Time Machine week 82

It's August 3rd, 1971, and the Cubs are in contention in the old National League East division despite a loss to the Reds the night before, 4 1/2 back of the Pirates at 74-43.  But that wasn't good enough for hotheaded manager Leo Durocher.  He ripped into pitcher Milt Pappas for his "stupidity" in giving up the winning run.  Another famous hothead, Joe Pepitone, stood up for the pitcher, followed by fellow pitcher Ken Holtzman and Pappas himself.

That's when Leo lost it. He tore into every player on the team in a legendary expletive filled tirade. Among those he ripped was team captain Ron Santo. He said that Santo was a malingerer who played politics with the front office. Among his charges was that Santo was pouting and demanding a Ron Santo day.  (From fan blog One Bad Century.)

Santo, not surprisingly, had to be restrained from throttling Durocher, and from there on it was the team vs. the manager.  The Cubs would go 21 games before they would win even two in a row again, a 5-16 skid.  Pappas himself started out proving the manager wrong, going 2-0 with a 2.62 ERA in the first 3 starts after the blowout... but then gave into the team malaise the rest of the way, finishing with an 0-4 record and ERA north of 12 the last six games.

Welcome to Time Machine, where we play 'em out to the bitter end!  This week we have more Autumn Madness, a BIIIG mistake by yours truly in the top ten, a 45/45 with the Bee Gees, a cameo for Chuck Woolery (!), And a in-post contest coming up next!  Batter UP!

Well, the last cameo didn't come off too bad... maybe I'll be okay...

And that contest comes to us because I didn't know ANY of the fourteen hot hundred debuts this week!  So I thought, "Why not list them and see if anybody can guess the highest charter?"  But as I reviewed there (Billboard) chart positions, I learned that FIVE of the 15 actually made the BB top 40.  So here's the task- I'll give you the songs- you guess which of them are the lucky five!  Here are your contestants:

Wilson Pickett- Call My Name, I'll Be There;
Heaven Bound featuring Tony Scotti- He'd Rather Have The Rain;
James Brown- Make It Funky, pt I;
Barbara Lynn- (Until Then) I'll Suffer;
Diana Ross- Surrender;
Detroit Emeralds- Wear This Ring (With Love);
Engelbert Humperdink- Another Time, Another Place;
Joni Mitchell- Carey;
Ray Charles- Feel So Bad;
Kris Kristopherson- Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again);
Lynn Anderson- How Can I Unlove You;
Denise LaSalle- Trapped By A Thing Called Love;
The Dells- The Love We Had (Stays On My Mind);
ANNNNND Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds- Annabella.

We'll get back to that later... for now, let's check out the birthday songs.  Still no one of note turning 30; turning 35, though, we have The Who with that classic CSI theme, Who Are You; Steely Dan with Josie; David Gates' Took The Last Train; Hall and Oates with It's A Laugh; and Journey with my favorite of theirs, Lights.  Hitting 40 are Ike and Tina with Nutbush City Limits, along with the DeFranco Family with Heartbeat, It's A Lovebeat.  (40?  Really?)

We have a passle of songs turning 45 this week, starting with Chuck Woolery!  He was the lead singer of the Avant Garde, who charted for the first time this week with Naturally Stoned.  If you don't know it, it is worth a listen.  Others turning 45 are Jeannie C. Riley (the C stands for.... Carolyn) and Harper Valley PTA; the Grass Roots and Midnight Confessions; Iron Butterfly's Inna Gadda Da Vida; OC Smith (I can't tell you what the C was for because he got "OC" from his first name, Ocie) with Little Green Apples; The Chambers Brothers with the tick-tocking hit Time Has Come Today; and Dionne Warwick's take on Always Something There To Remind Me- which despite being the b-side of the song Who Is Going To Love Me, which peaked 35 notches higher, which one do YOU remember?  And two songs hit 50 this week- Essex's He's A Walking Miracle and a member of that one-hit-wonder list we did a while back, the Jaynetts' Sally Go 'Round The Roses.  Blow out the candles...

Our big mover upwards is, ironically, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, which climbs 26 spots to #44.  The big dropper goes to the Flack/Hathaway take on You've Got A Friend, which tumbles from it's peak at 28 down to 55.


ANNNNNNNND now, it's time for me to pick my winners on the Autumn Madness!

Quiet Village vs Summer Breeze- This one is not much of a contest.  Three voters and I all go for seals and Crofts.

Sister Golden Hair vs Abraham Martin and John-  Jeez, why are there so many hard ones in the first round?  STMC mentioned in his vote that you go for the one that brings the tears-  but for me, they start on the opening note of AM&J.  America got two votes, though, so we all had a tough choice there.

For You vs Mr. Blue-  The only thing odder than this combo was (to me) that an obscure Manfred Mann song that peaked in the 90's got two votes!  But the Fleetwoods have my heart.

That Girl Could Sing vs Love Child-  My first reaction was for the song that gave me childhood dreams about Diana Ross.  So, after checking my e-mails to stall for time...I've decided that this is a tough one, too.  Love Child... by a whisker.  Votes were 2-1 for Jackson Browne.

Moments To Remember vs No Time- another no contest for me, although this time there was one dissenting vote.  I'm sure no one who knows me is surprised that this one goes to the Guess Who.

The Voice vs The Ballad Of Davy Crockett- If I was pulling them out of a pile under normal circumstances, this would be much closer.  On a desert island, watching the waves, it's no contest for the Moody Blues.  Voting went that way too, 2-1.

Juice Newton's Angel Of The Morning vs Wichita Lineman-  I am a lineman for the county....Votes went 2-1 for Juice.

Caroline No vs Superstar- I might get my Beach Boys license revoked- and voting went 2-1 against me- but I gotta go with Karen and Richard.

Stay tuned for next week's contestants.  Next up, what was at the top around the country this week, as well as the world.  Detroit was agreed on Donny Osmond's Go Away Little Girl at the top; Minneapolis and LA were united behind Three Dog Night's Liar.  Chicago was split between Smiling Faces Sometimes (WLS) and Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey (WCFL); Pittsburgh was tuned into Take Me Home Country Roads.  The American specialty charts remained the same (AC- If Not For You, R&B- Mercy Mercy Me, Country- I'm Just Me), and the only change internationally was in Ireland, where the #1 song was Never Ending Song Of Love... but not the one charting here by Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, but the version by the New Seekers.

Which brings us to the 45 at 45.  This week, that spot on the 1968 charts was the Bee Gees I've Got To Get A Message To You.  Written with Percy Sledge in mind (and he would record it in 1970), this song has the oddity of being recorded five different times at 3 different speeds.  The original stereo album was recorded at 103.8 % of the original speed, and ends with the full re-sing of the chorus, though cut off sooner.  The single was recorded at 98.8% speed, and picked up the ending chorus repeat at "hold on...".  The correct speed was finally released on the box set Tales Of The Brothers Gibb in 1999.  There was also a mono recording of the album version, for a mono mix that was never released- until re-discovered and added to another box set, The Studio Albums, in 2006.

Are we ready for the hot 100 debut contest?  Here we go in order of lowest charts:

Barbara Lynn, who's known for her 1962 hit You'll Lose A Good Thing, did not chart on the BB pop chart with her song.

Joni Mitchell's Carey (which is not about James Taylor, as sometimes rumoured) topped out at 93.

The Detroit Emeralds stopped at 91 with their ring.

Tony Scotti (of Valley Of The Dolls fame) and his band died at 83.  Which was too bad, because it was a good song.

Ray Charles peaked at 68.

Lynn Anderson unloved her way to #63.

Wilson Pickett ended up at #52.

Hamilton and co.  stopped at 46.

Engelbert Humperdink's "Another Place" was at #43.

So the fab five were:

Diana Ross' Surrender at 38;
The Dells The Love We Had at 30;
Kris Kristopherson's Loving You Was Easier at 26;
James Brown's Make It Funky at 22;
and Denise LaSalle takes Trapped By A Thing Called Love to 13... we'll have to see how high she gets on Cashbox in a few weeks.  How'd you do?

And now, the top 40 debuts for this week.  Inching in at 40, up one spot, the Temptations with It's Summer (a little late there, huh?).  Not near so slow is Paul McCartney, leaping 25 in a single bound to land at 38 with Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.  Al Green takes an 18-notch climb to 37 with Tired Of Being Alone.  The Moody Blues climb 16 to 35 with The Story In Your Eyes.  The Honey Cone with the original version of Want Ads, a song first called Stick Up, up 13 to #34.  George Harrison comes in at 32, up 14, with Bangla- Desh.  And the high debut, the Partridge Family ( who would actually do a version of the Heaven Bound song, switching the gender to She'd Rather Have The Rain on their second album, Up To Date), with I Woke Up In Love This Morning moving up 16 to #26.

A shout out to the Canadian band Cymarron, which peaks this week at #17 with their song Rings, which was a #3 hit in the Great White North.  And goodbye to our lone dropper from the top ten this week- Indian Reservation, which tumbles 5 to 22.


And now- next week's Autumn Madness lineup:

The East returns to Atlantic City for the Carpenters' Close To You vs the Four Seasons' Rag Doll, and the Seekers' Georgie Girl vs REM's Fall On Me.

The Midwest is back in Chicago with Eddie Money's Take Me Home Tonight vs Percy Faith's Theme To A Summer Place, and the Beach Boys' Surfer Girl vs Phil Sector and the Teddy Bears with To Know Him Is To Love Him.

The West returns to Vegas with Henry Gross' Shannon vs Barry Manilow's Mandy, and the Carpenters' We've Only Just Begun vs Dire Straits' Money For Nothing.

And in the Southeast we go back to Memphis for James Taylor (with JD Souther) and Her Town Too vs the Everly Brothers with All I Have To Do Is Dream, and Chicago (with the Beach Boys) Wishing You Were Here vs Todd Rundgren's Hello It's Me.  Vote early, vote often!

And now, the top ten:


And we start with Chris' big mistake- remaining at ten is Love The One You're With, but NOT, I repeat, NOT Stephen Stills' original- but instead, this version is the Isley Brothers.  Fifty lashes with a wet noodle for me!

The Delaney and Bonnie and Friends version of Never Ending Song Of Love moves up 3 to enter the ten at #9.

The James Taylor version of You've Got A Friend drops 5 to #8.

The Tom Clay Medley moves up a pair to #7.

CCR hitches a two-notch ride to #6 with Sweet Hitchhiker.

Marvin Gaye moves up a pair (sensing a pattern here?) to #5 with Mercy Mercy Me.

Jean Knight isn't getting the memos about songs that have dropped continuing to do so, holding again at 4 with Mr. Big Stuff.

John Denver climbs to 3, up 3, with Take Me Home Country Roads.

Tommy James holds at 2 with Draggin' The Line, which means, as the Who say, "neet the new boss..."

"...same as the old boss..."  The Bee Gees hold at the top (like McGuinn and Mc Guire, they can't get no higher) with How Do You Mend A Broken Heart!!!!!!


Be back next week, when I run around naked and toot!  (Not really, but I'm having dinner withdrawls...)