Time Machine Week eight

Well I have some bad news and some good news.  The bad- no six degrees this week.  The good,the reason is that this week's research has led me to some of the silliest discoveries I've ever found on these pages, and I have two (count 'em, two) videoes to prove it.  Also included:  my lead in becomes a story in itself; four new top ten debuts trash the ten even worse than the four last week; the first use of the f-word in recorded music... maybe...; one big mover is in the top TEN (not just forty) and the other is our WATN contestant; and for the second straight week we had two songs with the same name in the birthday list- and you won't believe one of them!  Oh, and to Bobby G.:  I checked, because after the fact I thought you might be right, but Live And Let Die peaked at #2.

So right out of the box, I looked up March 23, 1970 to find the strange and unusual.  I happened across a story that began, "The Irish Times reporter wrote that the crowd acted as a shoving, pushing, charging melee, despite all the best efforts of Aer Lingus public relations officer Captain Jack Miller. As press cards were being checked by the nine police officers present, a female journalist angrily complained that a security guard had manhandled her. When the plane arrived from Amsterdam, Miller unsuccessfully attempted to forbade the press contingent present from running out of the terminal building onto the tarmac. "  And what, pray tell, was this all about?  A young Irish girl named Dana Rosemary Brown, but going professionally as Dana, had just landed.  9 days before, her first record at the tender age of 18 had been released; 3 days ago, it hit #1 on the Irish charts, where it would remain for the next nine weeks.  It was a pretty, folky number called All Kinds Of Everything, and 2 days ago it won the Eurovision Music Contest for 1970, beating out veteran singer Mary Hopkin (Those Were The Days) and a 27-year -old Spaniard named Julio Iglesias.  Dana went on to have a decent enough career on the Emerald Isle, and did pretty well later in life as well, coming in third in the Irish presidential election of 1997 as Dana Rosemary Scallon, serving in the European parliament, and making another run at the presidency last year, though finishing a disappointing sixth of seven.

Like an idiot I didn't count how many debuts there were in the hot 100 this week, so we'll jump right to the 5 that I'll mention.  The Ides Of March, apropriately enough, debut at #99 with Vehicle.  Two notches higher we find Vanity Fare with Hitchin' A Ride.  Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young debut at #89 with their version of Joni Mitchell's Woodstock.  And the last two are a double dip for the Guess Who:  American Woman comes in at 66, while the b-side, No Sugar Tonight (usually, though not on the single, combined with New Mother Nature), comes in at 80.  A happy 42nd birthday to them.

Before I get to the main of the birthdays, I remind you how last week that the Hollies' original, and the cover by Glass Moon, of On A Carousel, had birthdays 15 years apart.  This time, we have two songs with the same name but definately not the same song.  One of the songs celebrating its 35th birthday this week is Firefall's Cinderella, a wistful look at a girlfriend who should not have gotten pregnant; it was banned from many stations for the subject matter as well as the use of "G** D***" in the lyrics.  Despite that, it was one of my favorite Firefall tunes.  50 years ago, though, I noticed that a dude named Jack Ross did a song called Cinderella that debuted this week.  A quick listen will tell you that this had NOTHING to do with the Firefall original:



Well, wasn't that just special?  Reminded me of the Roy Clark "Rindercella" bit on Hee Haw, which as I recall ditched the stepsisters in favor of her "Mugly Other".

Anyhow, we also have Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville and Foreigner's Feels Like The First Time turning 35; Ringo Starr's Back Off Boogaloo, the 5D's Last Night (I Didn't Get To Sleep At All), Cat Stevens' Morning Has Broken, and Hot Rod Lincoln by Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen turning 40; and The Monkees A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You, and Spencer Davis' I'm A Man turning 45.  Blow out the candles...

Raindrops Keep Fallin' on the charts, but it lands at 53 this week, raising its grandpa total to 22 weeks.

Okay, as I said in the lead in, the big mover is in the friggin' top ten this week, so we turn to the big dropper, which just happens to drop 26 notches to the Where Are They Now spot of #50.  And that would be Glen Campbell with Honey Come Back.  Glen, as I'm sure you heard, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at the beginning of last year.  He began the goodbye tour last September, rampaging across the US of A, Canada, the UK, and Ireland and winding up (apparently) in Kansas City on the 26th of next month.  His Daughter Ashley, 25, is the band's bass player, while brothers Shannon (27) and Cal(28) are on guitar and drums, respectively.  His wife of 30+ years, Kim, is along every step of the way.  And while it sounds like the Rhinestone Cowboy is struggling a bit, the fan response says he's giving them their money's worth one last time.  God Bless you, Glen.

And that lands us at the top forty already.  Climbing 12 spots to lead the 40 off are the Friends Of Distinction with Love Or Let Me Be Lonely.  The Archies break in, moving up 3 to #38 with Who's Your Baby.  And the high debut (save for that annoying song in the top ten) is the Ross-less Supremes, climbing 9 to #37 with the song Up The Ladder To The Roof, sung by Jean Terrell.

Our look back on the #1s this week in history led me to one Eddy Duchin, who held #1  this week in 1934 with Let's Fall In Love and in 1935 with Lovely To Look At.  Eddy pioneered a "sweet sound" as a piano playing bandleader, that would inspire such later virtuosos as Liberace.  He would go on to be Lt. Commander on a destroyer in WWII, fight a valiant battle against leukemia that he lost in February of 1951, and have a movie about his life in which he was played by Tyrone Power (opposite Kim Novak, no less).  He had 68 top 40 hits and 10 #1s.  But all that pales behind the story of the #2 hit  Ol' Man Mose, a remake of a Satchmo tune.  However, his vocalist, Patricia Norman, put her own spin on it, which you'll see as she gets to the line "kick the bucket" at the 1:10 mark and thereafter:



This song, spurred by the suspicious lyric, got banned in the UK- but here, "...it sold 170,000 records, in a day where 20,000 was considered a blockbuster."

Remember last week, when we had four songs just blast their way into the top ten?  Well, with four new songs this week, the big four from last week took it hard;  one held its spot, one dropped a spot, and 2 of them:  Elvis' Kentucky Rain (10- 15) and the Chairmen Of The Board's Give Me Just A Little More Time (9-11) get knocked right back out of the top ten (So much for getting that little more time, huh?).  The other droppers are Travellin' Band (5-20) and Hey There Lonely Girl (4-23).  Que sera sera...

Okay, so our combination biggest mover/high top 40 debut/lead off top ten debut- the Jackson Five's ABC, leaping from 43 to 10.  The Hollies drop a notch to #9 with He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother.  Coming up three to #8, Detroit rockers Frijid Pink with House Of The Rising Sun.  Santana holds at 7 with Evil Ways, as does Tee Set at #6 with Ma Belle Amie.  Edison Lighthouse jumps from 12 to #5 with Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes).  John Lennon and his band jump from 14 to #4 with Instant Karma.  Brook Benton slips a notch to #3 with Rainy Night In Georgia.  The Jaggerz pull into the runner up slot with The Rapper.  And that gives us a third week at the top for...

Simon And Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water!!!!


Be back tomorrow for more mayhem on the seventies countdown, kids!