Step into my time machine week sixteen

Today we cover one of the most famous movie themes in history, and the first use of a stringed orchestra on a mainstream hit; look at someone who went from a teen star to a real estate agent; and see a cowboy start to ride to the rescue. First though, I want to bring up my besteveralbums top 50 list again. I mentioned this site on a previous post; since then I have talked to some friendly people, heard some nifty new songs, and had a problem with a somewhat arrogant Brit who told me my chart was the worst he'd seen, used a John Lennon quote to bad mouth ELO (which, if you know me, is like having Barack Obama come with you to a John Birch Society meeting)- and after a couple of not-so-friendly-rejoinders in which I invited him to avoid my chart, he apologized for being "over the top". None of which gets to my point, which is that they actually even rate members based on ratings, number of albums listed, number of posts, etc., and yours truly as of right now, out of "1800 charts" submitted on this site, I rank as the 90th top member. Too bad my chart doesn't get the same love.



Okay, onto the chart. 13 hot 100 debuts this week, with 4 notables: ABBA's SOS comes in at 100; Queen comes in at 99 with a song longtime fans will recognize, Keep Yourself Alive; at 84 comes the most recognizable movie theme in history (NOTE: we'll hit one a lot less recognizable in a later segment), John Williams' theme to Jaws; and at 82 is Michael Murphy's follow-up to Wildfire, the lovely Carolina In The Pines. Oh, and we have another Rolling Stones debut, so I thought I'd Listen to see if it was any better than that horrible last one. It was, slightly; it's called Out Of Time and came in at 87. The second line of the song says, "You're out of touch, baby," and I'd have to say at the time, they were. But if I Don't Know Why was any indication, we'll see this one graze the top 40 too. Moving on.



The Big Dropper (not Bopper, Dropper) this week was Gladys Knight's Try to Remember medley, which glanced at the top 10 a few weeks back and this week tumbles 33 to #64. The big climber was John Denver's I'm Sorry, up 32 to 48th.



This week's 5 songs off my favorites of the 70s list are: at 75, Heartbeat-It's A Lovebeat by the DiFranco Family featuring 13-yr-old little brother Tony on vocals. He's now a 51-yr-old real estate agent in California. At 74, Todd Rundgren's I Saw The Light; 73, A Rock and Roll Fantasy by the Kinks; 72, the real Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds with Don't Pull Your Love; and at 71, Linda Ronstadt's cover of Martha and the Vandella's Heat Wave.



Coming into "airplay isle" this week are 5 songs. America climbs 5 to 40 with Daisy Jane; at 39 is a song by an ensemble called New Birth, Dream Merchant. I didn't know this, but it was a very nice R&B tune by a band that reached 45 the previous year with a cover of Wildflower which was also very tasty. The Hudson Brothers lept 8 spots to come in at 38 with Rendezvous; the Carpenters outdid that, jumping 20 to #37 with Solitaire; and David Geddes' tearjerker Run Joey Run outdid that, just missing the big jumper with a 31-notch hop to 30.



The Almost but not quite for this week is Dyn-o-mite, the tribute to Jimmie Walker's tag line recorded by studio band Bazuka. Bazuka was built by producer Tomy Camillo, whose biggest claim to fame was getting a Grammy for co-producing Midnight Train To Georgia for the aforementioned Miss Knight und der Pipsters. Peaking at 12, it begins it's descent this week, stopping at 19.



Two songs go into the top ten, two fall out. The droppers are Midnight Blue at 13, and former top dog The Hustle at 14.



Our tour of the tops of other year's charts reaches the 9's this week. By 1999, every chart you looked at had songs that clung to the top forever, as the singles industry accelerated its erosion. Case in Point is the Alternative chart #1 for this week in 1999, Scar Tissue by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, which was in the chronologic center of a run that would stretch from the end of June to the middle of October. In 1989, the top song was Prince's Batdance (which I still don't remember hearing); 1979's top dog this week was Chic's Good Times, the only one of their songs I could put up with back then. 1969's top this week was a more enjoyable Rolling Stones with Honky-Tonk Women. And in 1959, the Drifters were on top with the haunting There Goes My Baby. I looked at some of the Drifters' convoluted backstory, but it was too convoluted for me; suffice it to say that this song was the first commercial rock'n'roll hit to have a string orchestra.



Specials out of the way, here comes the top 10. At leadoff, Mike Post's Rockford Files Theme peaks up one notch to 10. The somewhat-modified Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds pop up 4 to #9 with Falling In Love; Olivia Newton-John drops another 4 to 8 with former top dog Please Mister Please. Batting cleanup is sweet baby James Taylor with How Sweet It Is, etc., etc., moving up 2 to 7. The Eagles continue to give ground very reluctantly; On Of These Nights slides but one to 6 this week.



Side note on the subject of stubborn droppers; Love Will Keep Us Together actually held the 27 spot for a second week in a row, while the Spanish version climbed 18 spots to 72 this week.



Again moving on, War moves up that one notch to 5 with Why Can't We Be Friends; Glen Campbell finally puts a spur in that horse, as Rhinestone Cowboy moves from 8 to 4. 10cc holds at 3 with I'm Not In Love. The Bee Gees slip off the bully perch to #2 with Jive Talkin'. That means our new number one is Elton John with Someone Saved My Life Tonight.

(what? You think I'd use the duck picture again?)






That's it for this trip. See you next week!