Wrapping up a long weekend.
20 - "Respect Yourself," The Staple Singers
19 - "A Natural Man," Lou Rawls
18 - "Cherish," David Cassidy
17 - "Easy Loving," Freddie Hart
16 - "Two Divided by Love," The Grass Roots
The second half kicks off with the first Top 40 single for family gospel act The Staple Singers. It's a basic message: treat yourself and others with proper reverence, or else "ain't nobody gonna give a good cahoot." It's wonderful. Especially since this was the first time I heard the original, and not Bruce Willis' 1987 cover version. Which, to be fair, is much better than Don Johnson's hit.
Next is sweet Lou Rawls, a smooth soul groover about wanting to live free and unfettered. Such a great voice. And as long as TV re-runs the Garfield Christmas special every year, it will be heard annually by millions. Maybe not the ideal legacy, but it brings joy, and what's wrong with that?
Then it's David Cassidy's first solo single away from his TV "family," a cover of The Association's 1966 Number One. No, it's not the strongest performance, but yes, I like it better than the original. As I may have told you, I despise The Association. They're just awful.
Alabama country singer Freddie Hart had his biggest pop hit with this country song about a romance that makes every day Thanksgiving. Is it a coincidence that it hit its peak chart position around actual American Thanksgiving? I imagine so.
This section closes with The Grass Roots and their poppy math problem, whose solution "can only be sad." Again, this was after Creed Bratton left, so I don't really care.
15 - "Yo-Yo," The Osmonds
14 - "An Old-Fashioned Love Song," Three Dog Night
13 - "Everybody's Everything," Santana
12 - "All I Ever Need is You," Sonny and Cher
11 - "Maggie May," Rod Stewart
This group is led off by the Osmond brothers, doing surprisingly well in their attempt to get funky. I especially like that "springy" sound during some of the verses. This is probably their best hit.
Then it's my old friends 3DN with their hit version of a song written by tiny tunesmith Paul Williams. This is better than I thought it was. Catchy, fun, and it even rocks a lil' bit. You're growing on me, boys.
Next is Carlos Santana's eponymous band with a Latin-and-soul-flavored jam that encourages people to "let your spirit dance" and "turn the wisdom key." Definitely of its time lyrically, but still funky fun. And the guitar solo delivers.
Sonny and Cher were just beginning their career revival as TV variety stars when they released this duet that pretty much expresses the same sentiment as "I Got You Babe." Not as well, of course, but still very good. Their voices just go together.
This section finishes with Rod Stewart, back from our previous visits with his tale of a May-December dalliance. Between this and Summer of '42, older woman/younger man romance was hot in the year of my birth. I never realized that.
Here's your Top Ten, kids.
10 - "Desiderata," Les Crane
This was originally a "prose poem" written by writer and lawyer Max Ehrmann. It achieved a small measure of notoriety in the intervening ears, but then it gained more attention in 1965 when it was found at the deathbed of American politician Adlai Stevenson. Then in 1971, its popularity exploded when it appeared on motivational posters and was recorded by broadcaster Les Crane as a spoken-word record backed by gentle music and backing singing. The poem itself, whose title is Latin for "desired things," is just a list of pieces of advice about making decisions, dealing with people, and other aspects of life, while assuring the listener that he or she has value and "the universe is unfolding as it should." It's no surprise that this sort of thing caught on in the bridge years between the 60s and 70s, but still, it's this chart's Uneasy Rider.
9 - "Rock Steady," Aretha Franklin
The Queen wants you to dance. "Step and move your hips with a feelin' from side to side." And she provides more-than-adequate funk accompaniment. What it is, indeed.
8 - "Peace Train," Cat Stevens
The Cat comes back with his song about tranquil transportation. Appropriately mellow, and always nice to hear.
7 - "Got to be There," Michael Jackson
Michael's first solo hit was this perhaps too-mature-for-his-age ballad that seems to be about not leaving a woman alone the morning after a sexual encounter. But no one seemed worried about that at the time, and the performance is of course an upper-deck home run, so I'm just going to enjoy.
6 - "Imagine," John Lennon
Yes, there was a time when this, one of the most iconic songs of all time, was just another record climbing the pop charts. It's still somewhat amazing that people who deep down don't agree with the song's anti-material, anti-nationalist, anti-religion message somehow accept it as this almost hymnlike anthem. I think that makes John chuckle with pride, wherever he is.
5 - "Family Affair," Sly and the Family Stone
The third and final #1 for Sylvester Stewart and company. A slow burning funk-pop classic about the complicated relationships that develop among blood relations. Unquestionably their best hit, which is saying a lot, because they had a lot of good ones.
4 - "Have You Seen Her," The Chi-Lites
The first Top Ten for this Chicago vocal group, a ballad with a loneliness-weary spoken-word opening and a heartbreaking harmony chorus asking the title question. Achingly beautiful. The MC Hammer cover sucks though.
3 - "Baby I'm-a Want You," Bread
The MOR superstars express desire for a woman in their usual mild and inoffensive way. The whole "-a-" thing annoys me, though.
2 - "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves," Cher
And here's Mrs. Bono on her own with her smash tale of a girl born into a family of travellers who gets impregnated by a drifter. Ultimately a sad tale, but still fun to sing along with.
And as I learned to walk, the song at the top of American pop was...
1 - "Theme from Shaft," Isaac Hayes
The immortat theme from the groundbreaking "blaxploitation" film starring Richard Roundtree provided Isaac Hayes with not only his only #1 hit, but also an Oscar for Best Original Song. We all know about its funktastic glory as it tells of "the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks." What you may not know is that one of the women who tells Isaac Hayes to shut his mouth before he says something dirty was none other than Dawn's Telma Hopkins. Isaac Hayes is no Tony Orlando. And thank God for that.
The NotCaseys were The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes" and the Hillside Singers' "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing." Casey himself played Elvis' "Love Me Tender" (to that point the highest-debuting song in Top 40 history) and The Supremes "You Keep Me Hanging On" (the Number One song five years ago that week).
And at last, my "work" is done.
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