Time Machine co-ordinates VILXII49772775

Today we hit July 27th of 1975.  And finding a news item was such a stretch, that the first thing I hit was a "blind hog finds an acorn" story.  "Psychic" columnist Sydney Omarr predicted it might be a hot week for Leos and Aquarrii, pointing out specifically (among a handful of others) baseballers Hank Aaron and Carl Yastremski and union boss Jimmy Hoffa.

How'd he do?  Well, even though Yaz drove in the tying run and scored the winner Friday night and went 4-for-8 with his 23rd home run the last two games, the pair combined for a .239 average for the week- .184 without those two games at the end.  (Non-baseballers:  That kinda sucks.)

Hoffa?  He disappeared four days after the column hit...

"Nice job, a-hole..."

AHEM... welcome to this week's Time Machine, where we have a big romp in the Panel Picks, a couple of debuts in the M10, an AWOL 6D, and a neat little special to round things out.  Without further ado, let us adjourn to the end zone at Meadowlands Stadium the Musical Tardis, and get buried in the music!


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Our leadoff debut comes in at #10, and it's the second single from the new lp by Gilbert O'Sullivan, at #10...





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All right, let me welcome in Bernard St. Clair Lee and H Ann Kelly of the Hues Corporation!

Hi, folks, glad to have you!

Both: Thank you!

Now I have to ask about the unusual names you two have.  Where did you get St Clair for a middle name at?

B:   Yeah. Bernard is my first name. St. Clair was supposed to be spelled Sinclair. They made a mistake at the hospital. They spelled it St. Clair. So, my mother left it at that. Basically, before I got into performing music, I dropped off the Bernard. The St. Clair comes from the Indian side of our family. St. Clair means 'Big Bear'. So, it became St. Clair Lee. The headband which I always wear also came from the Indian side of our family. I found out that the Indian side of our family were Blackfoot and migrated down from Canada to Oklahoma and that's how I picked up wearing the headband.*

*from an actual interview with Gary James in 2009



And Ann- the H stands for Hubert??

A:  Yes...

How's that happen?

A: I don't recall, I was pretty young...*

* From me finding zip zing zero about it...

Yeah.

A: Sometimes we just shake our heads and wonder if our parents were strung together very tight...

Yes, my son KC wonders that about his name too...*

* His mother's idea FWIW.


So anyway, how about y'all get right to our list this week?  Only 16 contestants from 41 stations...

B:  Awl, right.  So we have first the "one vote wonders", so I'll have to wonder about YOU if you vote for any o' these!  First we have Gladys Knight and the Pips with the The Way We Were/Try To Remember Medley, which was at #15 this week, followed by KC and the Sunshine Band, with Get Down Tonight at #38...

A:  I have David Bowie with Fame, #48 here and #41 in England... next, an English vote for a song not released here, the Bay City Rollers and Bye Bye Baby.

B:  Hey, I said I dropped the "Bernard", could you please start putting an S and not a B for me, dude?

Oh, yeah, sorry about that.

S:  That's better.  Now I have an Australian-only vote for a group called Hush doin' Bony Maroney; and then the Laurenco Marques song of the week, which I guess is a big deal, with the Doobie Brothers and Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While), which fell off Cashbox two weeks ago.

A:  And finishing out the one-vote songs, I have Glen Campbell and Rhinestone Cowboy at #13, and The Rolling Stones and I Don't Know Why at #45.  Bernard?

B:  Woman, what'd I just say?  Now you got HIM doing it again, too!  Anyway, next is the better but not good enough group, which is basically the three songs that got two votes each.  The first is Elton John with Someone Saved My Life Tonight at #8.  HU-bert?

H: Boy, you is asking for it...  So are you with that H!  Grrr... the other 2's are 10cc's I'm Not In Love at #5- #24 in England, and Roger Whitaker's The Last Farewell, which was 29 in the UK but dropped out last week here.


S:  And that brings us to the four contestants that are in the finals.  In alphabetical order, we have... the Bee Gees and Jive Talkin' at #5 in England and #4 here...

A:  ...Wings with Listen To What The Man Said at #16...

S: ...The Captain and Tennille and Love Will Keep Us Together at #12 here, #43 there...

A:  ...The Eagles and One Of These Nights at the top on Cashbox...

S: ...and Van McCoy doin' The Hustle at #9 there and #3 here!

Thanks guys, and sorry about the name thing, but, well, I didn't name ya!  So choose from the Bee Gees, Wings, C&T, the Eagles, and the Hustler.  One of them got 14 votes- the other four got 13!


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So I had done some preliminary research, if you wanna call it that, on our 6D song- Olivia Newton-John's Please Mr Please who got neglected at #2... but apparently I didn't write it down.  Suffice it to say she was once engaged to Cliff Richard, and as a result many of her early songs, like this one, were written and/or produced by members of his old band the Shadows.  And that was about as far as I had got.  In the meantime, not truly remembering that that's all the farther I got, I abandoned it altogether to ask myself another question.  I do all these thingees on the Martin Era 2.0- what lies beyond?  I decided to answer that by coming up with my personal top ten Number One Songs On Cashbox Post ME2.0!  Now, Cashbox ran charts through the eighties but were kinda hit and miss in the 90's, actually skipping 33 of the 356 weeks between the first chart of 1990 and their eventual demise in November of 1996.  Which doesn't bother me much because I skipped a lot of that era as well- I only knew 32 out of 109 #1s after 1990.  So, needless to say, this list will all be 1989 or older.  And we start with:

10- Mike and the Mechanics- The Living Years, 1989.  Not that I didn't have to leave behind a lot of good songs, but the only real fight was for the last slot- and Mike beat Lisa Loeb by a sliver of memory.

9- A-Ha, Take On Me, 1985.  Still one of my favorite videos ever.

8- Paul Young, Every Time You Go Away, 1985.  The long ending version; still thunders in my heart.

7- Samantha Sang, Emotion, 1978.  One of two of the Bee Gee wave of the late seventies to make my list- surprisingly, none credited to the trio themselves!

6- The Knack, My Sharona, 1979.  And just for the record, that was a GREAT album!

5- Andy Gibb, Shadow Dancing, 1978.  This one had the most lasting power for me of the "Gibb wave".

4- Gerry Rafferty, Baker Street, 1978.  The ultimate, "Snuck up on you" hit.  At least it snuck up on me.

3- Dire Straits, Money For Nothing, 1985.  Did I mention "favorite videos?"

2- Bonnie Tyler, Total Eclipse Of The Heart.  I was doing my original top ten back then.  This one sat at the top for I believe 8 weeks.  Couldn't listen back then without crying, still a bit hard to.




And #1?  Wait for the reveal!


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Stat Pack:

I knew 52!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So many of my favorites... Orleans was just climbing with Dance With Me... America debuted Daisy Jane...  Hudson Brothers' Beach Boys-esque Rendezvous... Morris Albert's Feelings...  Johnny Rivers doing Help Me Rhonda... Ambrosia Holding On To Yesterday... Janis Ian At Seventeen... Barry Manilow Could It Be Magic... Hamilton Joe Frank and Reynolds Fallin' In Love... Dawn's Morning Beautiful.. The Rockford Files theme... Pilot's Magic... "Lazy day in bed, music in my head, crazy music playing in the morning light..."  excuse me a minute...


Wow.  Just wow.


ANYway.  The #75 in '75 belonged to Conway Twitty with Touch The Hand.  It was a #1 country (big surprise there) that never charted on Billboard.  It had a duet with his 16-y-o daughter Joni Lee on the flip, Don't Cry Joni.  And as I research this, I see I BOOTED the ball here- somehow I lurched back two weeks in time on the stats?  Was I drinking a Golden Monkey at the time?

But this is a neat, if time displaced story, so let me leave it there.  The REAL 75/75 is... Orleans and Dance With Me!!!  As Mel Allen would say, How about that?

The other thing I messed up in my time-hiccup is the #101, which is Bobby Womack and Bill Withers covering It's All Over Now.  What DID I have there?  Never you mind...

"No, wait, it was one of mine, dang it!  It was..." WOOOOOOSH....

Leo Sayer, ladies and gentleman, sorry you couldn't stay!  Anyhow, the big mover was ... oh, wait, recalculating here, too... how about a 19 notch climb to #64 with ZZ Top and Tush!

Finally, the British chart topper- a chart I knew 16 out of 50 on- was another unreleased-in-the-States single for the Bay City Rollers, Give A Little Love.


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Gee whiz, I darn near forgot our other debut!  At #9, the return to the M10 of an act with a #1 to their credit, Kidsmoke...





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And the rest of the M10:


A couple of 2 week, one notch movers next- Baywaves and 1954 Egyptian drama at #8, and Jim Croce's Lover's Cross at #7.

Three straight seven weekers next, and two of them hold their spots from last week.  The Derevs take a third week at #6 with Now You Know My Name;  the Jayhawks remain at #4 with Everybody Knows; and the one song that kept both these former #2s from hitting the top, Caroline Rose hits the 60-point mark with More Of The Same.  Which is also known as, "member of a six way tie for 21st all time..."

The Jayhawk's second member of the club moves up to #3- Backwards Women.

Geowulf slides into runner-up position with Sunday.

And that means a second week at #1 for...

...Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears and Nature's Natural!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And my favorite of the post ME2.0 Cashbox #1s...

1- The Rolling Stones, Miss You.  One of those "I remember the first time I heard this" tunes...


And that leaves us with our Panel winner, the next POTM... the envelope, please...

"Get it yourself!  Lazy Daddy..."

Gee thanks.  Anywhat, the winner is...

...the Captain and Tennille with Love Will Keep Us Together!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Wow, two more weeks, and then the big 500th anniversary post!  But first, 1976!

Wednesday Bible Study: The Complete Idiots Guide

Well, we have another tough one this week.  But it isn't really the verse in question that's tough;  it's the one BEFORE it.  We go this week to Ezekiel 3:16:

Eze 3:16  And at the end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me: 

Now that seems easy:  Over and over we are taught to wait on the Lord.  Those that can do it are blessed; those that fail, like Saul, lose out.  So where are we with Ezekiel?  Well, we have to do quite a bit of backtracking to figure that out.

So the Book of Ezekiel starts out with him being with a certain group of the Babylonic exiles.  He is with the group at the Chebar canal, which if you are a history nut, is near the ancient sacred city of Nippur.  It is basically the main waterway of the area, or was, and I would guess this is like living in "a van under a bridge down by the river", if you catch the old Chris Farley reference.  Suddenly, he sees the glory of the Lord, and is transported by the Spirit into Heaven.  Now, here I might add that it is debated whether this was a physical transportation or a vision.  I'll let Paul handle that, in his description of his OWN trip.  From 2 Corinthians 12:

2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know--God knows.

Anyway he gets a commission from God, to preach to the exiles, and gets sent back to them, at which point he waits the seven days.  But that doesn't tell us enough; to learn from this verse, we have to look at the 2 preceding it:

Eze 3:14  The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the LORD being strong upon me. 

Eze 3:15  And I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who were dwelling by the Chebar canal, and I sat where they were dwelling. And I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days. 

So there are two things to examine here.  What means, I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit?  Well, the commentators actually had two ways of looking at this- but to get to them, I'm going to backtrack again.  You see, in the instructions God gives Ezekiel in the vision/visitation, He makes two things clear to him.  The first is- most of these people are NOT going to listen to him.  He would have an easier time going to the gentiles, who don't even speak the same language, than to these people.  If you ever wonder why WE can read the prophets and see Jesus and the Jews CAN'T, well, this is why.  The second thing God makes clear is, He's going to make Ezekiel just as hard and stubborn in delivering the message as the Jews are in not listening.  It will be a contest of who breaks first.

So now, he is sent back to the people, and he's angry.  Most of the commentators believe this is the righteous indignation aroused by God's anger at their sins, and he's ready to really let them have it in God's name.  But one lone commentator takes another tack, and that was John Gill:

and I went in bitterness; full of trouble and sorrow, that the Lord was departing from the temple; that his people had been guilty, of such crimes they had, and were such an impudent, and hardhearted people they were; and that such judgments were coming upon them he had seers written in the roll, full of lamentations, mourning, and woe: 

in the heat of my spirit; the Targum and Vulgate Latin render it, "in the indignation of my spirit"; his spirit was hot and angry, he was froward and unwilling to go on the errand, to prophesy sad and dismal things to his people: 

I think, though, that Gill was mistaken here.  His description sounds more like Jonah- and Jonah hitched a ride on a ship out of town when he was in that state of mind.  No, I think Ezekiel was "loaded for bear" and was ready to let loose both barrels, when he got put back there in v 15.

The second thing, which I believe kinda answers the first, is what means And I sat there overwhelmed?  I looked up this word in two spots, the Hebrew and the Greek.  And the Greek gave me a different insight.  You see, this is another one that different Bibles translated different ways.  From benign translations such as "Behaving in their midst" (Apostolic) and "conversant in the midst of them" (Brenton's Septuagint), to the amazed such as "full of wonder" (1965 Basic English) and "shocked" (multiple examples), to "mourning", "astonished", "overwhelmed", and even "appalled".  But if you look at what that Septuagint version actually says in Greek, you get a pair of words that basically are "up" and "twisted"

I think this means that, when he returned to them, ready to just chew them out, he looked around and saw their sorry state- and became confused.  They were back to being what they were before he left- suffering, orphans without a Father and a home.  They were sympathetic figures, and he had a message of wrath to give them.

For me, that sounds familiar.  One gets on SM, and is ready to chew out the first idiot that crosses one's path.  But then you stop and remember- they might be heading for hell, and you might be the first "Jesus" they meet.  And when Ezekiel hit this, he gave him seven days to get his mind wrapped around it.  And that leads us to the next part in understanding all this, a few verses farther down the way:

Eze 3:24  But the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and he spoke with me and said to me, "Go, shut yourself within your house. 

Eze 3:25  And you, O son of man, behold, cords will be placed upon you, and you shall be bound with them, so that you cannot go out among the people. 

Eze 3:26  And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house. 

Eze 3:27  But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.' He who will hear, let him hear; and he who will refuse to hear, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house. 

So now let's backtrack this as well.  When the seven days were up, God explained another depth to the assignment, one he needed now that he was seeing them both as objects of wrath AND human beings needing saved.  That was the concept of responsibility.  If you speak to them and they listen, they will be saved.  If you speak to them and they reject you, they will be liable for their own souls, but you are off the hook.  And if you REFUSE to speak to them, you are just as blood-guilty as they are.  The Great Commission in 6th Century BC Babylon.

Realizing this was all a bit rough to take in, God led Ezekiel into a nearby valley, where he saw the Glory of the Lord just as he had at the beginning.  But this time, the message he got was vv24-27 above.  Much of the commentator's discussion on these verses were whether they were literal or not.  I believe, from reading them and looking at the situation, we need to see them this way, looking at the 4 parts I boldfaced.

1-  If he is going to be successful, he cannot keep himself in his heart with them.  He has to "shut himself up" with God, and bring them in.  Having sympathy for them does no good if it keeps you from preaching that message of wrath.

2- The things they do, you can't be joining in with.  This ties into Sunday Message from a few days back.  If you are "with" them, you will compromise your message.

3- This is the part of the "SM" I mentioned before.  You don't GET to go out and tell them they are a bunch of idiots, even when everything inside you is screaming, "IDIOT IDIOT IDIOT!!!"

4- When it is time to make your statement, it needs to be GOD'S statement.  The complete idiots guide to witnessing, 6th Century BC Babylon edition.

So basically, the whole story is about God COMPLETELY equipping Ezekiel to be his "Watchman"- from the exact message, the way it would be received, the difference between his way and God's way, how to deal with the emotions of the thing, to the manner of delivery, right through to what happens if you refuse the assignment.

And believe me, this was NOTHING close to what I was thinking this was going to be when I started.  If I have ever had an example of, "But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth", you have just read it.

MWN Headline scramble

Yes, I apologize, but enough of you claimed you liked this feature last time that I'm gonna try it again.  The rules are that I go on a news site's front page, match up a picture with a headline that doesn't go with it on the same page, and hopefully laughter ensues.  Let's start with...


1.  BBC

The picture:

The headline:

The dried parks and parched lawns of Britain

Darn, it must be getting dry as Africa...

2- FoxNews

The picture:

The headline:

AMAZING VIDEO: Last member of remote tribe melts into Amazon

And good riddance!

3- Moscow Times

The picture:

The Headline:

Belarusians Earnings Go Further Than Russians, Study Shows

Wow, they must, that would set you back a ton at Dicks...

4- CNN

The picture:

The Headline:

Six questions about summer's deadly brain-eating amoeba, answered

Distinguished scholar Sherman Peabody will be taking your calls...

5- Xinhua

The picture:

The headline:

Russian, Jordanian FMs discuss possible cooperation on Syria

There are a couple of sticking points, though...

And 6

The picture:

There is no headline, but I so wanted to caption it, "Winnie the Pooh meets with Tony Dungy"...

7- The Straits Times, Singapore

The picture:

The headline:  

Kopitiam mother-son pair look forward to performing for thousands at NDP

Sure hope NDP isn't Nude Dance Party...

And lastly,  #8, Deutsche Welle

The picture:

The headline:

German beer producers running out of bottles

Bar patrons face off against police in protest...

Sunday Message- the elephant in the room

Jimmy Swaggert was a fiery, effective preacher- until the day he confessed his "elephant in the room"- a sexual problem that derailed his ministry for years.  He still preaches, but now he "isn't talked about in polite society", anymore.  Which is a shame, because his confession gives him an insight into problems that we struggle with and mostly don't want to admit.  I heard it said on one of the many programs I listened to that as many as 20% of American pastors have a struggle with porn.


"Uh-oh,", you say, "this is going to be a lecture on porn."  Not so,  follow along.  What I am heading towards is a question- do you have a repeated sin in your life, one that takes on such a life that it corrupts any ministry you might have, and makes you think you cannot possibly go farther in your faith because of it?  Whether anyone else knows about it or not, for you it becomes the "elephant in the room"- the thing other such matters have a hard time working around.

Another pastor this week made me think on this.  He had one line in the midst of a sermon that threw me into debate- and a second that made it hit close to home.  In basic terms, he was saying it was NOT about the sin- even the repeated one- but the EFFECT it had on your obedience, on your purity, on your holiness, because these are the things that effect your relationship with God.  Let's imagine an actual elephant, in your living room.  You start out trying to push it out.  But you can shove on that elephant's butt all you want, or tug on his rope.  If he don't want to move, YOU aren't going to move him without help.  So you start walking around him.  Maybe you try staying in a different room, trying not to mind the smell coming from the elephant, er, droppings he's collecting in the living room.  Maybe you just accept him, hanging pictures or your TV on his side.  Eventually, you start bring home bags of peanuts and feed him.


BUT HE DOES NOT BELONG IN YOUR LIVING ROOM.

2 things are certain.  One, you need to get him out, and two, you need help to do it.

Okay, now let's look at this from another angle.  If you go through the book of Judges, you see that the judges were men and women who heard God and listened to Him.  Oh, some of them had to be really really sure, like Barak and Gideon.  But they obeyed, and God blessed them by saving people alive through them, and in most cases bringing the people back to God.

And then you have Samson.   Samson was so distracted by the elephant in his room- lust for foreign women- that despite a strength advantage that no one before or since had, he did very little in the way of using it for the good of God's people.  How do I know that?  Read his story.  Feat after feat of strength, NO prayers giving God the glory, No people being turned back to God, and it wasn't until he had admitted that he had made a total mess of his ministry that he even SPOKE to God in the story.  God still used him, once he did- but think of what he COULD have been, if he'd have ever got the elephant out of his room.

After Samson comes Samuel.  And for Samuel, God WAS the elephant in the room.  Because of that, he did what God wanted, even to the point of defying the king HE helped establish, when it became apparent that Saul's elephant was his ego.

God wants to be the elephant in our rooms, so to speak.  If we are focused on God, that sin finds it harder and harder to fit into our lives.  But while this analogy works to an extent, we cannot treat God like we treat the elephant of sin.  We can't hang the TVs and photographs of our old life on Him and turn Him into a wall-unit or room island- He won't stay for that.  He won't stay for a handful of peanuts when we get home from work, and He won't stay if we go into another room and try to ignore Him.  Because, He is not an elephant, He is a loving Father who expects to be First in our lives.

Sin IS an elephant.  It doesn't mind if you "decorate" him with pictures of holiness, he doesn't mind if you ignore his presence, he'll take whatever you give him, AND he'll make a mess on your floor.  The only thing that God and an elephant have in common is that the presence of one will crowd out the other.  And if you want God to crowd out your elephant, you'd better treat Him differently than you treat the elephant.

Time Machine co-ordinates VILXI49672074

Today we are in July 20th of 1974- and a news flash that reminds me of just how old a news-hound I am.  Today, during the summer between 6th and 7th grade for me, Turkey responded to the coup that forced Archbishop Makarios out of power in Cyprus by invading the island.  Greek forces, who had instigated the coup by pushing Makarios to have them removed, were driven back to the south until a cease fire ended with yet another divided nation.  The northeast half of the island is now ruled by a pro-Turkish government (which nobody "recognizes" to this day), while the south keeps its head down and tries to run legitimate business.

"All this because you all thought I was a communist.  Do I look communist to you?"

Welcome to this week's Time Machine, as we edge a little closer to the big anniversary show in just 4 weeks!  We have Ritchie Blackmore on the Panel Picks, two new debuts, the first time the M10 achieves the "Devil's number"- what that is and how many times in the Martin Era 2.0 that it occurred on Cashbox, AND... Does Caroline Rose get that semi-mythical 5th week at #1?  Pull up a pita and put up your feta, and let's find out!


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Let's kick things off with one of two new debuts.  The higher one goes first this time, at #8.  This week, the #101 song was Melanie doing a Jim Croce number called Lover's Cross.  So I listened to both Melanie's and Jim's versions- his was a cut on the posthumous lp I Got A Name in 1973.  And it is Jim that comes roaring into the countdown this week with his original:





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Welcome in Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple!!!!!!!!!!!!!  How are you, Ritchie?

No' bad, man.  Yourself?

Good, good.  So, I plucked you out of a pretty stressful time, didn't I?

Yeah, you might say that.  Just moved here to get out from her Majesty's taxmen, might be breaking up the band... might be doing a side deal with Ronnie James Dio here in a bit...

I found it interesting that you are currently- as of when I grabbed you- taking lessons on the cello from Hugh McDowell of ELO.  How's that going?

It's been interesting.  Hugh's just a kid- he's just turning 20 and I'm closing in on 30- and it's like a whole new way of looking at music.  Hopefully, I'll get around it enough to do something useful out of it.

Okay, so you know the drill here, you read off the list, make whatever editorials you deem fit, DON'T open that door over there, and then everyone will vote on who the winner is.  You get a short list of 12 contestants from 40 stations.  Ready?

Surely.  Let's see- okay, we have the one vote wonders first.  Oy, from Laurenco Marques, we have a vote for the Righteous Brothers and Rock And Roll Heaven, which this says was at #5 this week.  Sounds like your Panel didn't give them a fair shake, eh?

Here's Paper Lace with Billy Don't Be A Hero.  You lot fancied the Bo Donaldson version better, which was at #13 this week.  Paper Lace peaked at #96 a couple months back.

The lovely ladies of Abba are at #11 with Waterloo.

John Denver was at NUMBER TWO, but only got one vote, for Annie's Song.  Don't exactly follow the chart, do they?

Not often.

The Stylistics are at #42 with You Make Me Feel Brand New. This one was at #30 back home.

An odd duck from Australia was Stevie Wright's Evie.  Wright, the lead voice from the Easybeats, had fallen on hard times what with the drugs and all.  So his old mates got together to help him get back on his feet with a rock opera in one song.  Consisting of three parts linked together, it hit the top in Australia, and supposedly is the only 11-minute long song to EVER top any music chart.  I bet Beethoven might argue, but I will not.  

Another curiosity is that Malcolm Young of AC/DC played lead on one section of the song.

Ah, here's more my speed- Bachman Turner Overdrive with Taking Care Of Business at #18.  Now this last one has a note for you..?

Yes, it seems like every time we get a vote from that station in North Dakota, they pull something out of their... er, hat, that is a real head scratcher.  This week, they had a tune by Brownsville Station- the guys that brought you Smoking In The Boys Room and Martian Boogie- called I'm The Leader Of The Gang.  On Cashbox, it had peaked at 26 a couple weeks back and fell off the chart this week; it only got to #48 on prim and proper Billboard.  it was a fun little ditty, actually, but I hadn't heard it till last week.  Okay, you want to pick up with the "almost but not quite" section?

Certainly.  Wait, ah... there's nothing there...

Oh, that's right.  To get you four choices, everyone else has to be in the final four.

Ah.  All right then, here are your choices, in alphabetical order:

Elton John is at #39 in England, and #6 here, with Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me.

Next, why it is Paper Lace again, with The Night Chicago Died, at #27 here.

Then, we have Hues Corporation with Rock The Boat, at #3...

And finally, George McRae with Rock Your Baby, at #3 back home, and top of the charts here.

Fine job, Ritchie, and I didn't even have to go back and pry you out of a dinosaur's mouth afterwards!  So vote from Elton, George, Paper Lace, or the Corpsters, and in a few I'll let you know if you latched onto one of the two who hogged 70%  of this week's vote!

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So what is the "Devil's number?"  Well, if you look at the notebook I keep the weekly M10 in, you'll see each line starts with 3 numbers- weeks on chart, last week's position, this week's position.  This week, for the first time, I had a song that read 6-6-6.... and I'll let you in on who that is in a bit (or you COULD go back to last week's post and figure it out yourself).  But it made me curious, so I scoured the Martin Era 2.0 on Cashbox (once again, that runs from Rock Around The Clock's debut on May 14th, 1955, to How Deep Is Your Love's debut in September 24th, 1977) to see how many times it happened there.

Answer: ten times.  And none of them since December of 1967- no seventies at all!

In fact, the closest the seventies came is when John Denver missed out by having weeks 7,8, and 9 at #6 with Fly Away.  So, because it's what I do, I ranked the Devil's Ten by how big of hits they were, and deliver them here for you...


Numbers 10-7, with a peak of #6 for 2 weeks:

An Open Letter To My Teenage Son, Victor Lundberg, December 16th, 1967- the last time it happened;
Rubber Ball, Bobby Vee (a record I wore the grooves off of as a child), January 14th, 1961;
Everybody Loves A Clown, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, the day before Halloween 1965;
and ironically, A Must To Avoid, Herman's Hermits, January 22nd, 1966.

Numbers 6 and 5, peak of six for 3 weeks:

The first one, Bill Haley and his Comets with See You Later, Alligator, February 18, 1956;
and the Beach Boys, Fun Fun Fun, March 21st, 1964.

4- peaking at #4 for a couple of weeks, Simon and Garfunkel's I Am A Rock, June 4th of 1966.

3- peaking at #3 for 3 weeks, Dean Martin, Return To Me, May 3rd, 1958.

2- peaking at #3 for three non-consecutive weeks, Pat Boone's April Love, Thanksgiving 1957.  Now we can explain that heavy-metal lp of his...

And number one?  Saving it for the reveals, silly...


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Here's the lower debut at #9.  You might remember these boys- they peaked at #6 a while back with Time Is Passing U By.  They are Spain's Baywaves...







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Did you pick Paper Lace or Elton John?  If so, go sit down; if you took Hues Corp or George McRae, you're still good.

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I know we had a 6-6-6 degrees, but I did try to put a little something together for the real 6D victim.  The thing that caught my eye was the talent that had a part in this record.  Start with Michael Omartian, Christian artist and all-over the place producer, on the piano.  Throw in Jim Gordon, session man and convicted matricidist on drums; Dean Parks, another vet who was briefly a member of touring Bread when Jimmy Griffin had enough of David Gates during the Lost Without Your Love tour; Timothy B Schmit of the later Eagles on backing vocals; Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, later of the Doobie Brothers, on lead guitar; and jazz percussionist Victor Feldman playing the barely -audible flapimba that got cut out of the start of the 45 rpm version.

Oh, and Walter Becker and Donald Fagan, because the song is Rikki Don't Lose That Number, at #4 without a Panel vote.


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Stat pack time:

I knew 46 on the Hot 100, and 14 of the UK top 50.

Donna Fargo had the #74 in '74 with You Can't Be A Beacon If Your Light Don't Shine, a country #1 that would peak at #57.

Our big mover was Eric Clapton's I Shot The Sheriff, leaping 24 spots from 83 to 59.

The UK #1 was one of the fastest risers in UK history, debuting at #11 and spending the next 4 weeks at the top.  His name was Charles Aznavour, a second generation Armenian immigrant to France, who would eventually go back to Armenia to forge a diplomatic career.  A songwriter with some 800 songs (including a co-credit on Roy Clark's Yesterday When I Was Young) and over 1,000 recordings under his belt, he was known as the "French Sinatra", and was one of the few Europeans Sinatra ever dueted with.    His song was She.  Elvis Costello would later have a UK top 20 with it in 1999.

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The rest of the M10 : 

Phantogram finally gives up the ghost, sliding to 10 in week #9 with Saturday.

There have been 14 songs get 9 weeks or more so far on the M10.  And this week, Shilpa Ray's Shoot This Dying Horse makes it two 9-weekers in one countdown for just the second time in M10 history.  She actually moves back UP a single notch, from 8 to 7.  The last time, it was two former number ones- Mo Kenney's Unglued and Plume Of Feathers' Rhyl Love.

And the M10's own Devil's Song?  The Derevolutions with Now You Know My Name.

Back to back Jayhawks next- Backwards Women moves up 2 to 5; Everybody Knows down 2 to 4.


Geowulf claims their biggest hit ever, with Sunday up one spot to #3.

So how did it go?  Did Caroline break the record, or become the sixth 4-weeks at the top and stop act?

It was the latter. The new #1 is...

...Black Joe Lewis and Nature's Natural!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the biggest Devil's Song?  How about...

Billy Williams, who peaked at #2, who did it on July 20th, 1957- 61 years ago TODAY- with I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (BTW, I had NO idea that it was going to be the anniversary until I just typed this...)

...and the Panel winner, with 52.5%- an official lapping of the field...

... the Hues Corporation, with Ann Kelley getting a shot at the Beauty Contest, with Rock The Boat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next week, we move on to 1975!  See you then!

Wednesday Bible Study

This week's verse is an easy one for me to do.  Back on Good Friday, I had a 24-hour fast, no food, no internet, and a huge night of Bible study that was extremely rewarding.  And our passage is right in the midst of one of the passages I was led to that night- Lamentations 3:16-


Lam 3:16  And He breaketh with gravel my teeth, He hath covered me with ashes. 

So I want to go two ways with this, but let me start with the necessary background.  Lamentations is the Prophet Jeremiah's book of prayers and pleading to the Lord during his persecution just prior to the fall of Jerusalem for the last time in the Kingdom era.  He has been imprisoned under the worst of conditions by Zedekiah and his so-called advisors, and weeps as much for the city itself as for his own condition.  But at this point, he's pretty focused on where he's at, and I want to look there first.


Jeremiah is basically coming to God in bitterness in his complaint at this point.  He has complained about his physical state (VV1-7), the fact that God seems to be ignoring his pleas (vv 8-13), and that the wicked people of the city are all laughing his cries with scorn (vv 14-15).  He is pretty much at the bottom of the barrel with this verse, though.  And it was interesting to read the takes of the commentators on this.  The gravel and ashes, one brings up, are reminiscent of the way bread was made back then- baked in a clay oven with coals, so that you are not careful, gravel can get into the dough, and ashes on the crust.  But another says, no, that is forgetting the circumstances.  The city is under siege and starving; they are to the point of eating babies that die of starvation and drinking urine just to stay alive.  How on earth would a man cast into a pit by an unrepentant king rate getting bread?  No, this is more like we here from the children starving in Africa and Syria today- making cakes of mud and gravel, his teeth breaking as he tries to chew.


And the ashes?  Well, many commentators mention this as the "sackcloth and ashes" that you read so much about.  But others say this goes a bit farther.  The word translated "covered" is literally "to tread down"; One commentator put it like this:

“he hath plunged me into the dust.” To be thrown into a mass or bed of perfect dust, where the eyes are blinded by it, the ears stopped, and the mouth and lungs filled at the very first attempt to respire after having been thrown into it - what a horrible idea of suffocation and drowning! One can scarcely read this without feeling a suppression of breath, or a stricture upon the lungs! Did ever man paint sorrow like this man?

Now, the turning of this whole passage comes in the next few verses.  He hits rock bottom in v 18:

Lam 3:18  so I say, "My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD." 

Note that he says here, "So I say..."  Because the human body, human emotions have their limit.  And when God had taken him to that limit- just as He was doing to Israel- an interesting change occurs:

Lam 3:21  But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 

Lam 3:22  The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 

Lam 3:23  they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 

Lam 3:24  "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." 

Note that this time, it is his SOUL that speaks out and finds comfort in God.  For however weak the body is, the connection between the believer and God is yet stronger, and survives.  He begins calling to mind all the great ways God has been there for him, and he knows that he hasn't been abandoned.  Then, looking at the whining and bitterness he has been entreating God with, he makes a brilliant deduction:

Lam 3:37  Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? 

Lam 3:38  Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? 

Lam 3:39  Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins? 

Lam 3:40  Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD! 

Yes, he puts the blame back on himself- he asks God to examine him, just as David had 400 years before:

Psalms 139: 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!

    Try me and know my thoughts![a]

24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,

    and lead me in the way everlasting!

Maybe he himself didn't have a sin worthy of what he was going through, though the nation surely did- but God had a purpose for the suffering, and just like Job, Jeremiah was letting it get to him in the form of bitterness against God.  And that's nothing unusual; we all do that at times, usually under much less duress.  But Jeremiah realized that if he confessed that bitterness, God would again regard his prayer.  The problem was, WHEN was God going to get around to it?  Because, not long after he settled the matter, Jeremiah went right back where he was:

Lam 3:51  my eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the daughters of my city. 

Lam 3:52  "I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause; 

Lam 3:53  they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me; 

Lam 3:54  water closed over my head; I said, 'I am lost.' 

Lam 3:55  "I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit... 

Right back where he was, "in the depths of the pit".  Because sometimes, even if God has forgiven you, He's not quite ready to move on.  Maybe because we get all pumped up and forget God as soon as the pressure is off.  God has something yet to teach.  It reminds me of a passage in Psalms...

Psa 107:28  Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 

Psa 107:29  He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. 

Psa 107:30  Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. 

Notice the progression. 

1- The storm

2- They cry to God

3- He stilled the storm

4- They thanked Him

5- THEN, and only then, did He bring them to where they wanted to be.  Just because He stills the storm doesn't mean you are in from the "ocean", yet; and if you are not grateful, the storm may well rage on.  Jeremiah figures this out...

Lam 3:56  you heard my plea, 'Do not close your ear to my cry for help!' 

Lam 3:57  You came near when I called on you; you said, 'Do not fear!' 

Lam 3:58  "You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life. 

Jeremiah was being taught an extreme lesson in having confidence in the Lord, because God had given him the most terrible mission of all- being there for his people as his nation died.  And not only that, but died rejecting everything God told them through Jeremiah that might have saved more alive.  As Christians, we are increasingly facing a world on the same trajectory as that of Jeremiah.  This passage is a powerful reminder of trusting in God, rejecting bitterness, and being thankful for His watchfulness even if were aren't where we want to be.  Because, after all, that desired haven ain't in this neighborhood.

Walk with doggie

Well, he made it- a walk half our former usual, which took twice as long as it used to, and will probably be a "pay for later" moment on his part.  But he misses the woods so much... Several stops, a whole bottle of water, and several "I'm not even pretending to lift my leg"s later:

#1 of 8 ground hogs we- well, I- saw.

New beetle Olympics event- synchronized sex...

There's #2- looking the wrong direction for us.  His buddy was up a ways.

"This is where they went- I KNOW it!"

Here's #4, looking a lot like the Snuggles Bear, with #s 5 and 6 just escaping behind him.

"Hey, what the heck..."

"My drinking hole is BONE-DRY!!!"

The way home- #1 of 4 bunnies.  Scrappy did see one of them, as well as the only two squirrels in the neighborhood just before this.

Bunny # 2

Here's #3

#s 1 and 2

Just missed Graoundhog # 7, got #8

And the very adorable Bunny #4