Time Machine co-ordinates VILXI49672074

Today we are in July 20th of 1974- and a news flash that reminds me of just how old a news-hound I am.  Today, during the summer between 6th and 7th grade for me, Turkey responded to the coup that forced Archbishop Makarios out of power in Cyprus by invading the island.  Greek forces, who had instigated the coup by pushing Makarios to have them removed, were driven back to the south until a cease fire ended with yet another divided nation.  The northeast half of the island is now ruled by a pro-Turkish government (which nobody "recognizes" to this day), while the south keeps its head down and tries to run legitimate business.

"All this because you all thought I was a communist.  Do I look communist to you?"

Welcome to this week's Time Machine, as we edge a little closer to the big anniversary show in just 4 weeks!  We have Ritchie Blackmore on the Panel Picks, two new debuts, the first time the M10 achieves the "Devil's number"- what that is and how many times in the Martin Era 2.0 that it occurred on Cashbox, AND... Does Caroline Rose get that semi-mythical 5th week at #1?  Pull up a pita and put up your feta, and let's find out!


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Let's kick things off with one of two new debuts.  The higher one goes first this time, at #8.  This week, the #101 song was Melanie doing a Jim Croce number called Lover's Cross.  So I listened to both Melanie's and Jim's versions- his was a cut on the posthumous lp I Got A Name in 1973.  And it is Jim that comes roaring into the countdown this week with his original:





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Welcome in Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple!!!!!!!!!!!!!  How are you, Ritchie?

No' bad, man.  Yourself?

Good, good.  So, I plucked you out of a pretty stressful time, didn't I?

Yeah, you might say that.  Just moved here to get out from her Majesty's taxmen, might be breaking up the band... might be doing a side deal with Ronnie James Dio here in a bit...

I found it interesting that you are currently- as of when I grabbed you- taking lessons on the cello from Hugh McDowell of ELO.  How's that going?

It's been interesting.  Hugh's just a kid- he's just turning 20 and I'm closing in on 30- and it's like a whole new way of looking at music.  Hopefully, I'll get around it enough to do something useful out of it.

Okay, so you know the drill here, you read off the list, make whatever editorials you deem fit, DON'T open that door over there, and then everyone will vote on who the winner is.  You get a short list of 12 contestants from 40 stations.  Ready?

Surely.  Let's see- okay, we have the one vote wonders first.  Oy, from Laurenco Marques, we have a vote for the Righteous Brothers and Rock And Roll Heaven, which this says was at #5 this week.  Sounds like your Panel didn't give them a fair shake, eh?

Here's Paper Lace with Billy Don't Be A Hero.  You lot fancied the Bo Donaldson version better, which was at #13 this week.  Paper Lace peaked at #96 a couple months back.

The lovely ladies of Abba are at #11 with Waterloo.

John Denver was at NUMBER TWO, but only got one vote, for Annie's Song.  Don't exactly follow the chart, do they?

Not often.

The Stylistics are at #42 with You Make Me Feel Brand New. This one was at #30 back home.

An odd duck from Australia was Stevie Wright's Evie.  Wright, the lead voice from the Easybeats, had fallen on hard times what with the drugs and all.  So his old mates got together to help him get back on his feet with a rock opera in one song.  Consisting of three parts linked together, it hit the top in Australia, and supposedly is the only 11-minute long song to EVER top any music chart.  I bet Beethoven might argue, but I will not.  

Another curiosity is that Malcolm Young of AC/DC played lead on one section of the song.

Ah, here's more my speed- Bachman Turner Overdrive with Taking Care Of Business at #18.  Now this last one has a note for you..?

Yes, it seems like every time we get a vote from that station in North Dakota, they pull something out of their... er, hat, that is a real head scratcher.  This week, they had a tune by Brownsville Station- the guys that brought you Smoking In The Boys Room and Martian Boogie- called I'm The Leader Of The Gang.  On Cashbox, it had peaked at 26 a couple weeks back and fell off the chart this week; it only got to #48 on prim and proper Billboard.  it was a fun little ditty, actually, but I hadn't heard it till last week.  Okay, you want to pick up with the "almost but not quite" section?

Certainly.  Wait, ah... there's nothing there...

Oh, that's right.  To get you four choices, everyone else has to be in the final four.

Ah.  All right then, here are your choices, in alphabetical order:

Elton John is at #39 in England, and #6 here, with Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me.

Next, why it is Paper Lace again, with The Night Chicago Died, at #27 here.

Then, we have Hues Corporation with Rock The Boat, at #3...

And finally, George McRae with Rock Your Baby, at #3 back home, and top of the charts here.

Fine job, Ritchie, and I didn't even have to go back and pry you out of a dinosaur's mouth afterwards!  So vote from Elton, George, Paper Lace, or the Corpsters, and in a few I'll let you know if you latched onto one of the two who hogged 70%  of this week's vote!

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So what is the "Devil's number?"  Well, if you look at the notebook I keep the weekly M10 in, you'll see each line starts with 3 numbers- weeks on chart, last week's position, this week's position.  This week, for the first time, I had a song that read 6-6-6.... and I'll let you in on who that is in a bit (or you COULD go back to last week's post and figure it out yourself).  But it made me curious, so I scoured the Martin Era 2.0 on Cashbox (once again, that runs from Rock Around The Clock's debut on May 14th, 1955, to How Deep Is Your Love's debut in September 24th, 1977) to see how many times it happened there.

Answer: ten times.  And none of them since December of 1967- no seventies at all!

In fact, the closest the seventies came is when John Denver missed out by having weeks 7,8, and 9 at #6 with Fly Away.  So, because it's what I do, I ranked the Devil's Ten by how big of hits they were, and deliver them here for you...


Numbers 10-7, with a peak of #6 for 2 weeks:

An Open Letter To My Teenage Son, Victor Lundberg, December 16th, 1967- the last time it happened;
Rubber Ball, Bobby Vee (a record I wore the grooves off of as a child), January 14th, 1961;
Everybody Loves A Clown, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, the day before Halloween 1965;
and ironically, A Must To Avoid, Herman's Hermits, January 22nd, 1966.

Numbers 6 and 5, peak of six for 3 weeks:

The first one, Bill Haley and his Comets with See You Later, Alligator, February 18, 1956;
and the Beach Boys, Fun Fun Fun, March 21st, 1964.

4- peaking at #4 for a couple of weeks, Simon and Garfunkel's I Am A Rock, June 4th of 1966.

3- peaking at #3 for 3 weeks, Dean Martin, Return To Me, May 3rd, 1958.

2- peaking at #3 for three non-consecutive weeks, Pat Boone's April Love, Thanksgiving 1957.  Now we can explain that heavy-metal lp of his...

And number one?  Saving it for the reveals, silly...


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Here's the lower debut at #9.  You might remember these boys- they peaked at #6 a while back with Time Is Passing U By.  They are Spain's Baywaves...







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Did you pick Paper Lace or Elton John?  If so, go sit down; if you took Hues Corp or George McRae, you're still good.

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I know we had a 6-6-6 degrees, but I did try to put a little something together for the real 6D victim.  The thing that caught my eye was the talent that had a part in this record.  Start with Michael Omartian, Christian artist and all-over the place producer, on the piano.  Throw in Jim Gordon, session man and convicted matricidist on drums; Dean Parks, another vet who was briefly a member of touring Bread when Jimmy Griffin had enough of David Gates during the Lost Without Your Love tour; Timothy B Schmit of the later Eagles on backing vocals; Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, later of the Doobie Brothers, on lead guitar; and jazz percussionist Victor Feldman playing the barely -audible flapimba that got cut out of the start of the 45 rpm version.

Oh, and Walter Becker and Donald Fagan, because the song is Rikki Don't Lose That Number, at #4 without a Panel vote.


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Stat pack time:

I knew 46 on the Hot 100, and 14 of the UK top 50.

Donna Fargo had the #74 in '74 with You Can't Be A Beacon If Your Light Don't Shine, a country #1 that would peak at #57.

Our big mover was Eric Clapton's I Shot The Sheriff, leaping 24 spots from 83 to 59.

The UK #1 was one of the fastest risers in UK history, debuting at #11 and spending the next 4 weeks at the top.  His name was Charles Aznavour, a second generation Armenian immigrant to France, who would eventually go back to Armenia to forge a diplomatic career.  A songwriter with some 800 songs (including a co-credit on Roy Clark's Yesterday When I Was Young) and over 1,000 recordings under his belt, he was known as the "French Sinatra", and was one of the few Europeans Sinatra ever dueted with.    His song was She.  Elvis Costello would later have a UK top 20 with it in 1999.

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The rest of the M10 : 

Phantogram finally gives up the ghost, sliding to 10 in week #9 with Saturday.

There have been 14 songs get 9 weeks or more so far on the M10.  And this week, Shilpa Ray's Shoot This Dying Horse makes it two 9-weekers in one countdown for just the second time in M10 history.  She actually moves back UP a single notch, from 8 to 7.  The last time, it was two former number ones- Mo Kenney's Unglued and Plume Of Feathers' Rhyl Love.

And the M10's own Devil's Song?  The Derevolutions with Now You Know My Name.

Back to back Jayhawks next- Backwards Women moves up 2 to 5; Everybody Knows down 2 to 4.


Geowulf claims their biggest hit ever, with Sunday up one spot to #3.

So how did it go?  Did Caroline break the record, or become the sixth 4-weeks at the top and stop act?

It was the latter. The new #1 is...

...Black Joe Lewis and Nature's Natural!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the biggest Devil's Song?  How about...

Billy Williams, who peaked at #2, who did it on July 20th, 1957- 61 years ago TODAY- with I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (BTW, I had NO idea that it was going to be the anniversary until I just typed this...)

...and the Panel winner, with 52.5%- an official lapping of the field...

... the Hues Corporation, with Ann Kelley getting a shot at the Beauty Contest, with Rock The Boat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next week, we move on to 1975!  See you then!