Time Machine co-ordinates VILXVI50710561

We land in a really ugly time for France in October 5th, 1961.  Today the chief of Paris police, Maurice Papon, declared a curfew for Muslims only in Paris, at the height of tensions with Algeria- which was at the time "part of metropolitan France."  Algerians called for a protest, and the next day, Paris police killed- depending on who you want to believe- between 3 people (the original "official report") and 300.  The "Paris Massacre of 1961" was downplayed by foreign media, covered up by France, subject to lawsuits by Papon years later when a historian reissued a letter by certain policemen who accused Papon of having Algerians clubbed unconscious and thrown into the Seine, and finally in 1998- 37 years later- the French government revised the death toll from 3 to "several dozen".  I'm not supporting terrorism by any means, but keep this in mind the next time you hear a politician attach the words "without any reason" to a terror attack.


Thankfully, that's the end of the bum news this week, because it's time for Time Machine!  This week, I remember to do the Label feature, Chubby Checker guests, three new songs by old friends hit the M10, and I give you not just a traditional 6D- not just a "cop-out composer" 6D, but BOTH!  No curfews here, kids!


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With three debuts I have to start 'em out early!  Without further ado, here's the one at #10.  They took Come And Go to #1, and Zombies to #2- a big hand for Radiation City!






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Okay, everybody, here's Chubby Checker!

C'mon baby, Let's do the tw... hey, where's the band?

You're not singing, Chub, you're doing the Panel picks this week!

Not singing?  But... but all I do is sing and dance...

Well, today, you get to do something different.  I go through the songs voted #1 on various local charts, count up the votes, and that's how you got on the show, you won last week!

I won?  Well, that's different, then!  Let me see your list, my good man!

Sure thing.  We had a much smaller list of 14 contestants from 37 stations this week, so here you go with the one-vote wonder list...

All righty, I see we have Troy Shondell, on the way up at #43 on Cashbox, with This Time.

Oh, here's a great one!  Lee Dorsey and Ya Ya at #33!

I played Laurie Steve Miller's remake of that, too!

Who's Steve Miller?

Spoilers, Chubby...

Uh-HUH.  All right, next we have Johnny O'Keefe... now come on.  Who's Johnny O'Keefe?

Well, I had an Australian chart in my mix, and he had a song called I'm Counting On You.  He was the first native to make their national charts, and it was the third of four #1s for him Down Under.

But it never charted here?

'Fraid not.

You know this is all kinda silly, then, right?

More than you realize...

Okay, so next I have Elvis and (Marie's The Name Of) His Latest Flame at #32.  Looks like ol' Hot Pants ain't doin' so good, huh?

Elvis:  Now you listen here, you jumped-up jitterbugger, I'm gonna...

CC:  You're gonna what, Mama's Boy?

GENtlemen, could we cool off here?  Let me put in that His Latest Flame was the b-side of that record, and it WAS on the way down...

E: So see, I'm gonna be up on the final's list, and then where you gon...

Um, sorry dude... Little Sister didn't get any votes...

E:  That's okay, that means I'll be in that special 6D...

Sorry again, dude, you got beat out there, too...

CC:  ExCUSE me, Mr Presley, I have things to do.  Bobby Darin got a vote for You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby at #7...

And the last of the one-vote wonders doesn't even debut until next week!  That would be Jimmy Dean with Big Bad John, which comes into CB at #71 next week.

All right, great.  Now, here are five also-rans that got 2 votes...

Wait... are we gon' do this all the way up the list?

Actually no.  After we do these we are on to the finalists- two songs with 3 votes, and the one that clobbered everybody!

Gotcha.  So with 2 votes, we have...

The Dovells and Bristol Stomp at #16...
Dick an' DeeDee with The Mountain's High at #4...
Hayley Mills- you mean that skinny little kid on the Disney movies?

The very one...

..at #28 with Let's Get Together...
...Bobby Edwards and You're The Reason at #53...
...and finally, Roy Orbison and Crying at #2. 

And that leaves you with the three finalists...

And they are-

My man Ray Charles at #9 with Hit The Road, Jack...
Bobby Vee and Take Good Care Of My Baby at #1...
 and Dion with Runaround Sue at #20...

Thanks, Chubby, and I might note to the voters that Runaround Sue is our big mover this week- 50 notches from #70 last week!  So make your picks while I give you our next M10 debut!  She first hit #1 with Dent May on Across The Multiverse, came on solo with Jesse at #6, and this week returns at #9- Frankie Cosmos!!!








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It was a good week to be RCA in the Label Game this year!  In 1961, RCA led the MusicVF top 100 for the year with seven songs... but the winner with 4 songs averaging position #19, was...

...RCA Victor!!!!  They had 3 Elvis tunes- the aforementioned Little Sister (#16)/ His Latest Flame (#10) combo, as well as I Feel So Bad (#32)- along with Floyd Cramer's On The Rebound (#18).  Funny thing is, they seem to alternate which label Elvis is released on- he had four of the seven for RCA as well!  RCA leads our little list overall now with 28 songs since we started, with MGM running second at 21 and Mercury a distant third at 17.


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So like I said, we're doing both versions of six degrees this week, and our composer du jour is Bob Crewe.  Now, we all know that he was the major domo behind the Four Seasons, but I didn't realize the raft of top ten hits he composed for OTHER acts:

Silhouettes, which was taken top ten by three different acts- The Rays, the Diamonds, and Herman's Hermits;
A Lover's Concerto by the Toys;
the biggest hits of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels- Devil With A Blue Dress, Jenny Take A Ride, and Sock It To Me Baby;
Going Out Of My Head/Can't Take My Eyes Off You by the Lettermen;
Jean by Oliver;
Lady Marmalade by LaBelle;
 and Navy Blue by Diane Renay, which is where the "trad" 6D kicks in.  See, this one was a co-write with one Eddie Rambeau, who was all lined up for a hit, that he was going to sing on ABC's American Bandstand, called Summertime Guy.  But, at the last minute, he was told he would have to do the b-side.  It seems that the writer of his hit worked for ABC- and the lawyers were worried about payola accusations.  Thus, that song went nowhere- until the writer had it converted to an instrumental, where it became the theme for....

...The Newlywed Game!  Which means the writer of said tune was Chuck Barris!  Chuck also wrote an actual big hit- Freddie Cannon's Palisade Park.  That song, I found, was covered by the Beach Boys on their mid-70's lp 15 Big Ones.  That lp of mostly covers- the big hit was their version of Rock And Roll Music- was going to contain a cover of our 6D victim- but it got cut at the last minute, much like Eddie Rambeau's singing career.  And that song, which was at #3 without Panel love-  The Highwaymen with Michael.


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Highest debut time!  This one is by the gents that brought us the #1 The Wrong Year and the #2 Severed...  at #8, this is the Decemberists!





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Stat Pack Time!


So we had 3 songs at #100, and no bubble-under chart, so here we go.  One of them was Jerry Fuller, who wrote Travellin' Man (first intended for Sam Cooke) for Rick Nelson, with Guilty Of Loving You, which would stall at #95;  Then we have Bert Kaempfert's Now And Forever, which had already peaked at #59 and was on the way out; and finally we had Faron Young's #8 country hit Backtrack.  The only debut of the three, it would hang at 100 for two weeks, fall off for two weeks, come back in for a third week at 100, move up at last- to #99- and disappear.

The number 61 in '61 was Connie Francis with Hollywood.  This was the b-side to what was the only relative stinker in the latest CF hot streak, (He's My) Dreamboat.  They charted 22/26 on CB, but 14/42 on Billboard, the only non- top ten a-side for Miss Connie in a 9-song, two year top ten streak starting with My Heart Has A Mind Of It's Own and ending with V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N. Of course, the bright side was that it was the only b-side in the streak to crack the top 40.


I knew 21 of 100 in the US and went a poor 5-of-50 in the UK, where the top song was the Shadows again with Kon-Tiki, and the only Panelist to make good was Crying at #28.

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Oh, and I almost forgot.  There was a song on the Brit chart called Suku Suku- a Latin-style dance number- that was charted by FOUR different acts!  The Laurie Johnson Orchestra was at #9; Nina and Frederick (A Danish/Dutch husband-wife act, and the one we listened to) at #23, the Heath Orchestra at #36, and Ping Ping and Al Verlaine- yes, Ping Ping- made #41.

Okay, now I'm scaring myself...

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The remaining M10:

Escondido gets stuck at 7 with Crush On Her.

Leapfrogging them is ELO with Train Of Gold.

Also playing the ol' switcheroo is Blackberry Smoke and Eleanor Friedberger, with One Horse Town slipping to 5 and Eleanor moving to #4 with Everything.

No longer #2- Vanessa Carlton slips to #3 with Lonely Girls.

As does Leon Bridges with Beyond to #2.

Which makes the new #1...

Anna Burch and What I Want!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And the winner of the POTM, with a whopping 40.5% of the vote...

...Dion and Runaround Sue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


All right, next time it's where were you in '62?  I was I was approaching my 5 month birthday, so even Christine Ford can't pin nothing on me!  See ya then!