Step into my time machine week 87

‘Twas the time machine before Christmas, and the news continued quiet.  The temperature dropped throughout the day, the wind got things bitter cold, and with barely an inch of snow on the ground, by 9 pm we hit 5 degrees with a wind chill of –10.  (Of course, it got into the thirties by the big day, with no further snow.)  And within the time machine, we saw the return of an unusual song from a Where Are They Now past, the return of the #49 curse, the King of Jazz (and no, it’s not Louie Armstrong), And we connect Leo Sayer with former pro wrestler Dick The Bruiser!  Let’s have at it, shall we?

10 songs debut this week in two groups of five (90-94 and 96-100).  The first group featured a returnee- Dickie Lee’s 9,999,999 Tears, which re-enters after peaking at 67 and falling off last week.  Thelma Houston’s Don’t Leave Me This Way comes in at 92, and the novelty hit In The Mood by the Henhouse Five (plus Two), in which the vocals were particularly fowl (Tee Hee) comes in at 94.  The second group included chick magnet Tom Jones with Say You’ll Stay Until Tomorrow at 97; and at 99, reggae band Boney M hits with their version of Daddy Cool, which featured on this program a few weeks back on the Little River Band WATN, when a proto-LRB going by the name of Drummond did a chipmunk version of the song.

In addition to the crew turning thirty-five, here are our other birthday songs.  Three Dog Night’s Never Been To Spain, War’s Slippin’ Into Darkness, and Climax’s Precious And Few all turn forty this week. Turning 55 is Pat Boone’s Don’t Forbid Me, along with an oddity that turns both 55 and 60.  We all know the English folk tune Greensleeves, if for no other reason  than the use of it's tune in the carol What Child Is This.  Well this week in 1956, the Beverley Sisters entered the (top 50) chart at #37 with Greensleeves- and in 1951, Mitch Miller’s Orchestra came in at #38- thus we have a nearly 500-year-old song turn both 55 and 60 this week!

I forgot about the grandpa chair last week, probably because She’s Gone was still in it.  It still is, at least for one more week, but this time it’s also our biggest dropper- falling 31 spots to #79.  Our big mover is at 54, up 18- Steve Miller’s Fly Like An Eagle.

Well, we have a problem with the WATN segment, as #49 is occupied for the second time in three weeks by the Beatles Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.  As Disco Duck lies above it at #48 (and the last time I went THERE, I got Bill Shatner’s Bohemian Rhapsody), we’ll slide down to the #50 hole, where we find the Bay City Rollers with Yesterday’s Hero.

BCR has been around for a long time, but there are five guys that make up the “classic lineup”. Bass Guitarist Alan Longmuir lives in Scotland with wife Eileen.  He’s been in ill health for years, having suffered a heart attack in 1995 and a stroke two years later.  His brother Derek was the drummer, and since his retirement in 1981 became a nurse in Edinburgh, where he lives still.  For several years he has been fighting allegations of possessing child porn, which he and his family claims was a set-up by an obsessed American fan.  Lead guitar Eric Faulkner still tours with his version of the band, Eric Faulkner’s Bay City Rollers.  Rhythm Guitarist Stuart “Woody” Wood and wife Denise also live in Edinburgh, where they produce Celtic music, such as Julienne Taylor’s A Heart Within, released this summer.  Lead singer Les McKeown has struggled- with drugs (acquitted in 2006 on drug dealing charges); alcohol (he was the subject of UK reality show Rehab, based at an LA clinic); and other things (he recently discussed in an interview his bisexual relationship with manager Tam Paton, who was convicted of gross indecency with a minor boy in 1982 and died two years ago).  He lives with his wife Peko in Hackney, England, and tours with Les McKeown’s Legendary Bay City Rollers.

Yet another oddity occurs with the top 40 debuts- two of them, and I didn’t remember either one!  I did kinda recognize Tavares’ Don’t Take The Music (coming in at 40, up 3)once I played it; not so Earth Wind And Fire’s Saturday Nite (up 6 to 36).

Two songs enter the top ten, two fall out. Dropping are Muskrat Love (7 to 15) and Nights Are Forever Without You (10 to 19).

Checking in on #1s this week in yesteryear, I saw a name come up over and over in the twenties- one Paul Whiteman.  Paul “pops” Whiteman was the most popular bandleader of the 20’s, and by 1934 he had collected some 32 #1 songs.  Whiteman was known as the “King of Jazz” by such experts on the subject as Duke Ellington.  Jazz traditionalists, though, were put off by his eliminating of the impromptu aspect, carefully arranging every song.  In 1926 he hired three up-and-coming vocalists he dubbed the Rhythm Boys- which gave his big break to a rhythm boy named Bing Crosby.  Out of those 32 #1s, 6 of them were at #1 this week- 1920’s Whispering (an 11-week #1 with some 700 covers, including being the lead tune on the recent WATN featuree Whispering/Cherchez Le Femme/ Ci Ci Bon by Dr. Buzzard’s outfit) ; 1921’s Say It With Music (5 weeks at #1); 1922’s Three O’Clock In The Morning (8 weeks); 1924’s Somebody Loves Me (5 wks); 1926’s The Birth Of The Blues (4 wks); and 1929’s Great Day (2 weeks).

ELO gets into the top ten as Living Thing moves up one to #10.  Brick comes in at 9, up 3, with Dazz.  Elton John creeps up a spot to #8 with Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word.  Mr. Humperdink moves up a notch to #7 with After The Loving.  The Bee Gees slip a notch to #6 with Love So Right; Burton Cummings flips spots with them at #5 with Stand Tall.  The Spinners lose a spot with Rubberband Man sliding down to 4; Marilyn and Billy take that spot with You Don’t Have To Be A Star at #3.  The world trembles as Rod Stewart finally steps down from the top spot, going to #2 with Tonight’s The Night.
Which leaves us the new #1, Leo Sayer’s You Make Me Feel Like Dancing.

This wonderful song that I love SO much was co-written by Vini Poncia, another of those all over the place types who produced the Peter Criss album when Kiss did their four solos.  Criss brought him over for the next Kiss album, Dynasty, and Poncia fired Criss for substandard drumming.  Criss was replaced by Anton Fig, and you might wonder why that name sounds familiar.  Well, he’s the drummer for David Letterman’s house band, led by Paul Schaeffer.  Before they moved to CBS with Dave, the ensemble was known as the World’s Most Dangerous Band, a tribute to one of Dave’s (and mine) childhood heroes- the late, great pro wrestler Dick “the Bruiser” Afflis.


And with that, we return to the humdrum life we left behind in 2011.  Tune in Saturday for the seventies countdown.

Better late than never... Step into my time machine week 85

Before we kick this thing off, a blog pimping for According To Jewels, whose lovely proprietor has gifted me with a very nice HAND CRAFTED post card as part of the oft-mentioned Great Postcard Campaign.  And I DON'T CARE that it wasn't a "manly card"- it was festive and nice, and Scrappy liked it since he was called cute!

Also, we are late because a chronal stabilizing bascillicus went bad on me last night (or because 50% I've been under the weather and 50% I had to work today, whichever you prefer).

Anyway, let us proceed to 1976, where we will be landing just ahead of two notable music events.  6 days before target date, in a concert attempt to unite warring factions in Jamaica called Smiling Jamaica, Bob Marley found himself at the wrong end of some guns.  His wife and manager survived serious injuries, but he was okay and 2 days later went ahead with the concert, though the Wailers had ran to cover and he was backed up by Zap Pow.  "The people who are trying to make the world worse aren't taking a day off, "  he said. "How can I?"  And the day before we land, the music world was shook as it had rarely been before- that was the day the Eagles released Hotel California.  (And that should be a big, glaring clue to what this week's high debut will be!)

(Special shoehorned-in note:  The teaser for six degrees is: watch as I connect the Bee Gees to... the Bee Gees!)

Speaking of those debuts on the hot 100, there were eleven, and we will note six of them.  Kansas enters the public consciousness at #91 with Carry On Wayward Son.  One of my personal favorites, Al Stewart comes in at #85 with Year Of The Cat.  (Al is at his best with historical songs;  you really should youtube The Palace Of Versailles.) ABBA breaks here with Dancing Queen at 79; just one spot above is Barbara Streisand with the theme to the movie A Star Is Born, henceforth to be referred to by it's actual name, Evergreen.  At long last, my favorite song by Heart comes into the countdown- the title track to the lp Dreamboat Annie, at # 74.  And have you figured out who debuted way up at 57 this week?  Sure you did.  The Eagles' lead single off Hotel, New Kid In Town.

With these six having 35th birthdays, let,s look at the other birthdays this week.  Turning 40, Harry Nilsson's oft-covered Without You.  A trio turning 45- The Monkees' (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone; the Royal Guardsmen's Snoopy And The Red Baron; and the lovely Judith Durham and the Seekers with Georgie Girl.  A classic turns fifty- the King's Can't Help Falling In Love With You.  And turning 60, "Poor ol'" Johnnie Ray and Cry.  Blow out the candles...

The Big dropper this week is former top dog If You Leave Me Now, falling 28 spots to 58.  And, sigh, the big mover is once again in the top 40.

Which means we stop off at #49 and the Where Are They Now segment.  And at 49 is a band which, as they say, needs no introduction- the Beatles with Ob La Di, Ob La Da.  Now most people who might have any interest in our program know well and good where the Fab Four are now (All John Lennon Imagine jokes aside), so I thought, what about the two lads who were original, if short-lived Beatles?  The first, Stuart Sutcliffe, who left the band to pursue his art career, died just months later.  The other was drummer Pete Best.  Pete got the golden toe from the Beatles for a variety of reasons (kept out of group activities, Paul was jealous, drumming was subpar, and a list of allied excuses), and it put him into a depression that made him a virtual hermit for two weeks, and led to him having to be talked out of suicide.  But getting off the roller coaster led to a big blessing in his life- 2 years later he married his wife of over 45 years, Kathy.  They have 2 daughters and 4 grandkids.  In the mean time, he retired from performing in 1968- until persuaded to return in the late eighties.  He still tours with the latest incarnation of the Pete Best Band, which includes vocalist Tony Flynn, who was vocalist for unofficial (and litigation destroyed) versions of both Steppenwolf and Deep Purple.  They released the Beatles-esque lp Haymans Green in 2007 to good reviews.

Five new top 40 hits, leading off with reunited Bread climbing 9 to #40 with Lost Without Your Love.  Up 16 to #39 is Mary MacGregor with a song that proves the proverb about a bird in the hand, Torn Between Two Lovers.  At 31, up ten, is Aerosmith's Walk This Way.  Racing up the chart 14 spots (not surprisingly, since it is from the lp A Day At The Races) is Queen with Somebody To Love.  And our big mover of the week, up 18 spots from where it debuted in the hot 100 last week, is Stevie Wonder's I Wish at #28.

 Now it's our new segment when I pull a song from this week in history.  Actually, I pull 4 songs up with one tug, and they all have one man in common.  Canadian tenor Henry Burr, born Harry Haley McCaskey, and recording under more pseudonyms than I care to recount, was one of the more popular, and most prolific, artists of the early twentieth century.  He estimated that he recorded some 12,000 songs, and was one of the top recording acts prior to the rock'n'roll era. We feature him this week, because according to Josh Hostler's site, he was #1 this week in 1906 with Love Me And The World Is Mine.  And in 1910 with Meet Me Tonight In Dreamland.  And in 1919 with Oh What A Pal Was Mary.  And if that's not enough, he was the leader of the Columbia Male Quartet, who were at #1 this week in 1907 with Let Me Call You Sweetheart.  I sampled Oh What A Pal Was Mary- this guy could flat sing.

Two songs enter the top ten, two fall out.  The droppers are More Than A Feeling (4 to 16) and You Are The Woman (8 to 18).

Speaking of falling out, when will it happen to She's Gone?  After 32 weeks, it hangs onto a top forty spot this week still at 37, a drop of just 4.

Two of those "faves of mine" make the top ten this week.  The first, and likely my #1 for the week (had I been doing my top ten yet), is England Dan and John Ford Coley with Nights Are Forever Without You, moving 2 spots to #10.  Holding at 9 is Alice Cooper's I Never Cry.  The other debut comes in at 8, a three-notch climb for Burton Cummings with Stand Tall.  Nadia's Theme begins its trek to where the Young and Restless lay, dropping 2 to #7.  Jumping 4 big notches to #6 are the Two Dimensions, er, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, with You Don't Have To Be A Star.  Going from #7 to # 5 is Leo Sayer's You Make Me Feel Like Dancing.  The Spinners are the last climbers, going north 2 spots to #4 with The Rubberband Man.  And that brings us to our six degrees victim.

Love So Right, holding this week at #3, was off the Bee Gees album Children Of The World.  As usual on Bee Gees albums of the era, the keyboardist was one Blue Weaver.  Among his many accomplishments was the scoring of the new-wave film Times Square.  This movie spawned a two disc soundtrack featuring such new wave acts as Suzy Quatro, the Pretenders, Roxy Music, Gary Numan, the Talking Heads, Joe Jackson, and the Patty Smith Group.  Also on this soundtrack was a Robin Gibb/Blue Weaver song called Help Me! which was sung by Robin and a lady named (at the time) Marcy Levy.  Levy(who would ironically change her name years later to Marcella Detroit) had started her musical career with Bob Seger, and moved on to Eric Clapton's entourage.  (Not surprisingly; it seems like 90% of the six degrees spots go through either Slowhand or the Beach Boys.)  She co wrote Lay Down Sally, and was one of the two female vocals therein; the other being the great love I never had, Yvonne Elliman.  Yvonne, of course, got her greatest props for If I Can't Have You off of Saturday Night Fever; but if the writers had had it their way instead of producer Robert Stigwood, she would have had an even bigger one- she was supposed to have been the one to sing How Deep Is Your Love, instead of...  the Bee Gees.

So if you've been paying attention to any top ten the past three weeks, you know what comes next- Captain and Tenille with Muskrat Love at #2 (again) and at #1 (again)... Rod Stewart with Tonight's The Night.

Wow, done, in the can!  Be back sometime tomorrow (since Saturday OT got axed) for the Great Seventies Countdown.  And in the mean time could someone, for pity's sake tell me why that EACH AND EVERY TIME I use spellcheck on Blogger, no matter if I comb the post with a fine tooth comb afterwards and find all in order, HALF A PARAGRAPH DISSAPPEARS!!!  I may kill someone if I don't find out.  I definately will if I do.

step into my time machine week 83

This week, we get two of the more bizzarre stories to be done on TM, probably the most important birthday song we've done to date, and a special announcement!  Shake off the turkey shock- as I am trying to do- and let's go!  C'mon, squeeze it in, pal!

9 songs come into the top 100 this week, and I'll mention three of them.  First, the next release of Boz Skagg's Silk Degrees, What Can I Say? comes in at 92.  If you don't know it, give yourself a treat and youtube it.  Barry Manilow pops in at 85 with Weekend In New England, and the Bay City Rollers make 81 with Yesterday's Hero.  Not impressed?  You should see the top 40 debuts...

I'm going to go backwards of usual on this week's other birthday songs, for a good reason.  In 1961, this week Johnny Cash's original Tennessee Flat Top Box debuted.  I bring in this one because of my years long love affair with his daughter Rosanne, who in the eighties took it to #1 on the country charts.  Having a 45th birthday this week are the Blues Magoos with We Ain't Got Nothin' Yet.  Turning forty this week are I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing (both versions), Al Green's Let's Stay Together, as well as a song I mention because of the Valley Of The Dolls post a while back- Heaven Bound featuring Tony Scotti and Five Hundred Miles.

Oh and that big birthday?  Don McLean's American Pie turns 40 this week.  Bye, bye...

Our big dropper has avoided being noted until this moment.  John Valenti was, as the lead singer of a band called Puzzle, one of the few white acts on Motown, with a style reminiscent of early Stevie Wonder.  He went solo in the 70's and his single Anything You Want, which peaked at 43 a couple weeks ago, falls 20 to #72 this week.  Our big mover awaits in the top 40.

I'm thinking of revamping the top songs of other years feature (no, that's not the big announcement), and this may be the last week you see it as it's been.  Or not, I haven't quite decided.  Anyway, the number for this week is the 2's and 1992 this week was topped by How Do You Talk To An Angel, sung by Jamie Walters- Alex O'brien of The Heights- as the theme for the show.  This TV theme- which saw it's show cancelled one week after the song fell from #1- was the first to top the charts since Jan Hammer's Miami Vice Theme did it in 1985.  In 1982 this week, the top song was Laura Brannigan's Gloria.  In 1972, the Spinners' I'll Be Around; 1962, the Four Seasons' Big Girls Don't Cry; asnd in 1952, a repeat featuree- Patti Page's I Went To Your Wedding.

That brings us to our #49 song, AKA the Where Are They Now victim.  And this week we have a fast moving song I've been avoiding because a) I liked it about as much as Bobby G. likes Disco Duck, and b) I wasn't sure anyone would remember it anyway.  It is the big-band-influenced disco hit Cherchez Le Femme by Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band (Buzzard pronounced buzz-ARD).  This group was the brainchild of one Thomas August Darnell Browder (then going by August Darnell) and his brother Stony (I didn't name 'em).  They put out three lps from 1976-9; and then, playing on their mixed ethnicity, Darnell became Kid Creole and formed Kid Creole and the Coconuts with fellow DBOSB member Andy Hernandez, AKA his sidekick Coati Mundi.  In this ensemble they had three top 10 and 7 top 40 hits in the UK, but pierced our hot 100 only once- getting to 90 with a team up with Barry Manilow called Hey Mamba in 1987.  They did get American exposure through a handful of movie soundtracks, notably the track My Male Curiousity on the movie Against All Odds.  Darnell still leads the Coconuts on tour, and they released a new album, I Wake Up Screaming, a couple of months ago, although the only remaining original member with him is "Bongo Eddie" Folk.

And the top 40 debut list is just as long as the big mover list- one song.  At 40, up 31, is Rose Royce's Car Wash.

I do want to give a Almost But Not Quite shoutout to Peter Frampton's Do You Feel Like We Do, which (although it made top ten Billboard) peaked last week at 13, and drops to 23 this week.  It was recorded exactly 36 years and three days ago, and nearly didn't make the lp.  When Frampton submitted the what-he-thought-was-going-to-be-a-single-disc Frampton Comes Alive to his record execs, the response was, "Where's the rest of it?"  So they put together a second disc, and Do You Feel was on it.

The list of songs entering the top ten is also just one tune long, so the only dropper is Beth, falling from 7 to 17.

Alice Cooper cracks the top 10 at the leadoff spot, up 4, with I Never Cry.  Steve Miller's top dog Rock'n Me drops 5 to #9.  Firefall, which was basically a regeneration of the Byrds, moves up 1 with You Are The Woman to #8.  At 7, up three, the Spinners yet again with The Rubberband Man.  Nadia's Theme moves up 2 to #6.  The Bee Gees (and glad to hear that Robin's finally out of the hospital this week) move up1 spot to #5 with Love So Right; also moving one place up is Boston's More Than A Feeling.  And that brings us to a one-man six degrees.

The drummer on Gordon Lightfoot's Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald was longtime session man Jim Gordon.  By this point, Jim had put together an amazing resume.  In the sixties, he'd played on such classic lps as Pet Sounds and Mason Williams' Classical Gas; as time rolled on, he piled up a discography too long to count, which included lps by the Byrds, Bread, Jackson Browne, Stephen Bishop, Glenn Campbell, and the Carpenters.  He was a member of the Delaney and Bonnie touring entourage, and split off with Clapton to form Derek and the Dominoes.  The Dominoes first gig was being the band on George Harrison's masterpiece All Things Must Pass; then they did the Layla lp, which Jim actually composed and played the piano part of that long, beautiful ending.  He was also the drummer on Seals and Crofts' Hummingbird single, as well as on Steely Dan's Pretzel Logic lp, including the single Rikki Don't Lose That Number.  He was drummer on the lp Alice Cooper Goes To Hell, as well; but then he went into a hell of another sort.

Years of substance abuse began to warp his mind.  "Anyone who has ever wondered about the destructive horrors of substance abuse, " a friend writes, " should know about Jim.  It's one of the saddest stories ever."  He began to hear voices, and this somehow became his mother in league with the devil.  In 1983 he bludgeoned her with a hammer, then stabbed her to death.  In California, his heretofore undiagnosed Schizophrenia was no defense, and in 1984 he got 16 years for the murder.  Twice denied parole, he spent most of this time in the psychiatric ward; and though he should have been released sometime this year, I could find no evidence that it has happened as yet.

Deep breath, pause, move on.  #2 again this week is Muskrat Love, and the story is the same at the top, too- Rod Stewart at #1 with Tonight's The Night.

And now, that annopuncement.  As the Great Sixties Countdown was one of this blog's big successes, with 42 comments over its 16-week run  (Which is a drop in the bucket for some, but almost 6% of all the comments I've EVER got), and I've had two highly influential requests to do this, I'm announcing that, probably next Saturday, I'll be starting the GREAT SEVENTIES COUNTDOWN!!!  I'm still doing some tweaking of the lower rungs, but it will be a 300 song, twenty-a-week format just like the sixties.  Just remember- IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!! And God Bless you for it!  So tune in then.

step into my time machine week 82

Gather round, one and all, for an unusual trip through the music of 1976 and beyond/before.  In addition to the usual fun, we have birthdays and debuts out debutt, a new top dog, the unusual twist of a big dropper- not big mover, big DROPPER- inside the top 40, and, what you've been warned was coming- the high school parties of my youth top ten!  Strap in, please keep the windows UP at all times, and let's go!

Let's deal with the hot 100 debuts first.  There were a whopping 13 of 'em this week, and I'm going to mention not one, not 5, but EIGHT of them!  Coming in at 100 was the first of many great Bruce Springsteen covers by Manfred Mann's Earth Band (at least the first that pop audiences were going to know about), Blinded By The Light.  At 98 comes the Doobie Brothers version of a Michael McDonald composition that Carly Simon had just missed the top 40 with, It Keeps You Runnin'.  Foghat, always the great party band, comes in at 83 with Drivin' Wheel.  At 81 is a song I heard at Quaker Steak and Lube a week or so ago, a song I had the 45 of, Queen with Somebody To Love.

Donny and Marie come in at 79 with their cover of Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing. George Harrison debuts at 78 with This Song; Bread's swan song, Lost Without Your Love, cracks the chart at 73.  And the top debut 35 years ago this week was Aerosmith with Walk This Way.  With that, we take a deep breath and hit the special list.

This list is the "top ten" songs I have the fondest memories of played at parties by my high school group.  Along with each group, I'll throw out an interesting factoid.  Factoid #1:  The initiation to our group was to be the first with the blindfold played in Lorraine and Phil's basement- an event that usually featured somebody becoming intimate with a metal support pole.

10- Never Gonna Fall In Love Again, Eric Carmen, from All By Myself, Ann and Kathy's collection.  Everything else on that lp was too depressing for words.

9- St. George And The Dragon, Toto, from Hydra, Phil's discs.  Basically the title cut for the album.  Phil had about all the Toto lps, but this song was my favorite.

Moving back to the birthdays this week, first off we have one song with two different birthdays this week- and neither was the best known version.  (I Know) I'm Losing You, for me at least, meant the cover by Rare Earth, with all the echo effects.  But the versions that celebrate this week are the Rod Stewart and the Faces (turning 40) and the original by the Temptations (turning 45).  Also turning 40 were (speaking of Rare Earth) Hey Big Brother, and Betty Wright's Clean Up Woman (which got a mention in six degrees a week or so ago).  Also at the 45-year anniversary is Wilson Pickett's Mustang Sally.  But catch a whiff of all these birthday songs turning 50:  Neil Sedaka's Happy Birthday Sweet 50 16; Bobby Vee's Run To Him; The Lion Sleeps Tonight by the Tokens; Gene Pitney's Town Without Pity; and Joey Dee and the Starlighters' Peppermint Twist!  That's a lot of candles to blow out.

Factoid:  Despite the fact that our school was known as Goat Roper U., I don't remember any of us having goats.
8- Foreplay/Long Time, Boston, Boston, my records.  This was my signature album, and we all had one.  I remember this as being the most popular, though.
7- Bandstand Boogie, Barry Manilow, Tryin' To Get The Feeling, Lorraine's stack.  She had all the Manilows. And all the Carpenters. And most of the John Denvers.

The big mover this week, up 27 spots from 89 to 67, Kenny Nolan's I Like Dreamin'.  And I did, because it was the only way to get a girlfriend for me back then.  The big dropper, surprise surprise, is in the top 40- but as we're not ruining the surprise, I can tell you that it was Fernando, dropping out of the top 10 from 10 to 24- a 14-notch fall.

Factoid:  Signature albums- Mine was the Boston lp; Phil was Meatloaf's Bat Out Of Hell; Lorraine, (insert Manilow, Carpenters, or Denver album here); Ann and Kathy, probably Seger's Against The Wind.  I remember Vince being involved with Cheap Trick's Dream Police;  I really don't remember what Rosie was into, though I think she got me Gary Numan's Cars one year for Christmas.  (or was it Jay Ferguson's Thunder Island?  I don't remember for sure...)

6- Running On Empty, Jackson Browne, Running On Empty, Phil's wax.  I remember most of us being in the school creative writing club ("Free-lancers"), and Phil's contribution was a poem/song based on this song.

5- Peaceful Easy Feeling, Eagles, Greatest Hits, my stuff. I remember trying one day to express the thought that it was nice to have a friend (Rachel) who was a very beautiful girl, yet such a good friend that there was really no "internal pressure" to fall in love with.  I said, This song reminds me of 'Happy' (her nickname)" .  Lorraine says, "You want to sleep in the desert with her?"  I look at Phil, we both shrug, and I answer, "Well, there IS that..."

Our Where Are They Now nod goes to #49, Eric Clapton's Hello Old Friend. Ol' Slowhand has been a very busy bee, touring last year with the likes of Jeff Beck, Roger Daltrey, and classical Violinist Tom Norris.  He also released a sel-ftitled LP last year, and played the Prince's Trust benefit at the Royal Albert Hall.  This year he's just finished a South American tour.  He married wife Melia in 2005, and they have three daughters:  Julie, 10; Ella, 8; and Sophie, 6.

Factoid:  "Free-lancers" were Mentored by Mrs. Hursh, who planted the seeds of much of my adult musical choices by letting me borrow CSNY's Deja Vu and Jesus Christ Superstar.

4- Her Strut, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, Against The Wind, Ann & Kathy's music.  Always hard to say whether he said, "they do respect her, but..." or, "they do respect her butt..."

3. Surrender, Cheap Trick, At Budokan, Not for sure if Phil's or Vince's.  This was the song the seniors played at graduation practice my junior year.  That was the year they let a bunch of birds loose in the gym/auditorium, and our cross-eyed janitor was sent after them with a bb gun.

The top 40 debuts this week include: coming in at 39, up 4, David Dundas with Jeans On; at 34, up 7, the Sylvers' Hot Line; and at 31, up a big 14, Dazz by Brick.
Let's do a quick run through the #1s of other years, the 1s this week.  1991 was topped this week by Prince and the NPG and Cream- a song Prince said he wrote while looking in a mirror, which is all I need to know before deciding not to sample it.  1981 was topped by Olivia Newton-John's Physical, which I would probably prefer Cream to if I knew it.  Isaac Hayes' Theme from Shaft was at #1 in '71; Jimmy Dean ruled 1961 with Big Bad John.  And a repeater at the top in 1951- Eddie Howard's Sin (It's Not A Sin).

Factoid:  Our senior class were the ones that put for sale signs all along the front of the school, and a burnt-out car, an out house, and stop and yield signs in the courtyard planter.

2-Summer And Lightning, ELO, Out Of The Blue, My stuff, among others.  This was me and Susie's song- except that all we ever did was meaningless flirting, and it was only "our Song" in my mind.  Good enough for me.

1-  and could there be any doubt about this- Paradise By The Dashboard Lights, Meatloaf, Bat Out Of Hell, Phil's platters.  A song with truly something for everyone.  Action, adventure, sex, and Phil Rizzuto.

The other two that fall from top ten grace are Disco Duck, from 4 to 12; and If You Leave Me Now, from 9- to 21.

The Ten biggest songs in the land start with a debut in each of the first three slots.  At 10, up 5, are the Spinners with Rubberband Man. At 9, Firefall climbs two with You Are The Woman.  And the high debut jumps 5 to #8- Nadia's Theme by Barry De Vorzon and Perry Botkin, Jr.  Holding at seven is Kiss' Beth.  The Bee Gees climb two spots to 6 with Love So Right; Boston moves up one to #5 with More Than A Feeling.  Former top dog Steve Miller and Rock'n Me drops one to #4; Last week's #1 The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald, sinks to 3.

Which brings us to our six degrees victim- Captain and T's Muskrat Love.  As we've previously discussed, this was first released by America off the album Hat Trick.  Now I COULD go down a VERY familiar road here; Billy Hinsche, Bruce Johnston, and Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys sang backup on the title track (And tap dancing was done be Lorene Yarnel of Shields and Yarnel!).  But I'm going to scroll down to the track Green Monkey (which I did sample and it was very good), wherein Joe Walsh supplied some GEE-tar. Now, Joe had just left the James Gang and formed one of the best bands who never get mentioned when their songs play- Barnstorm.  (most of their work is considered "Solo Joe".)  One of the members of Barnstorm was one of those ubiquitous names I recognized- drummer Joe Vitale.  Now I didn't realize that he was a touring member of CSNY (and wrote Live it up and That Girl for them on my Live It Up cd) or the Eagles, nor that he co-wrote Joe's first Barnstorm (AKA solo) hit, Rocky Mountain Way. But I did know he co-wrote my favorite Eagles song with Joe, Hotel California's Pretty Maids All In A Row.  And that he was one of a roomfull of people (including the aforementioned messers Seger and Ferguson) who got writing props for The Long Run's Heartache Tonight.

And with 'Skrat Love at #2, that means that we have a new top dog- and I've seen the future, and the man's pitching a tent.  That man would be...

...Rod Stewart, with Tonight's The Night!!!

No sixties countdown to pimp anymore, so just tune in next week, when things return to a semblance of Normalcy.

Factoid:  Music had degraded so much by the time that we graduated, the week of the event, my top "ten" was Against The Wind, Little Jeanie, and some third song I don't even remember.  So I began to build a time machine...

Step into my time machine week 81

I remember a few weeks ago talking about a part of my life coming full circle with my watching of Valley Of The Dolls.  This week, I hit another such event.  As a child I sat with mom and watched the Andy Williams show- part for the music and comedy, but mostly to see "the bear" try to scam Andy out of a cookie and Andy always replying "Not now, not ever, NEVER!"  As a teenager just a couple years this side of our target date, I made what I always called my greatest deal of all time- my sister got two Nat King Cole lps and an Andy Williams that my mom had bought on some K-Tel deal for my sister's Steppenwolf- the eponymous first album with Born To Be Wild. 
Today, I played my new The Very Best of Andy Williams.  As the last strains of Happy Heart faded away, I knew I had come to another full circle- and wondered how many are left to me.  You see, it occurs to me that some people's lives are so short that their "full circle " might seem one of those strings we tie to a finger to remember something.  Other's lives might be like a full size Christmas wreath.  And some might be like the woven crown of thorns pressed down upon the One who came to save them. For me, it's a constant fear that instead of finishing a legacy, my last full-circle will be the end of fate, dying like my mom did at the age of 54.  (or sooner, if the Death Clock is right!)  And again I echo the thought- how many more full-circles have I left?

Out of the morbid musings of Martin and onto Time Machine, where each week we go back 35 years to scan the charts of the music where I lived- or, more precisely, when I lived.  (Kinda paraphrasing Elvis Costello from Veronica- It was all of 35 years ago, when the world was the street where I lived...) This week we look at the many Harbor lights, the "new" single by Sam and Dave's backup band, the connection between Steve Miller and the Crystals, and a new top dog.

Also, don't forget that Saturday brings us the end of the Great Sixties Countdown!!!!

13 songs join the hot 100 this week.  They include:  Mary MacGregor's Torn Between Two Lovers at 98; The Jacksons' comeback Enjoy Yourself at 91; and Kenny Nolan's I Like Dreamin' at 87.  Country fans will remember the song that comes in at 84- 9,999,999 Tears by Dickie Lee, a country legend by virtue of writing the #1 She Thinks I Still Care by George Jones in 1962, and a pop star by virtue of a song which at least one person in this room will remember- his 1965 hit Laurie (Strange Things Happen).  Finally, the high debut belongs to a song recorded in 1968- Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (which hit #1 in Australia, Austria, Switzerland, and Japan in 1969) by the Beatles, which comes in at 82.

Other birthday songs include Jonathon Edwards' Sunshine turning 40, Donovan's Mellow Yellow and Sinatra's That's Life turning 45, and Nat King Cole's Unforgettable (part of that Steppenwolf deal) turning 60 this week.  Blow out the candles...

The big Dropper this week is one we mentioned when it hit the top 40 about a month ago- Diana Ross' One Love In My Lifetime, falling 20 to #89.  The big mover just misses its top 40 debut- Brick's Dazz, up 19 to #41.

This week, we're back in the 0's on the look at #1s of other years, and my love streak with the 1990's entrant ends at one week.  This time it's (gag) Vanilla Ice with (choke) Ice Ice Baby.  In 1980 this week it was Barbra Streisand (with a healthy dose of Barry Gibb) and Woman In Love. The 1970 top dog was The Carpenters (with a song we just heard tonight on my Andy Williams CD) and We've Only Just Begun.  The Drifters ruled 1960 this week with Save The Last Dance For Me.  And Cashbox has the #1 song this week in 1950 as Harbor Lights.  So does Billboard for that matter, but it's a little more complicated.  You see, as I've said before, Cashbox used to just lump every version of the song currently out into one entry.  On Billboard, however, there were six competing versions out from August of '50 till November, and five of them were on the charts at this point.  The Sammy Kaye Orchestra had the biggest hit, reaching #1; Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians hit #2; Bing Crosby made it to #10; Ray Anthony's Orchestra reached #15; and Ralph Flanagan's group made it to #27.

Our Where Are They Now victim at #49 is ZZ Top's It's Only Love.  ZZ Top for 99% of their career have been three men: Billy Gibbons; Dusty Hill; and Frank Beard ( the one who doesn't wear a beard, natch).  They recently set a new record with their, er, new record this summer.  Thanks to Michael Fossum, commander of expedition 29 on the International Space Station, Flyin' High became the first song first heard in space.  They are also working on a new album, unnamed at this point and looking at a release date of February or March of next year.  Billy, in addition to a recurring role on CBS TV's Bones, lends his name to the BFG line of -wait for it- BBQ sauces.  Dusty had an extra 15 minutes of fame when it was revealed in 2007 that he in fact is the cousin of Hank Hill from King Of The Hill.  Frank is based out of his Top 40 Ranch in Richmond, TX,  where he has local fame as a scratch golfer.

WATN feature, the Little River Band moves three to #38 with It's A Long Way There.  ELO jumps 17 to #37 with Livin' Thing.  And last week's high debut/WATN feature, Elton John's Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word, soars 16 spots to 33.

Two songs blast into the top ten this week; two drop out.  One is our defending Grandpa's chair winner, She's Gone, falling from 6 to 16 after 28 non-contiguous weeks. The other is Don't Fear The Reaper, down from 7 to 17.

The top 10 leads off with ABBA's Fernando holding at 10; former top dog If You Leave Me Now by Chicago drops 5 to #9.  The Bee Gees come in at #8, up 3, with Love So Right.  Kiss moves up 2 to #7 with Beth.  Boston climbs 2 to #6 with More Than A Feeling; and Rod Stewart shoots up 9 from #14 to #5 with Tonight's The Night.  Disco Duck squawks down 2 to #4; and that brings us to our six degrees victim.

Last week's #1, Rock'n Me, is the second of 3 big hit singles from the lp Fly Like An Eagle by the Steve Miller Band.  Not one of those hits was the cover of Sam Cooke's You Send Me- which obviously leads us to Cheech and Chong (???).  A section of the track Championship Wrestling from Cheech and Chong's Wedding Album found its way into the break in Miller's You Send Me.  But in looking over America's favorite dopers, I found something more interesting on the lp Los Cochinos.  That being the song Basketball Jones Featuring Tyrone Shoelaces.  Among the musicians and singers who lent their talents to this classic in the rough were George Harrison, Carole King, Billy Preston, and the Blossoms, a vocal group fronted by Darlene Love whose greatest claim to fame was being "the Crystals" when the real Crystals were feuding with producer Phil Spector ( and we ALL know what happens when you feud with Phil Spector...).  Whilst the real group sat in a snit at Mr. Spector, the Blossoms became the Crystals on the #1 hit He's A Rebel.  So, I guess in addition to being a Joker, a Smoker, a Midnight Toker, Steve Miller's also a Rebel. So to speak.

Our #2 song, moving up a strong 3 notches, is the Captain and Toenail with Muskrat Love; and that means that, crashing into the #1 slot, is...

Gordon Lightfoot, with The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald!

That's it for another trip, guys.  Hope you enjoyed, and see ya next time!

Step into my time machine week 80

It's November 4th, 1976.  The American people two days ago sang Song Of The South at the voting booth and elected Jimmy Carter; soon we'd be echoing Anthony Newly's performance on today's Mike Douglas show and singing What Kind Of Fool Am I?  At least, those of us that weren't singing the theme to the Muppet Show, which hit our shores just about a month ago. Today on TM, we'll be combining Where Are They Now with the week's high debut; find a song that was released recorded at the wrong speed; and not only find the connection between the 5th Dimension and Laura Nyro, but between Hall and Oates and Austin Powers!  Let's dive right in...

...with the song that was released accidentally made to play at 39 rpm rather than 45- Styx with Mademoiselle, which debuts this week at 100.  Oddly enough, the b-side, the AOR hit Light Up, was recorded correctly.  How's that for a difference between album and single?  Also coming in this week was the rather obscure Hall and Oates song Do What You Want, Be Who You Are at 96.  Now I kinda remember this (as I do many more obscure H&O songs), but the boys quickly learned that perhaps they should avoid using the BJ Thomas school of abnormally long titles after this.  Car Wash by Rose Royce also debuted this week at 94.  Now read that number dyslexically and you'll see our high debut hits all the way up at #49, which happens to be the magic number for the Where Are They Now segment of our show.  That song would be Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word by Elton John


Now we all know that Sir Elton is as busy as anyone in the biz, so I'm just going to leaf through a few highlights.  (and no, I'm not posting the "duck picture" again.)  You Grammy-addicted kiddies know he sang three duets with Lady Gaga on the 52nd award show, including his masterpiece Your Song.  He also was the entertainment at a surprising gala event last summer- Rush Limbaugh's wedding, which supposedly paid a cool million.  Only eleven days later, I saluted him for playing a concert in Israel that Elvis Costello and his little sheeple dropped out of because of Israel's treatment of the poor little Palestinians who were doing nothing but minding their own business and killing innocent people with rockets.    In September of last year he released an album collaboration with Leon Russell called The Union.  This became the highest charting album that Elton had had since Blue Moves (which is, ironically, the lp that Sorry came off of).  I listened last night to a cut from that album featuring Neil Young called Gone To Shiloh.  If you like historical-themed songs (think The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down), this was a fantastic tune, and you should youtube it.  Sir Elton just opened his Million Dollar Piano show in Vegas in September, and on October 8th, played his 3,000th concert.

And congrats to the four 35th birthday songs!  We do have two other birthday songs this week- Three Dog Night's Old Fashioned Love Song turns 40, and Simon and Garfunkel's Hazy Shade Of Winter turns 45 this week.  Blow out the candles...

For once, I have a "top songs of other years" segment where I even like the 1990's entrant!  The years we're up to this week are the 9s, and in 1999 the top song was Smooth by Santana and Rob Thomas from Matchbox 20.  It was near the beginning of its 12-week reign at the top.  1989 featured Tears For Fears at the top with Sowing the Seeds Of Love, and one can't go wrong with TFF.  1979's #1 this week was Herb Alpert's comeback hit Rise, which made him the first act to have a #1 instrumental AND a #1 vocal (1968's This Guy's In Love With You, which was also his LAST hit before Rise). 1969's top dog this week was the 5th Dimension's Wedding Bell Blues, which was written by Laura Nyro- who had also penned their last big hit, Stoned Soul Picnic.  Another song had been released, but was faring piddlingly when djs around the country began playing Wedding Bell Blues, forcing the record company to release it.  Did no one ever think to hire djs as A&R men?  We might have heard a lot more great songs on the radio that way.  Finally, this week in 1959 saw Bobby Darrin and Mack The Knife stroll off after a seven week stint at the top.

Oh, before I forget, the big mover was Hot Line, jumping 28 notches to 60 this week; the big dropper was You Never Find Another Love Like Mine, falling 15 to #67.

Coming into the top 40 this week were three songs.  At 35, a nine notch climb was my unknowing love, Yvonne Elliman, with the Barry Gibb-written Love Me.  Englebert Humperdink jumps 16 to #34 with After The Loving.  And up 10 to #32, speaking of the 5D, is Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis with You Don't Have To Be A Star.  And an almost but not quite shoutout this week to m'man Barry Manilow, whose title cut to This One's For You, slips from its peak at 21 last week to 23 this week.  "This one'll never sell, they'll never understand..."

That reminds me of how this was one of music's last big periods for me.  I had so many favorites climbing the charts right now- Nadia's Theme was at 16, The Rubberband Man at 18, I Never Cry at 24, Stand Tall at 29, Nights Are Forever Without You at 31, Livin' Thing at 54.  And a couple more up ahead, one of them the Bee Gees' Love So Right at 11.  After The Loving reminds me of how the chill was coming into the air, and Wham Bam Shang A Lang ending its top 40 run reminds me that the warm days were already gone.  Another year was dying and you couldn't save it- except through memories, like Time Machine.

2 songs come into the top 10, two go out. Falling were A Fifth Of Beethoven, from 5 to 19, and Magic Man, from 7 to 17.

The first top ten debut this week is ABBA with Fernando, up one to the leadoff spot.  Funny, because I had looked to see what was #1 in Australia this week and found a song I didn't know by Bryan Ferry- the only two weeks breaking up a 24 week run by ABBA with Dancing Queen and Money Money Money.  Up one to #9 is Kiss' Beth. Coming storming into the top ten at #8, up from 14, is Boston with More Than A Feeling.  Blue Oyster Cult edges up 1 to #7 with Don't Fear The Reaper.  Which brings us to #6 (and holding) and our six degrees victim.

She's Gone by Hall and Oates, as regular readers know was on its second life on the charts (hence its seat in the grandpa chair this week with 27 weeks on the chart), having reached #60 two years before, and being re-released after not only the success of Sara Smile, but that of Tavares' version of She's Gone, which hit #1 R&B earlier in the year.  Again, you regulars know that the song was off the great album Abandoned Luncheonette.  What you don't know, perhaps, was that the horn and string arrainger on this disc was a name you've heard before in this very segment- record exec and multi-talent Arif Mardin.  Mardin got his big break when he performed for Quincy Jones and Dizzy Gillespie during a tour in 1956, which had won him a Quincy Jones Scholarship to the Berklee School Of Music.  Here we veer off to see where Quincy himself was just starting, and he got a break in 1964 when he scored a critically acclaimed movie called The Pawnbroker (which starred Rod Steiger and included Morgan Freeman's first - uncredited- movie role).  For this movie he came up with, among other tunes, Soul Bossa Nova-  which you know better nowadays as the Austin Powers theme.

Back at the countdown, Muskrat Love jumps a surprising 4 to #5.  Former top dog If You Leave Me Now by Chicago falls 2 to #4. The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald washes ashore (yeah, I got a million of 'em) at #3 for Gordon Lightfoot, up 1.  The Disco Duck dances down out of the top spot to #2 this week, which means we have a new top dog-

Steve Miller with Rock'n Me!!!

Don't forget tomorrow is the penultimate edition of the Great Sixties Countdown, and be back here next time!

Step into my time machine week 78

It's October 21, 1976.  Tonight, Johnny Bench will hit 2 HRs, one a three-run shot in the ninth, to lead the Big Red Machine to a 7-2 win over the New York Yankees and a 4 to 0 victory in the World Series.  Bench will be named series MVP and Yogi Berra will say, "It got late (in the series) real early."  And somewhere in Georgia, less than 2 weeks from the presidential election, Billy Carter will tell an audience that his brother Jimmy is a scotch drinker and "I've never trusted a scotch drinker."  Soon we would see why.  Today, though, it is a breezy- but DRY- 46 degrees, and the mysterious Martin Time Machine has arrived to look at the pop charts of the day.  And the things we'll run into today include birthdays for two of the all time classics, a Where Are They Now that's a lot like a six degrees- and vice versa, the winner of the worst video I've ever seen award, and a new top dog.

We open with the hot hundred debuts this week, and we have what has to be the lowest total I've seen in a year and a half of doing Time Machine- three.  And the one that made an impact, celebrating its thirty-fifth birthday, is the fusion hit Dazz (disco-jazz) by Brick, coming in at #89.  But this was  far from the only song to have a birthday, and two of them are classics.  I was going to save one of those classics for a video at the end, but it's only a 45th birthday, so I'll just say congrats to Good Vibrations, which debuted this week in 1966.  Other birthdays include Melanie's Brand New Key and the Chi-Lites' Have You Seen Her turning 40, the Hollies' Stop Stop Stop turning 45, and the other classic- Patsy Cline's Crazy- turning 50 this week.  Blow out the candles...

The big dropper is also our Grandpa's chair song- Kiss And Say Goodbye stops off for its 27th week at #95, a 38-notch fall.  Englebert Humperdink rises 24, the top mover, to 68 with After The Loving.

Our look at the #1s of other years takes us to the sevens this week.  In 1997, we were towards the beginning of the 14-week run of Elton John's Candle In The Wind '97.  In 10 weeks, we'll be here again.  In 1987, ironically from a current events standpoint, Michael Jackson was the top dog with Bad.  1977 saw us amidst the longest 8 weeks of my "musical youth"; Debby Boone was on top for the third of her 8 weeks with You Light Up My Life.  In 1967, we kindergartners were grooving to Lulu's To Sir With Love.  And in 1957, a song that surprised me because I didn't think it was that old- Johnny Mathis' Chances Are.  Unlike Elton John, we won't see him at #1 again for 21 years.

Once again we have a problem at #49's WATN feature, as it is a previous featuree- the Beach Boys with It's OK on the way down.  While I was looking through the "It's OK story"  for anything salvageable, I found a sax credit for Roy Wood.  Being an ELO fan, I said "Roy Wood?  Hmmm..."  You see, Roy founded the Move a highly successful UK act that morphed into early ELO.  After ELO's first lp, Wood and Jeff Lynne decided to part ways, and Wood founded Wizzard.  Wizzard, an octet that included a cello, two drummers and two sax players (three each if you consider Roy could- and did- play all those instruments in the studio), had six UK top tens including 2 #1s.  Both of these I sampled this morning- a bit odd for American tastes, as was the bassist in the angel wings and roller skates in both videos.  Roy moved on to work both solo and in a variety of other projects- Roy Wood's Big Band, Roy Wood's Helicopter Band, and the Wizzo Band, to name a few- but his most enduring hit was a Christmas tune called I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday.  Hitting #4 in its initial release in 1973 ( the British have a bit of a contest over the top Christmas song every year, I understand), it also made the top 40 at #23 in 1984, #16 in 2007, and 31 in 2008.  Roy recently got an honorary doctorate at the U of Derby for lifetime achievement, and has put together Roy Wood's Rock & Roll Band to open for Status Quo for November and December dates in the UK.

Like the hundred, the top 40 has three debuts this week.  Up 2 for its cup of coffee at #40 is Starbuck with a cool tune called I Got To Know.  Moving up 6 to #38 is bandleader and jazz star drummer  Norman Connors, with vocals from Michael Henderson (Miles Davis' bass player for several lps), and the ethereal You Are My Starship.  And rocketing from 45 to 28, we have Rod Stewart with Tonight's The Night.  That French part at the end was done by then-girlfriend Britt Eklund, whom he say he had to get "pissin' drunk" to do it and was paid not in royalties but a "new frock".  I have here the translation, which we all thought was something that we couldn't hear in English back then.  Actually, it translates to:  "I'm a little scared, what is my mother going to say(to think)? Come a little closer, kiss me. I adore you so very much. Oh, it's him, it's him I love you I love you I love you...."  Another illusion shattered.

Three songs enter the top ten, three fall out.  Dropping are Lowdown (4 to 14), Devil Woman (5 to 16), and Still The One (6 to 17).

Coming in at 10, up 6, are newly-minted MHOFers the Captain and Tenille with Muskrat Love.  At #9, climbing 4, is Blue Oyster Cult with Don't Fear The Reaper.  Holding at 8 are the Bay City Rollers with I Only Want To Be With You.  Heart climbs 2 to #7 with Magic Man.  Hall and Oates edge up 1 to #6 with She's Gone.  Rocketing into the ten all the way up at #5, a six notch climb, is Gordon Lightfoot's The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald.  Also rising 6 to #4 is Steve Miller with Rock'n Me. Walter Murphy, who got us started with all that Nude On The Moon stuff, holds at 3 with A Fifth Of Beethoven.  Which brings us to #2, our top dog last week, and the worst video of all time, and it's NOT Disco Duck.

Finding a legit six degrees for the duck was nigh unto impossible.  No list of musicians on the song could be found, and the voice of the duck, Ken Pruitt, was just a guy that Dees used to work out with.  Now Dees' wife, Julie McWhirter, is an Indy native who is a voice actor, having been at various times Kanga from Winnie The Pooh, Baby Smurf, and Sassette.  She was also Betty in the ill-fated Flintstones live-action movie.  But none of these things moved me forward.  In desperation, I went to Dees' web site.  He had a list of semi intelligent news articles, and the one that unfortunately- for me- caught my eye was that William Shatner, that musical virtuoso, had done a cover of Bohemian Rhapsody ( a song he claims he'd never heard until a year ago).  Figuring I'd survived Nude, I thought I'd survive this as well.

When I posted my review of Nude, Mynx suggested I might need a "cuppa tea and a liedown- or something stronger" to recover.  Let me tell you, after THIS one, it's definitely "something stronger".  MUCH stronger.

Though I didn't get the sound turned on to get the whole beginning, it starts with a teenage couple watching the night sky on the Hollywood Hills, wishing someone would "send them a sign" about something that I'm not brave enough to go back to find out what.  Then Bill Shatner's face appears in the stars (appears smushed up against the stars would be a more apt description), and he begins a semi-spoken word rendition of the song that will make nails down the chalkboard sound like Montovani.  Mixed into this is arty-cartoony versions of the zodiac doing various things up to and including background vocals, a guitar crescendo that has star-Bill shooting flaming meteors at downtown LA, and finishes with a few lines of similar treatment of Spirit In The Sky.  In the end, the kids find a smoking copy of Bill's new CD, which somehow they do not throw down the hill and run away as fast as they can.  All in all, this is a link that you want to e-mail to your worst enemy- but only if they are on a par with Hitler, Bin Laden, and Qaddafyduck.  It has real potential for a new torture technique.  (and speaking of the late great Qaddaffyduck, he might be hearing this a lot from now on...)

And that gruesome story leaves us only with our new #1- a song that would go on to spend 5 weeks at #1 in Australia, 4 in Holland, and 3 in the UK late in the year.  May I present our new top dog:

Chicago, with the Grammy-winning If You Leave Me Now!!!

That's it for this week.  And please, let's light a candle that six degrees doesn't turn up anything even more horrible next week!

Step into my time machine week 77

This week on Time Machine, I have the pleasure of bringing you an new top dog on both the album and singles chart; the next class of the Martin Hall Of Fame; and the most completely stupid movie premise I have ever heard!  In addition, the dreaded #49 doom strikes for a second week in a row, and the answer to where are they now is, THEY'RE ALL DEAD! (well, not quite.)  Strap in tight, because we'll have to switch into space-travel mode as well as time this morning.

Let me open (after a swig of blueberry juice) with a snippet of the MHOF.  If you were here before, you know I divided the first three classes into categories, and the first is "Big Names".  Those honored in those first three classes were: The Beatles, the Stones, the Who, the Eagles, Chicago, the Moody Blues, the Beach Boys, the Four Seasons, the Animals, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, and the Monkeys.  I add two to that list this time around.
With 37 top 40 singles and 3 #1s- Neil Diamond!
And, with 17 top 40s and one top dog, along with a lot of great stuff before they became "top 40 material", Genesis!

We have 8 debuts on the hot hundred this week, two worth noting- at #92, Arnold G. Dorsey- AKA Englebert Humperdink- with After The Loving.  And at 80, the man who brought us Long Tall Glasses, Leo Sayer with You Make Me Feel Like Dancing ( which I'd have to say for me, this song never did).  Happy 35th birthday, you two!  The rest of the birthday crew this week:
Turning 40, John Lennon's Imagine; Isaac Hayes' Theme From Shaft; and Bread's Baby I'm-A Want You.
Turning 45, the Loving Spoonful's Rain On The Roof.
Turning 50, the Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra, with I'll Be Seeing You.
And turning 55 this week, Elvis with Love Me Tender.  Isn't it amazing that we seem to have a King reference every week?  Blow out the candles...

The big dropper this week was John Handy's Hard Work, a former WATN featuree, dropping 14 spots to 76.  Rod Stewart claims the big mover this week, climbing 25 to #45 with Tonight's The Night.

And speaking of the Where Are They Now feature, once again we have a slight problem.  Newbies, I always TRY to do this to the #49 song, but I've found that picking one number (at least this one) can cause some problems, i.e. repetition.  This week we have a song that hit 49 both on the way up and on the way down- Wings with the former top dog Let 'Em In.  So for a second straight week we move down a notch to 50, and there we find the Ohio Players with Who'd She Coo? on the way down.  The Ohio Players, who eventually became a vast ensemble, were based on 4 core members.  Sax player Clarence Satchell died in 1995; Trumpet/trombone man Ralph Middlebrooks passed in 1997; vocalist Robert Ward died Christmas Day, 2008; and Marshall Jones is surviving, living in Jamestown OH.

The next MHOF category is male soloist; the first waves inducted Elvis, Barry Manilow, Roy Orbison, Paul McCartney, John Denver, and BJ Thomas.  Joining them, with 35 top 40s and 2 #1s, Rick Nelson!

We dip into our #1s of other years feature now, and we are in the sixes this week.  In 1996, Cashbox was now doing a bi-weekly chart, and was about a month away from folding.  The #1 song was Donna Lewis' I Love You Always Forever.  In 1986, the top dog this week was Janet Jackson's When I Think Of You.  1976? Wait'll the end! 1966 this week the top dog was the Four Tops' Reach Out I'll Be There; and the top dog this week in 1956 was, from the middle of Elvis' tremendous run that year, Don't Be Cruel.

Next on the MHOF is female soloists (or acts).  Last time we inducted the Supremes, Dionne Warwick, Olivia Newton-John, Petula Clark, Carole King, and the Carpenters (sorry Richard, but Karen was the voice).  This time, we add two.  With 18 top 40s and a #1, Linda Ronstadt; and with 9 top 40s (is that all?  It sure seemed a lot more) and 2 #1s, the Captain and Tenille!

Three songs enter the top 40 this week.  At 37, up 13, is Ringo Starr's A Dose Of Rock And Roll (which we featured on WATN last time); at 34, up 8, the Spinners with Rubberband Man; and at 32, up 14, another recent featuree, Barry DeVorzon and Perry Botkin Jr with Nadia's Theme, AKA the Young And The Restless Theme.

Next up on the MHOF is the Not-So-R&R category.  Past inductees under this banner included crooners Frank Sinatra and Andy Williams, as well as Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.  This time, we veer off into the Christian realm to pick an amazing singer and amazing human being, taken far too soon from us in a 1982 plane crash.  He posted four great Christian lps- For Him Who Has Ears To Hear (voted 5th on the all time Christian album list); No Compromise;  So Ya Wanna Go Back To Egypt (which he mortgaged his house to release on his own so that he could "sell" it for free, and it sold 200,000 copies and was ranked 49th on the top 100 Christian lps list); and Songs For The Shepard, as well as a Collection lp.  With NO top 40 hits and NO #1s, Keith Green!

And now, as we finally watch Frampton Comes Alive! begin to sink into the sunset, we have a new #1 album- Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key Of Life.  His greatest masterpiece almost did not happen.  He was so disgusted with the government in the USA, he was planning on forsaking music to go work with physically challenged kids in Ghana, a noble pursuit.  But Motown backed up an armored car to his door, along with a seven-year, full creative license deal.  And like I suspect most of these "occupy" protesters would, he decided on the greater good and went to work.  Nine months, two unforeseen delays, and free t-shirts from Motown reading "It's Almost Finished!" later, Songs debuted at #1- something only Elton John had done before, with Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy and Rock Of The Westies.  And it held that spot for 13 weeks (so, we won't be seeing another new lp profile until January!), spawning singles Another Star (with George Benson on guitar, reaching #32), As (which featured Herbie Hancock and hit #36), and the 2 #1s, I Wish and Sir Duke.  Michael Sembelo (who did the song Maniac from Flashdance) played on a few cuts, and Minnie Ripperton and Denice Williams did some background work. 

Next category in the MHOF is Personal favorites.  Past inductees here are ELO, the Guess Who, and Kiss.  This time, with 8 top 40s, Boz Scaggs, and with 13 top 40s and a #1, Bread!

Two songs enter the top ten this week, two fall out.  Dropping are Shake Your Booty (7 to 17) and Getaway (10 to 18).

Rather than break up the top ten twice, here is our last MHOF category- oldies but goodies.  Last time we inducted the Coasters, Chuck Berry, the Everly Brothers, and the fan-nominated Jimmy Dean.  This time, with 20 top 40s and 3 #1s to his credit, Neil Sedaka!  And there you have the new class of the MHOF!

Coming into the top ten in the leadoff spot, up 2, is Steve Miller and Rock'n Me.  Also up two to enter the ten at #9, Heart with Magic Man.  At #8, edging up a spot, are the Bay City Rollers with I Only Wanna Be With You.  This brings back memories of listening to WMEE's nightly top ten, because this song, along with Kiss' Beth and Detroit Rock City, were constantly battling for the top spot.  At 7, moving up one, is Hall and Oates with She's Gone, in it's 24th week on the chart.  Which reminds me that the new resident of the grandpa chair ( in a week where 8 songs have 20+ weeks on the chart, including two in the top ten) is Kiss And Say Goodbye, back at #57, with 26 weeks.  (So much for not interrupting the top ten, eh?)  The next two songs hold their spots from last week- Still The One at 6 for Orleans and Devil Woman at #5 for Cliff Richard.  Newly minted MHOFer Boz Scaggs slips to 4 this week with Lowdown.

And at #3, we have our six degrees contestant, Walter Murphy and the non-existent Big Apple Band (which was just to give the song the "vibe" of a group, until the record company found out there really was a Big Apple Band and dropped the name) and A Fifth Of Beethoven.  Murphy's first job out of high school was as an arranger for Doc Severenson and the Tonight Show Band (AKA the NBC Orchestra).  Among the many credits for Severenson (which amazingly included no involvement on anything that ever hit the top 40), was scoring the movie with what has to be the dumbest premise of all time:

That's right, Nude On The Moon, where a couple of deadbeat scientists come into an inheritance that allows them to build a rocket ship and go to the moon.  There they find that the moon is a lush tropical paradise run by a group of topless amazons.  I can't make this stuff up, folks.  Also appearing musically was one Ralph Young, who sang the theme song I'm Mooning Over You. (I told you, I can't make this up!) Young was one half of Las Vegas act (Tony) Sadler and Young.  Young retired and has since passed away, but Sadler troups on, and recorded in 2010 a tribute album to the great French singer/songwriter Jacques Brel.  You know Brel (no, you really do) from his big hit Le Moribund, which the Beach Boys toyed with translating and then gave it up to their producer Terry Jacks, who forged it into Seasons In The Sun and hit #1.  I for one will never look at the moon the same way again.

That leaves us with the top 2 this week in 1976.  At #2 is Chicago with If You Leave Me Now, up from 4. and the new #1 song:

Rick Dees and his cast of Idiots with Disco Duck!  Rick claims it "took an hour to write and three months to find anyone willing to perform it".  So with the announcement of our new top dog duck, we conclude this week's slog through the magical year 1976.  Tune in tomorrow for the great Sixties Countdown, and be back here next week.  Maybe we'll find an even dumber movie to talk about (though somehow, I'm skeptical...).

Step into my time machine week 76

It's October 7th, 1976- one day before my oldest sister turns 28 and our dad turns 60,  Yeah, and his dad, already deceased, was also born on the 8th, though I couldn't tell you what year.  Had their pictures in the local paper and everything.  This morning, Gerald Ford is meeting with advisers trying to figure out how to remove the foot from his mouth after he told Jimmy Carter on national TV that there was "no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe."  In Birmingham, AL, Taylor Hicks is squalling his way into the world; somewhere else, Green Bay Packer Charles Woodson is doing the same.  And you and I are flipping time the bird aboard the Time Machine.

This week, we get the lowdown on the Lowdown, visit with Ringo and his All-Starr band(s), get hit by the dreaded #49 blues yet again, and ask the question, what song released in the USA in 1965 that hit #1 wasn't released until 1976 in the UK, only making it to #8 despite being voted one of the greatest British songs of all time?  (Hint: it's the Beatles- kinda.)  Let's get to it shall we?

BTW, next week I'll be doing my semi-annual inductions to the Martin Hall Of Fame.  Suggestions?  Bring 'em on.  My crack staff (of one) will evaluate any and all nominations with the exceptions of the Antichrist (Michael Bolton), Aretha (Franklin) and the Heavyweights, Jay and the (F'n) Americans, and the Doors.

6 songs debut in the hot 100 this week- two of them noteworthy. First is a song that placed in my top 5 of the decade- England Dan and John Ford Coley with Nights Are Forever Without You, at 83.  And way up at seventy, the "other" classic by Rod Stewart- Tonight's The Night (Gonna Be Alright).  Happy 35th birthday to you two, and here come our other birthday songs.  Celebrating forty years from debut this week is the Grass Roots' Two Divided By Love.  What an underrated band they were!  At 45 years old are Lady Godiva by Peter and Gordon and Devil With A Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels. Turning 50 today is MHOFer Jimmy Dean with Big Bad John.  And turning 55 this week, Richie Cunningham, is Fats Domino's Blueberry Hill.  Blow out the candles...

Dropping 16 this week, the big droppers are This Masquerade ( to 48) and Let 'Em In (to 45).

Our big mover gets tangled up in our where are they now segment.  Rick Springfield's Take A Hand decided to hang out another week in our magic spot, so I moved down to 50- where I ran into our week's biggest mover.  Not a song I knew, so I didn't mention it last week, it debuted at 68 and lept 18 to 50 this week. That song is A Dose Of Rock And Roll by Ringo Starr, which turned out to be another delightful little, typically Ringo song.  So what's the former Mr. Starkey up to these days? Well, in January he released his latest studio album, Y Not.  In April, he celebrated his 30th anniversary with wife Barbara Bach.  And next month he kicks off a tour of Brazil, Mexico, and Chile, among other stops.
 But the thing that caught my eye in the Ringo story was his All-Starr band tours.  And what an assortment of stars he had!  The first tour was way back in 1989, and among the names along for the ride were the Eagles' Joe Walsh, the late great Big Man- Clarence Clemmons, Dr. John, Billy Preston, and last week's six degrees hero, Jim Keltner.The second tour was in 1992, and included Burton Cummings (whom I believe I mentioned last week...), Dave Edmunds, Todd Rundgren, Walsh and bandmate Timothy B. Schmitt, and his already famous son Zak Starkey, who you could practically do a six degrees on himself.  The 1995 version had John Entwhistle of the Who, Felix Cavaliere from the Rascals, Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad, once again Preston, and switching Guess Who members, Randy Bachman.
The 1997 version included Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke along with Peter Frampton; the 1999 set switched out Frampton for Rundgren.  The 2000 version had Eric Carmen, Edmunds again, and the voice of Supertramp, Roger Hodgson.  In 2001 Sheila E. became the first woman All-Starr, and was joined by ELP's Greg Lake and Howard Jones (who if you don't remember, treat yourself by youtubing No One Is To Blame or What Is Love.)  And in the last one I found in 2001, Sheila E. was joined by Paul Carrack and former Babys frontman John Waite.  Wow, wouldn't you like to see the reunion tour of THAT band?

We come now to the top songs of other years segment, and we're in the 5s this time.  1995's number one this week was Mariah Carey's Fantasy, and this brings up a story reminiscent of last week.  If you include her Boyz II Men duet, Mariah is on a run here that sees her at the top 25 out of 30 weeks.  Who needs variety, eh?  One of the great songs of all time was #1 this week in 1985- Dire Straits' Money For Nothing.  Man, drunken memories.  Last year at this point we saw David Geddes at the top (at least on Cashbox) with Run Joey Run.  The top song this week in 1965  was the most played song on American radio from this point until 1972- eight years!  It is the most-covered non-Gershwin song of all time, with over 1600 recorded versions.  However, it was the song that began the dividing of the Beatles.  That song?  Yesterday.  McCartney wrote it and recorded it with just an acoustic guitar and a string section.  The other Beatles fought putting it on the album, saying it was too unlike their style- but the alternative of having Paul release it under his own name was unacceptable.  Therefore, EMI refused to release it as a single in the UK- and it still made the airplay top ten!  When EMI's contract with the Beatles lapsed in 1976, they got their one last fling with the band, releasing as many singles as they could dig up all at once.  23 of them hit the hot 100, 6 made the top 50, and Yesterday peaked at #8.  BMI estimates this song was performed 7 MILLION times in the twentieth century alone.
And now, the red-headed stepchild which is the top song this week in 1955- The Yellow Rose Of Texas by Mitch Miller.

5 songs hit the top 40 this week.  The fastest climber of this bunch is Boston's More Than A Feeling, which zoomed up 16 to land at 40.  Moving up 6 to #37 is the Ritchie Family with a song I had forgotten- The Best Disco In Town.  This song was a medley of r&b/dance tunes including Reach Out I'll Be There from the Four Tops, the O'Jays I Love Music, Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes' Bad Luck, TSOP by MFSB, and their own recent hit Brazil.  Moving up a dozen spots to 36 is Frampton (who still has the top lp for one more week) with Do You Feel Like We Do? The next two both move up 10 spots- The Commodores to 32 with Just To Be Close To You, and Barry Manilow to 31 with This One's For You.  Man what a great bunch that was!

Two songs enter the top ten, two fall out.  Play That Funky Music drops from 8 to 14, and A Little Bit More goes from 9 to 15.  And as I'm out of specials until the six degrees story, here comes the top ten.

Getaway by Earth Wind And Fire holds at 10 a second week.  Up 3 to #9 are the Bay City Rollers with I Only Wanna Be With You.  Finally realizing the dream in its 23rd week between two attempts, She's Gone by Hall and Oates climbs 3 to #8.  This is, as I've mentioned before, off their early lp, Abandoned Luncheonette, which I just loved.  So here as a bonus, here's one of the best H&O songs you've never heard, from this album.



Dropping  5 to #7 is KC and the Sunshine band's Shake Your Booty; Orleans edges up a notch to 6 with Still The One. Cliff Richard holds at 5 with Devil Woman.  Climbing to 4, up 2, is Chicago's If You Leave Me Now.  And that brings us to last week's top dog- and our six degrees victim.

Which is ironically the song from Silk Degrees- Boz Scaggs' Lowdown.  Now there's a million ways you can branch from Boz, including the Steve Miller Band (where he came from) and Toto (who grew from his band) routes.   But among the other players on this song were a couple of background vocalists.  The woman is Carolyn Willis, whom we've mentioned as the female vocal on Seals and Crofts' Get Closer (which is still sitting in our grandpa chair at 27 weeks on the chart).  The other is Jim Gilstrap, who as a session musician and vocalist, has been on things as various as backgrounds on Starship's hit Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now and the male vocal on the theme to the TV show Good Times.  But probably the most famous place you've heard him was a place you never knew he was at- he sung the first two lines of Stevie Wonder's You Are The Sunshine Of My Life, while a young lady named Lani Groves sang the next two.  I found precious little more out about Lani besides her background credits on Stevie's lp Talking Book and some voice credits on the 1984 My Little Pony movie.  But Talking Book had a number of big-or soon to be big- names as guest musicians, including Ray Parker JR, David Sanborn, Denise Williams, and the legendary Jeff Beck.  This despite the fact that three of the ten tracks Stevie did everything himself.

So that leaves you a choice at top dog between :

Beethoven...

...and Donald Duck!

And it's Rick Dees moving up 2 to #2 with Disco Duck, so the new top duck dog is...

Walter Murphy and his Big Apple Band with A Fifth Of Beethoven!!!

That's it for this week.  Tune in tomorrow for the sixties countdown, and be here next time for the new MHOF class!

Step into my time machine week 75... and mind the cargo...

...because I have a few things I'm going to add before we get to the main of things. 

First off I have some sad/exciting news.  We got a letter yesterday from Children International that the boy (I should say young man now) we sponsor is leaving the program.  He is old enough (turning 18 on the 28th of December) and has a job, so time constraints are keeping him from participating in other facets of the program.  So we say goodbye to Oscar Rafael Say Cumez...

(God, he was an 8-year old who weighed as much as my 4-year old daughter when we started sponsoring him!)

..and hello to Denilson Efrain Aguilar Sican!

Denilson is 10, born on December 29th ( the day after Oscar!).  Like Oscar, dear ol' dad is nowhere to be found, but mom at least is there, working as a maid.  Unlike Oscar, they have a cement floor, some electricity, and running water- none of which Oscar had at the beginning.  He has a younger sister, Sucely, and seems to be (relatively)better off than Oscar was at 8.

Next item: another twist on the scam e-mail thing.

Greetings,

I know you would be surprised to read from someone relatively unknown to you.My name is Captain Prieve Sullivan, I am an American soldier serving in the military with the U.S. ARMY USARPAC Medical Team,which was deployed to Iraq at the beginning of the war in Iraq.
I would like to share some highly personal classified information about my personal experience and role which I played in the pursuit of my career serving under the U.S 1st Armored which was at the fore-front of the war in Iraq.
Though, I would like to hold back certain information which i intend sharing with you for security reasons for now until i hear from you.I will be vivid and coherent in my next message in this regards,meanwhile, could you send me an email confirming that you have visited the site and that you have understood my intentions? I will like you to get back to me
I will await your thoughts via my email.
Thanks,
Yours
Capt. Prieve Sullivan USARPAC

Okay, first of all, pick a more common name than Prieve.  Second, why me, and why would I want your classified info?  Do I LOOK like Julian Ass ange to you?  Third, while it's nice of you to promise to be coherent, somehow I think this will be too great a challenge for you.  Thanks, but no thanks.

Now onto the show! This week, well, I don't know how we top all this, but stick around and see what happens.  Besides, we have a new top dog that I'm sure you'll want to meet.

Seven debuts come into the hot 100 this week, and they start with a favorite of mine- Burton Cummings of the Guess Who, Canada's greatest contribution to history (outside of military deeds), with a solo single, Stand Tall.  It comes in at 93.  At 89, the lovely and talented Yvonne Eliman with Love Me; in at 86 is the remnants of the 5th Dimension, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis with You Don't Have To Be A Star.  And so high up I almost missed it, at 48, Peter Frampton (who still has the week's #1 lp) with Do You Feel Like We Do.  Happy 35th birthday to all of you!  Other birthdays include Yes' Your Move and Chicago's Questions 67& 68 turning 40; Dandy by Herman's Hermits turning 45; Johnny Cash's I Walk The Line turning 55; and Tommy Edwards' classic It's All In The Game turning 60! Blow out the candles...

After peaking at 65 a couple weeks back, our old friend Popsicle Toes tumbles 21 spots to 90 this week for the biggest drop.  Our big gainer awaits in the top forty.

The nominations for the R&R HOF came out this week, which means (among other things) it's time to send me any nominations for the next class of the Martin Hall Of Fame.  You can find the previous, nay, founding class here, here, and here.  Here's what I think of this year's group of R&RHOF nominees:

Definites: Heart, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Spinners, War, Donovan.
Um, Maybe:  Donna Summer.
This is a Hall of Fame, isn't it?(i.e. first requirement- fame): Joan Jett, Rufus with Chaka Khan, Guns N Roses, the Cure, the Faces.
Not so fast, my friend: Eric B. and Rakim, Beastie Boys.
Who?: Laura Nyro, Freddy King.

Today we're in the 4s in the look at #1s of other years.  This week in 1994, Boyz II Men were #1 with I'll Make Love To You.  Not surprising, this; in a fearsome example of why I had abandoned pop music by this point, Boyz II Men had the #1 song 29 of the 43 weeks between Sept. 3rd of 1994 and June 24th of 1995, with only two or three other acts interspersed within.  Sorry guys- I know the Beatles, I've listened to the Beatles, and you are no Beatles.  In 1984 it was a slightly more palatable act at the top- Prince with Let's Go Crazy.  The aforementioned Spinners, along with Dionne Warwick, were on top in 1974 with Then Came You.  Roy Orbison was on top in '64 with Oh Pretty Woman.  And the top song this week in 1954 was the Rosemary Clooney version of a song from the musical The Pajama Game, Hey There.  A note for Laurie- this song was written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, who also wrote Hernando's Hideaway!  To everyone else, you'll have to google that one, we're over schedule.

At 49 this week is a recent visitor to Ft Wayne, Rick Springfield, with his song Take A Hand.  All the bio you could want is in his current bestseller autobiography, Late, Late At Night.  If that ain't enough, a documentary about the relationship over the years between he and his fans, An Affair Of The Heart: The Journey Of Rick Springfield And His Devoted Fans, had its first screening in Malibu this Monday past.  And if that still ain't enough, he's headlining a cruise with his pal Doug Davidson (Paul from the Young And The Restless) and his first band, Zoot (reuniting after 40 years).

What about this week's countdown, you say? Well, our top 40 debuts this week are 5:  at 40, up 3, are the Beach Boys with It's OK; at 39, leaping 13, are the Bee Gees with Love So Right;  at 36, up 8 is a song I have on a recent CD purchase, the Brothers Johnson (the BJs?  No, I don't think so...) with Get The Funk Outta Ma Face; at 35, up 7, is Firefall with You Are The Woman; and at 31, moving up 29 to take the prize as biggest mover- the Captain And Tenille with Muskrat Love.

One in the top ten, one out- the dropper being I'd Really Love To See You Tonight, from 10 to 17.

Earth, Wind, And Fire enter the top ten in the leadoff spot with the trumpet-driven Getaway.  Holding at 9 is Dr. Hook with A Little Bit More.  Dropping five to #8 is Wild Cherry's former top dog Play That Funky Music. Then comes five straight songs that move up one spot: at 7, Orleans and Still The One; at 6 Chicago and If You Leave Me Now; at 5, Cliff Richard and Devil Woman; at 4, Rick Dees and Disco Duck; and at 3, Walter Murphy and A 5th Of Beethoven.

That brings us to a six degrees feature on our #2 song, KC and the Sunshine Band, who slip a spot to 2 with Shake Your Booty.  The first successful songwriting effort for the dynamic pair of  Harry Casey and Robert Finch was a song called Where Is The Love, which was recorded by Betty Wright (who was best known for Clean Up Woman).  This is not the same as the song of the same name by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway; that tune was written by one Ralph McDonald, whose rather large list of songwriting accomplishments included Just The Two Of Us, for which Grover Washington's horn got top billing and Bill Withers' vocals got squat.  Bill, of course, had several hits of his own, including Ain't No Sunshine, which was on the lp Just As I Am.  I bring this up because their were a couple of notable names that played on this lp.  The guitarist was Stephen Stills; and the drummer was Jim Keltner, another one of those "I've been everywhere" guys.  His list of drum credits include songs from Gary Lewis and the Playboys' She's Just My Style to Dylan's Knocking On Heaven's Door, from Gary Wright's Dream Weaver to Steely Dan's Josie, in addition to being the drummer for the legendary Travelling Wilburys under the pseudonym Buster Sidebury.  So there you have it- KC and the Sunshine Band  to the Travelling Wilburys in however many steps that was.

And that just leaves us one more bit of business- the new #1 song this week!  May I present to you....

Boz Skaggs with Lowdown!!!

Whew, we're back!  See ya tomorrow for the sixties countdown, and be sure to float me some MHOF suggestions!

Step into my time machine week 74

We're going to swing back a little farther than usual here at the beginning of the show.  It's 1966, I'm four years old.  How does my day start?  I begin to wake up hearing the morning get together of my dad and his two brothers for coffee before they pile in the car of whoever's week it was to drive, and head off to work- my dad and uncle Dick to International Harvester, Uncle Len to the Falstaff brewery.  Mom settles in to read her prayer book for a half-hour or so.  I emerge as the TV comes on to the last half of Wayne Rothgeb's farm show (hopefully to root for my sister's school, Woodlan, in the FFA quiz).  The a half-hour of cartoons with Engineer John before Captain Kangaroo, and...
Wait a minute.  Who is Engineer John?
He was John Seimer, a pioneer on WKJG-TV who pulled on his gray bibs every weekday morning, climbed aboard his cardboard train , and played cartoons.  I bet every one of you had an "Engineer John" in your town.  Mine passed away Sunday at the age of 89.

John hosted the local show from 1953 to 1971.  So for ten years, if I was up, I was there.  He has been sorely missed all these years; now he will be missed worse.

This week on Time Machine:  a new top dog; who hit #1 with Crying In The Chapel (and it wasn't Elvis!); more video evidence that local djs of the era needed to be whupped; Taco's real name (remember Putting On The Ritz?); the Reverend Patrick Henderson (?); the act who fans have been waiting for a second album from for almost forty years; and the connection between the Cowsills and Tommy Tutone.  Let's get this engine rolling, John!

Thirteen songs debut this week, and I know that there's probably a couple I won't mention we'll hear from later.  But today, I'll mention four of them.  Debuting at 96 is Bachman Turner Overdrive with a rockin' number called Gimme Your Money Please.  Alice Cooper comes in at 94 with arguably the best song he ever did, I Never Cry.  Another one you might not be familiar with- but should be- is the first stateside single for Australia's highly underrated Little River Band, It's A Long Way There, which debuts at 76.  And all the way up at 60 is the Captain (who'll get another mention later) and Tenille with Muskrat Love.  I had thought this was an original by America from their album Hat Trick in 1973, but the original was actually done by the composer, a now-cult figure named Willis Alan Ramsey, who made a great impression in Texas music history with his self titled debut (on which the song was called Muskrat Candlelight) in 1972.  He had some legal wranglings with his record label, the upshot of which is that, despite his regional popularity, he has never released a second album. 

All those guys celebrate there 35th birthday on the chart.  Reaching forty this week are Cat Stevens' Peace train, and the redoubtable Delaney and Bonnie with Only You Know And I Know.  Also, Tommy Roe's Hooray For Hazel hits 45 this week, and Dion's Runaround Sue turns fifty. Blow out the candles...

The Beatles chalk up another "honor", as Got To Get You Into My Life is the big dropper this week ( falling 28 to #61).  The Bee Gees are the big mover, climbing 27 to #52 with Love So Right.

Our look back at the #1s of other years is in the 3s this week.  In 1993, Mariah Carey held the top spot with Dreamlover (presumably not a Bobby Darin remake).  In 1983 it was Putting On The Ritz by Taco (real first name? Taco).  Grand Funk Railroad, still one of the coolest band names of all time, ruled 1973 this week with We're An American Band.  In 1963 the top dog is a song you'll be hearing MUCH later on the Saturday sixties countdown- Bobby Vinton's Blue Velvet.  Now 1953 isn't such a clear story.  On Cashbox, the #1 was Crying In The Chapel.  The trouble here is the lovely early Cashbox policy of combining all versions of the same song as a single entry.  And there were four competing versions at the time (none of them Elvis' which came out in 1960).  One belonged to Darrel Glenn, whose father Artie wrote the song for him when he was in a high school band; it hit #4 by Billboard.  The other main competitor was June Valli who had hers up to #6 on BB.  So what did BB have at the top? Well at the time, BB did three separate charts- the best seller; most played on jukeboxes; and most played by DJs.  Of course, djs being a difficult lot (Grrrrr.....), they had the Ames Brothers' You You You at the top,; And where the people had the choice, both charts were topped by Les Paul and Mary Ford's Via Con Dios.  We're all about options here at time machine!

One thing you don't get an option on is the #1 album this week- still Frampton Comes Alive!

Our #49 this week is Rock 'N Roll Music by the Beach Boys, and thus the Boys are our Where Are They Now victims du jour.  First, let's run down the six main members of the classic Beach Boys.
Brian Wilson is amazingly still out and about.  Just 2 years ago, at the request of the George Gershwin estate, he did a retrospective  Brian Wilson Re-Imagines Gershwin that received critical acclaim (better late than never, eh?). And producer Bill Pohlad and TV screenwriter John Wells are currently working on a "life and times" feature on him.
Dennis Wilson was the first of the Boys to pass on, proving that drinking and diving don't mix in late December back in '83.
Carl Wilson toured through his final illness in 1997, though he was on O2 after every song and sat down save for his solo on God Only Knows.  He died of lung and brain cancer in February of 1998.
Mike Love currently lead the touring Beach Boys, who still do 170 shows a year.  Among those with him in the group is John Cowsill, who not only does Carl's parts and drums, but was the drummer both for his family band- the Cowsills-and for Tommy Tutone on their big hit 867-5309/Jenny.
Bruce Johnston, also known for writing I Write The Songs and the background arrangement for Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me, is also in touring Beach Boys.
Al Jardine first formed his own band called Beach Boys and Friends, which included his sons Matt, and Adam, Brian's daughters Wendy and Carnie, the mentioned in an earlier post Billy Hinsche, and Daryl Dragon, otherwise known as the Captain (who had been a member of touring Beach Boys a long time ago).  This band had to cease and desist when Mike and Carl's estate sued over the name in 2007.  He now tours with the Endless Summer Band and has released a critically acclaimed lp of his own in June of last year.  It was called A Postcard From California and had as guest musicians Neil Young, Steve Miller, the surviving members of America and others.
The Boys en masse are the subject of swirling rumours about their upcoming 50th anniversary.  The rumors run the gamut from a one night show to a new lp to a reunion tour that may include both Brian and early member David Marks. Or they make just issue a press release, who knows.  Apparently they have practiced a time or to together, to which Brian said, "Not bad singing for a seventy year old man!"  How's that for perspective?

Five songs debut this week. The first I'm going to share with you because I'd never heard it before last night and my reaction was, WHY OH WHY did my local DJs fail me?  It's Called Did You Boogie With Your Baby, and it's by Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids.




This song moves up from 45 to 39.  Coming in at 37, up 19, is Gordon Lightfoot's The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald.  Another one I didn't know (and didn't exactly flip over) was Diana Ross at 36, up 6, with One Love In My Lifetime.  Up 15 to #32 is Blue Oyster Cult's classic Don't Fear The Reaper.  And the high debut, shooting from 44 to 29, is ABBA with Fernando.  Damn, I'm hitting backspace a lot- time for a banana!

Odds and ends time:  A shout out to almost but not quites- Summer by War, which peaks at 15 last week here and drops to 17 this week, though it placed #7 on BB's hot 100, 4 on their R&B, and #1 on easy listening.  And to Jefferson Starship's With Your Love, which stalls here at13.  Also, Seals and Crofts now sit the grandpa chair with Get Closer at 25 weeks; and the lone dropper from the top ten is You Should Be Dancing, from 6 to 19.

Our six degrees victim this week is the #10 song, (down from 4, and the banana didn't work) I'd Really Love To See You Tonight (in fact, I think it made it worse!) . This song, along with the title cut from the lp Nights Are Forever, was written by one Parker McGee, who there's precious little info about out there.  What I did learn is among his credits is the #16 hit American Music By the Pointer Sisters, from  their album So Exited! (and you know what else was on THAT album!).  In perusing the track list of that album, I noticed a tune called Heart Beat, who had among its co-writers the Antichrist, Michael Bolton, and one Rev. Patrick Henderson.  The good Reverend was (not surprisingly) a Gospel musician, who allegedly appeared on several Michael McDonald lps and McDonald-era Doobie Brothers recordings.  I only found him credited on the Doobies' One Step Closer, though, where he played keyboards on the top 5 Real Love and a couple other tunes.

The rest of the top ten stacks up like this:  Dr. Hook moves one to #9 with A Little Bit More; moving into the top 10 at #8, up 3, is Orleans' Still The One; up 2 to #7 is Chicago with If You Leave Me Now; Cliff Richards moves up a spot to #6 with Devil Woman;  Rick Dees is at #5 up from 8, with Disco Duck; up one to #4 is Walter Murphy's A Fifth Of Beethoven; last week's top dog, Wild Cherry's Play That Funky Music drops to #3; Boz Skaggs moves up to the runner up spot with Lowdown; and that leaves us with our new top dog...

KC and the Sunshine Band with Shake Your Booty!!!

That's a wrap for this week, kids.  Be sure to be here bright and early tomorrow for my favorite moment of the week, the great sixties countdown!  Until then....

(PS: Despite about a million backspaces, spellcheck still caught me 8 times! Not to mention the three I just fixed on proofread. Next time I'll eat the banana before I start!)