Time Machine week 23

It's September 26, 1972, and today a couple of things of note happened.  First internationally, North Vietnam dropped their condition of the removal of South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu for an agreement on peace.  Second, domestically, President Nixon signed the WIC program into law.  From what history tells me on the one and Laurie (as a Wal-Mart cashier) tells me on the other, neither one descended from idea to practice very well.

Now wait... let's not be hasty about this "keeping me in office" thing...

And that starts us out on another adventure in my Time Machine (sorry it's not as roomy as a Tardis, but Doctors make more than me!).  This week, yet another new #1, yet another backwards six degrees (or "what does Disco Inferno have to do with this week's top ten?"), the #9 top top ten, and the #10 one hit wonder's next hit!  This is the week that two well-known songs first played on the American charts; one of them you know as one of my faves- Seals and Crofts' Summer Breeze (funny time for that to come out!)  The other was from a band that covered a Sonny Bono song on their first lp (his top ten Laugh At Me)... and David Bowie for their first hit!  (Actually that's not quite true- he wrote the song for them, and then HE covered it later.)  That would be Mott The Hoople with All The Young Dudes.


And our top 40 this week kicks things off with four debuts!  Leon Russell hits at #40, up 9, with Tightrope.  The Cornelius Bros and Sister Rose leap 11 to hit at #39 with Don't Ever Be Lonely (A Poor Little Fool Like Me).  At #36, also up 11, is Danny O'Keefe with Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues.  And the high debut, up ten to #33, Curtis Mayfield with Freddie's Dead.

And a peak at next week's debuts might be in the offing on the biggest mover in the countdown page- Lobo Climbs 17 from 85 to 68 with I'd Love You To Want Me.

And now that I hopefully have you in a mood for good music, it's time for this week's one-hit-wonder's next hit.  The hit came from the group Pilot, which was founded by a pair of early washouts from the Bay City Rollers, David Paton and Billy Lyell.  Their hit Magic was a big summer hit in '75, peaking at #5 but it definitely got #1 type airplay here in Indiana.  Not so for their next hit.  It was much bigger everywhere else, topping the charts in the UK, Germany, and Australia (unlike Magic, which just missed the top ten in the UK and Oz).  It hit #87 here, but deserved better.





Not a lot of action on the You Peaked page;  Tower Of Power's You're Still A Young Man drops this week after reaching a zenith of #22 last time out.



We are at the ninth best top ten of the Martin Era (Note:  all subjective judgements are my own and do not reflect the opinions of the world at large), and it was the top ten of November 16th, 1974.  

10- Everlasting Love, Carl Carlton.  This tune hit the top 40 in the sixties ( by Robert Knight, #13 in '67), the seventies (this version, which BB peaked at #6), the eighties (Rex Smith and Rachel Sweet, #32 in '81), and nineties (Gloria Estefan, #27 in '95), becoming one of only two songs to manage that*.


9- Longfellow Serenade, Neil Diamond.  This is one that has grown on me over the years.

8- I Can Help, Billy Swan.  The classic song for roller skating.

7- Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me), Reunion.  All the things I say about rap and sampling come back to bite me in the butt on this one!

6- Tin Man, America.  My mom told me she hated this song... but it was mainly her mis-hearing of "I never did give nothing to the Tin Man" rather than "Oz".

5- Back Home Again, John Denver.  Back then, I didn't get into John all that much.  Now, they all give me a lump in my throat.  Even Sunshine On My Shoulders, which I really didn't like back in the day.

4- My Melody Of Love, Bobby Vinton.  Now THIS one Mom liked.  She made me the Bobby V. fan I am today.

3- Jazzman, Carole King.  "It's the late night side of morning, in the darkness of his soul..."

One of those handful of women I would have married just for her voice, along with Karen Carpenter, Yvonne Elliman, and Roseanne Cash.

2- You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet, Bachman-Turner Overdrive.  # 1 on the cool names for a band list.  I had a karaoke groupie that used to make me sing this every time.

Annnnnnnd at #1 that week- and sorry, but you got a picture last week-

1- Whatever Gets You Through The Night, John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Nuclear Band.  Or Elephant's Memory, whichever you prefer.

* The other was, The Way You Do The Things You Do, with the Temptations hitting #11 in '64, Rita Coolidge #20 in '78, Hall and Oates with Temps David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks at #25 in '85, and UB40 with #6 in 1990.
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One song joins this week's top 10, one falls out.  The dropper is You Don't Mess Around With Jim, from 8 to 22.


Bread holds in place at #10 with The Guitar Man.

Our only debut this week is the Main Ingredient at #9, up 3 spots with Everybody Plays The Fool.

Former top dog #1 is Al Green's I'm Still In Love With You, down 3 to #8.

And at #7, our other former top dog- last week's, in fact- and our six degrees.

Disco Inferno was the first really big hit for the Trammps, but they had hit #17 R&B and #64 pop with a remake of Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart in '72.  This song was written in 1934 by James F. Hanley and the first notable recording belonged to Judy Garland, whose 1939 recording made #22 in 1943.  It was also covered by British rockers The Move on their 1968 debut lp.  This is the band that would evolve into ELO eventually, but the only ELOer in the band at the time was drummer Bev Bevan, who sang lead on Zing.  The hit off that lp was called Fire Brigade, and it hit #3 in the UK.  This song was covered by the Fortunes, whose career had slowed down since the Roger Cook- Roger Greenaway penned You Got Your Troubles, a #7 hit in '65.  And the two Rogers had writing credits on last week's #1- and this week's #7- The Hollies' Long Cool Woman.


Former top dog #3 is Gilbert O'Sullivan's Alone Again Naturally, slipping three spots to #6.


Chicago logs the second most impressive jump of the week, going from 9 to #5 with Saturday In The Park.

Mac Davis moves from 6 to #4 with Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me.

Gary Glitter's Rock And Roll Pt. 2 moves up a spot to #3.

The most impressive move belongs to Three Dog Night with Black And White at #2, up from #7.

And the new top dog this week....

...  The O'Jays with Back Stabbers!!!!!!!


Kids, that's a wrap!  See you here next week, eh?