June 6, 1981

Okay, now we take our brief journey back to June 1981.  Here's 40-11, with the newbies in bold.

40 - "Elvira," The Oak Ridge Boys
39 - "I Can Take Care of Myself," Billy and the Beaters
38 - "Time," The Alan Parsons Project
37 - "Modern Girl," Sheena Easton
36 - "You Better You Bet," The Who
35 - "Say What," Jesse Winchester
34 - "Fool in Love with You," Jim Photoglo
33 - "Find Your Way Back," Jefferson Starship
32 - "Still Right Here in My Heart," The Pure Prairie League
31 - "Kiss on My List," Daryl Hall and John Oates
30 - "Say You'll Be Mine," Christopher Cross
29 - "Winning," Santana
28 - "Ai No Corrida," Quincy Jones
27 - "Nobody Wins," Elton John
26 - "I Missed Again," Phil Collins
25 - "Morning Train (9 to 5)," Sheena Easton
24 - "Is it You," Lee Ritenour
23 - "Since I Don't Have You," Don McLean
22 - "Jessie's Girl," Rick Springfield
21 - "The Waiting," Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
20 - "The One that You Love," Air Supply
19 - "You Make My Dreams," Daryl Hall and John Oates
18 - "Angel of the Morning," Juice Newton
17 - "Watching the Wheels," John Lennon
16 - "What are We Doing in Love," Dottie West with Kenny Rogers
15 - "Too Much Time on My Hands," Styx
14 - "This Little Girl," Gary U.S. Bonds
13 - "I Love You," The Climax Blues Band
12 - "How 'Bout Us," Champaign
11 - "All Those Years Ago," George Harrison

Since there are only eight songs here that I have yet to cover, I'll do them individually, in descending order.

Yes, that is indeed Billy Vera and the Beaters, making a very brief appearance on the chart four years before Family Ties lifted them out of obscurity.  This very minor first hit is a pub-rocker about a man with money contemplating a relationship with a known golddigger, and ultimately deciding that she's worth the presumably-high material cost.  Actually, I find it pretty catchy and fun.  It makes me happier about their eventual success.

The Who had their last U.S. Top Twenty hit with this spirited rocker about a hot relationship with a woman who welcomes Roger Daltrey "with open arms and open legs," as long as he tells her he loves her.  He's pretty happy with the relationship, even if the dog sometimes interrupts the proceedings.  I think I've pretty much caught the meaning.  Anyway, I think this holds up pretty well against a lot of the band's earlier hits.

I'm often pretty harsh when it comes to Jefferson Starship, so I tried to go into listening to "Find Your Way Back" with open ears.  And actually, I don't mind this so much.  It's just big, overproduced 80s rock over which Mickey Thomas sings about trying to win his lover back.  I'll take this a thousand times over those awful 70s ballads and everything they did after "We Built This City."

Our old friend Chris Cross, whose rise to superstardom, even as brief as that superstardom was, still baffles me, is here with the fourth single from his self-titled, five-times-platinum debut album.  (Five million Americans actually spent their hard-earned money on a Christopher Cross album.  That really happened.)  This is just okay lite-rock about Chris trying to get laid.  He tried to put an edge on his voice for this one, and there's actually a nice guitar solo.  Honestly, it's probably his best hit.  That doesn't say much, but still, better than I ever expected from him.

Superproducer Quincy Jones had his second hit as an artist with this decent bit of disco about what love does to you.  The title means "bullfight of love," but there aren't really any references to that sport in the lyrics.  Actually, the most interesting thinreag about this is the fact that the singer on this record is a guy who went by the name of "Dune."

Genesis drummer Phil Collins appears this week with his first U.S. solo single.  It's horn-heavy pop-rock about striking out in the game of love.  This and its follow-up, "In The Air Tonight," are pretty much what I would consider the best moments of his solo career.  They just don't seem quite as calculated and slick.

Don "American Pie" McLean had one of his last hits with this sleepy cover of a 1959 doo-wop ballad by The Skyliners.  He tries for the retro arrangement, but he's severely lacking in passion.  His falsetto is all right though.  Still, Guns n' Roses did it way better 13 years later.

Last among the BGC newcomers is the third and last hit from the last album John Lennon released during his life.  It's a soulish ballad in which he responds to the people who wondered why he took five years off from the music business to stay home and help take care of his son Sean.  "Surely you're not happy now," he imagines them saying, "You no longer play the game."  But Lennon insists that he was perfectly content "no longer riding on the merry-go-round."  It's a cool little song, and my favorite off of Double Fantasy.  But there's an unitended sad edge to it, given what happened after he decided to return to the business.

Well, that takes care of the new stuff.  The only thing I'll mention is that for #12, Champaign's "How 'Bout Us," Casey played a 1975 version by the group's former incarnation as The Water Brothers Band.  I wasn't any more impressed.

In France, the Top Ten's the Top Ten, only they call it "Le Top Ten."

10 - "Sweetheart," Franke and the Knockouts
Boring pop from the poor man's Toto.  And put an "i" in your first name son. You look silly and pretnetious.

9 - "America," Neil Diamond
The Neilster celebrates immigration and the Pledge of Allegiance.  I wonder how many thousands of  times it'll be played at various events this election year.

8 - "Just the Two of Us," Grover Washington, Jr. with Bill Withers
Not one of my favorite songs, but it serves its purpose, and you can never be against hearing Bill Withers sing.

7 - "A Woman Needs Love," Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio
But Ray didn't need a band after this.

6 - "Living Inside Myself," Gino Vannelli
The Montrealer is heartbroken.  Okay, but I still like "Black Cars," "I Just Wanna Stop," and even "People Gotta Move" much better.

5 - "Take It on the Run," REO Speedwagon
Someone told two friends that Kevin Cronin's girlfriend was cheating on him.  Then they told two friends, and they told two friends, and so on, and so on....

4 - "Sukiyaki," A Taste of Honey
A song about heartbreak named after a food.  Because all those Japanese words sound the same, right?  So I suppose there'd be no problem if the Japanese had decided that hey, we can't remember a long and complicated English title like "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," so let's just call the song "Fish and Chips."

3 - "Medley," Stars on 45
Dutch disco + The Beatles - the actual Beatles = Gold.

2 - "Being With You," Smokey Robinson
Love Smokey usually, but this is just completely flavorless.

And at #1 31 years ago was...

1 - "Bette Davis Eyes," Kim Carnes
I can't say enough how great this is.  The gold standard of early 80s uptempo radio pop.  It was huge, and it more that deserved to be.

This week's NotCaseys were "Boy from New York City" by The Manhattan Transfer, "The Breakup Song" by The Greg Kihn Band, "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins, and "Queen of Hearts" by Juice Newton.  Casey played three Number One hits from the mid-'60s: "Lightnin' Strikes" by Lou Christie, "These Boots are Made for Walkin'" by Nancy Sinatra, and "The Ballad of the Green Berets" by Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler.  And there were two LDDs.  In the first, a 10-year-old girl who used to smoke and drink (!) dedicated Andrew Gold's "Thank You for Being a Friend" to the boy who help her break those bad habits.  And later, a woman aske Casey to play John Paul Young's "Love is in the Air," because it makes her happy, and she wanted to dedicate it to anyone who needs cheering up.  How sweet.

I think next week will be more normal, but I can't promise anything.  You'll have to come back in a few days and see.