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 John's 1969 Charts, Top 20's of the time, sometime 30's, sometime 10's |
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 14th September 2014, 12:34 PM
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#21
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 BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 18 July 2012
Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376 
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SEPT 1969
2nd Sept1969 Not much happening music-wise, just shuffling positions, and a second week at one for Zager And Evans, by virtue of being on an RAF DC10 heading for the Far East 1st Sept. Flights on those days were LONG. The first leg was to Bahrain (Muharraq), which was night-time when we landed and very humid and warm. I read my precious 30th Century superheroes Legion comic on the way, The Tornado Twins were the debut guest stars. Aka Super-speed descendant twins of The Flash, Barry Allen, who is getting a hot new TV series any day now. Second Leg was to Gan, an RAF island base in the Indian Ocean, which closed in 1976 and is now part of the Maldives. It had a huge impact on me, as the first real view I had of land from the air was of this green tropical jewell in a blue sea of bright sunshine. I fell in love with palm trees, sunshine, beaches pretty much from that moment on. This wasn’t grey black and white TV UK, this was gorgeous widescreen tropical technicolour life. The RAF lads wore shorts as their uniform, we got served orange sherbet drinks in the waiting room, hot with ceiling fans spinning, and I was amazed to watch a giant fruit bat soaring through the sky. Awesome! The final stage to RAF Changi and we landed 2nd Sept, late afternoon-ish, I think, bundled together and sitting with luggage in a very crowded small waiting room, until the RAF bus (pure white, known as Ghari’s, an Indian word) took us to the Cameron Hotel, the main stop-off for newly arrived families waiting to find lodgings. A short walk from Bedok Junction shop-shacks, and my first impression was of Chinese girls buzzing about the small hotel outside eating area. Turns out they weren’t girls, they were ladies, just shorter than I was used to seeing adults, hotel staff. we had one-room for the four of us, plus a shower-room, the first-time I’d ever seen a shower. Yes, honestly! The hotel menu was unusual, I think we had shark one day, it was a bit tough, and I would very much be against any hotel serving shark these days. I also had my first introduction to my life-long battle with my nemesis: the mosquito. They were everywhere in Singapore, and smoking coils, electric aroma pads were only minor inconveniences to them. Being as my sweet body odour continues to be irresistible to the little buggers, in a football crowd of people I’m the one they zoom in on, and some nights I got eaten alive by any dashing in through the air vents above windows, the slatted windows during cleaning, or any door left open, sitting outside, standing at bus stops, playing in gardens. One night I woke up with 70-odd swollen bites from craftily-hidden stalking mozzies, looking like I’d been beaten up. No exaggeration the teachers thought I’d been beaten up, swollen eyes, puffy face, red arms and legs, dad took photos of it. I hate the little blood-sucking gobshites. The main armory in those days was flit. That sounds so sweet. It’s actually a now-banned toxic poison called DDT and it was liberally sprayed everywhere to kill them and the zillions of cockroaches, which were also everywhere and detestable. On a happier note, the walls of the hotel inside and out had dozens of chit-chats zipping about eating the insects: wall geckos were so cute, but had a nasty habit of leaving their tail twitching in your hand if you tried to grab one. Oops! TBC 1 ( 1 ) IN THE YEAR 2525 Zager And Evans 2 ( 3 ) EARLY IN THE MORNING Vanity Fayre 3 ( 5 ) DON'T FORGET TO REMEMBER The Bee Gees 4 ( 6 ) MY CHERIE AMOUR Stevie Wonder 5 ( 7 ) VIVA BOBBY JOE The Equals 6 ( 2 ) SAVED BY THE BELL Robin Gibb 7 ( 4 ) IN THE GHETTO Elvis Presley 8 ( 8 ) MAKE ME AN ISLAND Joe Dolan 9 ( 11 ) GOODNIGHT MIDNIGHT Clodagh Rodgers 10 ( 10 ) CONVERSATIONS Cilla Black 11 ( 12 ) HONKY TONK WOMEN The Rolling Stones 12 ( 13 ) GIVE PEACE A CHANCE Plastic Ono Band 13 ( 14 ) BAD MOON RISING Creedence Clearwater Revival 14 ( 17 ) HEATHER HONEY Tommy Roe 15 ( 9 ) SI TU DOIS PARTIR Fairport Convention 16 ( 16 ) GOOD MORNING STARSHINE Oliver 17 ( 18 ) I'M A BETTER MAN Engelbert Humperdinck 18 ( 15 ) BRINGING ON BACK THE GOOD TIMES The Love Affiar 19 ( 20 ) TOO BUSY THINKING BOUT MY BABY Marvin Gaye 20 ( 19 ) I CAN SING A RAINBOW/LOVE IS BLUE The Dells 9th September 1969 3 weeks for In The Year 2525, a record I was truly mad on in a futuristic sci-fi way. Tommy Roe gets a Top 5 follow-up, based on memory more than actually hearing it, cos there was no radio and no TV so no music for me, and as we settled in to finding a house, dad still had to go to work, though we managed to avoid going to school right away. The only new entry is Bobbie Gentry, which did find it’s way onto 2-way Family Favourites, broadcast in Singapore for the forces abroad and on Radio 2. Only MOR or inoffensive pop ever found it’s way onto the show, so much of the stuff in the UK charts, like Space Oddity, Marrakesh Express and other classic future faves weren’t known to me until the mid-70’s or even early 80’s in some cases. “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” though was a Burt Bacharach cover that was just gorgeous, I loved her husky voice, and the melody, and it became my 4th ever single purchase at an evening market record-stall, a month or two later. The concept of being able to shop in the evening was also a novelty to post-war UK which was firmly shut all over every evening and Sundays. It was fab and bustling. This was the week I was introduced properly to two things: swimming, and severe sunburn, both connected. The RAF brochure to newbies stated quite firmly not to stay in the sun, cos it’s on the equator and You. Will. Burn. We must have missed that warning, cos after going to RAF Changi swimming pool with our new friends from the hotel The Marshalls and their 2 girls, we ended up horrifically sunburnt to the point where just moving was sooo painful, especially on the back, lying on the front suffering was about the size of it for a few days. Swimming was also new to me, really, apart from a few traumatic forced sessions when I was 6 or so in Chesham when I really wasn’t happy being taken out of my depth! So, 11-years-old, and a rubber ring in the baby pool. So not cool! Once everyone left me to my own devices though, essentially I taught myself to swim, at first with the help of the ring, then on my own bit by bit, ringless. I was quite proud of that. Yay for young me! 1 ( 1 ) IN THE YEAR 2525 Zager And Evans 2 ( 2 ) EARLY IN THE MORNING Vanity Fayre 3 ( 3 ) DON'T FORGET TO REMEMBER The Bee Gees 4 ( 14 ) HEATHER HONEY Tommy Roe 5 ( 5 ) VIVA BOBBY JOE The Equals 6 ( 4 ) MY CHERIE AMOUR Stevie Wonder 7 ( 6 ) SAVED BY THE BELL Robin Gibb 8 ( 8 ) MAKE ME AN ISLAND Joe Dolan 9 ( 13 ) BAD MOON RISING Creedence Clearwater Revival 10 ( 9 ) GOODNIGHT MIDNIGHT Clodagh Rodgers 11 ( 10 ) CONVERSATIONS Cilla Black 12 ( 11 ) HONKY TONK WOMEN The Rolling Stones 13 ( 16 ) GOOD MORNING STARSHINE Oliver 14 ( 12 ) GIVE PEACE A CHANCE Plastic Ono Band 15 ( NEW ) I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN Bobbie Gentry This post has been edited by popchartfreak: 14th September 2014, 02:00 PM |
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15th September 2014, 06:19 PM
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#22
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 18 July 2012
Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376
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16th September 1969
4 weeks for Zager & Evans on top, Bobbie Gentry being the only real challenge for my love. A bit of music was to filter through from the British charts though, notably fave Mama Cass’ fab It’s Getting Better, as she tended to be a family friendly radio and variety show guest, especially the American variety shows which were all over the TV - Andy Williams, Dean Martin and black comic Flip Wilson were the biggest, but The Osmond Brothers and The Jackson 5 and the likes of them were regulars along with big names like Frank, Sammy and their cronies. More relevant was Hare Krishna Mantra, George Harrison-backed Radha Krishna Temple Indian chanting pop hit, which might not have been typical of the sort of Indian music widely heard on Singapore TV and radio, but it was an introduction to me of world music. The other major style of music was Chinese Mandarin-language, either modern pop-styled or more authentic. I wouldn’t say I ran out to buy either types of music, but they slowly got through in terms of hearing them regularly and having an impact on me in later years. In Singapore for week 2, still in the hotel, still avoiding school, and getting more used to travelling by buses, all single-deckers, regularly running between Changi Village, past the infamous World War 2 Changi Prison and the RAF airport, and Singapore City. The buses were either new and cool or ricketty things from the 50‘s, which were a real pain to ride on. We went to view a brand new 4-bedroom house built on a very American-looking new housing estate called Bedokville. 42 Jalan Limau Perut, it wasn’t cheap but new friends the Marshalls were taking the house next door and we needed to get out of the hotel, so it was looking good, it was HUGE (to us) compared to every flat and house we’d ever lived in, and it had a fridge! Luxury! OK there was a smelly monsoon drain and sewerage works behind the house, but the Malay kampong (wooden house settlement) behind that was interesting. Quite a variation from the middle class houses, too. I was keen, cos it looked so much like every American suburban TV and movie film I’d seen, houses running up the short hill into the distance until the non-urban tropics popped back just over the brow of the hill. Incredibly, it’s all still there, on google map, just looking a lot more burglar-alarmed and walled, as opposed to wire fenced and open in 1969, and our house (as it became) still stands. Yes, modern technology gives good nostalgia! 1 ( 1 ) IN THE YEAR 2525 Zager And Evans 2 ( 3 ) DON'T FORGET TO REMEMBER The Bee Gees 3 ( 2 ) EARLY IN THE MORNING Vanity Fayre 4 ( 15 ) I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN Bobbie Gentry 5 ( 4 ) HEATHER HONEY Tommy Roe 6 ( 9 ) BAD MOON RISING Creedence Clearwater Revival 7 ( 6 ) MY CHERIE AMOUR Stevie Wonder 8 ( 13 ) GOOD MORNING STARSHINE Oliver 9 ( 7 ) SAVED BY THE BELL Robin Gibb 10 ( 8 ) MAKE ME AN ISLAND Joe Dolan 11 ( 5 ) VIVA BOBBY JOE The Equals 12 ( 10 ) GOODNIGHT MIDNIGHT Clodagh Rodgers 13 ( NEW ) HARE KRISHNA MANTRA Radha Krishna Temple 14 ( NEW ) IT'S GETTING BETTER Mama Cass 15 ( 12 ) HONKY TONK WOMEN The Rolling Stones This post has been edited by popchartfreak: 15th September 2014, 06:22 PM |
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18th September 2014, 06:03 PM
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#23
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 18 July 2012
Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376
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23rd September 1969
5 weeks for Zager And Evans, and a late surge by Robin Gibb to signify mum buying Saved By The Bell (once our basic record player/radio arrived from the UK in a crate of clothes and stuff sent over - dad bought it in Aden when he was sent on a year’s unaccompanied service in 1966, and we lived in a Liverpool slum flat with mice scuttling about the place, and fleas). Good Morning Starshine hits the top 5, I adored that melody. New in? Johnny Cash’s San Quentin prison-track, an album we borrowed eventually, and a sort of novelty hit, A Boy Named Sue. I was about the right age, and was glad I hadn’t been named Sue, being a sweet (wet) boy and all. Bob Dylan also sneaks in with a record that had once-in-a-blue-moon radio plays, but for Dylan, at that time, it was more pop-friendly (if naughty). In the Cameron Hotel, named for the Cameron Highlands in Malaya, I think, an upland holidaying cooller area for Europeans seeking some heat-relief, we were in the process of moving out. Into our new luxury home. Me and my brother dashed upstairs to claim a bedroom each, the first time we’d had our own, he grabbed the first one he went into, I got the bigger front one I think, next to mum and dad’s, it had a balcony over the front garden. The back ones looked over the Kampong and sewerage works. I say garden - as it was a new house it was basically a lawn (not grass as the UK knows it, a sort of wide-leaved variation) plus a few random flowering weeds on the driveway up to the covered verandah/car port. I was fascinated by the teeny tiny titchy lil’ butterflies fluttering round these flowers. So tiny! In contrast to the effing huge spiders on the wall. Massive! I mean, REALLY big, they virtually stared at you. The little ones were just as bad, cos they had a nasty habit which my brother found out about when he started tormenting one - it jumped right at him. He jumped pretty well himself, then. Funny. We also had a cleaner. She was very nice, a slim older Chinese lady called Tan, and the whole concept of having someone else do the housework was really a leftover from the Stiff Upper Lip colonial days, which were very much in their closing days. British women were too frail to do housework in the humid heat (it was thought in the olden days, and it sort of hung over into the 60’s) and local labour wasn’t that expensive relative to increased income (for being posted abroad). I really never felt at ease Tan doing the work as an Amah (as they called it), so I tended to feel sorry for all the workers and be nice to them and help. I’m sure the extra cash was helpful, but that’s besides the point, I was and am working class from a poor background. This was luxury! We had a fridge with a freezebox and we could make ice-lollies! It was sunny! It was hot! It was exotic... On the downside, a school bus picked kids up on the corner outside, a white Ghari and there was no getting away from heading for my first secondary (Big) school at RAF Seletar (on the other side of the island), and my brother to his junior school at RAF Changi.... 1 ( 1 ) IN THE YEAR 2525 Zager And Evans 2 ( 9 ) SAVED BY THE BELL Robin Gibb 3 ( 4 ) I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN Bobbie Gentry 4 ( 8 ) GOOD MORNING STARSHINE Oliver 5 ( 2 ) DON'T FORGET TO REMEMBER The Bee Gees 6 ( 6 ) BAD MOON RISING Creedence Clearwater Revival 7 ( 13 ) HARE KRISHNA MANTRA Radha Krishna Temple 8 ( 7 ) MY CHERIE AMOUR Stevie Wonder 9 ( 10 ) MAKE ME AN ISLAND Joe Dolan 10 ( 14 ) IT'S GETTING BETTER Mama Cass 11 ( 5 ) HEATHER HONEY Tommy Roe 12 ( 11 ) VIVA BOBBY JOE The Equals 13 ( 15 ) HONKY TONK WOMEN The Rolling Stones 14 ( NEW ) LAY LADY LAY Bob Dylan 15 ( NEW ) A BOY NAMED SUE Johnny Cash This post has been edited by popchartfreak: 18th September 2014, 06:13 PM |
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19th September 2014, 05:17 PM
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#24
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 18 July 2012
Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376
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30th September 1969 6 weeks and it’s still in the year 2525 - just ahead of Bobbie Gentry and that Hair track. Mama Cass is getting better too, but the big news is the first Singapore hit (as opposed to UK singles chart hit) from The Archies. No, not that one, this is an earlier American single that was on the first EP I ever bought (Sugar Sugar). One-hit wonders in the UK, but a string of singles in the States, and in Singapore the TV show was shown weekly, a must for me cos it had 2 or 3 songs each week, many of them album tracks, some of them still to be released - though downloads have already thrown a few of them my way. It’s easy to laugh at the idea of a cartoon group (Gorillaz anyone?!) but although basically bubblegum pop, it had great credentials, with hit songwriters and producers knocking off some tuneful fun for kids - and was Don Kirshner’s reply to those uppity Monkees who had the temerity to show that they could play instruments, write songs, make films and do it just as well. Cartoon bands couldn’t answer back! Happily they hired a great vocalist in Ron Dante (also singer for The Cuff Links) and back-ups from the likes of Toni Wine. The first LP I ever bought with my own money? Sugar Sugar. I was a fan, and it was about the only guaranteed pop stars you could see on TV, the rest were very random one-offs for a year or so. There’s much to say about school life – so I’ll save that and just stick with the RAF non-air-conditioned, windows-open white-painted ghari bus ride. For a start I had my first-ever school uniform to wear: khaki shorts and white short-sleeved shirt. That was it, didn’t need much else it was too hot! I’d been bought a cardboard juniors mini suitcase with flip-up locks for books, pencils, lunch-box and frozen-orange-juice-in-a-bottle which made things damp. I’ve still got the little case, rickety, a bit rusty, stuffed with trinkets and plastered with popcorn packet transfers I used to buy at break-times from the school tuck-shop – Superman, Batman, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, Monkey, Phantoman and other assorted American and Hong Kong kiddie cult shows, not to mention cowboys, astronauts, 2001: a space odyssey and other exciting stuff. De-licious! The ride to school was a roundabout trip, took nearly an hour I think, from bedokville, Bedok Corner, Siglap, down into a valley, picking up forces kids all over suburbia from bungalows and flats, before skirting the outer rim of the city and heading for the more rural road to Seletar. I used to get frustrated by the sight of DC Comics hung up on pegs on pavement newsstands: so close and yet so far, I SO wanted them. I was especially obsessed with Legion Of Super-Heroes, my number one obsession, a sort of earlier teen version of X-Men (Marvel ripped off the idea, and super-powers pretty much) but set in the future in a galaxy of planets. Among my first bus rides I spotted a kid reading a coverless Superman comic, which was new to me, it had the Legion in a back-up story. He let me read it, and although I was younger and shy I had to have it, so I think I was pretty keen to part with my sweet-drinks money for the day (it was very hot, you needed drinks!). I got it, showing I can be persuasive if motivated enough! Action Comics 378 The Forbidden Fruit, super-hero Timber Wolf gets a drug-addiction problem. Marvel ripped-off Timber Wolf in 1974, called him Wolverine, co-incidentally the driving force of X-Men was former Legion artist Dave Cockrum who’d left DC in a snit, taking his creative talent and ideas along with him. Good thing I’m not bitter my heroes are still minority interest (despite going for 56 years now) and X-Men are HUGE thanks to some great movies.... Rubber plantation: we passed one each day near Seletar village (largely wooden shops and shacks), I was interested in the little whirl cut running around the trunk leading down to a cup to gather the sap. Not like any agriculture I’d seen before! The guards at the entrance to RAF Seletar usually just waved us through, and then we were into a different world of Little Britain, albeit military: the buildings were brick, lots of wide-open green spaces for sports, a swimming pool, single-storey huts mixed with actual air-conditioned modern 3-storey school buildings. Yay! TBC 1 ( 1 ) IN THE YEAR 2525 Zager And Evans 2 ( 3 ) I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN Bobbie Gentry 3 ( 4 ) GOOD MORNING STARSHINE Oliver 4 ( 6 ) BAD MOON RISING Creedence Clearwater Revival 5 ( 7 ) HARE KRISHNA MANTRA Radha Krishna Temple 6 ( 10 ) IT'S GETTING BETTER Mama Cass 7 ( 5 ) DON'T FORGET TO REMEMBER The Bee Gees 8 ( 8 ) MY CHERIE AMOUR Stevie Wonder 9 ( 14 ) LAY LADY LAY Bob Dylan 10 ( 13 ) HONKY TONK WOMEN The Rolling Stones 11 ( 11 ) HEATHER HONEY Tommy Roe 12 ( 12 ) VIVA BOBBY JOE The Equals 13 ( 15 ) A BOY NAMED SUE Johnny Cash 14 ( NEW ) FEELIN' SO GOOD (S.K.O.O.B.Y.D.O.O) The Archies 15 ( NEW ) THROW DOWN A LINE Cliff Richard and Hank Marvin This post has been edited by popchartfreak: 19th September 2014, 05:35 PM |
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20th October 2014, 05:56 PM
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#25
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 18 July 2012
Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376
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OCT 1969
7th Oct 1969 It’s a new number one, Bobbie Gentry’s gorgeous version of the Bacharach/David song, and again a version that improves on the Dionne Warwick recording, Bobbie’s husky singing voice just being so emotive. This was the 4th single I ever bought, sadly I bought it off an evening market record stall again (I think this time though, it was one near Siglap in the middle of a housing estate, bizarrely), and it was clearly well-played (an 11-year-old-kid’s a a good opportunity to dump used product) cos it forever got stuck in the same spot on the record. For anyone not used to vinyl, sometimes the needle either refused to follow a groove due to a blockage and just went into an endless loop till you forced it onwards, or it jumped a couple of seconds as it slipped out of a groove. I still expect to hear the same line repeated... My chart gets reduced to a top 10, as I’d run out of new records. A new entry at 10, though, for a record I was aware of, thanks to a couple of sheet music books I bought for the lyrics of some of my top-notch fave songs, and He Ain’t Heavy was in it. They were pretty good value actually, 15 or 20 sheet music current American hits per book. Fab! Still got them, of course. The Hollies of course would eventually get a proper chart run in 1988 when it hit the UK number one, but first-time round, I liked it. Now I love it, a terrific ballad, and Allan Clarke is an under-rated singer these days (along with the Hollies, who were huge at the time, and were a few hits into my charts already). Singapore memories? I was at my first Secondary School, a 3-storey white building with air con. Hooray for Seletar Secondary Modern! OK, some of the classrooms were old-fashioned huts with fans on the ceilings and no glass in the windows, sweltering-muchness going on, but at least they were mixed in with some lessons inside the main building so you could cool down. On my first day there were two of us starting new, Stephen Game being the other wavy-black-haired kid, and he became my new best friend for the next year, which was great cos he was cool and likeable, he wore hipster shorts, and I got lots of friends and got to be in with the coolish kids who spent breaks and lunchtimes running extended versions of British Bulldog around the large school-site. We were constantly hot, sweaty, and good at long-distance running in equatorial heat, no sunscream, no hats, lots of sweat. Before that, though, we were introduced to our new class: Form 1H2, short for Hannah. The forms were all named after RAF heroes: Gibson, Cheshire and, I think, Malcolm - need to check on that one in the school yearbook, though! They were allocated colours, Hannah was red, Gibson green, Cheshire blue, the other was yellow. Very handy for sports day competitions. Mrs Gibson was our form tutor, slim and shoulder-length black hair. I’ll be honest, at the end of the school year we all signed each other’s books so I still have names of some of the school-mates, and as is often the way in RAF life I ran into some of them again in years in the future. It’s a small Forces world... 1 ( 2 ) I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN Bobbie Gentry 2 ( 3 ) GOOD MORNING STARSHINE Oliver 3 ( 1 ) IN THE YEAR 2525 Zager And Evans 4 ( 5 ) HARE KRISHNA MANTRA Radha Krishna Temple 5 ( 6 ) IT'S GETTING BETTER Mama Cass 6 ( 4 ) BAD MOON RISING Creedence Clearwater Revival 7 ( 7 ) DON'T FORGET TO REMEMBER The Bee Gees 8 ( 9 ) LAY LADY LAY Bob Dylan 9 ( 12 ) VIVA BOBBY JOE The Equals 10 ( NEW ) HE AIN'T HEAVY..HE'S MY BROTHER The Hollies This post has been edited by popchartfreak: 20th October 2014, 05:58 PM |
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22nd October 2014, 06:10 PM
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#26
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 18 July 2012
Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376
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14th October 1969 2 weeks for Bobbie at 1, 2 weeks for Oliver at 2, and Mama Cass up to 3, but not much movement at all really, save the very famous million-selling, 8-weeks as the UK number one, Sugar Sugar, by cartoon band The Archies. Lots of people hate the record, but they are all SO wrong. It’s simplicity is it’s charm, it’s bubblegum, a hint of soul, nicely-produced, and with great vocalists for pure pop. Largely regarded as bubblegum novelty, that it continues to sell 45 years later should tellingly beg to differ. People buying it have never heard of, never mind seen, the TV show. For the record, and to repeat: Sugar Sugar was the first EP I bought, the first album I bought, and I used to record the songs from the show onto reel-to-reel tape. I recently bought the DVD’s of The Archie Funhouse, which is the series after the ones being made circa 1969/70, and errr...they are godawful. I never DID like the cartoon segments much, but they are just terrible. Nostalgia just can’t change that fact! The music, though, oh just sweeeet. With songwriters like Jeff Barry and Andy “Rock Me Gently” Kim, though, they should have something to contribute musically - largely rip-offs, granted, but catchy enough tunes, with a bit of social commentary thrown in. Not kidding there, either, pollution, racism and other topics happily resting there amongst the love songs, and odes to Hot Dog (the pet dog) and rock n roll music. You’ll never find them in the Critics Hall Of Fame, but as kiddie music goes, a cut above all those that followed in their kiddie music footsteps. Meanwhile, back at school, my first week at school introduced me to breaktime popcorn and cherryade fizzy drinks from the tuck shop, streaming for English and Maths (Band 2 for both I think, based on whatever quick test they threw at me and Stephen on the first day): these were monitored term by term, and kids moved up or down each term based on how well you were doing. I’ll be honest, I liked the competitive element, I moved up in Maths, and it tended to be good for the smarter kids who moved ahead faster. All other subjects were mixed ability, which meant progress was more leisurely as you had to take into account the kids who struggled more. I was also introduced to two things that caused me stress: Homework. Groaaan! Lost leisure time as far as I was concerned, though I was pretty good at doing it. The other one was sports. More specifically, Stephen & I had to sit in the changing room while the boys changed, then played cricket, or athletics, and then showered. That came as quite a shock to me, and very anxiety-creating, the thought of having to parade around naked in front of other boys stressed me out more than the team games did. My “kit hadn’t arrived” from the UK for a few weeks (Stephen took the plunge earlier than I did) till I couldn’t get away with it anymore, and had to join the throng. I was in and out of that shower faster than you could say “Streaker”. Got used to it eventually, of course, and was pretty damn good at long-distance running (second to Lee Green, in the Hannah house. Lee turned up again in Gloucester in the 5th year, 5 years on, by which time I was absolutely rubbish at running the freezing UK weather to be avoided at all costs, give me scorching sweaty humidity any day). Cricket was loathsome though, punishingly-hard balls, lumps of wood to hit it with and numb your hands, running up and down a stupid bit of short grass, and the dumbest rules of any game ever invented. I took a dislike to it right away, and as the school-years went by, dislike turned to hatred at the pointlessness of it all. Volleyball or Rounders/Baseball, though, yay! Proper games, fast, points, running, balls don’t kill you or give you major bruises. Cricket is a British Empire anachronism that needs to be dumped in the nearest skip. Just my opinion of course (ptui!). 1 ( 1 ) I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN Bobbie Gentry 2 ( 2 ) GOOD MORNING STARSHINE Oliver 3 ( 5 ) IT'S GETTING BETTER Mama Cass 4 ( 3 ) IN THE YEAR 2525 Zager And Evans 5 ( NEW ) SUGAR SUGAR The Archies 6 ( 4 ) HARE KRISHNA MANTRA Radha Krishna Temple 7 ( 6 ) BAD MOON RISING Creedence Clearwater Revival 8 ( 8 ) LAY LADY LAY Bob Dylan 9 ( 7 ) DON'T FORGET TO REMEMBER The Bee Gees 10 ( 10 ) HE AIN'T HEAVY..HE'S MY BROTHER The Hollies 21st October 1969 3 weeks for Bobbie at 1, 3 weeks for Oliver at 2, yes so little new UK chart music about, though Dylan goes up to 6, a chart position he didn’t beat until the reissue of Like A Rolling Stone 35 years on. 1 ( 1 ) I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN Bobbie Gentry 2 ( 2 ) GOOD MORNING STARSHINE Oliver 3 ( 3 ) IT'S GETTING BETTER Mama Cass 4 ( 5 ) SUGAR SUGAR The Archies 5 ( 6 ) HARE KRISHNA MANTRA Radha Krishna Temple 6 ( 8 ) LAY LADY LAY Bob Dylan 7 ( 9 ) DON'T FORGET TO REMEMBER The Bee Gees 8 ( 7 ) BAD MOON RISING Creedence Clearwater Revival 9 ( RE ) A BOY NAMED SUE Johnny Cash 10 ( 10 ) HE AIN'T HEAVY..HE'S MY BROTHER The Hollies This post has been edited by popchartfreak: 22nd October 2014, 06:13 PM |
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22nd October 2014, 06:18 PM
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#27
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 18 July 2012
Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376
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28th October 1969
...and 4 weeks for Bobbie at 1, poor old Oliver should have grabbed at least one week on top instead of 4 at 2 (I certainly loved it enough to do so) but I loved Bobbie just a little bit more. Hooray, though, 3 new entries! Nilsson debuts at 7 with the utterly brilliant and gorgeous Everybody’s Talking, from the film Midnight Cowboy. Obviously far to young to see the film till years later, I was a bit miffed to find the version I knew wasn’t quite the same in the film - these things matter to me, I don’t rate “wrong versions”. Regardless Harry Nilsson was a supreme and under-rated vocalist, and this record is spine-tingling. At 9, Lulu’s back, and my word what a change! Months ago it was all teenpop I’m A Tiger and Boom Bang A Bang, and now it’s slick soul, and a huge American hit to follow-on from the sublime US-only hit To Sir With Love, one of the criminally-ignored British single greats of the decade in the UK. I may not have loved Oh Me Oh My as much as I’m A Tiger at the time, but it’s dated much better! Lastly, The Trems are back with another song I was aware of from the Daily Mirror Top 30 charts, but frustratingly didn’t get to hear for some time: (Call Me) Number One. Catchy and singalong, like most Tremeloes singles, they have been banished into the mists of time, save the occasional Chesney Hawkes reference or Four Seasons footnote for Silence Is Golden, but they had a good ol’ run of pop singles, and this one is fun. 1 ( 1 ) I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN Bobbie Gentry 2 ( 2 ) GOOD MORNING STARSHINE Oliver 3 ( 4 ) SUGAR SUGAR The Archies 4 ( 3 ) IT'S GETTING BETTER Mama Cass 5 ( 8 ) BAD MOON RISING Creedence Clearwater Revival 6 ( 6 ) LAY LADY LAY Bob Dylan 7 ( NEW ) EVERYBODY'S TALKING Nilsson 8 ( 7 ) DON'T FORGET TO REMEMBER The Bee Gees 9 ( NEW ) OH ME OH MY (I'M A FOOL FOR YOU) Lulu 10 ( NEW ) (CALL ME) NUMBER ONE The Tremeloes Back at home in Bedokville, I’d gotten into little plastic boxes of sweets, hexagon, square, circular, with transparent covers, from the shack shop at the back of the house on the other side of the monsoon drains that ran down every street. I liked the boxes. Monsoon drains were essential on the equator, as we found out fairly quickly. When it rained, it POURED. It was like the shower being on full everywhere, and torrents of temporary rivers ran downhill wherever they could. Quite thrilling, not remotely cold, you could (and we did) quite happily dance about getting soaking wet in the garden. I still love a good tropical thunderstorm. A big discovery was the mobile chinese magazine seller, a motorbike and sidecar-box, which had newspapers, and COMICS! New DC Comics. OMG! Talk about trembling with excitement, I talked dad into buying me the coverless legion Action Comics 378 which was there with a cover, brand new for 55 cents, along with Adventure Comics 381, in which it suddenly became clear why the Legion featured only in the back-up story in Action: some twat had gone against all common commercial sense and moved the Legion of Super-Heroes from the main feature in Adventure so that Supergirl could get her own comic. This was disastrous! To state it clearly, the Legion were the most fan-based popular DC comic of the 60’s (the fans got it brought back by demanding it when it had all but fizzled out) and sales of the Legion comic were stunning my modern standards. A comic in 2014 sells a few tens of thousands if they’re lucky, worldwide. In 1969 Adventure Comics with the Legion was pushing a million. The first Supergirl comic was great (featured Batgirl as guest) but it was no substitute for epicness! She limped on through declining sales for 4 years and then it was all over. The Legion, revived, took over Superboy’s comic in 1973 and became one of the 2 big DC sellers of the 80s’, creatively brilliant. Editors: listen to the kids! |
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26th November 2014, 04:17 PM
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#28
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 18 July 2012
Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376
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NOV 1969
4th November 1969 Bobbie’s 5th and final week on top, as Nilsson’s brilliant Midnight Cowboy song goes top 5, and The Beatles are the sole new entry courtesy of a George Harrison ballad at 6. Something quickly became a standard, but as a Beatles song in the UK it was a shock (relative) failure peaking at 4, the first Beatles record to fail to hit the top 2 bar their first single. It was an odd choice of double A side as Come Together got no airplay at all in Singapore, in fact it took me 5 years to get to hear it, and even then I wasn’t that bothered about it. Something, great as it was, seemed a bit too MOR for the Fabs, so pretty much my least fave Beatles single. Little did we know that it was actually the last Beatles single ever, chronologically-recording-wise, until the 2 Anthology John Lennon songs finished by the other three Beatles. OK, so back at home in Bedokville, Singapore new suburbia, one evening mum and dad went out to some do on camp, and left me and brother Mark alone (but under the eye of the neighbours Irving & Mary, who popped their head over the fence occasionally). We had chit-chat’s tut-tutting up and about the walls while we watched TV, they just got into any handy crevice in houses and grabbed insects, which for me is a blessing, mozzies being my mortal enemy and all. This night something quite big started walking jerkily and slowly across the living room floor - I recognised it from TV shows as a Preying Mantis, though I’d never seen one in real life, and neither had Mark. We shouted for Irving and Mary, eventually, after chucking cushions at it from a distance, trying to persuade it to go out the door. Didn’t work, and nobody came round, so we really just waited feet up on the bamboo chair/sofa till mum and dad came home. By then, a chit-chat had apparently had a bit of a do with it - and won. I say apparently, as there wasn’t much left in the way of evidence. Not as scary as the huge spiders though, or the supersized hornets buzzing round flowers in the day, or the snakeskins one occasionally found shed in bedrooms, and on the plus side, not as revolting as mosquitos and cockroaches that were a daily nuisance. We lifted up a garden grate, and it was LITERALLY teaming with roaches of all sizes scuttling away like mad. I think the worst thing, though, was finding insects in your food - half a bug, especially, as you never got to be sure if you’d eaten the other half. Cereals imported from the USA were fun (I loved the cardboard Archies records on the back of the packet, with a coating of plastic for the grooves, you could cut out and play on a record player) but the boll weevils inside (or whatever they were) were offputting. So were local biscuits cooked with ants firmly inside them. Exotic fruits though, like oddly-prickly-looking red-coloured rambutan’s, a Malayan peninsula fruit on sale on market-stalls everywhere, were eye-openers - who woulda known there were so many fruits you had never seen, never mind tasted....! 1 ( 1 ) I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN Bobbie Gentry 2 ( 3 ) SUGAR SUGAR The Archies 3 ( 4 ) IT'S GETTING BETTER Mama Cass 4 ( 2 ) GOOD MORNING STARSHINE Oliver 5 ( 7 ) EVERYBODY'S TALKING Nilsson 6 ( NEW ) SOMETHING The Beatles 7 ( 5 ) BAD MOON RISING Creedence Clearwater Revival 8 ( 9 ) OH ME OH MY (I'M A FOOL FOR YOU) Lulu 9 ( 6 ) LAY LADY LAY Bob Dylan 10 ( 8 ) DON'T FORGET TO REMEMBER The Bee Gees This post has been edited by popchartfreak: 26th November 2014, 04:19 PM |
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26th November 2014, 05:26 PM
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#29
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 18 July 2012
Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376
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11th November 1969
11th November 1969 First week on top for Sugar Sugar, The Archies EP also containing Feelin So Good, which re-enters at 5. I still love Sugar Sugar, simple and perfect sugar confection bubblegum pop, which is why it’s sold a million and still trickle sells. It had a whopping 8 week run at 1 in the UK charts, I think, so let’s see if it can match that in mine! The chart gets some action, as Tremeloes re-enter, and 3 new tracks pop in: Nobody’s Child is a very MOR ballad, and I’ll be honest the Traveling Wilburys did a better version 20 years later. George Harrison of course involved in that one, and also at 4 with Something. Lou Christie had one of those “oh that’s who he is” moments whenever the fantastic Lightning Strikes grabbed an occasional radio play back in the day. The Lou falsetto is immense on Lightning, but not much in evidence on this bubblegum pop delight at 9, I’m Gonna Make You Mine. At 10, it’s Kenny Rogers debuting, the start of a long country career, and by far his best record, the amazing Ruby Don’t Take Your Love To Town, a song about a veteran back from the Vietnam war, paralysed and unable to please his wife in that way any more, and her forays into town to find someone who can. Oddly touching. Singapore times? How about swimming lessons? Saturday mornings were a trip into Changi Village on the bus, and a walk to the swimming pool at the Padang on camp (or a quick SZ taxi-ride - taxis used to cram as many people in as possible, so often it was more like a bus ride with strangers people getting on and off en route). I pretty much did OK at swimming, picking up distance badges early on and moving onwards and upwards to badges of more merit. We had robes the badges were sewn onto - hey we all did it, it was the fashion! Pretty sure I also picked up bloody varrucas at the pool too, by the time I left Singapore I had warts in many bodily places. For those not in the know, they have a comforting way of popping up years later and developing nicely into Hollywood-style witch-warts which you can share with the rest of the world whenever you go the beach. How sweet! Not to mention the hard bits of skin on your feel soles left when you get them burnt off, just to remind you occasionally that they once shared your feet with you. If that sounds a bit ewwww I actually loved swimming (eventually) though it was sometimes a case of “do we have to?!”. Best thing though: the comics in the Changi Village book shops, as I started to fill-in some of my missing back issues of DC comics. I became obsessive in my search for the Legion Of Super-Heroes. 1 ( 2 ) SUGAR SUGAR The Archies 2 ( 1 ) I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN Bobbie Gentry 3 ( 5 ) EVERYBODY'S TALKING Nilsson 4 ( 6 ) SOMETHING The Beatles 5 ( RE ) FEELIN' SO GOOD (SKOOBY DOO) The Archies 6 ( 9 ) LAY LADY LAY Bob Dylan 7 ( NEW ) NOBODY'S CHILD Karen Young 8 ( RE ) (CALL ME) NUMBER ONE The Tremeloes 9 ( NEW ) I'M GONNA MAKE YOU MINE Lou Christie 10 ( NEW ) RUBY DON'T TAKE YOUR LOVE TO TOWN Kenny Rogers and The First Edition This post has been edited by popchartfreak: 26th November 2014, 05:28 PM |
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26th November 2014, 07:54 PM
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#30
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 18 July 2012
Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376
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18th November 1969
2 weeks for The Archies on top, The Beatles get up to 3 with their 4th hit, The Hollies re-enter future (1988) number one He Ain’t Heavy at 9, and Stevie Wonder gets his 3rd Top 10 of the year, the less-remembered but fab Yester-Me Yester-You Yesterday, an under-rated Motown gem. How about a naughty John tale? I was actually a goodie-goodie child, rarely did anything wrong, but for some reason I’d managed to get a catapult as a new toy, and was quietly enjoying the sheer speed that little bits of gravel from the road flew off in it, it was pretty powerful. I was under the balcony of the house happily aiming at the road so nothing would get hit, when a taxi went by with a passenger in it. I waited till it was almost out of the way and the let one go. Unfortunately I didn’t wait quite long enough, it smacked right into the rear light of the black and yellow taxi and smashed it as the car drove away. Not for long, though, it reversed and a livid Chinese driver jumped out shouting at me as I dashed indoors and up to my room. He was having none of that, got my dad, ranted a bit, dad gave him 25 dollars for the damage and that was the end of my pocket money for a while. I tried to explain it was an accident (which it was) but I guess with hindsight, claiming something is an accident (even when it is) is no excuse. What was worse though was not being believed! Bad bad John! 1 ( 1 ) SUGAR SUGAR The Archies 2 ( 2 ) I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN Bobbie Gentry 3 ( 4 ) SOMETHING The Beatles 4 ( 3 ) EVERYBODY'S TALKING Nilsson 5 ( 8 ) (CALL ME) NUMBER ONE The Tremeloes 6 ( 10 ) RUBY DON'T TAKE YOUR LOVE TO TOWN Kenny Rogers and The First Edition 7 ( NEW ) YESTER-ME YESTER-YOU, YESTERDAY Stevie Wonder 8 ( 9 ) I'M GONNA MAKE YOU MINE Lou Christie 9 ( RE ) HE AIN'T HEAVY...HE'S MY BROTHER The Hollies 10 ( 5 ) FEELIN' SO GOOD (SKOOBY DOO) The Archies This post has been edited by popchartfreak: 26th November 2014, 07:56 PM |
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27th November 2014, 07:50 PM
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#31
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 18 July 2012
Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376
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25th November 1969
3 weeks for Sugar Sugar on top, but the only movement of note is the new entry from Rolf Harris at 4. I’m going to ignore all of the recent nastiness and pretend it never happened cos in the 60’s Rolf was loved by kids. He brought Australia into the living room, along with Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, and ethnic aboriginal-flavoured delights like the great Sun Arise alternated with his jokey hit records like Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport and Jake The Peg (diddle iddle dum). Biggest of all, though, was the touching Two Little Boys, a tale of brothers, both as youngsters, and serving in a war as adults. Like Sugar Sugar, much derided, and like Sugar Sugar missing the point: 11-year-olds like me loved them. I still do. Two Little Boys was a huge record, pretty much on 2-way Family Favourites every other week with messages of “missing you much” from family members back home, and then again on Juniors Choice over the years, till the BBC decided pre-teens no longer needed their own pop-music show. Yes they do! This (Last) / Peak / wks 1 ( 1 ) 1 7 SUGAR SUGAR The Archies 2 ( 2 ) 1 12 I’LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN Bobbie Gentry 3 ( 3 ) 3 4 SOMETHING The Beatles 4 ( NEW ) 4 1 TWO LITTLE BOYS Rolf Harris 5 ( 4 ) 3 5 EVERYBODY’S TALKING Nilsson 6 ( 7 ) 6 2 YESTER-ME, YESTER-YOU, YESTERDAY Stevie Wonder 7 ( 5 ) 5 4 (CALL ME) NUMBER ONE The Tremeloes 8 ( 6 ) 6 3 RUBY DON’T TAKE YOUR LOVE TO TOWN Kenny Rogers & The First Edition 9 ( 9 ) 9 5 HE AIN’T HEAVY...HE’S MY BROTHER The Hollies 10 ( 8 ) 8 3 I’M GONNA MAKE YOU MINE Lou Christie This post has been edited by popchartfreak: 27th November 2014, 08:12 PM |
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1st January 2015, 11:39 AM
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#32
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 18 July 2012
Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376
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2nd December 1969
4th week on top for The Archies, holding off my Youtube dilemma for a while, as Rolf gets to 2. Bobbie Gentry joins herself in the top 5 with a cover duet of the Everley Brothers All I Have To Do Is Dream, with the great Glen Campbell. I’ll be honest, despite a catalogue of great songs, and apart from Cathy’s Clown, I much prefer the cover versions of Everley Brothers hits, including this one. In at 10, it’s Elvis with his 3rd Top 10 of the year, with what is generally regarded as his best record post-50’s. Suspicious Minds is a classic, but I barely got to hear it at all in Singapore, which is why it under-performs first time round. Not to worry, it has a second, third, fourth and fifth run to make up for it... cos it IS a classic after all. 1 ( 1 ) SUGAR SUGAR The Archies 2 ( 4 ) TWO LITTLE BOYS Rolf Harris 3 ( 2 ) I’LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN Bobbie Gentry 4 ( 3 ) SOMETHING The Beatles 5 ( NEW ) (ALL I HAVE TO DO IS) DREAM Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry 6 ( 6 ) YESTER-ME, YESTER-YOU, YESTERDAY Stevie Wonder 7 ( 5 ) EVERYBODY’S TALKING Nilsson 8 ( 8 ) RUBY DON’T TAKE YOUR LOVE TO TOWN Kenny Rogers & The First Edition 9 ( 7 ) (CALL ME) NUMBER ONE The Tremeloes 10 ( NEW ) SUSPICIOUS MINDS Elvis Presley Talking of Singapore, at school in geography we were learning about kelongs which were dotted around the coast in those days - it’s a Malayan word and structure, wooden huts and poles sticking out into the sea and used for fishing. We even built a mini-model structure on a painted coastal scene, which I really enjoyed, it was bringing geography (and history) to life and certainly wouldn’t have featured in any UK syllabus in those days. The schools still followed the UK exam systems for 11plus, CSE’s, O Levels, A levels, but there seemed to be a bit more flexibility for teachers to pick topics they enjoyed and could be enthusiastic about. Mind you, Mrs Canavan, the English teacher, embarrassed me in front of the class when she found out I was still reading Enid Blyton books at 11 years old. There was always this horrible pressure to “grow up” in those days, as opposed to just tactfully suggesting there are other exciting books out there too. As it turned out I pretty much leaped straight into adult science fiction via forgotten children’s science-fiction adventure writer Hugo Walters within a year, but I didn’t need to be shamed into doing it, found those books in the library on my own. In the meantime I moved onto Just William books, and found the words to Bad Moon Rising written out in one of the pages. Hooray! This post has been edited by popchartfreak: 1st January 2015, 11:40 AM |
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1st January 2015, 12:21 PM
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#33
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 18 July 2012
Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376
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9th December 1969
5 weeks on top for Sugar Sugar - how sweet! Better get used to seeing the Archies, and in fact, vocalist Ron Dante in my charts. In at 9 it’s the Cuff Links with Tracy. Aka Ron Dante. Although in the UK the Archies are regarded as the ultimate one-hit wonders, that’s not quite accurate as The Cuff Links sounded like The Archies fairly obviously, both being studio projects with the same hired singer - Ron. They also had 2 hits in the UK and US, while The Archies had a 2 or 3-year run of chart entries in the States. Don’t be fooled by the hip and groovy video, the singer isn’t Ron Dante - he signed up with Don Kirshner Archies’ mastermind - and the group threatened to hold back royalties unless he agreed to tour. Rupert Holmes, of Pina Colada fame, was also hired for the album. 1 ( 1 ) SUGAR SUGAR The Archies 2 ( 2 ) TWO LITTLE BOYS Rolf Harris 3 ( 3 ) I’LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN Bobbie Gentry 4 ( 5 ) (ALL I HAVE TO DO IS) DREAM Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry 5 ( 4 ) SOMETHING The Beatles 6 ( 6 ) YESTER-ME, YESTER-YOU, YESTERDAY Stevie Wonder 7 ( 8 ) RUBY DON’T TAKE YOUR LOVE TO TOWN Kenny Rogers & The First Edition 8 ( 7 ) EVERYBODY’S TALKING Nilsson 9 ( NEW ) TRACY The Cuff Links 10 ( 10 ) SUSPICIOUS MINDS Elvis Presley I mentioned the school library for last week’s chart: I remember we had a visit from a small group of RAF Gurkhas in the small hall next to the library which impressed me. Short and stocky and affable, the Gurkhas had a fabulous awed reputation amongst British troops for loyalty and bravery, so it was great to have a lesson devoted to a question and answer session. The history of them: British Empire in Nepal, fighting against the Empire (one can see why they might be pissed off) they so impressed the elite they ended up becoming a historic part of the British forces throughout the centuries since. well, at least until the recent cutbacks decided they were no longer of requirement, nor were they entitled to live in the country they spent their lives serving from a country with links going back 200 years. Joanna Lumley, thanks for being more than Ab fab and Purdey, say I, as she rightfully put the politicians to shame. I’ll just repeat the story that was bandied about at the time about Gurkhas in the RAF, even though it may or may not be apocryphal: The commander of the Gurkhas troop on a mission plane asked for volunteers to jump out of the plane. All of the soldiers stepped forward instantly. The commander was impressed with the loyalty shown, but was puzzled when the group ranking soldier looked a bit apologetic some minutes later when he came up to ask a question. “What is it?” asked the commander. “Will we be wearing parachutes?” he asked...... This post has been edited by popchartfreak: 1st January 2015, 12:23 PM |
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1st January 2015, 01:34 PM
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#34
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 18 July 2012
Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376
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16th December 1969
Christmas was coming, and The Archies were having a 6-week run on top. There were, of course, no such thing as christmas pop classics in those days, more a case of TV crooners covering standards or hymns. To be honest, though everyone knew the songs - Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, O Little Town Of Bethlehem - there wasn’t that joyous sense of familiarity you get with modern pop songs, just some tunes you liked more than others when you had to sing them at school, or heard them on TV. On the plus side, some great records hit chart peaks: Glen and Bobbie at 3, Stevie at 4, Kenny Rogers at 5. It’s worth pointing out that Stevie Wonder had been having hits for years at Motown and he was still a teenager at this time, and co-writing some of his own songs, such as My Cherie Amour, currently about to hit the UK top 2 charts (January 2015) in a butchered helium-induced form). Good to know teenagers can write songs that last! 1 ( 1 ) SUGAR SUGAR The Archies 2 ( 2 ) TWO LITTLE BOYS Rolf Harris 3 ( 4 ) (ALL I HAVE TO DO IS) DREAM Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry 4 ( 6 ) YESTER-ME, YESTER-YOU, YESTERDAY Stevie Wonder 5 ( 7 ) RUBY DON’T TAKE YOUR LOVE TO TOWN Kenny Rogers & The First Edition 6 ( 5 ) SOMETHING The Beatles 7 ( 9 ) TRACY The Cuff Links 8 ( RE ) FEELIN’ SO GOOD (S.K.O.O.B.Y.D.O.O) The Archies 9 ( 10 ) SUSPICIOUS MINDS Elvis Presley 10 ( 8 ) EVERYBODY’S TALKING Nilsson I don’t recall putting up the christmas trimmings at home, but I’m sure we did have a good go for the novelty of a sunny, sweltering christmas on the equator (give or take 85 miles), and I know mum tried to explain snow to Tan, our amah, by showing her the frozen stuff in the freezer of the fridge. She also did the same later on with Ah Choo our second, young amah (married with kiddie), who was related to Tan, I think. I googled her today, you never know, might still be out there in her mid-60’s. That would be great to find out. |
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1st January 2015, 01:54 PM
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#35
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 18 July 2012
Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376
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23rd December 1969
7 weeks at 1, for The Archies, as they get another song in at 8, giving Ron dante 3 out of 10. Jingle Jangle was available on the back of a cereal packet imported from America, but I didn’t actually get hold of that one sadly, as it was a bonafide American single and actual hit - which I guess is why it didn’t find it’s way over to Singapore. In terms of imported stuff, Singapore was quite awesome, being a shipping crossroads for the region, you could get stuff from the USA, Australia, India, Malaya, Hong Kong, the UK and more. It was quite a fabulous multi-cultural jumble of bits from each. The UK, in the 60’s, was pretty much not noticeably international except for imported TV and some foodstuffs from Europe and the West Indies, and hi-tech products that were worldwide. The other new entry is a bit of an afterthought cheat as I was running out of tracks for the chart. Creedence were very much of the period, and Green River sounds like it belongs in my chart, but I didn’t get to hear it for years afterwards - that I recall, at any rate. It may well have gotten some plays as follow-up to a big hit, but it didn’t stick in my mind if that’s the case. Good swamprock though. 1 ( 1 ) SUGAR SUGAR The Archies 2 ( 2 ) TWO LITTLE BOYS Rolf Harris 3 ( 3 ) (ALL I HAVE TO DO IS) DREAM Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry 4 ( 5 ) RUBY DON’T TAKE YOUR LOVE TO TOWN Kenny Rogers & The First Edition 5 ( 4 ) YESTER-ME, YESTER-YOU, YESTERDAY Stevie Wonder 6 ( 6 ) SOMETHING The Beatles 7 ( 9 ) SUSPICIOUS MINDS Elvis Presley 8 ( NEW ) JINGLE JANGLE The Archies 9 ( 7 ) TRACY The Cuff Links 10 ( NEW ) GREEN RIVER Creedence Clearwater Revival |
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1st January 2015, 02:27 PM
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#36
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 18 July 2012
Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376
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30th December 1969 Rolf scrapes in at the end of the year with the huge hit beloved by everyone young at the time, Two Little Boys. It would have been his 3rd or 4th chart-topper had I been charting as a toddler and infant, being as I loved Sun Arise, Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport, and Jake The Peg. Two Little Boys, despite everything (Thatcher choosing it for Desert Island Discs, Rolf’s conviction for underage stuff) was a sweet, touching story of war and brotherly love, pretty unique for a hit record to this day, and as at that time Rolf was guilty of nothing illegal I’m not going to retroactively rewrite history, though I won’t be showing any photos or videos, just the record. It does leave a regretful bitter taste in the mouth now sadly though so I’m demoting it to the end. In at 4, it’s Marmalade, not bubblegum anymore, it’s the gorgeous ballad Reflections Of My Life, harmonytastic and largely forgotten these days, but once well-thought of. Still is by me. It’s a bloody brilliant tune. 1 ( 2 ) TWO LITTLE BOYS Rolf Harris 2 ( 1 ) SUGAR SUGAR The Archies 3 ( 3 ) (ALL I HAVE TO DO IS) DREAM Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry 4 ( NEW ) REFLECTIONS OF MY LIFE Marmalade 5 ( 7 ) SUSPICIOUS MINDS Elvis Presley 6 ( 8 ) JINGLE JANGLE The Archies 7 ( 6 ) SOMETHING The Beatles 8 ( 4 ) RUBY DON’T TAKE YOUR LOVE TO TOWN Kenny Rogers & The First Edition 9 ( 5 ) YESTER-ME, YESTER-YOU, YESTERDAY Stevie Wonder 10 ( 9 ) TRACY The Cuff Links Christmas week, and for christmas brother and me got a brand new bike each with colourful plastic tassles sticking out of the handlebar ends. I still miss that bike, it was great riding up and down the local housing estate hills, not entirely unlike Elliot and ET and co. Only much much hotter. And no alien. School was out for a few weeks, I had loads more comics I was adoring, having scoured more and more of the second-hand book stalls in Changi Village, and having got hold of some more classic Adventure Comics Legion Of Super Heroes and many other new and old DC Comics. My collection was growing quite fast, pop music for the moment not eating into my pocket money, comics getting all of it! I can’t understate how exciting the Legion was to me, it was almost physically palpable, and the covers of DC superheroes at this time, and especially Batman, were designed and drawn by the fantastic acclaimed artist Neal Adams. His Batman and Superman remain the definitive versions, those were the ones I got in the popcorn transfers for my school bag and my own made-up transfer books, and those are the ones that command the top prices in archive comic shops for this period. His comic covers are works of Art, at least as good as many over-rated bullshit “serious” artists. Suddenly comics were getting more adult, and dealing with serious adult themes amongst the superhero stuff... |
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