Time Machine Week 114

Today is April 4th, 1972.  I only found a few tiny tidbits of news today:  The first garbage-for-fuel electrical plant opened; The US of A finally accepts the fait accompli of Bangladesh's existence; and this other little note, which I'll let President Nixon explain in his own inimitable way:

 In a further response to Eastertide (the latest North Vietnamese offensive), President Nixon authorizes a massive bombing campaign targeting all NVA troops invading South Vietnam along with B-52 air strikes against North Vietnam. "The bastards have never been bombed like they're going to be bombed this time," Nixon privately declares.

Welcome to a Time Machine with not one, but TWO special features!  First- who made the biggest jump into the top ten in the Martin Era; second, the 45 at 45 turns into a Battle Of The Bands!  (Here I shall explain.  A group of my friends' blogs-  FERRET-FACED FASCIST FRIENDS, Far Away Series, Tossing It Out, Your Daily Dose (currently forgoing the game, I believe, due to the A to Z thing), and DiscConnected- do a thing where they have people vote on different versions of classic songs on the 1st and 15th of every month.  This will be a one-off, due to what you will see is the rarified nature of this week's 45 @ 45.)  This could take us a while, so let's go bomb those ba... ahem, uhmmm, let's go rock out!

We start, as always, with the tops of the other charts around the world.  Changing the top dog this week starts with South Africa (yet again!)  voting in Mother And Child Reunion.   The Netherlands have yet another hit from one of my new-old favorite bands, Middle Of The Road.  This week, it is the drummer/male lead instead of Sally Carr on a song called The Talk Of All The USA, a neat song that takes a "Lola-ish" turn at the end.  Canada's new #1 is Anne Murray's Cotton Jenny, a tune that hit 71 pop and 11 country on the south end of the border.  Ireland's John Kerr hits the top on the Emerald Isle with 3 Leafed Shamrock.  Domestically, the consensus is for one of two songs.  Chicago, Detroit, and LA have A Horse With No Name (Y'ever wonder if they meant to sing "a horse with no MANE" and just had a dyslexic moment?), while Minneapolis and Pittsburgh have The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

Now, I'd like to diverge to a few weeks back when Puppy Love went from 33 to ten, and I wondered where it stood on the biggest jumps into the top ten in the Martin Era (my birthday to the end of '79).  The answer:  tied for 31st.  Needless to say, I began looking it up, and I found that in the ME, 219 songs jumped at least ten spots to hit the top ten.  I moved the bar to 20 notches, and got a much more manageable 41 songs- only five of them from the seventies!  So, let me intersperse the post with a handful of the 41 biggest jumpers into the top ten, starting with:

A 4 way tie for 38th with a 20 notch jump-
Steam- Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye, and Lonnie Mack- Memphis, from 30 to 10;
The Archies- Sugar Sugar from 26 to 6;
and Paul and Paula- Hey Paula, from 23 to 3.
A two way tie for 36th with a 21-notch jump from 29 to 8:
John Lennon- Imagine, and Richard Harris- McArthur Park.
A three way tie for 33rd with a 22-notch jump:
Four Seasons- Dawn (Go Away), 32 to 10;
Ringo Starr- Photograph, 30 to 8;
and the Four Seasons again, from 25 to 3 with Rag Doll.

The birthday songs aren't a big list, but one year in particular is a powerful one.  Turning thirty, we have Oh Sherrie by Steve Perry, Denise Williams' Let's Hear It For The Boy, Frankie Goes To Hollywood with Relax- and the one time Slade ( the originator of much of Quiet Riot's material) hit the American charts, Run Runaway.  Turning 35, Supertramp's The Logical Song (which we always thought should have been the title of the Dr Hook hit that starts:  "When you're in love with a beautiful woman, it's hard"), Bob Seger's verrrrrrry overplayed in Ft Wayne Old Time Rock And Roll, and Nigel Olsson's cover of A Little Bit Of Soap.  Turning forty, we have Olivia Newton John's If You Love Me Let Me Know, the Carpenters' I Won't Last A Day Without You, and the Doobie Brothers and their haunting Another Park Another Sunday.


And now, get a load of what turns 45 this week.

Ray Stevens' Gitarzan.
Simon and Garfunkel's The Boxer.
The Who's Pinball Wizard.
Led Zep's Good Times Bad Times.
Andy Williams' Happy Heart.
Mercy's Love Can Make You Happy.
The Guess Who's These Eyes.
And the Friends Of Distinction's Grazing In The Grass.

Turning fifty this week, we have the DC5 with Bits And Pieces, Mary Wells and My Guy, Henry Mancini's Pink Panther Theme- and two more from the Beatles, Love Me Do and You Can't Do That.  With My Bonnie dropping, this puts us at an even dozen Beatles tunes in the hot 100 this week fifty years ago.  Blow Out The Candles...


Back to the countdown....

A two-way tie for 31st with a 23-notch jump:
the aforementioned Puppy Love by Donnie Osmond; and beginning a trend, the Beatles- Yesterday, from 27 to 4.
A two-way tie for 29th with a 24-notch jump:  two more from the Beatles- Help!, from 36 to 8, and All You Need Is Love, from 27 to 3.
And five songs tied for 24th with a 25-notch jump:
Two of them from 30 to 5- Mason Williams' Classical Gas and Gerry Lewis and the Playboys' This Diamond Ring.
Three of them from 29 to 4- Jeannie C Riley's Harper Valley PTA, the Animals' House Of The Rising Sun, and the Supremes' I Hear A Symphony.

Any guesses to who has the #1?  Hint:  it is NOT the Beatles.

Don't cry, chaps.  You make the list plenty of times...

Hey, I forgot the hot 100 debuts this week!  Out of 11 newbies, I'll mention three:  (And boy did I almost get in trouble with DiscConnected!) Todd Rundgren at 97 with I Saw The Light; at 77, the Staple Singers with I'll Take You There; and at 74, Paul Simon with Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard.

The big mover this week is the Partridge Family (what, them again?) with Am I Losing You up 27 to #57; the big dropper, the Supremes with Floy Joy, down 26 to #54.

That brings us to the moment you've all been waiting for- the 45 at 45.  Once again, this is the 45 rpm single at #45 forty five years ago this week.  And that song was one most of us know- the Ventures' Hawaii Five-0 theme.  It was on its way up to an eventual Billboard peak of #4, but what I found interesting was that despite being written as an instrumental, two different acts recorded two similar but different sets of lyrics to the song!  And after having listened to both, and finding them both pretty good, I thought, "What a great Battle Of The Bands THIS would be!  So without further ado, here's contestant #1- Don Ho with You Can Come With Me:





And contestant #2 Sammy Davis Jr with You Can Count On Me:





So vote in the comments section, let everyone know which version you like best!



Next up on the countdown...


A four way tie for 20th at a 28 notch jump:
From 38 to 10, Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs (hey, they were just on the 45 @ 45 a couple weeks back!) with Sugar Shack;
a pair jumping from 35 to 7- Aretha Franklin's Bridge Over Troubled Water and Zager and Evans' In The Year 2525; and from 31 to 3, Herman's Hermits with Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter.
At #19 with a 30-notch jump from 36 to 6, the Monkees with Valleri.
At 18th with a 31 notch jump from 36 to 5, Paul Mauriat with Love Is Blue.
And at #17 with a 32-notch jump from 42 to 10, the Supremes with Baby Love.


Our almost but not quite collection this week features just two songs: The Addrisi Brothers peak at 15 before tumbling this week with We've Got To Get It On Again; and Santana slips after peaking at 17 with No One To Depend On.

And our top 40 this week has four newcomers.  Up eleven spots to 38, Jackson Browne with Doctor My Eyes;  a nineteen notch climb for Three Dog Night and Family Of Man; a seven spot climb to 34 for the Guess Who and Heartbroken Bopper; and thirteen spots to #32 for Don McLean and Vincent (Starry Starry Night).


On with the countdown....

A three way tie for 14th with a jump of 33 for:
The Jackson Five with ABC, the last of the 70s songs on the list, from 43 to 10;
the Beatles with Ticket To Ride, from 42 to 9;
and the Rolling Stones with Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadows (yes, they did title a song that), from 40 to 7.
At #13 with a 35 notch jump, the Beatles with I Feel Fine ( 47 to 8).
At #12, one of two songs to make that jump to #1, from 38, the Beatles and Hey Jude.
A two way tie for #10 at a jump of 39, The Stones with Paint It, Black (45 to 6) and the Beatles and Twist And Shout (43 to 4).
And at #9, yes, the Beatles, with Hello Goodbye leaping 41 from 48 to 7.


All right, now a little of this week's top ten, after I mention that with two newcomers we get two outgoers (Without You, 6 to 11; and Down By The Lazy River, 8 to 13).

Cher goes from 10 to 9 back to 10 with The Way Of Love.

Robert (Bobby) John (Pedrick) slips from 5 to 9 with The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

Joe Tex blasts his way from 14 to 8 with I Gotcha. Which is funny, since it was clear back around Valentines Day that it was #1 in Detroit, and fell off their chart almost a month ago.

The Dramatics are up three to #7 with In The Rain.

The Chakachas (hey, I don't name 'em) move up an notch to # 6 with Jungle Fever.



And now.... ALMOST all the rest of the countdown. 

At #8 with a 43- notch jump from 48 to 5... sigh... the Beatles with 8 Days A Week.
At #7, up 45 from 51 to 6, the Fifth Dimension with Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In.
At #6 with a 46 notch jump from 55 to 9, the oldest song on the list.... Ray Charles with I Can't Stop Loving You.
One last tie, a three way mash-up for #3 at a 47 notch jump: the Beatles three last times- A Hard Day's Night from 56 to 9; Paperback Writer, from 50 to 3; and the other one that jumped to the #1 spot, from 48 for I Want To Hold Your Hand.  At #2, with a 52-notch jump from 57 to 5, the Royal Guardsmen with Snoopy And The Red Baron.

And at #1.... wait for it...


Back on this week's top ten, Michael Jackson goes from 11 to #5 with Rockin' Robin.

Holding at #4, Paul Simon with Mother And Child Reunion.

Holding At #3, Donny Osmond, who got us into this mess, with Puppy Love.

Holding at # 2, Neil Young and Heart Of Gold.

Which means holding at #1 this week, America with A Horse With No Name!!!!

And the song that jumped the farthest into the top ten in the Martin Era?????

The Rolling Stones, with a 59 notch jump from 65 to 6 with Get Off My Cloud!!!!!!!


Don't forget- please vote on the BOTB songs!  I would if you did it...