a people who have made me to serve before them?

And if I tell them the truth, they will slay me; for their soul cleaves to them to worship them and honour them.

Keep silent, my son, lest they slay thee.' And these words he spake to his two brothers, and they were angry with him and he kept silent.

I think this is important to share, because it shows more of the planks Abram was to be built with.  One was that Abram had to accept that God would now be his family, his Father.  As Jesus said:

Mar 10:28  Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” 

Mar 10:29  Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 

Mar 10:30  who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.

He could not get the reward he was promised dragging his family along behind.  Some people God is going to call to leave their family behind, particularly if that family is stuck in their sinning and rejects Jesus.  Abram's family was unwilling to disentangle themselves from the world; in fact, his brothers were even angry (And according to Jubilees, one of them died for the idols!).  Also, note that Terah wanted to stay silent, in fear of the world.  God will never allow a believer to be silent about their faith.

I have been talking to myself about my sins, and the ways I want to "stay in Haran".  But looking at God's promise to Abram, we see the problem with that:

-You miss out on the wonders He wants to show you;

-You miss out on what He wants to make of you;

-You miss out on the blessings he wants to give;

-You miss being the blessing to others He made you to be;

-You miss out on a level of His protection;

- You miss being a part of the future He's building.

Every one of these strike me.  Each one tells me I have a long way to go.  Abram had over 400 miles to his next stop, his next choice of obedience.  And he wouldn't have made it one step past his family, had he not been willing to put the world AND his family behind him to serve the Lord.

So the question left is, Did Abraham ever go back for Terah and company?  Answer: no.  Did he have a chance? Yes.  Terah was still alive, it would seem, when aged Abraham sent Eliazar to His brother's grandson Laban to find a wife for Isaac- though at 200+, it might not have been feasible.  The bloodline came to Canaan- but the idolaters never did.

Sunday night at the moanies

 So here I am, at the end of two weeks off, because the company that owns our company is in a business that has had a rough couple of years.  And for a lot of reasons, I'm really bummed right now.

Because I have to work?  No, God led me to this job, it frankly isn't hard, and it is provision for my family.  I don't regret where I work.

What I am regretting boils down to this: we used to be a mid-level player in a specific industry, with dreams of expansion, hopes of extending into related industry.  Now, however, we are a constantly-contracting wart on the butt of a much bigger concern that has fingers, toes, and arms into industries both close and far-flung from where we are.  But the thing is, our plant is a highly successful wart, and still is getting treated like our masters are considering Compound W.

Since we were sold to this company- an event trumpeted as being a great deal, that would inject $$$ into our efforts, here's what has happened:

-One plant manager had a stress-related heart attack, another jumped ship just as the sale was announced.

-We used to have a Quality exec and an assistant Plant Manager.  Both have since been deemed unnecessary.

-We've lost two plants to closure, a VP, a VP-replacement, a President, a HR department, a scheduling staff, and a maintenance man.

- I work in a department that used to run three machines constantly, including overtime; one machine is basically unreliable, another needs a belt and other vital parts that we are jury-rigging around.

- We've lost getting a quarterly bonus and haven't had a raise in at least a couple years.

Our plant is consistently in the 90%s in efficiency; The remaining other plant- who (for them) is conveniently located across the street from our biggest customer- only tops 55% when the Boss from the big company is on the floor.  And because they suck, and the other industries our owners are in are sucking, it doesn't matter what we do- no raises, no bonuses, and the little things at holiday times our company USED to do for us, the current Plant Manager does out of his budget.

Though I try not to think about it, it sucks to feel like the whole place has the sword of Damocles over it.  Been through this once before, didn't like it then, either.  And just like then, it started when a kind hearted, old school owner had to sell to a larger outfit who only see $$$.

It's kind of sitting on me tonight, along with much of the same stuff that came out in my last rant.  Today, Pastor Josh preached on Hebrews 12, a message about three 'gauges' we can use to check where we are faith wise.  One is the gauge of "being plural", connected to others of faith.  And that is a problem for me, though there are options available to me.  The second is the gauge of "being light", not carrying the garbage and the things we can't control or don't need; there I think is my bigger problem.  The third is the gauge of "Being focused on Jesus", and I think the 'weight' is dragging that gauge down right now.

I didn't know how to finish this, or if to even publish it- just let it sit and be cathartic.  I flipped over to X just now, though, and read this:

"Did you know that the most mature person in Christ has further to go than he or she has already come?

"Gee James, I'm sure glad we have eternity with Jesus to figure this all out!" "

Okay.  'Suck it up, buttercup', I guess is the motto for the night, and be glad Jesus still walks with me.  Reminds me of another tweet I saw today.  "Satan thought he took everything from Job; but he couldn't take God from him."

M10 show week 147

 

Alright, I am recovered from my rant of Wednesday night and am ready to get on with the regular M10 countdown- and I am taking the unusual expedient of going two years back to target year 1977 this week...

Elvis: Well, why'd that be?

Because my friend, with one single exception of a song that moved up 4 (Neil Diamond's Desiree), every one of the songs for January 7th, 1978 (since they had a freeze week on the first) moved up only one spot!  This way, we have the right week AND a moving chart!  Also, we have a first of 2025 M10with but one debut- a song my son KC put me on to!  Here's bluesman Robert Finley at # 10...

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Now before we get to that, here's some of 2024's M10 top ten!

10- Shannon and the Clams, What You're Missing.  Topped the chart for 2 weeks in July.

9- Juliana Hatfield, Secret Messages. The runner up to the above act for Big New (to me) Act of 2024, this hit #1 for 2 weeks in March.

8- Linkin Park, Heavy Is The Crown. The second of 2 consecutive #1s for LP, this took the heavy crown in late October.

7- Leon Bridges, That's What I love. This followed the above song for a couple of weeks in November.

6- Shannon and the Clams, Real Or Magic.  The first of their two #1s hit for a month in April and May.

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Hopefully, ya didn't mess up yer links this time...

Yeah, my hope as well.  So this week in 1977, we had three 9-spot movers and 2 eight-rung movers.  So our top five in week one of 1977:

5- Barry Manilow, Weekend In New England.  In a couple weeks this would officially be the original M10's first #1.  Up to 34 this week, it would peak 73 in Australia, but 9 in North America.

4- The Jacksons, Enjoy Yourself.  Michael and his bros would peak 6 here, 5 in Canada- but AWOL in Australia.

3- Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, Night Moves.  Up to 35 this week, the first of the 9-spot movers peaked at 25 Australia, 5 in Canada, and 6 here.

2- Stevie Wonder, I Wish.  Stevie was about to embark in a golden age, and this one, climbing to 13 this week, would top the North American charts and get to #51 in Australia.

And this week's top dog:

1- Rose Royce, Car Wash.  From the movie of the same name (wish wasn't near so memorable), this one dropped in at #13 this week; it would peak 1 in North America and #12 in Australia.

Hey, ya fergot the #1s this week...

So I did.  Go for it!

Shure.  In the US of A, on Cashbox at least, it was Marilyn McCoo an' Billy Davis, aka two of the Five Dimensions, with You Don't Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show)...

Never one of my favorites, BTW...

It also swept North America, and another #12 in Aussie-land.

Meanwhile, Canada was still stuck on Rod Stewart's Tonight's The Night, which was top a couple weeks back in the US, and made it ta three in Australia.  

An' Australia was stuck even farther back with Chicago an' If You Leave Me Now, which swept all the charts at differnt times.

Wow, that list wuz about as easy as it gets!

Great timing for you!  My #1 for this week in 77 would be Bread's Lost Without Your Love, up 4 to #23 this week...

What about '78?  Jus' because nobody moved don' mean ya ain't got a fave there...

True enough, I suppose... maybe Player's Baby Come Back, would've been a tight race...

Anyway, the final five...

5- Real Estate, Somebody New.  Their 4th straight #1, it hit in late May.

4- Lucinda Williams, While My Guitar Gently Weeps.  My vote for Best Beatles cover ever, she had a 3-week run at the top in December.

Which ya can't get on other charts!

So true!

3- Beabadoobee, Beaches.  My favorite pure fun video of the year, she hit the top for 2 weeks in August/September.

2- Decemberists, Long White Veil. This would finish tied for #13 all time, and grace the top spot in most of August.  

And the top M10 tune of 2024...

HOLD ON!  Suspense, remember?  Lemme give the rest of the M10 first...

Have at it!

9- an' down 2, Matt Berry an' I Gotta Limit...

8- an' holdin' again, Linkin Park an' Cut The Bridge...

7- an' up 2, Japanese Breakfast an' Kokomo, IN...

6- an' down 1, Lucinda and her weepy guitar...

5- an' up one, Midlake an' Roscoe...

4- an' down one, Maggie Rogers an' Don't Forget Me....

3- an' up one, the Cowsills an' She Said To Me...

2- an' holdin', Geowulf an' Dreaming...

An' the same ol' #1....

Wait!  Shouldn't we stop for 'suspense'?

Whut suspense?  Everone knows it's gonna be...

...Junior Senior and Move Your Feet, for a third week!

Well, fine!  And now, the top M10 song of 2024, and 8th all time- from one week in April at the top, and-4 weeks later- one week in May....

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That's the show, see you next time!