Time Machine week 87

It's September 27, 1971.  And unless you were born, died, were married, or read about the Attica riot (which I told you about last week) in your new Time Magazine, nothing really happened.  Or if it did, they're keeping it a secret from Google.  The closest thing to a point of interest I found happened at Harvard...

Harvard-Radcliffe Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) pickets outside a class taught by Professor of Psychology Richard J. Herrnstein. An article he wrote for the Atlantic Monthly justifies unemployment as the result of an inherited lack of mental ability, their leaflets charge. The protesters enter the lecture hall but do not disrupt his talk.

I find this amusing since not only was the SDS a "new left" activist group, but Professor Hernstein was another "discover-humanity- through-working -on -animals" type who even worked with BF Skinner in the Harvard "pigeon lab" (I'm not sure I even wanna know what went on there!).  I guess he forgot to explain in his article "The Man's" culpability in giving the unemployed their mental handicaps.

Oh, this reminds me.  Remember last week when I made the joke BF Skinner, the other guy?  The story here is that when we were in high school my school, BF Goodrich attacked the confusing of themselves with Goodyear by an ad campaign, "BE Goodrich- the other guys".  And at the same time me and a friend were in Psych class together, studying BF Skinner- who then became "the other guy."  Ba-dum-DUM!

Anyway, it's not time for the dinner bell (sorry, Skinner), but for Time Machine.  In amongst all the other things going on, will find the connection between Al "Show And Tell" Wilson and Toto (the band, not the dog); figure out just what "eefing" is, and who does it; and more Autumn Madness and Stars Of The Fifty States. Put down the picket sign and you can come aboard!

What do you mean, "I'm the WRONG Skinner?"

Well, one section that gets a bit smaller this week is the #1s around the country and world.  A growing consensus seems to be centering on Rod Stewart and Maggie May; all of Chicago and Detroit, as well as Los Angeles, now have Rod at the top.  Minneapolis stays with Uncle Albert; Pittsburgh crowns The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.  The AC, R&B, and Country charts don't change (The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Stick Up, and The Year Clayton Delaney Died, respectively).  And the only foreign shift is Ireland taking up the Tams' Hey Girl Don't Bother Me to fit in with the UK.  See?  Short.

14 songs debut on the Cashbox hot 100 this week, and I'll point out 4 of 'em.  Two of our foreign #1s chart this week- Sweet's Coco at 98 and Dawn's What Are You Doing Sunday (which the Tams knocked out this week in Ireland) at #81.  Also, the Delaney and Bonnie version of a song most of us know better by Dave Mason, Only You Know And I Know, comes in at 69, and Cat Stevens' Peace Train hits the tracks at 63.  Oh, this would be a good time to mention (so it doesn't clutter things up later) that both the big climber and big dropper this week are in the top 40.

Let us peruse, then, the songs that celebrate Birthdays.  Turning thirty this week, we have Billy Joel's Uptown Girl, Pat Benatar's Love Is A Battlefield, and one I knew a lot better on the country stations- Anne Murray with A Little Good News.  Hitting 35 are Foreigner's Double Vision, Pablo Cruise's Don't Wanna Live Without It, and a couple that may have missed the more pop-chart oriented of youse back then- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers with Listen To Her Heart, and this number from the Moody Blues' Justin Hayward:



Turning 40, we have Jim Croce's I Got A Name, The Carpenters with Top Of The World, Deep Purple's Woman From Tokyo, Charlie Rich's The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, and  Hey, DiscConnected!!!!- Todd Rundgren's Hello It's Me.

Turning 45 we have Cream's White Room, along with this gem from Donovan:



 Turning 50 this week, we have Leslie Gore's She's A Fool- and something else that caught my eye.  Within a few spots of each other a pair of unusually-named songs debuted.  The one, by Joe Perkins, was called Little Eefin' Annie; the other, by a group called the Ardells, was called Eefinanny.  Naturally, I assumed a connection (brilliant, Sherlock) and decided to look into the matter.  It seems that a hundred years or so ago, a vocal style began in the Appalachians called eefing.  Or, more properly, eefin'.  Basically it's like beatboxing gone bluegrass, and was somewhat popular in the area for years.  Perkins enlisted the aid of a veteran eefer named Jimmy Riddle on his tune- the only chart hit for either of them.  The Ardells were a bit harder to track down.  Three different bands had this name in the early sixties- and one of them was fronted by a soon-to-be-famous young man named Steve Miller!  But the eefin' Ardells were from Pennsylvania, Chester to be precise, and their tune was actually written by another soon-to-be-famous named Jerry Reed.  Give a listen Joe Perkins' tune, with Jimmy Riddle eefin' away...






Finally (if you're still with me after that), turning fifty-five this week...

Blow out the candles....


Let's get on with Autumn Madness!  This week, I neglected to get Laurie's votes (yeah, yeah, I know), but we do have our regular two panelists.  However, they are SPLIT on all but our first contestants:

Little Star, The Elegants, vs Love Is Blue, Paul Mariat (2-0 for the instrumental):  This is maybe the easiest choice I've had yet.  Love Is Blue moves on.

Barry Manilow, Mandy, vs We've Only Just Begun, the Carpenters: And then we have my HARDEST choice.  The wistful lines, "so much of life ahead..." I wish I had ever felt that way.  Karen and Richard in the mild upset.

No Time, the Guess Who, vs The Voice, Moody Blues:  This is like the 100-foot-tall giant vs the 50-foot-tall-giant.  Guess Who wins?  Yes, Guess Who wins.

Listen To What The Man Says, Wings, vs Total Eclipse Of The Heart, Bonnie Tyler:  Based on Bonnie's picture last week, her 8 weeks on my chart, and the big four storyline that went on 30 years ago this week, one of our esteemed panelists is CERTAIN that Bonnie will go on.  But, he neglects some very salient points.  1. I put pictures of LOTS of female singers on Time Machine.  With the exception of Merilee Rush, they mean nothing.  2.  There is an incredible drop down for yours truly from 70s to 80s- and not every eighties song can hold up against one from the earlier eras. And 3. I like Bonnie Tyler.  I LOVE Linda McCartney.  Wings move on.

The winnahs...

These four songs move on to the sweet sixteen round in two weeks from beautiful downtown Los Angeles!  Next week, we have one more set of songs trying to punch their ticket to the sweet 16... stay tuned for details.

With the big movers still ahead, that brings us to the 45 at 45.  This week, the #45 45 in 1968 was Al Wilson's The Snake.  Known best for Show And Tell a few years later, The Snake was produced by Johnny Rivers for Al's debut album, Searching For The Dolphins.  This lp also included covers of Johnny's Summer Rain and Poor Side Of Town, along with covers of This Guy's In Love With You and By The Time I Get To Phoenix.  The backing group had some familiar names as well, for example, Hal Blaine and Larry Knechtel.  And the whole thing was arranged by Marty Paich- father of Toto founder David Paich.  The Snake would peak at #27 on Billboard.

Six songs hit their top 40 debuts this week, a couple of them familiar from my guess which song made the top 40 contests from a few weeks back.  One of those is the Dells' The Love We Had (Stays On My Mind), and it moves 7 to #40.  At 39 after a 19-notch jump are the Fifth Dimension, covering the Association's Never My Love.  The Raiders' last sizable hit, Birds Of A Feather, gets the nod as our big mover this week, a 20-spot advance to 37.  Rufus Thomas, an R&B vet who's best known for his daughter Carla (Gee Whiz), climbs 10 to 32 with The Breakdown (pt. 1).  Another former guess who's in the top 40 contestant moves from 43 to 31- Denise LaSalle with Trapped By A Thing Called Love.  And finally, climbing 17 to land all the way up at 24- the Persuaders with the haunting Thin Line Between Love And Hate.


Time for Stars of the fifty states!

Once again, we salute the highest charting star (or what passes for one) in each of the US of A's states.  This week:

Kansas:  Joe Walsh, with 7 top 100s and 4 top 40s- none of which, apparently, included my favorite, from the movie The Warriors... In The City!

Kentucky:  Jackie DeShannon, with her 16 hot 100s and 2 top tens, is what the world needs now.

Louisiana:  Fats Domino, with a whopping 66 Hot 100s and 11 top tens.  More than just, "I found my thrill..."

Maine:  I found no evidence of anybody born in Maine charting in the 60s-70s era.  The best I could do is a pair of stars who've come to call Maine their home:  Paul Stookey, whose The Wedding Song is at #22 this week; and Don McLean.

Maryland:  Mama Cass is Baltimore born (as was Paul Stookey).  She had 6 Hot hundred solos plus another 14 with the Mamas and the Papas, plus the hit Dream A Little Dream Of Me, which technically you could call either way.  Between solo and TMATP, she was in the top ten 6 times.


Two songs enter the top ten, two fall out.  One of them was the week's biggest dropper, Take Me Home Country Roads (a 17 spot fall 8 to 25); the other was Won't Get Fooled Again (9 to 12).

Next week, the regional wrap up will send four of these songs to their sweet sixteen date in the Motor City:

867-5309/Jenny, Tommy Tutone, vs My Little Town, Simon and Garfunkel;

Theme From A Summer Place, Percy Faith, vs Surfer Girl, the Beach Boys (OUCH.);

The Fleetwoods, Mr. Blue, vs Love Child, the Supremes;

and Time (Clock Of The Heart), Culture Club, vs Merilee Rush, Angel Of The Morning.

and in two weeks, the SWEET SIXTEEN!


And now, on with the top ten:

The Partridge Family inch up a notch to 10 with Woke Up In Love This Morning.

Former top dog Aretha Franklin slips from 5 to 9 with Spanish Harlem.

The Carpenters hammer back into the top ten, climbing 4 to #8 with Superstar.

Rare Earth holds at 7 with I Just Want To Celebrate.

The Undisputed Truth drop from the top spot to #6 with Smiling Faces Sometimes.

Joan Baez holds at 4 with The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.

Not surprisingly, Maggie May carries Rod Stewart from 10 to 3 this week.

Donny Osmond moves up one spot to #2 with Go Away Little Girl.  (He should be saying, go away, Rod Stewart!)

 And this week's brand new #1 top dog....

... that's right, them again; Paul and Linda with Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey!!!!!!!
That wraps it up for another week!  See you next time.