Hey, where's the music?

 It has been five weeks since the Halloween Bash and the end of Time Machine.  Back then, I wasn't sure what would come next, and truth be told, I still ain't.  Playing with the "cast" and "guests" of TM was in a way addicting, and it would be so easy to lapse into something that would evolve back into TM.  And I rather enjoy having the three hours every Thursday night off.

But I have still been doing an M10.  And Laurie and I have been going through the old charts yet and playing stuff for our enjoyment.  A FB friend advised, "Please don't tell me you've been playing Barry White, that would be TMI."

I replied, "Playing Barry White would end up with me homeless."  But, I digress.

Barry White, adding sex to music since 1963.

I've been looking for a way to get back "into it", without getting back into it.  Mostly though, I've been procrastinating.  But something came up with this week's M10, one of my odd statistical things that I drive everyone nuts with, that I just have to share.  But to get to it, let me re-introduce you to my M10.  You remember the rules- if I never heard it before, regardless of when it came out, it gets a shot.  So when we left off, the top ten looked like this:

#1 for a second week was the cover of Midnight Train To Georgia by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, fronted by Brittney Spencer. It finally dropped off 2 weeks ago after 7 weeks in the 10 and enough points to make 18th for the year.

#2 was an oldie from the Old 97's, Champaign Illinois.  It would spend a week at #1, then drop and fall out the week of Thanksgiving with a year's ranking of #21 right now.

#3 was the second week for the acoustic version of the Elton John/Dua Lipa duet Cold Heart.  The poppy version of this is still currently at #11 on Billboard;it fared less well here, burning its fuel at a number 2 peak, and out after 4 weeks.

#4 was the Beths and Dying To Believe.  That would be its peak, out 2 weeks later.

#5 was Geowulf and I've Been Over It- not only its peak, but its last week.

At #6 was the former #1 by the late Gerry Rafferty, Sign Of The Times.  It spent it's last week-its 8th- at #10 the next week, finishing tied for 13th on the year.

At #7 debuted Tom Jones with a song from 1971 called Till.  It spent 2 weeks at the top- Tom's first on the M10- and the fact that it is still at #6 will lead into the stat that brought us here.  Currently, it is tied for #23 on the year.

#8 was the second week for Dami Im and Pray.  As this is also part of the story, I'll say no more yet.

#9 was the debut of Sunflower Bean's Baby Don't Cry.  It logged 4 weeks on the chart and peaked at #3.

And #10 was the debut week for a 2006 song, released this November, for Barry Manilow, Dancing In the Aisles.  Peaking at 5, it spent five weeks in the 10, dropping this week.

Now, let me introduce you by links to the songs that have came in since then.

November 3rd saw the debut of Damien Jurado's Take Your Time. It peaked at #2 last week.

November 10th was a week I screwed up recording the 10 three separate times.  In the end, there were 2 more debuts.  At #9 was Duran Duran featuring Tove Lo and Give It All Up.  It sits atop the chart for a second week right now.

At #10 was the long-awaited new single from The Explorers Club- their chart-leading tenth- with a cover of, well, a lot of people's hit Hurts So Bad.  It sits at #4.

Two weeks ago marked the return of Beach House- for the first time since 2018's Equal Mind- with their 8th M10, Once Twice Melody.  They also have a part to play in our ending story; suffice it to say they sit at #3.

 

Last week saw three debuts- from a band I've seen live, a band we've missed since 2016, and a band recording hit #8 on the M10.  The live act is Our Lady Peace, with a brand new one called Future Disease.  It came in at 8, but moved down to 9 this week.

The band we've missed is the Pom Poms, with their brand new fourth M10,  Stoned And Lonely.  They came in at #9, and also had to take a step back, to make room for this week's debut.

The 8 timer has already been mentioned once- Geowulf with their next new single, Open Me Up, coming in at #10 and leaping to #5 this week.

Which brings you to this week's debut.  The legendary band Sweet, with one surviving original member, re-recorded and released a tune from a 2006 lp, and it comes in this week at #8.  They also get a part in the story; but first here's Everything 2021:

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Now, the story- actually two stories.  The main one involves a new M10 record.  Every once in a while, we get a song who holds in its position for a second week, and the # of weeks on matches the position, giving you, for example, a 4 (weeks on)- 4 (last week)- 4 (this week) in my book.  Prior to this week, it had happened 25 times since I started the M10 in August 2015.  Never had it happened twice in the same week...

Until this week, when Tom Jones and Till got the 6-6-6, and Beach House's Once Twice Melody got the 3-3-3!  The other story is the possibility of a record... that could happen next week.  Until now, the record for most weeks to hit #1 was 7, accomplished twice: once by the Strawberry Runners and When We Were Good, and once by the original Sweet with their cover of the Peppermint Twist.

And now, we have Dami Im.  Dami (whose first M10, the Eurovision top 5 Sounds Of Silence, got a 3-3-3 herself) currently, as I mentioned, has the song Pray in the countdown.  It started at #10, went 8,9,8,4, 4... and this week ascends to #2.  If it manages to knock off Duran Duran, that would be 8 weeks.

But will it?  I don't know, but you can find out next week when I start posting the M10 once again!  Will there be a cast... maybe.

"I sure hope so.  Retirement sucks!"