Step into my time machine, week four

We have a new number one this week! We have three debuts in the top 10, 4 in the top 40, and 9 in the hot hundred. Coming into the count for the first time this week were The Rockford Files theme by Mike Post at 99, the Bee Gees game changer Jive Talkin' at 89, and Steely Dan's Black Friday at 78, along with a lot of songs no one remembers too well (at least me). Into the 40, which was basically the stuff that actually got played in most areas, were Kool and the Gang at 40 with Spirit of the Boogie and Disco Tex and the Sex-o-lettes (real endearing name there) with I Wanna Dance Wit'Choo- neither of which made much of an impression on me- along with two songs that basically defined the upcoming summer of '75: Pilot's Magic, and the Captain and Tenille's breakthrough Love Will Keep Us Together. Toni and Daryl also claimed the weeks big mover with that one, jumping 15 spots to #28, three ahead of Magic. I was going to curse BJ Thomas for making me type out that damn long song name of his (still the longest title of any #1 in history) on the big dropper list, but Chevy Van beat him out by one, dropping 41 notches to 64. BJ only fell 40 to 57.

The top ten, as I said, had three debuts, so, as Casey used to say, the three that fall out of the top ten were the Blackbyrds walking in rythym the other direction to 14, Elton John's former #1 Philly freedom down to 16, and Barry Manilow who apparently thought 1 week in the top ten was miracle enough and fell to 26. Coming in were three of the four songs I would have had trouble picking between for my #1. Grand Funk's Bad Time up 4 to 10; the Carpenters' Only Yesterday up 2 to 9, and America's Sister Golden Hair (the winnah!) up 4 to 8. Tony Orlando and the girls drop 2 to 7 with He Don't Love You (and I've got to get the story in;

When Orlando and the members of Dawn (Telma Hopkins and Joyce Wilson) appeared at a Golden Globes award ceremony, Orlando spoke with Faye Dunaway and her then-husband, Peter Wolf, while waiting in a lobby. Wolf was the lead singer for The J. Geils Band, and the two started singing songs from the 1960s, including "He Will Break Your Heart", which the couple recommended Orlando record. Orlando contacted Mayfield requesting that he and Dawn wanted to do a remake but change the title to the opening lines of the song, and Mayfield gave his permission. Courtesy the name droppers at Wikipedia.)

Thank God I'm a Country Boy, sung by John Denver and written by his fiddle player (no lie!) moves the most within the ten, from 9 to 6. Insomniac Paul Anka climbs another notch to 5 with I Don't Like To Sleep Alone, a song I actually listened to today on LaLa and was not overly excited. The Ozark Mountain Daredevils concede the the top bunk this week, dropping to 4 with Jackie Blue; everyone else moves up one, with Freddy Fender going to 3 with Before the Next Teardrop Falls, Ace with How Long to 2, and the #1 song was the first big hit for Earth Wind and Fire, Shining Star.

The Martin index shows us with 38 songs out of the 100 that I've burned at one point or another. This includes one of my all time faves which was never exalted to the top 40 by a tone deaf listening audience: the Beach Boys' Sail On Salior, which moved up a measly 2 to a measly 73, but I would listen to right now over 98% of the top 100.

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It will be Russia vs the Czech Republic in the world cup final tomorrow after the Czechs knocked out Sweden 3-2 in an OT shootout and Russia downed Germany in their hardest fought match of the tourney, getting the winning goal with less than two minutes on the clock. In other news, Morrocco of all places was admitted to the IIHF today. They have one rink, three teams and 90 players in Morrocco, and apparently that's good enough. (Any further questions about Division 3?) In the meantime, Armenia was suspended indefinately for supposedly using ineligible players in their recent tournament, including one who they'd been busted for using previously. Does Kelvin Sampson coach this team, really? Also, my wonderful Blackhawks are now up 3-0 on San Jose and one game away from the Stanley cup finals for the second time since 1973. Hopefully they will avoid this year's Washington/Boston/Pittsburgh virus. Still waiting to see the ugly choice of opponant there. Hopefully (UGGH) Montreal: I'd rather watch them play Israel Bat Yam II than Philadelphia.

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Oh and speaking of Philadelphia, we saw yet another skunk, this one sagely avoiding becoming tire food on the way to work this morning. Do they come in threes, like funerals? I hope not, Scrappy and I might want to get another walk in this weekend.