Time Machine week 62

Today we drop by the 1967 Daytona 500.  Mario Andretti, who started only 14 stock car races- and made it through only four of them without being in the garage- was a frustrated man.  First, his "team" gave him a crappy engine to practice on... "Apparently, they had to figure, 'Well, he's here, he's going to have some fun,' and they didn't take me very seriously. But I started to find out from other drivers and so forth -- asking questions about what I should be pulling with the gear that I had, and I was at least 400 revs short -- so I started complaining. I went over the team's head and went to some individuals in Detroit and finally I got a decent engine, after I qualified."  And then, when it looked like he was going to WIN the race, they held him up on the jack for an extra seven seconds, so that his teammate and NASCAR favorite Fred Lorenzen could turn Mario's several-second lead into Lorenzen's several second lead...  "It was absolutely intentional," Andretti added. "They had orders to hold me, and they held me back for about seven seconds. I was furious because they held the car up on the jack. It dawned on me what they were doing because the work was done. I knew that the tires were changed and everything else, and they're all looking around and they let him go and he's already almost in Turn 1 when they dropped me off.

"I put it in gear and I was about ready to raise havoc, and that's when they let the jack fly and I went. But I was a bit upset at the time, as you could imagine."


Once off the jacks, Mario made that deficit dissipate and won the race under caution after Richard Petty blew his engine with two laps to go.

Andretti would drive in three more NASCAR races in 1967, crashing out of all three and never finishing better than 19th. He then raced three times in 1968 before making his final NASCAR appearance at the 1969 Motor Trend 500 at Riverside. Four months later, he won the Indianapolis 500, and nine years after that, he won the Formula One World Championship.


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Welcome to this week's Time Machine, and this week we have:  a nice tight battle for the Panel #1; another three way low charter; who remembers Falco?; and three new debuts on the M10!  Gentlemen, start your Tardis!

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We start out with the Panel this week.  They include WGEM Quincy IL; WPAG Ann Arbor MI; WIXY Cleveland; WGUY Bangor ME (Lord, that looks bad); KDKA Pittsburgh; KPOI Honolulu; KFWB Los Angeles; ironically, WROD Daytona Beach; WMCA New York; KYOS Merced CA; and WTOD Toledo.  Wait, you say?  That's only eleven panelists, you say?  Well, that's what happens when you suddenly realize you put WMCA in TWICE! Those who remain clocked in 27 different songs, including 8 number ones!  The five (yes, there is a song without a number one in the Panel Four) that didn't make the Four were:  The Stones with Let's Spend The Night Together (Merced); Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels with Sock It To Me (Toledo); the Young Rascals and I've Been Lonely Too Long (Honolulu); the Monkees and She (Quincy); and Penny Lane by the Beatles (Pittsburgh).

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the chart- we have three candidates for the lowest charting song of the Panel week.  One of them has an unusual name that made the TM annals once before- Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick, and Tich.  The unusual sounding bunch was at # 3 in Toledo- and at #111 on Billboard- with a song called Bend It.  We also had a did-not-chart song- The Rationals were #3 in Ann Arbor with Hold On Baby.  And there was one song- the #5 in Merced, Roger Collins and She's Looking Good- that would finally wander onto the Cashbox charts at #80 in two weeks.


(WARNING:  The Panel Four is about to be delayed, not once but twice!  Stay tuned for more...)

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Here is the first of our three M10 debuts- from the 2014 album In My Dreams, I give you miss Mo Kenney:





Mo is from Nova Scotia and was named its rising star by The Scene magazine.

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Now, funny you should mention the difference between the Cashbox and Billboard charts.  One of the big differences is that CB traditionally has a bigger turnover at the #1 slot.  If my blurry eyes were correct, I counted 92 Martin Era songs that hit #1 on Cashbox but not on Billboard.  The reverse was less dramatic- I counted 24 tunes that hit the top of Billboard but not Cashbox- and at a later time, we'll be discussing them.  But what I decided to look into this week was- what was the longest that the two charts matched number ones- and what was the longest that they didn't?  Well, I learned that streaks of ten weeks or more were extremely rare.  In fact, in the 19-year span of the Martin Era, just three times did the two charts match for ten or more weeks- and just ONCE did they fail to match for ten weeks or more.  And I will be sharing the results with you... soon.

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And now, the Panel picks, adjusted to take out the second time I put in WMCA:

With 13 points but bereft of top dog votes, Johnny Rivers with Baby I Need Your Loving, the national #17.

With also 13 points, but with the #1 from Daytona, The Supremes with Love Is Here And Now You're Gone, the national #3.

Marked down to 17 points and 2 #1s ( WMCA obviously, along with Bangor)- the national # 1... The Stones and Ruby Tuesday.

And the top Panel song... stay tuned.

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And now, a word from Cecil Rhodes...

I have found out one thing and that is, if you have an idea, and it is a good idea, if you only stick to it you will come out all right.

Here's a good idea...

The UK ten this week!

10- It had already peaked last December here... Donovan's Mellow Yellow.

9- Cat Stevens had his first charting song in the US of A- albeit it charted at 115- with the song at #9 in England, called Matthew And Son.

8- A single I had for years- The Royal Guardsmen with Snoopy And The Red Baron.  It was at 21 and falling after its chart run here.

7- The New Vaudeville Band- responsible for one of those #1s on CB but not BB, Winchester Cathedral- held this spot with  Peek-A-Boo ( a song that sat at #100 in the US).

6- Here we find the #1 song in Merced, California- Let's Spend The Night Together.  It was the original a-side of Ruby Tuesday, and was falling at #33 this week.

5- The song here debuts this week at #50 in the US of A, and was already on two charts of the Panel (#2 in New York and #1 in Pittsburgh)- Penny Lane.

4- The Tremeloes were here with a tune that would peak in the US in May- Here Comes My Baby.

3- The Monkees were at #5 and climbing back home with this one- I'm A Believer.

2- Another tune that would peak in May in the US, Engelbert Humperdinck with one of my Mom's big earworms, Release Me.

And the top song in England, which would peak in April back home...

...Petula Clark with This Is My Song!!!!!!!!!!

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Here's another debut on the M10 and it comes from a new (last October) record from an old favorite... The Zombies!






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Now, back to that streak thing...

As I said, streaks of ten or more weeks that the two charts agreed in the ME happened three times.  10 weeks- April 28th to June 30th, 1974, with three weeks of Tie A Yellow Ribbon 'Round The Old Oak Tree, single weeks of You Are The Sunshine Of My Life and Frankenstein, 4 weeks of Wings and My Love, and one of George Harrison's Give Me Love.  11 weeks- March 18th to May 27th, 1978- eight weeks of Night Fever, one of If I Can't Have You, and 2 of Wings (again) and With A Little Luck.  And it seems like Paul McCartney has more than just a little luck, because he's involved in the longest streak, too:

13 weeks- August 1st  to October 24th, 1964- Two weeks of A Hard Days' Night, one of Everybody Loves Somebody, 2 of Where Did Our Love Go, three each of House Of The Rising Sun and Oh Pretty Woman, and two of Doo Wah Diddy-Diddy.

Now that longest streak without matching  (11 weeks) was a funny story, because it involved only one song that wasn't on both charts- and the first four weeks were exactly reversed!  Billboard started the streak with Fly Robin Fly on November 22, 1975 for one week, followed by That's The Way I Like It for 3, then single weeks of Let's Do It Again, Saturday Night, I Write The Songs, The Theme From Mahogany, and 3 weeks of Convoy ending on February 7, 1976.  In the meantime, Cashbox started out with That's The Way I Like It, then 3 weeks of Fly Robin Fly, That's The Way again, Let's Do It Again, Saturday Night, Convoy, I Write The Songs, Mahogany- and one week of Love Rollercoaster!

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Falco was first heard of doing the original of the song Der Kommissar, which was a big hit for the German band After The Fire in 1983.  Two years later, Falco made his name with Rock Me Amadeus.  That big hit was co-written by a duo named Bolland and Bolland, brothers who were born in South Africa but lived in the Netherlands.  So it makes perfect sense that their one big hit would chart at #1 in NORWAY- and that song was the original of the very first M10 #1, You're In The Army Now!  Of course the M10 version was the cover by UK band Status Quo.  Now Status Quo, a big act for decades in England hadn't always been Status Quo; they were for a short time known as Traffic (until they heard about Stevie Winwood's band), then Traffic Jam.  Before that, they were the Spectres, and as the Spectres they covered the tune that was the highest charter this week ( at #7) without getting any Panel love.  That song?  The Blues Magoos and We Ain't Done Nothing Yet.

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That at last leaves us with the M10, and you heard the #10 song, Mo Kenney's Telephones, and the #8, the Zombies' Chasing The Past.  In between them lies Jana Kramer, as Circles slips from #6 to #9.

That brings us to our highest debut... I give you Monster Truck at #7...






Santana moves up two spots to #6 with Anywhere You Wanna Go.

Built To Spill continues to be my big earworm, moving up a deuce to #5 with Living Zoo.

Brooke Annibale, frustrated at two weeks of knocking at the door at #2, slips a pair to #4 with Remind Me.

Also kinda bummed would be Brian Fallon, stuck at 3 for a second week with Nobody Wins.

But ripping up the charts from her debut at #9 to her present placement at #2...

...Eleanor Friedburger with Two Versions Of Tomorrow.

And now, the number ones!  M10 says...

...three weeks of Flo And Eddie with Keep It Warm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

And the panel says (after the aforementioned adjustment, with 19 points...)

.... The Turtles, featuring Flo and Eddie before they went by that monniker, and Happy Together!!!!!!!!!!!!!


So I guess we can say we have a first- same act at #1 on the Panel Four and the M10!  And if you think I can't beat that, tune into TM next week for a trip to-  1974!!!!!!!!!!!!  There's a Ford In your Future, next week!