And we're off...
20 - "City of New Orleans," Arlo Guthrie
19 - "Get on the Good Foot Part 1," James Brown
18 - "Why/Lonely Boy," Donny Osmond
17 - "You Wear It Well," Rod Stewart
16 - "Tight Rope," Leon Russell
The second half kicks off with the biggest pop hit for Woody's son, a song that glorifies train travel. Apparently it was only written in 1970. I thought it was much, much older.
Then it's the Godfather of Soul again with another hit from his early 70s boom period, bringing "long-hair hippies and the Afro blacks" together through the magic of funk. Ow!
Next is Donny Osmond with one of those double sided hits. A cover of Frankie Avalon's "Why," is the side Casey played. The flip was Paul Anka's "Lonely Boy." Like him or not, the kid sold records with all these covers of what even then were considered "Golden Oldies."
Rod Stewart is here with his second U.S. solo hit, a cool little number in which he reminisces about an old flame while writing her a letter. He dates himself by namedropping "Madame Onassis" (do the kids these days even know Jackie Kennedy got married again to a Greek shipping magnate?), but that's all right.
Last in the group is Leon Russell. I'd heard of this song, but this was the first time I'd actually heard it. Like it much better than that one from the '75 chart. Nice groove, good lyrics. For some reason, I especially enjoy the phrase "rubber-neck giraffe."
15 - "Garden Party," Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band
14 - "Speak to the Sky," Rick Springfield
13 - "Saturday In The Park," Chicago
12 - "Nights in White Satin," The Moody Blues
11 - "Play Me," Neil Diamond
This section starts with the artist formerly known as Ricky, back in the days when he was making teen girls swoon on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and on the radio with hits like "Hello Mary Lou." His brief return to the pop charts was this sharply drawn portrait of a night when he played Madison Square Garden "Rock n' Roll Revival" show. He cryptically mentions some of the famous musicians that were also there, "American Pie"-style, and memorably sums up the crowd's reaction when he followed up two of his old hits with a Rolling Stones cover in the line: "I sang a song about a honky tonk, it was time to leave." A gem from a surprising source.
I had known pretty much ever since "Jessie's Girl" vaulted him to superstardom that Rick Springfield had had one hit in the early seventies, but last night was the first time I had ever heard "Speak to the Sky." It's an upbeat, almost jazzy testament to the power of prayer. This overtly religious number does serve to put the conflicted lust of his slow-in-coming next hit into an interesting context.
Next is Chicago. I covered "Saturday in the Park," on our last visit to '72, but it never hurts to go back to that wonderful place where "every day's the 4th of July."
Then it's the Moody Blues with a song that became a hit five years after it's original release. The single version, of course, cuts out the middle part in the poem. Apparently, this was considered to be used as the song over the opening sequence of Apocalypse Now before the filmmakers finally went with the Doors' "The End." Probably for the best.
This fivesome concludes with Neil Diamond in his early-seventies MOR mode. Not one of his best by a long shot. No, I will not play you.
Top Ten time...
10 - "Popcorn," Hot Butter
Ah, early Moog synthesizer workout, we meet again. Silly, dated, but still infectious.
9 - "My Ding-a-Ling," Chuck Berry
This week's Uneasy Rider Award winner, and easily the biggest hit among the honor's recipient's so far. It's one of the most wrong-seeming facts in all of pop music that this song that's about a toy on the surface but is quite obviously really about...something else was Chuck Berry's only U.S #1. It does have a certain silly charm, and the interplay between Berry and the English crowd does provide a kick, but still...
8 - "Black and White," Three Dog Night
If this song had truly fostered the racial harmony it attempted to, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder wouldn't have needed to do "Ebony and Ivory" nine years later. You failed, 3DN.
7 - "Burning Love," Elvis Presley
The King's biggest 70's hit. Yes, it's as garish and cheesy as the man himself was in the Vegas years, but still, how do you not love it? Besides, I once absolutely killed this at karaoke.
6 - "Use Me," Bill Withers
The last of Bill's three big ones that we've come across in these charts. It's a tribute to his versatility that in those songs he played three verydifferent roles: the shattered victim of love gone wrong in "Ain't No Sunshine," the supportive rock in "Lean on Me," and the smooth operator on the make in this one. And to think, there was a time when I just knew him as the singer on Grover Washington Jr.'s early 80s hit "Just the Two of Us."
5 - "Go All the Way," The Raspberries
Eric Carmen, why did you ever abandon power pop? Maybe that's why you ended up "All By Yourself." Ba-dum-bum *rimshot*
4 - "Everybody Plays The Fool," The Main Ingredient
A smooth, catchy song that attempts to cheer up the brokenhearted, sung by none other than Cuba Gooding...Sr. Can't argue with this one's success.
3 - "Backstabbers," The O'Jays
I don't think I have anything to add to what I said last time. It's just fantastic.
2 - "Ben," Michael Jackson
This song was written for a movie about an evil telepathic rat, and was originally intended for Donny Osmond. But the youngest member of that other band of brothers got hold of it, and he overcame both the bizarre subject matter and a limp backing track to make a genuinely moving classic. I feel confident in saying that Donny would not have been able to pull that off. But years later, a mental patient named Leon Kompowski did when singing it to roommate Homer Simpson.
And the song America loved above all others 38 years ago was...
1 - "Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me," Mac Davis
I had no idea that this was a Number One. That this topped the chart and stuff like "Backstabbers," "Go All The Way," and "Garden Party" does not sit well with me at all. Pop is not a meritocracy, sadly.
This week's Extras were, "I Am Woman" by her majesty Helen Reddy, "If You Don't Know Me By Now" by Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes, and "Summer Breeze" by Seals and Crofts.
Another one down. Still hoping for some late-decade action. Come back next week to see if I get it.
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