Time Machine- the Great One-Vote-Wonder Show

Journey to May 3rd, 1967, part one...



So if you read to the bottom of Monday's lovely post, you know that we had a problem with this week's Panel from 1967.  It was TOO BIG.  106 stations flooded the Panel with 39 contestants- and believe me, we had the obscurest of the obscure along with 23 songs that actually made the Hot 100! So today, we're going to break things up with just the one-vote-wonders... and they make up 51.3% of the contestants, though only 18.8% of the vote...

What, you couldn't just say, 'There were 20 of them'?

And that voice belongs to my guest and POTM winner, Cass Elliot!

So how come I got the losers' bracket?

Well, uh... um, it's like this...

Oh I know... you got the hots for Missy... but I'm cute too...

Well, sure, Ms Elliot...

Call me Mama...

Um... anyway, we're going to do this the old alphabetical way, just to mix it up a bit.  Cass, would you take the first few?

Suit yourself... First, we Lulu with The Boat That I Row.  It was written by up-and-comer Neil Diamond and at some point peaked in the US at 115, though it made #6 in the UK.  This week, it was #16 there.

Then we have Peaches and Herb with Close Your Eyes, at #15 this week.

Oh, look!  There we are with Creque Alley, at #24 this week!  Groovy!

Yes, nicely done!  So next we have an act called Jon and Robin- and this was John Abnor Jr and Javonne (Robin) Braga...

Gee, they look so happy there...

Yeah, I noticed.  Anyway, they recorded for Abnak Records, which daddy John Sr set up just for him.  Their only big act were the Five Americans, who charted Western Union in tomorrow's half of the Panel.  Today, their song is Do It Again A Little Bit Slower, and it was on the charts at #80.

And we have Neil Diamond himself, with one of my faves of his- Girl You'll Be A Woman, at ... could you, y'know, scoot back a bit?

I'm just tryin' to read over your shoulder, sugar...

Uh-huh.  Anyway, he's at #16.  And The Tremeloes were at #28 with Here Comes My Baby.

Okay, so next we have Don Gallucci, who used to be with the Kingsmen, at #97 with his new band, Don and the Goodtimes...






I really like that one...

Me too!  Wanna dance?

Ah, doing the show right now...

Oh, yeah... then comes the entertainment elite kiddies, Dino Desi and Billy with If You're Thinkin' What I'm Thinkin'.  It was from Dino's dad's Matt Helm movie, Murderers' Row...

I LOVED Matt Helm...

...with Ann-Margaret- I know, you loved her, too.  Anyway, like all of their singles after '65, it didn't chart, but Dino got to call Matt Helm "Dad" in the movie...

Then we get Spencer Davis Group with I'm A Man, at #11.

Next up we get one of those real obscure ones, they were called the Wanted, and all I could really find out about them is they were from Grosse Pointe, MI and had a single or to on a label I likewise found very little about, Detroit Sound.  They did a garage band cover of In The Midnight Hour, and it got at least as high as #128 on Billboard after A&M picked it up.

Then in what could pass for a pseudo-6D story we have "Whistling Jack Smith"- a name taken from 1920s-1940s baritone Whispering Jack Smith- with I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman.  This tune, originally called, "Too Much Birdseed", was written by the two Rogers- Cook and Greenaway- and performed by a set of studio musicians and the Mike Samms Singers- whose John O'Neill did the whistling.  When the darn thing became a hit- some say it was due to the confusion between the "batman" in the title (which is a soldier tasked to be a servant to some high-and-mighty) and a certain other Batman popular at the time-

"Could he mean ME, Boy Wonder?"

- they were requested to do the tune on Brit show Tops Of The Pops, and they needed a whistling stand-in to, er, lip-synch.  They picked an actor going by the handle Coby Wells, who then became the "face" of "Whistling Jack Smith".  Bonus:  Coby (real name Billy Moeller) was brother to Tommy Moeller whose band Unit 4+2 had a big hit with Concrete and Clay.

Wow.  I could use a drink...

You want me to get you a Coke, sweetie?

No, just do the next few songs, okay?

Sigh... Our next song is from a band called the Merry-Go-Round... and they were almost famous for their leader, Emmit Rhodes.  He was named an up-and-comer, but when the record company forced him into a 6 albums in 3 years deal- with him doing ALL the instruments- he broke down, got sued for a quarter-mil, and lost all his royalties.  But before that, his band was at #74 with this:





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Next, we have another obscure one, by a high-school band out of Sioux Falls, and it don't get much more obscure than that!  They had the unusual name of The Dynamic Hursmen, or Hursemen depending where you find it, and their song was Love Is A Beautiful Thing.

Next, we have a Canadian folk act, Ian and Sylvia (Tyson), who were actually married for 12 of their 17 years performing together.  She was more notable here for writing You Were On My Mind by the We Five; their song, Lovin' Sound, was the only one to chart in the US, peaking at 101.

Chris, do you want to... Chris?   

Sorry, had to go pee.  Anyway, we are up to one of my all time favorites, the Byrds with My Back Pages at #26.


Sandie Posey's Single Girl came in at #12- last December...

A Fresno band who put out 7 singles in an 8 month span- to no real impact- the Road Runners get a vote for a song called Sleepy Friend.


Then it's Hendrix and Purple Haze- and despite the fact it is already #5 in the UK, it was just released yesterday here in the states!

Then we have the winner for most obscure- it goes to a gent by the name of Bobby Mac, of whom ALL I could learn was his real name was Robert McGlothin (thank you to Catalog of Copyright Entries) and that he recorded from LA and Original Sound Records.  His tune was called Walking Together, and it was an interesting one.  You see, it starts out with...

Honey, why not just play it?

Yeah... yeah, I guess we could.  Watch out for the ending you expect... followed by the one you didn't!





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And the final of the one-vote-wonder list is the Dave Clark Five with You've Got What It Takes at #8, and #35 in the UK.

So, now what?

Well, that leaves 14 "also receiving votes" tunes- only five of 'em I didn't know this time- and a tight 5 song finale for tomorrow!

No... I mean, "Now, what...?"

Uh, well, that's all the time we have for today!  Tune in tomorrow for the rest of the show!

But, wait!  I... oh, drat!