October 17, 1970 Part One

My cries for a chart from after I'd started kindergarten continue to go unheeded, as this week the syndicate gods go as far back as they can. But at least it's been six weeks since the last 1970 list, so there's not an excessive amount of repetition.

40 - "Montego Bay," Bobby Bloom
39 - "See Me, Feel Me," The Who
38 - "Unite The World," The Temptations
37 - "Do What You Wanna Do," Five Flights Up
36 - "Deeper and Deeper," Freda Payne
35 - "Stand by Your Man," Candi Staton
34 - "Super Bad," James Brown
33 - "Lucretia MacEvil," Blood, Sweat and Tears
32 - "Our House," Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
31 - "It Don't Matter to Me," Bread

Nothing here from out last trip to forty years ago. A good start.

I'll start with the one-hit wonders. Bobby Bloom had a Pepsi jingle and a co-writing credit on "Mony Mony" (children of the 80s who remember the dirty chant that went along with the Billy Idol version represent) before he cracked the Top Ten with this calypso-lite ode to Jamaica's third-largest city. I remember Amazulu's version from the 80's, which was a hit in Canada around the same time as the similarly watered-down island rhythms of Sway's "Hands Up." Much less successful were Five Flights Up, who got no higher than 37 with their only hit. Both their name and their sound remind me a lot of the 5th Dimension. It may have been one of those cases where they snuck in between hits for a familiar band to fill pop radio's gap for that sort of sound until the real thing comes back. That used to happen quite a bit.

Two huge names in classic rock are present and correct. The second half of Tommy's closing track, "We're Not Gonna Take It," was sent out into the world on its own and did quite well for The Who, just missing the Top Ten. CSNY's effort didn't chat nearly as high, but the song Graham Nash wrote envisioning domestic bliss with Joni Mitchell (which didn't turn out, surprisingly enough) has lived on in movies and TV commercials ever since. Take that, Joni.

Two of the big names in soul are on the scene. The Temptations are in solid 70's funk form with a minor hit that came between the monster smashes "Ball of Confusion" and "Just My Imagination." The harmonica at the beginning makes it worth checking out, though. And James Brown drops by to remind us that he has soul and is super bad. We knew that already, but it never hurts to have that message repeated.

The other four songs I'll lump together just because. I didn't know Freda Payne had had hits other than "Band of Gold," and "Bring the Boys Home." "Deeper and Deeper," isn't much to write home about, but it might still win a head on duel with the Madonna song of the same name. R&B singer Candi Staton takes on Tammy Wynette and more than holds her own, although my favorite cover of this song is still Lyle Lovett's. Blood, Sweat and Tears may have been inspired by the name of the villain in 101 Dalmatians when they wrote about Ms. MacEvil, a "back seat Delilah," known for "tail shakin' (and) home breakin'" And Bread round out the group, doing their Breadly thing.

30 - "God, Love and Rock and Roll," Teegarden and Van Winkle
29 - "That's Where I Went Wrong," The Poppy Family
28 - "Somebody's Been Sleeping" 100 Proof (Aged In Soul)
27 - "Joanne," Mike Nesmith and the First National Band
26 - "Groovy Situation," Gene Chandler
25 - "Long, Long Time," Linda Ronstadt
24 - "Patches," Clarence Carter
23 - "Closer to Home," Grand Funk Railroad
22 - "War," Edwin Starr
21 - "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)," Simon and Garfunkel

Not as lucky with this group, as half are holdovers from six weeks ago: Mike Nesmith's attempt to put the Monkees behind him, Gene Chandler's brief return to relevance, Clarence Carter's poor-boy-does-dead-daddy-proud number, Grand Funk Railroad being much less wild and shirtless than I like them to be, and Edwin Starr ferociously railing at armed combat. I have nothing to add about any of these from the last time, so instead, I'll look at the other five songs individually.

I'd heard of neither Teegarden and Van Winkle nor their song until about 90 minutes ago, but apparently it was the highest debut of the week. This usually means big things ahead, but apparently "God, Love and Rock and Roll," was an exception, as it didn't even crack the top 20. As for the song, for me, the title is one-third right: It has kind of a gospelly feel, but it doesn't really rock, and I certainly didn't love it.

Next is the second and final US hit for the Canadian husband-and-wife duo of Terry and Susan Jacks. In their first hit, "Which Way You Goin', Billy?" lead singer Susan was begging a lover not to leave her. In "That's Where I Went Wrong," she's the leaver. Later in the decade, Terry would take the mic and go solo with the huge hit "Seasons In The Sun," in which the narrator is saying goodbye to his loved ones in such an annoying fashion that you wish he'd just hurry up and die already. Or maybe that's just me.

Then it's 100 Proof (Aged In Soul), one of the few bands with parentheses in their name. Their only hit is kind of a funky, man-suspects-his-lover-is-cheating version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. With a little Jack and the Beanstalk thrown in for good measure.

We get our first visit from one of the decade's musical icons at 25, as Linda Ronstadt shows up with her first solo hit. She wouldn't crack the Top 40 again until '75, and then boom, she's all over the radio and dating the governor of California. And that Governor, Jerry Brown, is trying to win that job again right now against the former CEO of eBay. First he followed Reagan, now he's trying to follow Ahnuld. I wonder if Jello Biafra will record a new version of "California Uber Alles," if Jerry wins. Oh wait, I'm just reading that Jello likes him now. Aw.

Last in this half of the chart are Paul and Art with an English-language cover of a song from a Peruvian stage musical written in 1913. I find its origins much more interesting than the song itself.

And there's the first part. Next time: Alcohol, murder, and transvestism!