February 17, 1973

As promised, I'm devoting a whole post to this week's 1973 show. You know the drill with this. I start with 40-11, highlighting the songs I haven't covered yet in bold.

40 - "Neither One of Us," Gladys Knight and the Pips
39 - "Superfly," Curtis Mayfield
38 - "Hummingbird," Seals and Crofts
37 - "Jesus is Just Alright," The Doobie Brothers
36 - "Aubrey," Bread
35 - "Danny's Song," Anne Murray
34 - "Big City Miss Ruth Ann," Gallery
33 - "Harry Hippie," Bobby Womack and Peace
32 - "Living Together, Growing Together," The Fifth Dimension
31 - "Me and Mrs. Jones," Billy Paul
30 - "I Got Ants in My Pants," James Brown
29 - "Peaceful Easy Feeling," The Eagles
28 - "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock n' Roll Band)," The Moody Blues
27 - "Reelin' and Rockin'," Chuck Berry
26 - "You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio," Joni Mitchell
25 - "Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)," Deodato
24 - "Hi Hi Hi," Wings
23 - "Dreidel," Don McLean
22 - "Do You Want to Dance," Bette Midler
21 - "Your Mama Don't Dance," Loggins and Messina
20 - "Love Jones," Brighter Side of Darkness
19 - "The Cover of the Rolling Stone," Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show
18 - "Jambalaya," The Blue Ridge Rangers
17 - "Trouble Man," Marvin Gaye
16 - "Daddy's Home," Jermaine Jackson
15 - "Love Train," The O'Jays
14 - "Dancing in the Moonlight," King Harvest
13 - "Last Song," Edward Bear
12 - "Superstition," Stevie Wonder
11 - "The World is a Ghetto," War

Fourteen newcomers in the bottom 30. Okay, let's divide 'em up.

I put half of the new meat in the MOR category, so I'll start by looking at the easy-listening groups. The sap machine known as Seals and Crofts had its second hit with this hunk of nothing about "spirit voices" and other new agey crap. I hadn't heard this one before, and it did nothing to win me over. Bread had their last hit before their first breakup with this ballad about falling in love with a girl one doesn't even get to know, but whose apparent awesomeness spoils one for all other lovers. Wow, bet that would suck. But the song is actually one of their better ones. Detroit's Gallery, of "Nice to Be With You" fame, had their third and final hit with this this countryish tune about a rural girl who goes to the big city and appears to be happier there. But is she? And what exactly does the chorus line "Did you say that anybody can/Be exactly what you want a man" mean? I'm more intrigued by that than anything I'd ever thought I'd hear in a Gallery song. The Fifth Dimension had their last hit with this Bacharach/David composition about coexisting in harmony that was written for the flop musical film adaptation of the 1933 novel Lost Horizon, which coined the term for an idyllic paradise "Shangri-La." And listening to this song is as far from Shangri-La as it gets. Just awful. And Toronto's Edward Bear had their biggest U.S. success with this maudlin march about a guy who's finally given up on his lover coming back to him. But not before he writes her one more damn song. Unfortunately, it's this one. And his voice is annoying. No wonder she never came back.

I'll cover the other genres until I get to the rest of the soft stuff. Leading off the rock are The Doobie Brothers, who had their second hit with a cover of a gospel song originally performed by The Art Reynolds Singers. It basically repeats the message "Christ is cool." over and over above a blues-rock groove. It is indeed all right. And it was playing on Reverend Timothy Lovejoy's car radio when he first arrived at the First Church of Springfield. The Eagles cracked the Top 40 for a third time with a song about feeling secure with a woman, in spite of a nagging fear that she'll leave him. I think that's it. Anyway, it's early Eagles, all mellow and jangly. The Moody Blues are here with an energetic number about how being a rock star doesn't mean you can solve the world's problems better than most people, and is probably a more exalted position in society than it should be. True, and a good song to boot. And Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show scored their second Shel Silverstein-penned hit with this immortal tale of a band trying everything they know to get on the front page of the popular music periodical, from taking lots of drugs to hanging out with a "genuine Indian guru." Classic silly fun, and this chart's Uneasy Rider. And yes, the band did get on the cover of the magazine, but only in caricature, not a photograph. Still counts, though.

There are three very different versions of "funk" among the noobs. James Brown is here, and his trousers apparently contain insects. And because of this, he needs to dance. And who would stop him? In fact, anyone with any sense would go ahead and join him. Brazil's Eumir Deodato scored his biggest pop hit with this jazzy version of the Richard Strauss composition that gained greater popularity when it was uses in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, I'm sure it was pretty cool for its time, and it does retain some charm, as well as its significance as being one of the precursors of Walter Murphy's "A Fifth of Beethoven" and Hooked on Classics. And The O'Jays scored their only pop #1 with this dancefloor staple about a locomotive of peace and harmony that picks up passengers all over the globe. And this train is formed when "people all over the world join hands." Idealistic, but undeniable.

And at last we get to the two MOR solo artists. Don "American Pie" McLean had his last 70s hit with this song that, sadly, isn't a cover of the popular Hanukkah standard, but rather a boilerplate folk-rocker about how one's existence is similar to "a spinning top." But there are some fascinatingly wacky lyrics like "my sky shoes are spiked with lead heels," so that's entertaining. And Bette Midler had her first pop hit with this slow, sultry take on Bobby Freeman's rocking invitation to cut a rug. The Divine Miss M breathily coos her way through it, and is instantly recognizable as a star-in-the-making by the time the song ends.

Top Ten calling.

10 - "Rocky Mountain High," John Denver
Johnny D. returns, celebrating getting back to nature in Colorado, where he sees it "raining fire in the sky." And that's apparently a good thing. Okay.

9 - "Why Can't We Live Together," Timmy Thomas
A sparse but effective plea for tolerance and understanding. Love that organ. Again, it's one of the "lost gems" I've uncovered while doing this.

8 - "Don't Expect Me to Be Your Friend," Lobo
Good, Lobo. Because I don't want to be your friend either. Your music sucks.

7 - "Could it Be I'm Falling in Love," The Spinners
The Detroit soul stars scored again with a smooth celebration of new infatuation. It makes me such a happy boy. These guys rule.

6 - "Do it Again," Steely Dan
The Dan's first hit, a cool bit of funk rock that always makes me smile. The lyrics are pretty inscrutable, but that was always par for the course with these guys. Whatever. It worked.

5 - "Killing Me Softly with His Song," Roberta Flack
Flack's second #1 may or may not have been inspired by a Don McLean performance, depending on who you ask. Regardless, it's a passionate ode to a singer's connection with an audience member, who feels like he's "strumming my pain with his fingers/Singing my life with his words." And Roberta, to coin a phrase, just kills it. An undisputed classic.

4 - "Dueling Banjos," Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell
This instrumental, originally written in 1955 by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, became a hit after Weissberg and Mandell's recording of it was used in a scene between Ronny Cox and an inbred teenage boy in the movie Deliverance. Of course, because of this, the song is now closely associated with scary rednecks who make visiting city folks "squeal like a pig." Probably not what Mr. "Guitar Boogie" had in mind.

3 - "Oh Babe, What Would You Say," Hurricane Smith
Again, I love this strange little anachronism. It sounds like it an outtake from some great lost 40s movie musical. How do you not smile when listening to this?

2 - "You're So Vain," Carly Simon
Come on, Carly, it's Warren Beatty, isn't it? No matter who this song is about, it remains one of pop's greatest kiss-offs.

And topping the American pops 39 years ago was...

1 - "Crocodile Rock," Elton John
Sir Elton got his first U.S. #1 by going retro. Apparently, some of his inspirations for this included the 1957 hit "Little Darlin'" by The Diamonds, and a song called "Eagle Rock" by an Australian band called Daddy Cool. Don't say you never learn anything reading these things.

The NotCaseys were "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree" by Tony Orlando and Dawn, "Space Oddity" by David Bowie, and "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)" by The Four Tops.

And so ends my writing on this subject for another week. Come back soon for more of it, if you're so inclined.