Time Machine co-ordinates VILXVII509101963

Well, it's a quiet Saturday on October 19th, 1963.  The balance of what is happening:  Lord Alec Douglas Home becomes the new British Prime Minister, the first Lord in almost 70 years to hold the position.  Not exciting enough? Well, I've got JFK makes a speech in Boston... the Pope sends a bunch of missionaries to Africa... The Beach Boys playing the Hollywood Bowl... did I mention Lord Home?

"Yes... and, if I may say, you made a right hash of it!"

Well, your Lordship, there's only so much you can do with 5 surfer boys, 4 missionaries, 3-initialled POTUS, 2 mentions for his Lordship, and a day wherein nothing occurred...

Good, Lord, that was ghastly...

Yes... yes, it was.  I'd better get to the good stuff.  This week, two new M10 debuts- including just the second instrumental; what Bert Parks, Lawrence Welk, and Tony Bennett have to do with the 6D victim; The Donny and Marie connection to this week in 1963; and our Panel guest, POTM Bobby "Boris" Pickett!  I know it ain't the same Pickett, but- CHARGE!!!

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First off, I want to let you in on a promise I kept.  I promised myself I would NOT listen to Lucinda Williams' original of Lonely Girls until Vanessa Carlton's #2 cover dropped off the M10.  That day came this week, and so I thought I would share Lucinda's version with you.  I darn near had the song back on the chart...




I should note:  photo credit is : 
"sad and lonely girl" by amanda tetrault


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SQWEEEEEEEEEEEK... clump clump clump rattle rattle CLOMP!

Well, look who's here- Bobby "Boris" Pickett!

Good evening... say, I thought a person got younger again coming on this show...

Well, generally they do... but you look creepier as an old guy   there was a temporal malfunction, so...

Ah, yes... Technology seems to have an aversion to gentlemen of ... my line of work...

That and mirrors.  Anyway, I think you are familiar with the set-up here?

Yes, your delightful little assistant was quite helpful... what was his name again? Igor?

Nardole.  But you can call him Igor if you like.

Yes... so let me see the list...

Okay, 53 stations and 13 contestants-  here are the one-vote wonders...

Wait... look into my eyes... you are sleepy...

...sleepy...

Now, when I snap my fingers, YOU will read the one-vote wonders and all the intermediaries, and then you will wake up and give me the final contestants... do you understand?

...yes, master...

SNAP!

The one hit wonders... we start with an Australian vote for an act called the Town And Country Brothers... I could find out nothing about them... except their song is called Sandy Sandy...


Trini Lopez was at #37 with If I had a Hammer...

Stop for a moment.  Every time you speak a woman's name, you will bark like a dog.  Understand?

Yes, master...

Continue...

Next is Los Indios Trabajaros with Maria BARK BARK BARK Elena Woof woof at #33 and climbing...

Then comes the Dramatics with Misery at # 72 and debuting...

Then it is Sunny whimper whine and the Sunglows with Talk To Me at #12...

Wait.  Why did you whimper?  

Because I don't remember if Sunny is male or female...

Sigh, very well.  Continue...

Cry To Me by Betty BowWow Harris is at #43...

The Rivingtons somehow got a vote despite the fact their song Papa Ooh Mow Mow charted last September...

And Dion's Donna Arf Arf Woof The Prima Donna was at #6.

The other runners up...

Stop.  Now, when ever you read a man's name, you will call him a name that starts with the same letter as his name.  Understand?

Yes, master...

Continue...

... are Cry Baby by Garnett the Goof Mims and the Enchanters at #4...

..and Washington Square by the Village Stompers at #7...

What?  That's all?  Very well, you will now go back through and give names to the rest of the men...

Bobby the Boob Pickett..

What?  That's not what I...

Bobby the Bozo Pickett...

Stop that!  Stop that right...

BOZO BOZO BOZO...

Dash it all!  When I snap my fingers, you will wake up...

SNAP!

Hmm?  Oh, wow, I must have dozed a bit.  Those power naps are really refreshing!  Anyway, here are the three contestants that make our final...

Thank you... Kindly choose from Be My Baby by the Ronnettes at #2;  Deep Purple by Nino Tempo and April Stevens at #11; or Sugar Shack by Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs at #1.

Alright, and thank you, Bobby, I can't remember having such a delightful guest!  I do wanna let you all know this:  This was not a close race- the winner lapped the field with 52.8% of the vote!


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Debut the first, at #10, is the b-side to the latest single from a brand new- released Thursday- lp called Octagram.  Why the b- side?  Because that is the version spotify turned me on to, and the second instrumental in M10 history!  From Russia with love, here's Alkonost:





Before you ask, "Paporotnik" means "fern"... And it comes in at #10.

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So our 6D victim this time out is Bobby Vinton's Blue Velvet.  It's at #3 this week after a tour at #1.  But what I didn't realize was that this song- written by one Bernie Wayne, who also penned Bert Parks' Miss America theme, There She Is, had so many covers!  In fact Bobby was far from the first to record it- and he almost didn't.  He had just hit #3 with Blue On Blue, and so did an lp with all-blue songs, and thought he would have had a bigger hit with Am I Blue!  Finally, we score one for the A&R guy!

The first trip onto the charts for Velvet was Tony Bennett in 1951.  He made #12 on Cashbox and #18 on Billboard's best seller list.  The Clovers, best known for their #23 original of Love Potion #9, took their version to #14 R&B in 1959, and the next year it bubbled under at #103 for the Paragons- a doo-wop act from Brooklyn their former manager called, "real hoodlums; real zip-gun, street-warring hoodlums", but who had (presumably) mellowed after several line-up changes and manager changes as well.

That same year, another outfit, called the Statues, snuck up to #80 on CB- and shared time on the bubbling under with the hoodl- er, the Paragons.  And around the time Bobby was charting it, Lawrence Welk also bubbled under- also peaking at #103- with a mainly instrumental version.


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Stat Pack:

I knew 30 of our Hot 100, but not the #63 in '63, Dee Dee Sharp's Wild!, which would peak at #33.  Wiki claims it was on a "various artists" compilations called All The Hits By All The Stars.  There were 4 volumes of that brand name out from Cameo-Parkway, and NONE of them had Wild!, though volume 1 did have both Mashed Potato Time and Gravy- in fact, I saw no evidence it was EVER on an album!

Our #101 was the New Christy Minstrels with Saturday Night.  A non-lp single that came out in between Ramblin' and Today, I can't prove it, but it looks like it is a lineup that featured Gene Clark of Byrds fame and Barry McGuire of Eve Of Destruction fame.

The big mover caught my attention, and here's why.  Two songs that I have always associated with each other were Donny and Marie's 1974-5 hits Deep Purple and I'm Leaving It Up To You.  Maybe just because they were Donny and Marie songs- but maybe, just maybe I also remembered the originals- because while Deep Purple is in the Panel Picks at #11, the original ILIUTY by Dale and Grace is the big mover this same week, 34 spots from #62 to 28.

The Brits had 2 of our Panel Picks- If I Had A Hammer at #6 and Be My Baby at #32- but I only knew 13 of the 50.  One of those I did not was Brian Poole and the Tremoloes cover of Do You Love Me at their top spot.  What, no Shadows this week?

"If you desire Dark Shadows, you'll require a REAL vampire, not one from a novelty song..."

Egads, methinks this has become an early Halloween show!  Sorry, Barnabas, let me move right along to our high debut at #8.  From the lp due out next month called She Remembers Everything, here's Roseanne Cash...





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The label battle was a quantity or quality match for sure.  Capitol registered 10 of MusicVF's top 100 for the year, beating out Columbia with 7.  Problem was, over half of those 17 were at #86 or lower.  Thus we were set up with a 4-way battle for best average position between RCA (6 hits), Laurie (5), Epic (6), and Warner Brothers (4).  But the best average position- and Bobby Vinton's revenge for not getting Panel votes...

...Epic!!! Bobby contributed There I've Said It Again (11), Blue On Blue (55), as well as Blue Velvet (19).  The Dave Clark Five added in Glad All Over (16), The Village Stompers' Washington Square made 43, and (keeping in mind that this is a mixed US-UK site) the Cliff Richard cover of It's All In The Game (80), all of which gave them an average position of 37.3- almost 4 better than RCA, and 24 better than Capitol!  As for the overall, RCA now has 40 to Columbia's 27, MGM's (who got shut out this week) 26, 24 each for Capitol and Decca, 22 for Mercury, and ABC-Paramount with 20.



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The rest of the M10:

Leon Bridges manages to squeak out a sixth week, falling from 5 to 9 with the former #1 Beyond.

Speaking of former #1s, Blackberry Smoke seems determined to give up one spot per week, slipping to #7 with what is now the number 5 for 2018, One Horse Town.

ELO's Train Of Gold chugs back two to #6.

After spending all of its three weeks at #7, Escondido moves up to 5 with Crush On Her.

The big move is made by Rad City's Ghost Organ, up 4 to #4.

Last week's #1 drops to 3- Anna Burch's What I Want.

Ascending to runner-up:  Frankie Cosmos and Apathy.

Which means the new numero uno is the second such for this act- 

...the Decemberists and Sucker's Prayer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And your panel winner?  Well, the Ronnettes only gotcha 9.4%, and Nino and April only managed 15%, so yer winner was...

....Jimmy and the guys with Sugar Shack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


1964 is next- will there be a Beatle infestation?  Find out next week!