40 - "We Gotta Get You a Woman," Runt
39 - "Games," Redeye
38 - "After Midnight," Eric Clapton
37 -"Border Song," Aretha Franklin
36 - "Do It," Neil Diamond
35 - "Fire and Rain," James Taylor
34 - "I'm Not My Brother's Keeper," The Flaming Ember
33 - "(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden," Lynn Anderson
32 - "Patch it Up/You Don't Have to Say You Love Me," Elvis Presley
31 - "Love the One You're With," Stephen Stills
We start off with some light rock. Runt, a band featuring Todd Rundgren and Soupy Sales' sons Hunt and Tony (who would later work with Iggy Pop and even later join the David Bowie-fronted band Tin Machine), kicks off the proceedings with a politically incorrect yet catchy song about trying to get a buddy laid. Then Redeye delivers an inconsequential CSNY knockoff. Eric Clapton follows with one of his better solo hits, in which he and his friends threaten to "let it all hang out." And the "S" in CSNY is here with his biggest hit on his own. He borrowed the title and hook of this hit about making do with whoever's nearby from "Fifth Beatle" Billy Preston, who apparently used to say this a lot. Nice.
There are six inductees in the questionably-meaningful Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the first ten, and four of them are in this paragraph. Aretha Franklin squeaked out a Top 40 hit with a solid, soulful cover of a song by a guy named Reginald Dwight. Neil Diamond, who was just announced as an inductee this week, shows up with some folky advice to tell your girl you love her...before it's too late. James Taylor returns from our last trip to this year with his hit about conflagrations and percipitation. And Elvis just missed the Top Ten with a funky riff on the same territory as "Suspicious Minds" and its flip side, a take on a grand ballad first popularized by Dusty Springfield.
We finish this section with a band that had three minor pop hits and a singer who had one major smash. The Flaming Ember were a white-soul outfit from Detroit, and the singer sounds to me a little like the great Levi Stubbs on this song about not painting a group of people with the same brush due to the actions of one. And in amongst the many country hits in the career of ex-Lawrence Welk regular Lynn Anderson is this #3 pop hit about taking the bad with the good. In the late 80s, Canadian dance duo Kon Kan would sample it on the less successful, yet still remembered fondly in some corners, "I Beg Your Pardon."
30 - "Share the Land," The Guess Who
29 - "Your Song," Elton John
28 - "Immigrant Song," Led Zeppelin27 - "Montego Bay," Bobby Bloom
26 - "Lonely Days," The Bee Gees
25 - "Can't Stop Loving You," Tom Jones
24 -"If I Were Your Woman," Gladys Knight and the Pips
23 - "Pay to the Piper," The Chairmen of the Board
22 - "One Man Band," Three Dog Night
21 - "Be My Baby," Andy Kim
Three classic rock perennials kick this section off. The Guess Who promise to be there and shake your hand on the day of some massive future land giveaway. Hasn't happened yet, but if you believe Fox News, Obama should be announcing it any day now. Save us, Sarah Palin! Oh, and Casey didn't actually play this song, for reasons I'll get to later. But NotCasey did at the end of the first hour. That Reggie Dwight fellow shows up again, with the song that made his name and launched his massive career. Somehow, I still like it after hearing it so often. And Led Zeppelin make another of their rare singles-chart appearances with a song apparently written during a tour of Iceland from the point of view of Vikings. Okay, that makes sense. I didn't think England was "the land of the ice and snow." Though apparently, it was this weekend.
Two guys who co-wrote big pop hits for other people are here with hits of their own. Bobby Bloom returns with his gentle ode to Jamaica, which is much better accompaniment for lounging on hammocks with tropical drinks than, say, the Beach Boys' awful, awful "Kokomo." And Canadian Andy Kim scored his second hit Ronettes cover in a year with "Be My Baby." Bigger things would come a few years later, in the form of the classic guilty pleasure "Rock Me Gently"
Three prolific artists who have at times fallen into the MOR category are in this section. The Bee Gees greet the day and wonder where they'd be without their woman. Tom Jones' song here is, unfortunately, not the famous country song Ray Charles had a big hit with, but just another big ballad to add to his ball of wax. Oh well, whatever makes the ladies launch their lingerie. And Three Dog Night are here as well. The singer claims he just wants to be your one-man band, but you can clearly hear the rest of the group playing behind him. Another fail, 3DN.
We close with some R&B. Gladys Knight makes a powerful case for herself as an alternative to some gentleman's current paramour, with the Pips providing yeoman assistance as always. And the Chairmen of the Board, best remembered for "Give Me Just a Little More Time," are represented here by a song whose basic message is, "I've spent a lot of money on you, so dammit, woman, it's time you let me in your pants." Some things are timeless.
Tomorrow: a couple guys I didn't think I'd be coming across in this decade, somebody's biggest hit without a certain someone else, and the reason why Casey snubbed Burton & co.
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