Today we hit July 27th of 1975. And finding a news item was such a stretch, that the first thing I hit was a "blind hog finds an acorn" story. "Psychic" columnist Sydney Omarr predicted it might be a hot week for Leos and Aquarrii, pointing out specifically (among a handful of others) baseballers Hank Aaron and Carl Yastremski and union boss Jimmy Hoffa.
How'd he do? Well, even though Yaz drove in the tying run and scored the winner Friday night and went 4-for-8 with his 23rd home run the last two games, the pair combined for a .239 average for the week- .184 without those two games at the end. (Non-baseballers: That kinda sucks.)
Hoffa? He disappeared four days after the column hit...
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| "Nice job, a-hole..." |
AHEM... welcome to this week's Time Machine, where we have a big romp in the Panel Picks, a couple of debuts in the M10, an AWOL 6D, and a neat little special to round things out. Without further ado, let us adjourn to the
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Our leadoff debut comes in at #10, and it's the second single from the new lp by Gilbert O'Sullivan, at #10...
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All right, let me welcome in Bernard St. Clair Lee and H Ann Kelly of the Hues Corporation!
Hi, folks, glad to have you!
Both: Thank you!
Now I have to ask about the unusual names you two have. Where did you get St Clair for a middle name at?
B: Yeah. Bernard is my first name. St. Clair was supposed to be spelled Sinclair. They made a mistake at the hospital. They spelled it St. Clair. So, my mother left it at that. Basically, before I got into performing music, I dropped off the Bernard. The St. Clair comes from the Indian side of our family. St. Clair means 'Big Bear'. So, it became St. Clair Lee. The headband which I always wear also came from the Indian side of our family. I found out that the Indian side of our family were Blackfoot and migrated down from Canada to Oklahoma and that's how I picked up wearing the headband.*
*from an actual interview with Gary James in 2009
And Ann- the H stands for Hubert??
A: Yes...
How's that happen?
A: I don't recall, I was pretty young...*
* From me finding zip zing zero about it...
Yeah.
A: Sometimes we just shake our heads and wonder if our parents were strung together very tight...
Yes, my son KC wonders that about his name too...*
* His mother's idea FWIW.
So anyway, how about y'all get right to our list this week? Only 16 contestants from 41 stations...
B: Awl, right. So we have first the "one vote wonders", so I'll have to wonder about YOU if you vote for any o' these! First we have Gladys Knight and the Pips with the The Way We Were/Try To Remember Medley, which was at #15 this week, followed by KC and the Sunshine Band, with Get Down Tonight at #38...
A: I have David Bowie with Fame, #48 here and #41 in England... next, an English vote for a song not released here, the Bay City Rollers and Bye Bye Baby.
B: Hey, I said I dropped the "Bernard", could you please start putting an S and not a B for me, dude?
Oh, yeah, sorry about that.
S: That's better. Now I have an Australian-only vote for a group called Hush doin' Bony Maroney; and then the Laurenco Marques song of the week, which I guess is a big deal, with the Doobie Brothers and Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While), which fell off Cashbox two weeks ago.
A: And finishing out the one-vote songs, I have Glen Campbell and Rhinestone Cowboy at #13, and The Rolling Stones and I Don't Know Why at #45. Bernard?
B: Woman, what'd I just say? Now you got HIM doing it again, too! Anyway, next is the better but not good enough group, which is basically the three songs that got two votes each. The first is Elton John with Someone Saved My Life Tonight at #8. HU-bert?
H: Boy, you is asking for it... So are you with that H! Grrr... the other 2's are 10cc's I'm Not In Love at #5- #24 in England, and Roger Whitaker's The Last Farewell, which was 29 in the UK but dropped out last week here.
S: And that brings us to the four contestants that are in the finals. In alphabetical order, we have... the Bee Gees and Jive Talkin' at #5 in England and #4 here...
A: ...Wings with Listen To What The Man Said at #16...
S: ...The Captain and Tennille and Love Will Keep Us Together at #12 here, #43 there...
A: ...The Eagles and One Of These Nights at the top on Cashbox...
S: ...and Van McCoy doin' The Hustle at #9 there and #3 here!
Thanks guys, and sorry about the name thing, but, well, I didn't name ya! So choose from the Bee Gees, Wings, C&T, the Eagles, and the Hustler. One of them got 14 votes- the other four got 13!
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So I had done some preliminary research, if you wanna call it that, on our 6D song- Olivia Newton-John's Please Mr Please who got neglected at #2... but apparently I didn't write it down. Suffice it to say she was once engaged to Cliff Richard, and as a result many of her early songs, like this one, were written and/or produced by members of his old band the Shadows. And that was about as far as I had got. In the meantime, not truly remembering that that's all the farther I got, I abandoned it altogether to ask myself another question. I do all these thingees on the Martin Era 2.0- what lies beyond? I decided to answer that by coming up with my personal top ten Number One Songs On Cashbox Post ME2.0! Now, Cashbox ran charts through the eighties but were kinda hit and miss in the 90's, actually skipping 33 of the 356 weeks between the first chart of 1990 and their eventual demise in November of 1996. Which doesn't bother me much because I skipped a lot of that era as well- I only knew 32 out of 109 #1s after 1990. So, needless to say, this list will all be 1989 or older. And we start with:
10- Mike and the Mechanics- The Living Years, 1989. Not that I didn't have to leave behind a lot of good songs, but the only real fight was for the last slot- and Mike beat Lisa Loeb by a sliver of memory.
9- A-Ha, Take On Me, 1985. Still one of my favorite videos ever.
8- Paul Young, Every Time You Go Away, 1985. The long ending version; still thunders in my heart.
7- Samantha Sang, Emotion, 1978. One of two of the Bee Gee wave of the late seventies to make my list- surprisingly, none credited to the trio themselves!
6- The Knack, My Sharona, 1979. And just for the record, that was a GREAT album!
4- Gerry Rafferty, Baker Street, 1978. The ultimate, "Snuck up on you" hit. At least it snuck up on me.
3- Dire Straits, Money For Nothing, 1985. Did I mention "favorite videos?"
2- Bonnie Tyler, Total Eclipse Of The Heart. I was doing my original top ten back then. This one sat at the top for I believe 8 weeks. Couldn't listen back then without crying, still a bit hard to.
And #1? Wait for the reveal!
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Stat Pack:
I knew 52!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So many of my favorites... Orleans was just climbing with Dance With Me... America debuted Daisy Jane... Hudson Brothers' Beach Boys-esque Rendezvous... Morris Albert's Feelings... Johnny Rivers doing Help Me Rhonda... Ambrosia Holding On To Yesterday... Janis Ian At Seventeen... Barry Manilow Could It Be Magic... Hamilton Joe Frank and Reynolds Fallin' In Love... Dawn's Morning Beautiful.. The Rockford Files theme... Pilot's Magic... "Lazy day in bed, music in my head, crazy music playing in the morning light..." excuse me a minute...
Wow. Just wow.
ANYway. The #75 in '75 belonged to Conway Twitty with Touch The Hand. It was a #1 country (big surprise there) that never charted on Billboard. It had a duet with his 16-y-o daughter Joni Lee on the flip, Don't Cry Joni. And as I research this, I see I BOOTED the ball here- somehow I lurched back two weeks in time on the stats? Was I drinking a Golden Monkey at the time?
But this is a neat, if time displaced story, so let me leave it there. The REAL 75/75 is... Orleans and Dance With Me!!! As Mel Allen would say, How about that?
The other thing I messed up in my time-hiccup is the #101, which is Bobby Womack and Bill Withers covering It's All Over Now. What DID I have there? Never you mind...
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| "No, wait, it was one of mine, dang it! It was..." WOOOOOOSH.... |
Leo Sayer, ladies and gentleman, sorry you couldn't stay! Anyhow, the big mover was ... oh, wait, recalculating here, too... how about a 19 notch climb to #64 with ZZ Top and Tush!
Finally, the British chart topper- a chart I knew 16 out of 50 on- was another unreleased-in-the-States single for the Bay City Rollers, Give A Little Love.
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Gee whiz, I darn near forgot our other debut! At #9, the return to the M10 of an act with a #1 to their credit, Kidsmoke...
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And the rest of the M10:
A couple of 2 week, one notch movers next- Baywaves and 1954 Egyptian drama at #8, and Jim Croce's Lover's Cross at #7.
Three straight seven weekers next, and two of them hold their spots from last week. The Derevs take a third week at #6 with Now You Know My Name; the Jayhawks remain at #4 with Everybody Knows; and the one song that kept both these former #2s from hitting the top, Caroline Rose hits the 60-point mark with More Of The Same. Which is also known as, "member of a six way tie for 21st all time..."
The Jayhawk's second member of the club moves up to #3- Backwards Women.
Geowulf slides into runner-up position with Sunday.
And that means a second week at #1 for...
...Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears and Nature's Natural!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And my favorite of the post ME2.0 Cashbox #1s...
1- The Rolling Stones, Miss You. One of those "I remember the first time I heard this" tunes...
And that leaves us with our Panel winner, the next POTM... the envelope, please...
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| "Get it yourself! Lazy Daddy..." |
Gee thanks. Anywhat, the winner is...
...the Captain and Tennille with Love Will Keep Us Together!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, two more weeks, and then the big 500th anniversary post! But first, 1976!
Chris:
ReplyDelete---Wow, that was some intro w/ Omarr and Hoffa...heh.
---Had my pick early...but it was a tough choice.
---(Bernard?)
---Always liked Mike and the Mechanics.
---Take On Me...agreed on the video (and the song wasn't bad either...someone had some TIGHT underwear to hit those notes!)
---(Bernard???)
---Paul Young - EXCELLENT song!
---Emotion - another great song from that era.
---M-m-m-My Sharona - yeah, that's a keeper, too.
---Shadow Dancing - another keeper (got an old CB story to go with that)
---Baker Street - Love it!
---Money For Nothing - brilliant video and a damn fine song as well.
---Total Eclipse of the Heart - Man, how Jim Steinman could write those songs!
Yeah, it's a tear-jerker.
---NO surprise with ZZ TOP and 'Tush" moving up the charts. They had a slew of great songs during the mid-late 70s!
(and good concerts, too)
---Miss You (???) Not my top choice, but to each their own. I would taken Bonnie Tyler (but not in a Biblical sense).
---Kidsmoke...nice song...easy to tow tap.
---Black Joe Louis does it AGAIN...WTG!
---And yes, I DID nail the #1 panel pick. I mean I ALMOST went with the Bee Gees...and I do mean ALMOST. Started typing them in, and then went "all romantic".
(imitating Beetlejuice) "Don'cha hate when that happens?"
A very good AND informative ride this week.
Keep those hits comin up there, brother.
The top three were a real battle, and another era would have had Bonnie at the top. But Like I said, there was the "remember when you first heard it" thing... and it was the only such on the list.
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