August 27, 1977 Part Two

Before I run down the second half of this countdown, I must tell you that I was nearly thwarted in my mission to bring you this chart in its entirety. After #18 came Casey's special tribute to the then-recently-deceased Elvis Presley (which I'll go into later), and then commercials. Coming back from the break, I was ready for the countdown to continue when I hear the next song; War's "Gypsy Man," which you'll recall was on last week's chart from four years earlier. That whole block from last week's countdown played until the top of the hour, when the 1977 chart resumed...at Number 13. So I missed four songs. Fortunately, after some digging, I found a PDF of the playlist for this episode on the website of a Saginaw, Michigan radio station, so I was able to fill in the blanks. Three of those four songs I'm reasonably familiar with, so all in all, I think I'll manage pretty well.

So now, back to the countdown...

20 - "Cold As Ice," Foreigner

19 - "Black Betty," Ram Jam

18 - "Telephone Man," Meri Wilson
17 - "How Much Love" Leo Sayer
16 - "Star Wars (Main Title)" John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra




For the second week in a row, classic rock holds down spots 20 and 19. First there's Foreigner with one of their iconic hits. That piano-pounding opening is unmistakeable, and Lou Gramm has the perfect voice for this genre. Then, it's one-hit wonders Ram Jam with their raucous cover of Leadbelly's "Black Betty." It's fun, dumb southern rock cheese (although the band wasn't southern), and the band's name may or may not have inspired the name of Randy Robinson's finishing move in the movie The Wrestler.


Up next is "Telephone Man," which gets this week's "Uneasy Rider Award" for oddest song on this week's chart. I'm not sure if I remember hearing this at the time, but it certainly stands out now. Under a jazzy bed of bass, organ and finger snaps, Wilson, in a breathy, girlish voice that goes back and forth between Californian and Southern accents for some reason, sings ostensibly about moving into a new apartment and having a guy come in and install a phone. But a close listen to the lyric and the delivery seems to imply that it may not have been a telephone that this guy was putting in for her, wink wink. Basically, it's the female version of Chuck Berry's "My Ding-a-Ling," only half as long.


Okay, now we start on the songs I missed. I remember Leo Sayer. White British guy with an Afro, wore suspenders, often sang in falsetto, hosted a Muppet Show. But I'm drawing a blank on this particular song, "How Much Love." Had it been "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" or "When I Need You," I would have been good to go, but this one, sorry, I got nothin'.


Lastly in this group, there's the second appearance of the Star Wars theme. This one's the original, though. I don't remember it getting radio play, but I guess it did, because it eventually got to the top ten. I'm pretty sure I hadn't seen the movie yet at this time. I don't think I saw it until it was re-released the next year (that's what they did with blockbuster movies before home video, premium cable, and pay-per-view, kids).


15 - "Give A Little Bit," Supertramp
14 - "Smoke From A Distant Fire," The Sanford-Townsend Band
13 - "Telephone Line," Electric Light Orchestra
12 - "Barracuda," Heart
11 - "I'm In You," Peter Frampton


This fivesome begins with Supertramp's biggest hit before they rocketed into the stratosphere with Breakfast In America. It's too earnest for my tastes. I'm more of a "Bloody Well Right" kind of guy.


I kind of remember "Smoke From A Distant Fire," but I thought it was by Pablo Cruise or Orleans or someone like that. Nah, just another 70s one-hit wonder.


Okay, now we're back to what I actually heard last night with "Telephone Line." EL fucking O, man. They were another constant of my youthful radio listening. "Evil Woman" was probably my favorite then, though I've grown to really love "Mr. Blue Sky." This one's all right too, and the phone sound effects are a nice touch.


Heart are next. I love "Barracuda." I have a soft spot for women singing hard rock, and I could make a case that this is the greatest female-fronted hard rock song ever. If they had broken up in say, 1979, I'd remember them a lot more fondly. Instead, I had to endure their schlocky, overproduced 80s incarnation that culminated in that ghastly song about the woman who gets some random guy to knock her up because her husband shoots blanks. Oh well, I'll just crank "Barracuda" up louder to get that out of my head.


Finally, we get the title track from Peter Frampton's first album after the monster-selling, talk-box-popularizing Frampton Comes Alive. It's a decent piano ballad, and it was a pretty big hit, but the album didn't come close to the previous record's sales, and then it was all downhill. And to top it off, years later, Sonic Youth stole watermelon from his cooler (and there's you're obligatory Simpsons reference for the week.).


And now, the Top Ten...


10 - "Strawberry Letter 23," The Brothers Johnson
A pop-funk classic with semi-psychedelic lyrics about hearing kisses and cherry clouds. I like it, though I still wonder why the song's called "Strawberry Letter 23," when the lyrics only mention "Strawberry Letter 22."


9 - "Don't Stop," Fleetwood Mac
Bill Clinton's future campaign song, from a band that, unlike him, most definitely inhaled. It's bouncy and positive. I'm sure six-year-old me loved it, oblivious to the coke-fuelled relationship drama that created it and the rest of the Rumours album.


8 - "Float On," The Floaters
It would be easy to describe this as "floaty," so I will. It's an R&B ballad where each of the four Floaters takes a verse and sings their name, star sign, and what they like in a woman. The pop single as personal ad.


7- "Just A Song Before I Go," Crosby Stills and Nash
Glossy, state of the art MOR from the 60s survivors. Not a surprise that Young wasn't involved. "Ohio," it's not.


6 - "Whatcha Gonna Do?" Pablo Cruise.
Pablo Cruise were one of those bands that were always on the radio, but you could never imagine anyone being sufficiently moved to actually buy one of their records, let alone see them live. It's background music. When I try to play it back in my head, it always morphs into "Whatcha Gonna Do When I'm Gone" by the Canadian band Chilliwack.


5 - "Handy Man," James Taylor
In 1975, James Taylor decided to try applying his dry, folk voice to an R&B classic. The result, "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You), was a huge hit, so he decided to try it again two years later. only this time, he went even drier and folkier. The result: an even bigger hit. Meh, whatever works, I guess.


4 - "Easy," The Commodores
This was definitely the first impression Lionel Richie and company made on me, and it was a good one. Smooth, catchy, just great. I like that Faith No More covered it pretty much straight up. They knew enough not to fuck with perfection.


3 - "(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher," Rita Coolidge
Hmm..according to Wikipedia, Rita Coolidge was involved with Stephen Stills and Graham Nash in the early 70s, and some say her leaving one for the other helped break up CSNY. Wow, that's much more interesting than this limp Jackie Wilson cover.


2 - "I Just Want To Be Your Everything," Andy Gibb
Andy Gibb. That's one example of an act being really huge but the songs not standing the test of time at all. I listen to this, and to "Shadow Dancing," which was #1 on a 1978 chart that was on a few weeks ago, and I honestly don't see anything about them that would appeal to anyone. I'm sorry. He wasn't bad as the host of Solid Gold (remember that?) and it's incredibly sad that he died at 30, but his music came with an expiry date.


And the number one song in the U.S.A thirty-two years ago was...


1 - "Best Of My Love," The Emotions
A disco classic, produced by a guy from Earth Wind and Fire. I'm sure it's filling a dance floor somewhere in the world even today. This song actually had a back and forth battle with "I Just Want To Be Your Everything." for the top spot for two months. But in terms of staying power, no contest.


This week's "AT40 Extras," were the Commodores' mighty, mighty "Brick House," and a couple of soft rock sleepers, Paul Davis' "I Go Crazy" and "Just Remember I Love You" by Firefall. And as I mentioned earlier, Casey took time out from the chart to pay tribute to Elvis, who had died just weeks earlier. He reflected on Elvis' impact on music and pop culture in general, then he played his favorite Elvis track, a live-in-Vegas version of "Suspicious Minds." For some reason, Casey felt he needed to apologize for this choice: "It's an 'up' sound," he said, "but that's the way I'd like to remember Elvis."


So thus ends Week Two of this little adventure. I'm still into it, so I'll be back next week. Keep grounded and reaching.