Time Machine week 25

Today is October 10, 1972.  And unless you want to hear the latest on Watergate, or the upcoming SCOTUS revisit of Roe v Wade, I got no news for you.  However, I drifted a couple days back to the eighth, and I found wiki telling me something very surprising- as well as incorrect yet again.

You see, the 8th of October, in addition to being my Dad's, sister's , and Grandpa on Dad's side's birthday, this particular 8th is etched in my mind.  You see a certain event happened that day that changed my life, and when I saw it on wiki, I knew I had to share.  From their site:

• In a nationally televised baseball game of the American League championship series, shortstop Bert Campaneris of the Oakland A's hurled his bat at pitcher Johnny "Blue Moon" Odom, after being struck by a wild pitch. "Campy" was barred from further postseason play and fined $500.

Now the problem here is, Johnny "Blue Moon" Odom played FOR the A's at the time.  And the A's weren't playing themselves in the playoffs, they were playing the Detroit Tigers.  And the pitcher that was thrown at was Lerrin LaGrow.  Here, I can prove it.

Here's LaGrow ducking, with the bat landing behind him.  You might notice that LaGrow is Caucasian.

This is Blue Moon Odom.  Definitely non-Caucasian.  Anyway, thing thing about the incident was, LaGrow hit Campy square in the ankle with a pitch.  At which point, Campy tomahawked (oops, I'm being insensitive to Native Americans again) his lumber at LaGrow.  An argument ensued- not just on the field but between Mom and my ten-year-old self, with her asserting it was wrong to tomahawk one's lumber, and I saying, "I'd have done the same thing."  This argument may have lasted until my Dad's (et al) next birthday- I can't confirm that, but it went on for some time.  And made me the lifelong A's fan I am today.  Once again wiki-dudes, proofread yer posts!


Welcome to this week's Time Machine- a week that saw two relatively obscure songs I knew and loved hit the charts for the first time, Alice Cooper's Elected and the Guess Who (of course) with Runnin' Back To Saskatoon.  This week, yet another new #1;  the #7 Top Top Ten (and the #2 from 1975); the One Hit Wonder's Next Hit from the group that brought you Obla Dee, Obla Da (but it ain't the Beatles!); A six degrees that asks, how did Loretta Lynn's hubby get the nickname Doolittle;  and something very bittersweet that I have to share.  If you ever click a link I share, make it THIS ONE.  Oh, and, the rousing return to Time Machine of- Wayne Newton!!!

Yes!  Back on Time Machine aga... waitaminit!  Would someone please tell me WTH Time Machine is???

I think we'll start off this week with that Top Top Ten- the seventh best top ten of the Martin Era... but only the second best of the magical year 1975!  This grouping was in the Cashbox chart of the last week of May (funny, since #8 was the last week of May, in '76!), and starts off with:

10- Old Days, Chicago.  One of the "Mythical Top Ten", an ever changing list that was my favorites of all time in my youth.

9- When Will I Be Loved, Linda Ronstadt.  You've been loved for a long time, my dear.

8- Only Yesterday, The Carpenters.  Notice the theme on #s 10 and 8?  Nothing caught my ear even then like longing for the past.

7- Bad Time, Grand Funk Railroad.  I remember listening to this on my transistor while recovering from having my appendix yanked out.  Made my stay.  Later on, they played Heart's Barracuda- somehow, all the bad parts got attached to that one.

6- Jackie Blue, Ozark Mountain Daredevils.  Anyone else get images of Jackie O when this played?  "Every day in your indigo eyes/ I see the sun set but I don't see it rise/ moonlight and stars in your strawberry wine/ you'll take the world but you won't take the time..."

5- Sister Golden Hair, America.  Another member of the "mythical Top Ten", and always attached to a golden haired girl I haven't seen since the summer before my sophomore year.

4- Thank God I'm A Country Boy, John Denver.  What can you say?  Life ain't nothin' but a funny funny riddle...

3- Before The Next Teardrop Falls, Freddie Fender.Another song that took you back, if only in style.

2- Shining Star, Earth Wind and Fire.  If my niece Raine gets around to reading this, I wonder if she'll remember the notebook she had which she covered with the phrase "Shine a star"... or the campground at Cartersville, GA where the three of us (us and her sis) got to play our favorite song on the jukebox- Raine's was Shining Star, mine, of course, Strange Magic, and my elder niece's Aerosmith's Last Child.  Boy, what a memory lane tonight!

ANNNNNND the #1 song on the Top Top Ten...

1- How Long, Ace.  Not a bad song, but not the feeling for it I had for the other nine.

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I almost choked when I wrote the words "memory lane" up there.  Because there are some people who'll never even walk that road again.  One of them is Glen Campbell, whose last studio recording was posted on Facebook the other day.  The words heart breaking don't nearly describe this performance.  The song is called, I'm Not Gonna Miss You.  If you've always skipped past the videos I've shared before... don't skip past this one.







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This week, our big mover belongs to- you guessed it, Wayne Newton.  His title track from the lp Can't You Hear The Song moves up a strong 18 from 85 to 67.  One an unrelated note, our You Peaked section is three deep, with the Bee Gees' Run To Me (as mentioned last week) hit #11 and is on the way down.  Daniel Boone doesn't repeat his worldwide success with the tune Beautiful Sunday; it's falling after a week at #16.  And finally, Elton John's Honky Cat peaked last time at 18 and is now falling.

Just because I haven't used it in a while...

The top 40 has but 2 new members, one I knew, one not so much.  The known quantity is the Eagles' Witchy Woman, which climbs from 42 to 36.  The other is the next single from King Floyd, who was in the top 10 a while back with Groove Me.  This time a catchy little tune called Woman Don't Go Astray, who sneaks in after a 5-spot climb to #40.



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Next up is our One-Hit-Wonder's next hit.  The band was called Marmalade, and here in the US of A, they hit the 40 just once with the haunting Reflections Of My Life (#10, 1970).  But in the UK, they were in the top ten 8 times, including the Beatles' cover Obla-Dee, Obla-Da which went to #1 in 1968.  Here, though, they only charted twice more, and the higher one hit #49 in 1976.






Marmalade boasted a guitarist named Junior Campbell, which made me wonder at a Hee Haw connection until I realized I was combining Archie Campbell and Junior Samples...

Samples is NOT amused...

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Well, this week's droppers don't fall quite so far as last time.  Joe Simon's Power of Love takes the big hit (10 to 35), along with Rock And Roll Pt 2 (8 to 32) and Back Stabbers (5 to 14).


James Brown screams his way into the top ten yet again this time with Get On The Good Foot, moving up 2 to #10 (but Run To Me misses the top ten.  Sigh...).

Bill Withers hits again with Use Me, up half-a-dozen to #9.

Elvis has entered the building!  Burning Love moves up 5 to #8.

Michael Jackson climbs a pair to #7 with Ben.

And at six, it's time for the six degrees, which asks, how did Loretta Lynn's husband get the nickname Doolittle?  She didn't know, but he'd had it since he was 2.  "Maybe it was because he was always just a little feller," she speculated.  Loretta herself was discovered by the Wil-Helm Talent Agency, founded by Don Helms (Hank Williams Sr's old steel guitarist) and a country duo called the Wilburn Brothers.  In addition to their own syndicated TV show, they had 13 country top tens (though the closest they came to a crossover was 1962's Trouble's Back In Town which stalled at #101).  Maybe if they hadn't been so particular about their songs- not only did they reject Heartbreak Hotel before Elvis got it, but were among the thirty or so acts (Elvis included) who rejected Bye Bye Love.  Bye Bye Love became a big hit for the Everly Brothers upon their signing with Cadence records.  Cadence was founded by Archie Bleyer, a producer and arranger who used to work on the Arthur Godfrey program until he was fired (mainly because Godfrey apparently liked to fire people).  The same day he was fired, Godfrey fired one of his regulars, a singer named Julius LaRosa, live on the show.  So Julius and Archie got together to create successful music, including a #1 novelty hit in 1953 called Eh! Cumpari.  Among the lines (in Italian) in this tune were the line " Eh, Cumpari! si vo sunari" (loosely, "Hey, buddy, music is playing").  Does that sound familiar?  They won't claim it, it's shown on the album lyrics as "?" or "Italian nonsense words", but was heard in concert when Chicago performed their hit Saturday In The Park:

...a man selling ice cream, singing Italian songs, Eh, Cumpari! si vo sunari, can you dig it? yes I can!

So is that what they say or ain't it?  When it comes down to it, It's just like Doolittle's nickname... nobody knows.


So with Chicago at #6, down 3, we move on...

The Raspberries move up 2 to #5 with Go All The Way.

Chuck Berry climbs to #4, also up a pair, with My Ding-a-Ling (well, not MINE...)

The Main Ingredient climb to #3, up one, with Everybody Plays The Fool.

Three Dog Night, then, needs must drop to #2 with Black And White, so that we can have the new #1....

...Mac Davis and Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me!!!!!!!!!!!!!


That is a wrap, boys and goils!  Next time, same time!