August 17, 1974 Part Two

Concluding 1974, a year in which Casey could make a reference to Linda Lovelace and know that most of his listeners would know who that was. I wonder if Seacrest ever mentions Sasha Grey on his version of AT40

20 - "Rub it In," Billy "Crash" Craddock
19 - "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," Elton John
18 - "Annie's Song," John Denver
17 - "You and Me Against the World," Helen Reddy
16 - "Sure as I'm Sittin' Here," Three Dog Night

The second half begins with the biggest pop hit for country singer Craddock, which turns a request to have sun lotion applied to his body into something more. At one point, he asked to be rubbed on his "sacoriliac." Officially, that's a joint between the spine and the pelvis, but one wonders if this was an attempt at a subtle reference at another body part in that area. Or maybe I just have a dirty mind. Either way, this song is now better known as the "Plug it in" song from Glade commercials, for better or worse.

Next is Sir Elton with another in his bottomless well of classics from this decade. In this one, he confronts a friend who is considering cutting him out of his life for questionable reasons. That sucks. Interesting crew of backup singers on this one: two Beach Boys and the future Mrs. Dragon, Toni Tennille.

John Denver is here, telling some woman named Annie that she fills up his senses, and asking her to "fill me again." No way that's not a sex metaphor. Good to know you're not a total choirboy, Johnny.

Then it's our Helen, showing off her less interesting side on this song in which she expresses her love for her young daughter Traci, who is heard at the beginning and the end of the record. It's sweet, but I'll skip this every time to get to the crazy ladies.

Closing out this section are our old buddies 3DN with their last Top 20 hit. In the lyrics, they sing "Now you might think it's confusing." And I do, because I have no idea what the point of the lyrics are. But beyond that, it's inoffensive piano pop, performed in such a relaxed way that it's almost like they knew the end of their run was near, so they weren't bothering to put in a full effort.

15 - "Rock Me Gently," Andy Kim
14 - "Shinin' On," Grand Funk
13 - "I Shot the Sheriff," Eric Clapton
12 - "Taking Care of Business," Bachman-Turner Overdrive
11 - "Keep on Smilin'" Wet Willie

This section opens with the Canadian who co-wrote the Archies' "Sugar Sugar." He went all the way to #1 with this unaccountably perfect pop nugget. I know that the keyboard break in the middle was one of the first sounds to really catch my ear as a child.

Up next is the song that led to Homer Simpson's realization that today's children are woefully undereducated on the subject of Grand Funk. He told his kids, and the others in their carpool, to do further research on them in their library, but you just know they never bothered. Foolish, foolish youth.

Then it's Eric Clapton with his cover of Bob Marley's tale of a man who has become a fugitive wanted for the murder of a deputy, although he insists he only killed Sheriff John Brown, and that was in self-defence. Clapton deserves credit for spreading the gospel of Marley before he really broke through internationally, and I did dig this as a kid, but once you've heard the original, there's really no need to ever hear this version again.

Then it's BTO with their biggest hit, celebrating the joys of working "at nothing all day." Did they foresee it being later used as a jingle for a store that sells office supplies? Probably not. But they probably didn't envision playing a fair in Springfield and being yelled at by some loudmouth to "get to the 'working overtime' part!" That's right, two Simpsons references in this section. Just couldn't control myself.

Closing out this quintet are Alabamians Wet Willie with their biggest hit, in which they suggest putting on a happy face no matter what shit life throws your way. I think Marge Simpson once gave similar advice to Lisa. Yeah, another one. Anyway, this one is much better, and much truer to their Southern rock roots, than "Weekend."

The last ten steps on the road to pop glory:

10 - "Sideshow," Blue Magic
This Philadelphia group had the biggest of their two hits with this song that imagines a carnival attraction filled with the most pathetic, broken-hearted people imaginable. No one would go see that. However, I'm sure millions would watch that reality show.

9 - "I'm Leaving it All Up to You," Donny and Marie Osmond
The first, and biggest, hit for this combination of Osmond siblings was a cover of a song by Dale and Grace that was #1 on the charts the day John F. Kennedy was shot. Does it mean anything that JFK was killed in Dallas and Dale's last name was Houston? Certainly not. But I found that much more interesting than this song.

8 - "Wildwood Weed," Jim Stafford
Country jokester Stafford scored with this novelty song about two hillbilly brothers who discover that a weed that grows on their farm has certain pleasurable properties when chewed or smoked. "It beat the hell out of sniffin' burlap." Yes kids, there once was a time when you had do be cryptic when singing about pot.

7 - "Waterloo," ABBA
The Swedish legends broke through in the U.S. with this song that compared romantic surrender to that of Napoleon at the titular battle. We all know this song, many like myself love it, so I'll use this space to tell you that the song that finished second to it in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest was an Italian song called "Si (Yes)" that caused Italian television to refuse to air the contest for fear that the song might be a subliminal message to vote "Yes" in an upcoming referendum on the question of outlawing divorce in that country. The "yes" side lost, allowing Italians to continue legally splitting up as much as they wanted. Did that decision by the RAI network save Italian lawyers from losing millions of lire in business? We'll never know, but one thing is certain: this took up more space than I thought it would.

6 - "Call on Me," Chicago
Another jazzy love song from these boys. I may not get another chance, so I just want to say one more time that "If You Leave Me Now" sucks.

5 - "Please Come to Boston," Dave Loggins
Kenny's cousin was a draftsman and an insurance salesman before making it as a songwriter and then scoring his only pop hit, this countryish plea to a woman to join him in first Boston, then Denver, and finally Los Angeles. The lady refuses each time, pleading in return for him to go back home to Tennessee. We never find out if he does, or if he moves on to, I don't know, Seattle, and takes another crack at getting her to relocate. With some songs, you don't necessarily need closure, but for some reason, I want it with this one. Write a sequel, Dave. I demand it.

4 - "Tell Me Something Good," Rufus
Not only was it this band's first hit, not only did it introduce the world to Chaka Khan, but it was also one of the first major uses of the "talk box" effect. Who knows, maybe this song is responsible for Peter Frampton's brief superstardom. Whether or not that would be a good thing to be able to claim, I leave to you.

3 - "(You're) Having My Baby," Paul Anka
The pride of Canada's capital, trying to sound loving and appreciative of the woman carrying his child, but instead sounding creepy and condescending. I don't think his intentions were anything but noble, but really, someone could have taken him aside and pointed out the difference between his intent and how it might be, and ultimately was by many, perceived. But maybe if he had changed something, it wouldn't have hit #1, so what do I know?

2 - "Feel Like Makin' Love," Roberta Flack
This could be the sexiest of Roberta's three early 70s Number Ones. Then again, they're all pretty damn sexy in their own ways. One thing's for sure, this is much better mood music than Bad Company's hit of the same name. Not that that's a bad song. I just think that this one would have a much higher success rate, nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more.

And the hit of all hits this week 37 years ago was...

1 - "The Night Chicago Died," Paper Lace
This British group that was discovered on a talent show calledOpportunity Knocks had their only American hit with this tale of a child who feared for his Chicago cop-father's life on the night of a bloody war with Al Capone's gang during his Prohibition-era heyday. And unlike "Please Come to Boston," this song does provide resolution in the last verse, where we learn that the narrator's father returned home safe and sound that night. Whew. Knowing that makes singing along to those "Nanananananananananananana"s at the end much more fun.

This week's NotCaseys were "I Honestly Love You," by Olivia Newton John, "Sweet Home Alabama," by Lynyrd Skynyrd, and "Surfin' U.S.A.," by The Beach Boys.

As I said earlier, next week I'm doing both a 70s and 80s recap. After that, I'm going to do a little something to commemorate the first year of BGC and the end of regular 70s coverage, then the plan is to only cover 80s charts in full, with perhaps spotlights on some songs from that week's 70s show that I haven't covered before and find interesting. That's the plan. Come back regularly to see if that comes together.