Time Machine co-ordinates VIXXIX457111762

Today we go to November 11th, 1962, where a 185-day-old little Time Lord was watching the world with rapt attention.

Little Time Lord with just as little niece, 1962

And he saw today a couple of things.  First, he watched the news and saw this:

On Nov. 17, 1962, J. Edgar Hoovers’ FBI cracked a terrorist plot (though the term "terrorist" was not used at the time) by Castro-Cuban agents that targeted Macy’s, Gimbel’s, Bloomingdale's and Manhattan’s Grand Central Station with a dozen incendiary devices and 500 kilos of TNT. The holocaust was set to go off the following week, the day after Thanksgiving.


Quickly Turning to sports, he saw this:

 ...The 1962 game (Georgia Tech- Alabama) in Atlanta. The Tide came to town 8-0, ranked #1 in the country. They hadn't lost in 26 straight games, a streak that stretched over three seasons. Joe Namath was the superstar sophomore quarterback of the Tide facing Tech's own sophomore QB Billy Lothridge. To make a long story short, Tech led all game 7-0. In the waning seconds of the game, Namath finally drove Bama down the field and scored a TD. Instead of taking the tie, Bear went for 2 and the 2 point conversion was intercepted preserving Tech's lead and the eventual upset of the juggernaut Crimson Tide.

Which he no doubt enjoyed a lot more.  And we will go looking into the music he was hearing, including another big winner on the Panel picks- missed lapping the field by 2 votes; what the movie To nisi ton genneon has to do with the 6D (and what exactly it means); the Philly cop bringing us the latest dance craze; and 2 new M10 debuts!  Joe Namath will guarantee a good time on this one... if he were here (and skipped the lead-in), that is...


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So I had to start notebook #2 for the M10 this week, and as I packed some records from the old one in it, I learned that our second debut will be the 178th main act to make the chart!  But our FIRST debut has the MOST charting singles- and adds number six this week!  At #10, here's Molly Rankin and Alvvays...





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This week, we have a special treat!  Not only do we have Jimmy Dean, sausage maker extraordinaire and star of the '60s TV show Daniel Boone (as well as a Country HOFer), but he brought along his partner, ol' Dan hisself, Fess Parker!

Guys, this is a great honor for me!  My entire childhood was watching you guys on TV and then going to my room to shoot Redcoats, Tories, and Indians!

J:  Sounds like yew shoulda got out more...

Well, I exaggerate a little...

Chris' niece from up above:  Not very much...

Hey, hush, Robin!  Anyway, I tried to be like you, Dan- I mean, Fess.  I had a hat with one of those snap-straps that I pretended was a coonskin cap, I had Mom sew bedspread fringes on the arms of one of my shirts, even got to borrow one of her knives to "mark a trail" in the woods!

F: Sure hope you didn't hurt yourself like I did that one episode.

J: So yeah, how'd that turn out?

Well, my "backpack" was a paper shopping bag, the knife cut its way out on the way home.  I was scared to tell Mom because she said, "This is my good knife", but she never said anything, so in retrospect I think she might have fibbed...

J:  (Shakes head)

F: Maybe we aught get to these songs...

Okay, so you got nine candidates from 34 stations.

J: And the first one is Bent Fabric with Alley Cat.  It was #40 and falling this week on Cashbox...

Which is what we call, "Not getting the memo on that vote."

F: Uh, yeah.  Next comes Big Girls Don't Cry by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, this week's #1 on Cashbox.

J:  Fine song.  I wonder how he gets his voice up so high.

F: Cain't yew do it?

J:  Not in these underwear.  Then comes Marcie Blaine with Bobby's Girl, at #9.

F:  And next is the Orlons with Don't Hang Up at # 8.

J: The Crystals come next, they was #4 with He's A Rebel.

F: Herb Alpert and the Tee-jew-ana Brass was at #22 with The Lonely Bull.

J:  Prob'ly because his buddies was all steaks.  Now, Chris, yew wanted to explain these next two?

Yeah, Dick Dale and his Deltones had two different songs claim #1 votes- and as far as I could tell, neither one was even released as a single!  One of them was the oft-covered Miserlou; the other was called Peppermint Man.  I'm thinking there were a couple of djs somewhere with bro-crushes...

F: With WHUT?

J:  Yew know, Like Albert Salmi was with ol' Cincinnatus...

Ah heard that, yew little twerp...

J:  Uh, anyway... (How'd he get in here?)... Next up was Gene Pitney's Only Love Can Break Your Heart, at #5...

F:  Then comes Elvis Presley with Return To Sender.  He was at #2.  Bet he don't like that...

He never does, sigh.

J: Next is Road Hog by John D Loudermilk.  He's the feller that wrote Indian Reservation and Tobacco Road.

F:  Both fine songs.  Lastly was Telstar by the Tornados, which was movin' up fast at #38.

Wow, Great job, guys, I had a blast.

J: Shoot, this ain't nothin'.  Lemme get that jug out back an' we'll...

Ixnay on that, you'll just attract George Jones, and I'm over my quota for guests as it is.  So anyway, like I said above, one of these tunes nearly lapped the field, grabbing 16 of the 34 votes.  But who was it?  The Four Seasons?  Elvis? Marcie Blaine? Or the Crystals?  Take a guess and find out a bit later on.  For now...


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What do Chris Montez's Call Me and the Vogues' You're The One have in common besides being top ten hits?  Well, they were written by a team at the time known as the UK's Bacharach and Warwick- Petula Clark and Tony Hatch. One of their big hits that Petula sang was Downtown, which was not only big here, but was one of her 4 #1s in Italy, sung in the native tongue!  One of the other #1s for Petula in Italy was I Will Follow Him.  You know that song by Little Peggy March, likely;  what you might not know was that the tune was originally the instrumental Chariot, written by Frank Pourcel and Paul (Love Is Blue)  Mariat! The English lyrics to it were contributed by Artur Attman- and he also wrote English lyrics to that Greek movie (Which translates to Island Of The Brave)  theme mentioned above- lyrics that became Brenda Lee's #3 this week, All Alone Am I, which got NO Panel votes.


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Our second debut comes from a Nashville duo who have a real Astrud Gilberto/Sergio Mendes vibe to them.  At #9, I give you Escondido...








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Stat Pack Time:

I knew a whopping 32 songs on this week's hot 100.

The #62 in '62 belonged to Mark Valentino, a very hard person to track down, as this was his only dip into the charts before leaving music to become a cop in Philadelphia.  His tune was a rather limited dance craze tune, called The Push And Kick.  Next month, it would make it to #27.  It was written by the slightly more famous Eddie Rambeau, whose bigger claim to fame was writing an old favorite- Diane Renay's Navy Blue.


The #101 song belonged to Jimmie Rodgers, the one who had the big hit with Honeycomb back in '57.  This time, he was sorta charting with the 11th song in a 7-year, 25 song missed-the-top-40 streak, a #62 peaker called Rainbow At Midnight.

The big mover belonged to Nat King Cole with Dear Lonely Hearts, which blew up 25 spots from 84 to 59.  The follow up to Rambling Rose (which was also on the chart, on the way down at #27), it would peak at #13 on Billboard.

And on the UK chart, we had Frank (I Remember You ) Ifield with Lovesick Blues, which wasn't on the US charts at the moment, and would only ever get to #44 here.  Chris Montez cops another mention this week as his Let's Dance was the UK runner up. And our CB number one was NOT on the UK chart at the time- Big Girls Don't Cry wouldn't chart there until the end of next January. The highest here that charted there was Chubby Checker's Limbo Rock, which was #6 here but 38 there; and our #38 was the biggest one from their chart on ours as well, with Telstar sitting at their #4 slot.  How's that for a patented Martin Statistical Anomaly?


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And now, the rest of the M10:

8 last week, 8 this week- Tom Petty's former #1, Walls (No. 3).

7 is Alvvays with Your Type, falling from 3 in week #8.

Plume Of Feathers moves 3 to #6 with Rhyl Love.

Up one more notch before it likely gets stuck, UDL with Rewind at 5.

The Shacks check in at #4, up one spot with Fly Fishing.


The top three this week, I told Laurie, was basically #s 1A, 1B, and 1C.  Whichever way you like it, Dent May moves up a spot with Picture On A Screen.

Which means the Derevs hold another week at #2 with Something Good, and the #1 again this week- and settling in for a long stay-

Mo Kenney and Unglued!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And the Panel vote?  Well, the Crystals got 5.8%...

Marcie Blaine got 8.8%....

Elvis got... (I hope he's not looking...)  11.8%...

And the winner, with 47% of the vote...

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons with Big Girls Don't Cry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Next time, 1963!