Time Machine #60

Today is March 22, 1971.  Nine days after completing the tapes that would become their seven-song double album magnum opus, At Filmore East, the Allman Brothers Band along with their road crew were arrested for possession of MJ and Heroin.  Apparently a roadie was observed as a public intox, and the investigation led to the discovery that the group wasn't really good at picking up their party favors lying around their vehicles.  Just the first of a string of disasters that would make 1971 a bad year for the band.

Welcome to yet another stumble down memory lane I call Time Machine.  All I can tell you ahead is that the three songs that have dominated the last few weeks drop a minimum of 4 spots this week, so there will be a new #1.  Other than that, I gotta throw in a lot of fill-in stuff in the features as they're a might thin, and I'll have to make a 76 mile stretch to connect my six degrees that features not one, but two of those previously-mentioned droppers.

And if you were around for the last Lotsa Little Bits, you know we have a sad announcement coming up.  Bobby Smith, Spinners' lead vocal on hits like I'll Be Around, Games People Play, Could It Be I'm Falling In Love, and Then Came You, passed away the day before St. Patty's, just shy of his 77th birthday.  Henry Fambrough is now the sole surviving member of that great group.  And I slide on into announcing that it will be next week (at least) before I finish the great "how many #1 artists are dead" project.  This is taking a lot of time, especially considering that the number of different acts that hit #1 each year has risen from an average of 10.3 in the fifties to over 18 from 1960-65.

ANNNNYway, we had 15 hot 100 debuts this week, including these three- Derek and the Dominoes (AKA Eric Clapton and buddies) with Layla at 98; Bread with If at #72; and Neil Diamond's self-therapy session I Am... I Said at 54.

He didn't need a chair to answer...

We kinda ran into a slow spot for birthday songs again this week.  Def Lepperd (if you can believe this) turns 30 with Photograph; turning 35 are Wings' With A Little Luck, Warren Zevon's Weewolves Of London, Bonnie Tyler's It's A Heartache, Meatloaf's Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad, and Robert Palmer's Every Kinda People.

With A Little Luck can be found on the lp London Town, which can be found as a candy dish on our kitchen table.

Turning 45 this week are the Beatles' Lady Madonna, Bobby Goldsboro's prototype tear-jerker Honey, and Neil Diamond (again) with the original Red Red Wine.

UB40 did the hit version of Red Red Wine- which leads us to the question, "How many times can Chris mention Neil Diamond and not put up a picture of him?"

Finally, turning fifty is Jimmy Soul with If You Want To Be Happy- remember how that goes?

 If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life
Never make a pretty woman your wife
So for my personal point of view
Get an ugly girl to marry you...


Moving right along... Our big mover this week is Elvis' Rags To Riches, which climbs 25 to #49; while our big dropper is Bloodrock's D.O.A., which falls the same to #69.  And that brings us our Where Are They Now entry.  At 50 this week is Stevie Wonder with his take on the Beatles' We Can Work It Out.  While he has managed to keep busy, including his appearances as a voodoo king in a couple of Super Bowl ads, the recording end of things has been a bit slow.  His last lp came out in 2005.  It contained the "hit" So What The Fuss, which despite the help of fellow "has-beens" Prince and En Vogue, only straggled to #95.  His last time in the 40 was 1987's Skeletons, which rode the crest of leftist anti-Reagan propaganda to a whopping #19.

And we're already to the top 40 debuts!  Glen Campbell's cover of Roy Orbison's Dream Baby moves up 7 to 40; James Brown comes in with Soul Power at 38, up four; the next one I'll definitely have to look up, as it seems to be a title at odds with everything you hear these days- the Staple Singers with Heavy Makes You Happy.  Not big Bloomberg fans, I guess. That song leaps 14 to #34.  And the high debut this week is Van Morrison's Blue Money, climbing 8 to #33.

Our lookback brings us the big mover of this week in 1956, one Richard Maltby, Sr, with the Theme To The Man With The Golden Arm.  That movie starred Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak in a tale of heroin addiction and a man trying to stay clean.  Which was almost more than I learned about Maltby, other than his son, Richard Jr., who was the broadway brains behind such shows as Ain't Misbehavin' and Miss Saigon.  Dear old dad was responsible for three chart hits with his orchestra- 1954's Stardust Mambo (#27) and St. Louis Blues Mambo (#21), along with the Theme, which peaked at #14.

See what I mean about filler?

Hey, Mac!  Where ya want this load of cow manure?

Two songs go into the top ten, two go out.  Taking the long fall is If You Could Read My Mind (9 to 28); a somewhat lesser drop for Amos Moses (8 to 14).


Wilson Pickett holds a third week at 10 with Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You.

The Jacksons tumble 7 spots to #9 with Mama's Pearl.

Coming in from 12 to 8, Ike and Tina Turner with their take on Proud Mary.

Have You Ever Seen The Rain falls from a peak of 3 to #7 for CCR.

The Carpenters blast (such as they do) their way into the ten, climbing 5 to #6 with For All We Know.

And that brings us to the six degrees victim.

The Osmonds drop from their encore in the top dog seat to #5 with One Bad Apple.  OBA was written by prolific Motown writer George Jackson.  Jackson was also responsible, with partner Tom Jones (not that TJ), for possibly the most overplayed oldie of all time, Bob Seger's Old Time Rock'N'Roll.  This song caused quite a stir in the Segerverse- It was brought to his attention by the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, who ended up playing on the record since the Silver Bullet Band thought it "not Silver Bullitty", Seger and producers were desperate for a song to finish out the Stranger In Town lp, and Seger hated the lyrics so much that he (claims, anyway) rewrote everything but the chorus and still didn't like it.  Amongst the legendary Muscle Shoals boys was drummer Roger Hawkins, who was born in Mishawaka, Indiana- 76 miles by Google from Gary, Indiana, home of the Jackson Five, for whom George Jackson had originally wrote One Bad Apple.

The real Tom Jones climbs a notch to 4 with She's A Lady.

The recently-deceased Janis Joplin climbs from 6 to 3 with Me And My Bobby McGee.

The Partridge Family climb to #2, up 2, with Doesn't Somebody Want To Be Wanted.

ANNNNNND the top dog this week, climbing all the way from #7.....

The Temptations with Just My Imagination!!!!!!!!


Sorry, no time for a Neil Diamond pic- maybe next time!