And now we go back to' 72. It's only been a month, but enough has changed that I'm doing the usual two parts. So let us go back to a time just before Tom Eagleton became the biggest joke of a VP nominee in U.S. presidential election history (pre-Palin, of course).
40 - "Hold Your Head Up," Argent
39 - "Hold Her Tight," The Osmonds
38 - "Mary Had a Little Lamb/Little Woman Love," Wings
37 - "Superwoman," Stevie Wonder
36 - "Sealed with a Kiss," Bobby Vinton
35 - "The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.," Donna Fargo
34 - "Coconut," Harry Nilsson
33 - "Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)," The Hollies
32 - "How Can I Be Sure," David Cassidy
31 - "People Make the World Go Round," The Stylistics
This week we start with rock. Ex-Zopmbie Rod Argent is the first of many returnees from our first visit to '72 last year with his band's exhortation for one to keep looking proudly ahead. Paul McCartney, reportedly in response to the controversy caused by his new band's first single "Give Ireland Back to the Irish," followed it up with a straight version of the children's nursery rhyme. A lot of American radio stations chose to play the flip side, "Little Woman Love," but Casey went ahead and played the A. Which is good for Paul and co., because despite a couple solid challengers, they take down this week's Uneasy Rider. And the Hollies return with their tale about danger and romance during Prohibition. It has it all. Has it all!
As usual, the soft parade runs through this section. The Osmonds try their hardest to rock on "Hold Her Tight," but you can just tell the wholesomeness that's been bred into them is holding them back. Still waiting for "Crazy Horses," though. Bobby Vinton's pointless take on Bryan Hyland's song about teenage love threatened by the summer break is another blast from BGC's past. As is Donna Fargo's moony ode to her idyllic life as a housewife to a really, really, really great guy. I do think she's setting herself up for future heartbreak. Harry Nilsson is here with one of those songs that fell just short of the Uneasy Rider, the reggaeish novelty that warned a generation of the dangers of drinking lime and coconut simultaneously. You'll only just have to...drink them both together again. And David Cassidy was at the height of his teen idol powers when he released this cover of a 1967 Top Ten by The Young Rascals. It was also around this time that he was the subject of a Rolling Stone cover story in which he shockingly tried to reject his wholesome TV image, and even more shockingly was photographed apparently nude, because the top of his pubic hair was visible. Wonder what Reuben Kincaid thought of that?
We close with soul. Stevie Wonder is here with a song about trying to love a woman whose ambitions have overwhelmed her love for him. It's good, but it loses something without the second half of the piece, "Where Were You When I Needed You." And the Stylistics had one of their lesser hits with a song that reminds us that things happen in the world because people make them happen. Even the things that suck. Sad but true.
30 - "Living in a House Divided," Cher
29 - "Sylvia's Mother," Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show
28 - "Day by Day," The Godspell Cast
27 - "I've Been Lonely for So Long, Frederick Knight
26 - "All the King's Horses," Aretha Franklin
25 - "I'll Take You There," The Staple Singers
24 - "Oh Girl," The Chi-Lites
23 - "(Last Night)I Didn't Get To Sleep at All," The 5th Dimension
22 - "Conquistador," Procol Harum
21 - "Amazing Grace," The Pipes and Drums and the Military Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
We start with the people who make it easy on our tender ears. Cher is back from last time (not the first time) with a song about a once-happy couple who are now "the king and queen of emptiness." I wonder how autobiographical that was at the time. The musical Godspell, another theatrical retelling of the story of Jesus hot on the heels of Jesus Christ Superstar, produced a hit single with this gentle song about taking one's faith one day at a time. I don't know who was in this particular cast, but I do know that the show's 1972-73 Toronto run featured Gilda Radner and four future SCTV cast members. Marilyn, Billy and the others return with their tune about not being able to turn in due to loneliness. Marilyn McCoo's voice is growing on me, I must admit. And those Scottish pipers, drummers, and other assorted musicians return with their surprising hit hymn. But no Uneasy Rider repeat for them.
Just two bits o' rock here. Dr. Hook and cohorts return with their heartbreaking attempt to reach out to an old lover one last time. That Mrs. Avery, what a bitch. And after not being heard from much since 1967's "A Whiter Shade of Pale," British prog-rockers Procol Harum returned briefly to the charts with this elaborate tale of knights and swords and such, enhanced by the backing of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. That was probably the first time many people outside of Canada had heard of Edmonton. But, thanks to that Gretzky kid, it wouldn't be the last.
Again, soul closes the show. Frederick Knight is back with his unjustly forgotten tale of deep, deep loneliness. Been there and back, Fred. Aretha is here with this chart's second spin on a nursery rhyme. In lesser hands, the Humpty Dumpty metaphor for a breakup, in which a wall of happiness and love comes crumbling down, would seem strained. But Aretha sold me. And lastly, The Staples family returns with their lovely promise to take you to a place of truth and joy, as do the Chi-Lites, who beg their lover not to leave at this time, lest their pain increase 100%.
Tomorrow: suicidal depression, youthful elation, and my archenemy song returns.
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