Today, we pass through April 29th, 1975. The beginning of the fall of Saigon.
What more need be said...
And we move on to the purpose of our little show here, which is to celebrate the music whose singers' ranks grow thinner each day. I had barely put a eulogy to Prince on last week's post when we lost Billy Paul as well.
Hopefully, we'll get a little break before the next legend passes from the scene. In the meantime, let's enjoy what we have! And this week, that includes the six degrees discovery of a movie influential in the extreme to rock and roll- and you may not know it; the decision- do the Jayhawks have what it takes to tie the record at 4 weeks in the top spot; another rout in the Panel Four, while votes were cast for not one, not two, but three songs that had already fell from the national charts; and the cast of the 70's TV show Emergency!
(Well, a couple of them, anyway!)
Okay, so you know how we do this: Buckle up, hang on, and SIT DOWN! (Yeah, a bit mixed up, but we're time travellers, we can handle it!)
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This week's Panel comes to us by: WFIL Philadelphia, KRIZ Phoenix, CKLW Detroit, KHJ Los Angeles, KEBQ Kansas City, WRKO Boston, WIXY Cleveland, WYSL Buffalo, newcomer WHYI Ft Lauderdale, WIRL Peoria, Kola San Bernardino, and WCFL Chicago. They gave us a combined 25 different songs, including #1 votes for Supertramp's Bloody Well Right (Buffalo) and Ace's How Long (Boston). They also gave us 3 songs no longer on the Cashbox national survey. Shirley and Co.s Shame Shame Shame dropped off two weeks back, but still got a #5 from LA; dropping off last week was Frankie Valli and My Eyes Adored You, but still netting a #3 from Ft Lauderdale (who also had Shirley and Co. at #2); and another dropper last week was Sugarloaf's Don't Call Us, We'll Call You, which was #5 in Buffalo. The lowest song actually ON the CB chart was Roger Whitaker's The Last Farewell, which was at #2 at CKLW, and #65 nationally.
And the Panel picks?
At #4 with 11 points and the #1 from San Bernie, Dawn with He Don't Love You, the national #3- and the only other tune to get a #1, since the top dog got the other NINE.
At #3, with 12 points, the national # 5, Sammy Johns and Chevy Van.
At #2, with 13 points- a mere 42 behind the top dog- the national #1 this week, BJ Thomas and Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.
And at the top, with 55 points, the national runner up (having just fallen from the top spot)... stay tuned.
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This week, we have another statistical oddity... this is the FIRST week in M10 history with NO debuts! But just so you don't think I was too lazy to imbed a video, I have one that just missed the cut a couple of weeks ago. She's from Brooklyn, but of Indian descent, and she's solo after breaking up her band known as Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers. Shilpa sounds a lot like Blondie with the appropriately-named Shilpa Ray On Broadway:
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And now, some words from philosopher and historian Thomas carlyle:
Song is the heroics of speech.
Well put! And with that, it's time to
10- This week we lead off with a song that would go top ten here in the US of A in January of next year- Sweet and Fox On The Run.
9- The Three Degrees had better luck there than here with their Take Good Care Of Yourself, a #64 on the R&B chart here.
8- Gary Glitter's former band, imaginatively named the Glitter Band, were here with The Tears I Cried. Fortunately, glam was not so big here.
7- The latest hit by hungry philosophers 10cc- Life Is A Minestrone- was at 104 here in the states.
6- Peter Shelley was best known for discovering such acts as Ten Years After and King Crimson; but he's on the chart this week with Love Me, Love My Dog.
5- The Bay City Rollers covered a Four Seasons tune? That's right, and here they are with Bye Bye Baby (Baby Goodbye).
4- Millie Jackson took a song called It Hurts So Good to #24 two years back; here it's covered in reggae style by Susan Cadogan.
3- And since we can't go a week anymore without a Bobby Goldsboro reference, they decided to re-release Honey. It hit #2 in '68; it would end up there again in '75.
2- Minnie Ripperton is in the runner up slot with a song that sat at #13 here this week and got 6 points from the Panel, Loving You.
And the Tops of the Pops?
...another glam outfit, Mud, with a cover of Buddy Holly's Oh Boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mud had some connections to somebody in the six degrees, so why don't we stop there first?
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I stumbled onto one of the most influential to Rock music movies of all time this week. A musical comedy- as you can see, starring Jayne Mansfield- called The Girl Can't Help It. How was it so influential? Well, start out with the singles that either came off the sound track or were brand new when they were added to it. That list starts with Be Bop A Lula by Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps, which made it to #7 in the year of the movie, 1956. The title track was performed by Little Richard, and influenced John Lennon's path into music. That song was written by none other than Bobby Troup (Dr Early on Emergency!), who also did the score for the film. Little Richard only got to #49, with the song, though; also a bit short on the charting side was a tune performed by Eddie Cochran called Twenty Flight Rock- a song that Paul McCartney played at his audition for Lennon. As you can see on the poster, Troup's fellow alum from Emergency!, Julie London (nurse Dixie McCall) was also in the film, and she sang the #9 hit Cry Me A River. This was in between her just ended marriage to Jack Webb and her soon to be marriage to Troup. Fats Domino also had a top ten from the movie with Blue Monday, and the Platters and Nino Tempo also performed in the movie.
So how does this all tie in to the six degrees victim? Well, the title song was also covered on The Animals' first lp, along with their big hit House Of The Rising Sun. That tune was produced by Mickey Most (who also worked with Mud, among others). One of those others was the band Hot Chocolate, and on of Mickey's productions for them- the sad ballad Emma- is the highest charting song this week (#6), that got no Panel love.
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And now, that closed-to-visitors M10:
The sunset of Nada Surf is approaching: Cold To See Clear drops from 4 to 10, while Believe You're Mine tumbles from 2 to 5.
Jimmy Ruffin holds at 9 with Farewell Is A Lonely Sound.
The numbers game backs Strawberry Runners down a notch to 8 with When We Were Good.
Rah Rah jumps them into the 7 slot with Fix Me.
Ruth B moves up 4 hot notches to #6 with 2 Poor Kids.
Tell me if you've heard this one before (actually, you heard it 2 weeks ago): Lucius drops from 3 to 4 with Madness.
Bad Water goes up from 5 to 3 for Carroll.
And that leaves us with the top two. And a very tough decision for me- one which made me listen to the contenders several times to make sure I didn't make a stat based decision. And with those listens completed, I moved Redspencer's Ride It Out from 6 to 2.
And the #1s? M10 says:
...the Jayhawks claim a fourth week at the top with Quiet Corners And Empty Spaces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the meantime, that monsterous #1 on the Panel Four...
...Elton John and Philly Freedom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next week, one giant step backwards with 1974!
