"Everything pertaining to what's happening has never come to the surface. The world will never know the true facts of what occurred, my motives. The people who had so much to gain, and had such an ulterior motive for putting me in the position I'm in, will never let the true facts come above board to the world." Jack Ruby, 1965
Today, March 14th, 1964, Jack Ruby is convicted of murder with malice of Lee Harvey Oswald- a conviction that will be thrown out when lawyers appealed that he could not have gotten a fair trial in Dallas. And the one question no one has asked yet is, "Why are we in March 14th, 1964??? Shouldn't we be in April 7th, 19 something-something?" However, I CAN answer that one. This week we have the 200th song to debut in the M10- so we went to the week the 200th song of the Martin Era hit the Cashbox charts- and that lands us here, smack-dab in the middle of the Beatles Revolution. In fact, the Fab Four are at #s 1, 2, 4,29, 43, 77, and 110- and songs ABOUT them are at #s 76, 102, 121, and 133! So needless to say we're going to do things a lot different today- starting with the song that WAS the CB 200th top ten of the ME- sitting at #10:
Yes, yes, it HAD to be Bobby Goldsboro and See The Funny Little Clown. And in honor (?) of that, we're going to do not one, but TWO different things. First, an audience vote on this: Call it Referendum #1. Did more Panel Stations have this song going up this week- or down? Results later on, natch. And the other, in avoidance of the Beatles at the top and in honor of Bobby at the bottom, the POTM will be the most Panel votes for the #10 song! And with 49 stations, we had 34 candidates, which I will whittle down beforehand- and which amazingly only had 2 Beatles tunes. Cutting out the tunes that got only ONE vote in this mess, here are your candidates:
The Rivieras with the #8 song on this week's CB chart, California Sun.
The Four Seasons (who have a couple in the M10 as well) with Dawn, the CB #3.
The Beach Boys with Fun Fun Fun, at #6.
The DC5 with Glad All Over, #16.
Sam Cooke's Good News, at #9.
Satchmo Armstrong with Hello Dolly (on one chart listed as "Holly Dolly"), at #15.
The Swinging Blue Jeans at #50 with Hippy Hippy Shake.
Al Martino with the #12, I Love You More And More.
Gloria Lynne with I Wish You Love at #22.
Al Hirt and Java at #5.
Diane Renay with Navy Blue at #7.
The Searchers with Needles And Pins, at #39.
Dale and Grace with Stop And Think It Over, #25.
ANNNNND Terry Stafford's Suspicion at #32.
Now, I'll even give you two clues: there are only three of these that got 3 or more votes- and given that this was the number TEN and not number one song, only ONE of them is a top ten on CB! Which means you might not want to dismiss the Swinging Blue Jeans just yet. I'll let you in on the top 3 in a bit.
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Since we are going on the principle of "higher debut first", this is the 199th debut on the M10, coming in at #9, a collaboration from alt-country rockers the Old 97s and Brandi Carlile:
Admittedly very doctrinally unsound, but still catchy.
And this brings up a point I wanted to touch on in light of the fact that Barry Manilow's worst-kept secret exploded all over the twitterverse Wednesday morning. If your family Bible came from a factory where the worst serial killer did the bindings, would you throw it out? Of course not. And though it isn't QUITE the same thing, I don't segregate songs out because the act is LGBT or Muslim or any other thing UNLESS it effects the quality of the song or is over the top offensive. Prolly I could just say, "Hey, if I had the Hidden Cameras in the M10", but this was a good time to point out that as long as the tune lifts my heart in praise of God, the rest is just noise- and I make a joyful noise to the Lord. End of social commentary.
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One of my newer features is "What happened to the guy at #101?", and this week that would be pedal-steel pioneer Pete Drake with a tune called Forever. While it was a top 25 hit eventually, Pete was better known as the PS man on such hits as Rose Garden, Behind Closed Doors, Stand By Your Man (though that one is debated), and even Lay Lady Lay.
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So let's get back to Bobby. Kenny Loggins, you're this week's POTM, how about you let us have a tease here?
Sure thing, Chris. I hear you're a big fan of Keep The Fire...
Yep, and Danny's Song and I'm All Right.
Not so much on Footloose, though, I gather?
Can't win 'em all, buddy.
But you'll bring up that Footless parody from Saturday Night Live..."
Hee hee, that was funny...
Yeah. (Hmph) Anyway, before we get to the going up or down aspect, we need to mention that on three charts, Bobby was at 6, 7, and 9 respectively without your being able to find out whether it moved up and down. Plus, 17 charts- many of which went 40-50 songs deep- didn't have him on their chart at all. And 17 is more than either "up" or "down" got.
Oooh, harsh! Okay, thanks, Kenny.
Your Mama Don't Dance, either?
Sorry, bud.
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How about a movie with Elke Sommer and the cast of Hogan's Heroes? That was this, The Wicked Dreams Of Paula Schultz, which in addition to Bob Crane (Hogan) starred John Banner (Schultz), Leon Askin (Gen. Burkhalter) and Werner Klemperer (Col. Klink)...
And what does Klink have to do with the 6D? Well, Klink appeared in one of those "wall-climbing cameos" on Batman...
...and Yvonne Craig was Batgirl on said show. And Yvonne played in the movie Kissin' Cousins with Elvis- and Elvis's title track on said movie was the song at #11 this week that did NOT get a vote at #10. And you wouldn't have known any of this if Bobby Goldsboro had debuted at, say, #9.
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Our #64 in '64 was Jack Jones with Love With The Perfect Stranger, the theme from the Natalie Wood/Steve McQueen movie. Despite hitting the top 40 5 times (though this one crapped out at 62), Jack is best known for the Love Boat Theme, which actually charted on the AC charts.
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At this point, we're going to do a salute-
To Steely Dan. One of the most bootlegged bands in history, their website has a list of more than 50 lps, collections of various stripes, that they did NOT authorize. And on this list are the only places you can find our 200th M10 debut- possibly until now. It came to me on Spotify on a collection which was basically a re-arranged reboot of another compilation called Android Warehouse, among other things. Before we get to that song, I thought I would share with you the top ten songs by Steely Dan as compiled by Music VF, a site that combines UK and US charts into one great database.
10- if you want to leave the UK only charters out, this spot would go to Black Friday- but if you're the inclusive sort, #10 is Haitian Divorce.
9- Josie
8- FM (No Static At All)
7- Time Out Of Mind
6- Deacon Blues
5- Reelin' In The Years
4- Peg
3- Hey Nineteen
2- Do It Again
And #1....
...Rikki Don't Lose That Number!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And without further doo doo, from yet another possibly un-authorized compilation, here's Steely Dan with the 200th M10 song, at #10....
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Okay first before the M10, the three that made the final cut on the panel vote:
The #6 Fun Fun Fun...
The #15 Hello Dolly...
And the #22 I Wish You Love...
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And second before the M10- was Bobby more up or down?
Bobby climbed this week- 14, for an average of 4.0 spots. Included in this is a chart where it debuted at 30 out of 40, and the biggest was a 10-notch jump to #10.
Bobby fell this week- 15, for an average fall of 5.8 spots. The worst of those was a tumble from 25 to 42, 17 spots. All together, he made the top ten on just 6 charts.
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And, in the M10:
The Four Seasons have a good week, bad week. They climb 2 spots to 8 with Marcie, and fall two to #3 with last week's top dog, Walk On By.
Work Drugs moves up a spot to 7 with Giving Up The Feeling.
Another former #1, Melody's Echo Chamber with Crystallized at #6, down four.
Speaking of Barry Manilow, he moves up a notch to 5 with the Medley. And yes, I AM too lazy to write it all out, sue me.
Real Estate moves up to 4, a three notch climb, with Serve The Song.
Tom Jones soldiers on, reversing his retreat and climbing to #2 with I Know.
And the number ones?
The M10 goes- for a second time- to...
...Chicano Batman, this time with Passed You By!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And the shock winner of the POTM vote this week by a 4-3-3 margin and a whopping 8 per cent of the vote...
... the lovely Gloria Lynne with I Wish You Love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next week- I HAVE NO IDEA! How's that for random?
That's a lot of info to digest! ☺ I've never heard that Bobby Goldsboro song before and thought he was a 'one hit wonder'(Honey). Enjoyed the Old 97s song and Googled them. They've been around a long time - since 1993. Time for a Youtube search. The movie with Elke Sommer sounds like fun. Looking for that, too. Have a good weekend.
ReplyDeleteGlad I could give you some material! Let me know how the movie is...
DeleteAnother wonderful trip down memory lane, managed the trip without falling flat on my face or big fat bum and had a good time as well so thank you my amazing friend
ReplyDeleteWell of course you didn't fall down! My Tardis has antigrav slip protection!
DeleteChris:
ReplyDeleteYeah, Ruby was probably looked upon more like a "hero" back then.
---THAT'S whittling down the candidates?
(got about three in mind)
---Kinda like The Olds 97 song...nice beat.
---Good commentary on Manilow...I feel the same way about it.
---Never heard of Pete Drake, but I DO remember those songs.
---Werner Klemperer...on Batman...yep, that's him all right.
Not bad for an AMEERICAN veteran of WW2, as well as a concert pianist AND violinist.
---Only really liked a couple of Steely Dan songs (sorry). And they're on that list.
---Okay, I do like Come Back Baby.
---Oops, only had 1 that made the final cut...
---Gloria Lynne too my by surprise...nice win.
"Random Chris"...sounds OMINOUS...lol.
Very good ride.
Keep those hits comin' up there, brother.