I love Paranoid and Black Night in your top 20, two great rock anthems! :music:

 

El Condor Pasa is a great song too and They Long To Be (Close To You) is lovely.

 

 

Yes agree with all those 4. Paranoid is a true classic track.

Yes agree with all those 4. Paranoid is a true classic track.

 

Oddly I associate Paranoid more with the 1980 reissue, it didn't sound old at all :)

Oddly I associate Paranoid more with the 1980 reissue, it didn't sound old at all :)

 

 

Yeah me to actually as was only 10 in 1970 so not in to music and charts.

5th November 1970

 

Remember remember the 5th of November. Actually I don't, Bonfire Night not a thing in Singapore, though there were fireworks and firecrackers on parades through the city on Chinese New Year (I think) along with loads of dragons and bells. I still have one somewhere, possibly - at least a small version, not one with a dozen people in it. Meanwhile it's 3 weeks on top for Snowbird, and the highest new entry was the soundalike follow-up to Yellow River, San Bernadino, which I heard once or twice and liked.

 

Down the bottom-end of the chart, though, I'm struggling to find records I knew at the time and so filled in with a batch I got to hear in 1975 - none of them I particularly went big for, though I bought Mary Hopkin's Hot Chocolate song (Errol Brown/Tony Wilson wrote it for her) Think About Your Children and it's quite sweet. White Plains Julie Do Ya Love Me is an inferior UK cover of a much-better Bobby Sherman US hit, Voodoo Chile a big posthumous UK chart-topper for Jimi Hendrix - to be honest I must have heard he had died by this time, but I couldn't swear to it as it's left no residual memory of me remembering it, like I did when The Beatles split up. Fire And Rain is a goodie, though, a song I knew but didn't know I knew until after You've Got A Friend had been a hit in late '71. I think I knew it in a Jose Feliciano cover version so technically I should have charted that one, really!

 

1 ( 1 ) SNOWBIRD Anne Murray

2 ( 3 ) ME AND MY LIFE The Tremeloes

3 ( 2 ) SUNSHINE The Archies

4 ( 4 ) (THEY LONG TO BE) CLOSE TO YOU The Carpenters

5 ( 7 ) IT’S WONDERFUL (TO BE LOVED BY YOU) Jimmy Ruffin

6 ( NEW ) SAN BERNADINO Christie

7 ( 5 ) PATCHES Clarence Carter

8 ( 6 ) LOOK WHAT THEY’VE DONE TO MY SONG, MA The New Seekers

9 ( 9 ) EL CONDOR PASA Simon And Garfunkel

10 ( 10 ) YOU CAN GET IT IF YOU REALLY WANT Desmond Dekker

 

11 ( 15 ) INDIAN RESERVATION Don Fardon

12 ( 8 ) WOODSTOCK Matthews Southern Comfort

13 ( 12 ) NEW WORLD IN THE MORNING Roger Whittaker

14 ( 14 ) RUBY TUESDAY Melanie

15 ( 13 ) AIN’T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH Diana Ross

16 ( NEW ) JULIE DO YA LOVE ME White Plains

17 ( 16 ) PARANOID Black Sabbath

18 ( NEW ) FIRE AND RAIN James Taylor

19 ( NEW ) THINK ABOUT YOUR CHILDREN Mary Hopkin

20 ( NEW ) VOODOO CHILE The Jimi Hendrix Experience

 

10th November 1970

 

It's 4 weeks on top for Family Guy fave Anne Murray and her wonderful Snowbird, with neil Diamond entering at 2 with possibly his best record, Cracklin' Rosie at 2 - play it nowwwwww, my baby! - and Christie get a second top 3 with San Bernadino doing a creditable Creedence Clearwater Revival-lite. T.Rex debut at 8, in the big news, as the influential Glam Rock godfather Marc Bolan starts up his classic run of singles and some album tracks, it'll be almost 4 years before the cracks start creeping in. Ride A White Swan, and every single from here through to 1974, is fab.

 

Down the bottom end I was a bit short on decent tracks featuring in the UK charts, so it's Elvis Presley's crappy I've Lost You taking up space. Back in 1970, a very young highschool Aerosmith debuted this week, Ethan Hawke was born (I've been compared to Ethan Hawke facially - the older version - which I choose to take as a compliment), The Goodies TV show debuted on BBC2 (which hardly anyone had in 1970) and Layla was released by Derek & The Dominoes...2 years later it was a hit. Around this time my dad bought a reel-to-reel tape recorder, which revolutionised my life! Suddenly, I could buy reel to reel tapes (after saving pocket money up), and tape all my fave songs off the radio and TV, and play them back over and over again. Bliss! I still have it, I still have the tapes, but it's tragically not in working order and I havent copied tapes beyond 1980 onto casette. Fortunately the Singapore days I'd copied before it packed in. At the time I taped all of my top 11 this week, bar Christie and Don Fardon.

 

1 ( 1 ) SNOWBIRD Anne Murray

2 ( NEW ) CRACKLIN’ ROSIE Neil Diamond

3 ( 6 ) SAN BERNADINO Christie

4 ( 2 ) ME AND MY LIFE The Tremeloes

5 ( 5 ) IT’S WONDERFUL (TO BE LOVED BY YOU) Jimmy Ruffin

6 ( 4 ) (THEY LONG TO BE) CLOSE TO YOU The Carpenters

7 ( 3 ) SUNSHINE The Archies

8 ( NEW ) RIDE A WHITE SWAN T.Rex

9 ( 11 ) INDIAN RESERVATION Don Fardon

10 ( 9 ) EL CONDOR PASA Simon And Garfunkel

 

11 ( 10 ) YOU CAN GET IT IF YOU REALLY WANT Desmond Dekker

12 ( 7 ) PATCHES Clarence Carter

13 ( 12 ) WOODSTOCK Matthews Southern Comfort

14 ( 18 ) FIRE AND RAIN James Taylor

15 ( 8 ) LOOK WHAT THEY’VE DONE TO MY SONG, MA The New Seekers

16 ( 16 ) JULIE DO YA LOVE ME White Plains

17 ( 15 ) AIN’T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH Diana Ross

18 ( 19 ) THINK ABOUT YOUR CHILDREN Mary Hopkin

19 ( 14 ) RUBY TUESDAY Melanie

20 ( NEW ) I’VE LOST YOU Elvis Presley

17th November 1970

 

It's 5 weeks flying on top for the Snowbird, as a T.Rex starts to threaten at 3, and Neil Diamond holds at 2 with his bit of Cracklin', Rosie. Dave Edmunds debuts at 10, 2 years since his tour-de-force guitar-playing crashed into the chart with Love Sculpture's Sabre Dance. This time he's updated a blues standard, I Hear You Knocking, and done it beautifully. Julie Felix gets a second chart entry with Heaven Is Here, giving Errol Brown and Tony Wilson 2 songs on the list (Mary Hopkin t'other) while Chairmen Of The Board make it 2 in a row, dangling or otherwise!

 

 

 

1 ( 1 ) SNOWBIRD Anne Murray

2 ( 2 ) CRACKLIN’ ROSIE Neil Diamond

3 ( 8 ) RIDE A WHITE SWAN T.Rex

4 ( 3 ) SAN BERNADINO Christie

5 ( 4 ) ME AND MY LIFE The Tremeloes

6 ( 6 ) (THEY LONG TO BE) CLOSE TO YOU The Carpenters

7 ( 5 ) IT’S WONDERFUL (TO BE LOVED BY YOU) Jimmy Ruffin

8 ( 9 ) INDIAN RESERVATION Don Fardon

9 ( 7 ) SUNSHINE The Archies

10 ( NEW ) I HEAR YOU KNOCKING Dave Edmunds

 

11 ( 10 ) EL CONDOR PASA Simon And Garfunkel

12 ( 14 ) FIRE AND RAIN James Taylor

13 ( 12 ) PATCHES Clarence Carter

14 ( 18 ) THINK ABOUT YOUR CHILDREN Mary Hopkin

15 ( 13 ) WOODSTOCK Matthews Southern Comfort

16 ( 20 ) I’VE LOST YOU Elvis Presley

17 ( 15 ) LOOK WHAT THEY’VE DONE TO MY SONG, MA The New Seekers

18 ( NEW ) HEAVEN IS HERE Julie Felix

19 ( 19 ) RUBY TUESDAY Melanie

20 ( NEW ) YOU’VE GOT ME DANGLING ON A STRING Chairmen Of The Board

You certainly did like Snowbird!

You certainly did like Snowbird!

 

I was mad for it! I got obsessed by records all the time back in the day :lol:

24th November 1970

 

It's a new number one, Neil Diamond getting his first chart-topper with Cracklin' Rosie, a big MOR fave act among expats in their 30's (ie my parents and their friends) - and me. Cracklin' Rosie is a great pop track, and if I'd known he'd also written I'm A Believer & A Little Bit Me A Little Bit You for The Monkees I would have been even more impressed with Neil. Talking of big MOR acts, Andy Williams enters at 4 with another Two Way Family Favourite radio biggie (Forces personnel abroad liked the sentiment), a UK-written ballad Home Lovin' Man. Andy was on Singapore TV at the time with his Andy Williams Show.

 

There's also my big fave, Glen Campbell, who was definitely my top male singer of 1970 at the time, no question, this time 50's oldie in it's best version It's Only Make Believe. Glen knew how to end a record on a high! Great range, great honeyed voice, great guitarist. C.C.S. Pop in with the Top Of The Pops theme, which I was still 10 months away from hearing, but basing these charts on the UK top 30 of the time meant I had to fill-it-up at the lower end with tracks I caught later, and some I didn't really care for (Elvis frinstance).

 

1 ( 2 ) CRACKLIN’ ROSIE Neil Diamond

2 ( 1 ) SNOWBIRD Anne Murray

3 ( 3 ) RIDE A WHITE SWAN T.Rex

4 ( NEW ) HOME LOVIN’ MAN Andy Williams

5 ( 5 ) ME AND MY LIFE The Tremeloes

6 ( NEW ) IT’S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE Glen Campbell

7 ( 10 ) I HEAR YOU KNOCKING Dave Edmunds

8 ( 4 ) SAN BERNADINO Christie

9 ( 9 ) SUNSHINE The Archies

10 ( 7 ) IT’S WONDERFUL (TO BE LOVED BY YOU) Jimmy Ruffin

 

11 ( 12 ) FIRE AND RAIN James Taylor

12 ( 8 ) INDIAN RESERVATION Don Fardon

13 ( 13 ) PATCHES Clarence Carter

14 ( 15 ) WOODSTOCK Matthews Southern Comfort

15 ( 18 ) HEAVEN IS HERE Julie Felix

16 ( 16 ) I’VE LOST YOU Elvis Presley

17 ( 14 ) THINK ABOUT YOUR CHILDREN Mary Hopkin

18 ( 17 ) LOOK WHAT THEY’VE DONE TO MY SONG, MA The New Seekers

19 ( 19 ) RUBY TUESDAY Melanie

20 ( NEW ) WHOLE LOTTA LOVE C.C.S.

I’ve only just discovered this 70s chart thread!!

 

What age were you when this was compiled?

I’ve only just discovered this 70s chart thread!!

 

What age were you when this was compiled?

 

Hi Steve!

 

Long answer: I'm afraid my first attempts at personal charts started in 1968 aged 10 (all of which I still have), and sporadically until we moved to Singapore at which point I got cut off from British charts for 2 years (other than reading the list of the top 30 singles in the mega-pack Daily Mirror's that were bundled together for RAF ex-pats, most of which I didn't know unless they got played on local radio or Two Way Family Favourites on the Forces network and Radio 2 back home). So I restarted when I got back in Sept 1971 and was overwhelmed with excitement at the new buzzing music scene opening to me, and never really stopped.

 

The gaps in my charts then started to bug me, as so many faves from 1968 to 1971 didn't get a feature, so as soon as I got hold of the first chart book in the mid-70's to feature Top 20 BBC charts (plus "last week" positions) I filled in the gaps basing it on what I liked at the time that was in the UK charts, which was pretty much still what I liked at the time a few years earlier anyway, plus a few US tracks that didnt hit in the UK that I knew, and before fading memory helps you conveniently forget that you liked all those not-cool tracks, actually :)

 

Short answer, I was 12 in 1970, and compiled them around 1975/6 I think, but from Oct 1971 they are originals, I make that 49 years of chart obsession. I may or may not hold the World Record for Biggest All-Time Personal Chart Geek :lol:

I’ve only just discovered this 70s chart thread!!

 

What age were you when this was compiled?

 

 

Welcome along Steve. He does some great nostalgic threads.

1st December 1970

 

It's a first T.Rex Glam Rock chart-topper with Ride A White Swan, and we are now at the stage where dad's second-hand reel-to-reel 4-track taperecorder purchase really was paying dividends as I spent a lot of time radio-listening with my finger on the record-pause button. The Jackson 5 enter at 7 with the sublime I'll Be There. The Jackson 5 were big on The Ed Sullivan Show, and other variety shows like Dean Martin, Andy Williams, Flip Wilson, all American, and they were fab, and I loved this track. Michael's voice was so brilliant before puberty hit. Of course, Mariah carey did her best to turn me against it, but in 1995 I returned to Singapore with my mum and brother (dad stayed at home dog-sitting), popped over on the cable-car from Mount Faber to Sentosa, and the song playing at the entrance area was...I'll Be There, Jackson 5. SO appropriate, so nostalgic!

 

At 13, a bit of a karoake classic, Frank Sinatra's signature tune hadn't really gone away Since charting My Way in early 1969, and I still loved it 18 months later, before avalanches of covers killed it for me forever more. Elvis' was the worst. Just awful. So bad. At 14 Gilbert O'Sullivan debuts with the charming Nothing Rhymed, one I got to hear a year or so later and liked, before Gilbert dumped his trademark shorts and 1930's depression-era outfit and haircut, and opted for cheesy-pullover curly-hair chart-topping drivel instead, till he sabotaged his own career with the abysmally misogynistic A Woman's Place.

 

At 19, The Bandwagon are back, with Johnny Johnson getting top billing this time, after Breaking Down The Walls Of Heartache in 1968 now they are blaming it on the Pony Express. I know I'm old, but trust me, we had post office vans and international mail, so blaming it on the pony express is a bit out of order. It's A Shame for The Spinners, as the UK folk group had already copyrighted the name, so in the UK they became known as The Detroit Spinners, a way better name, I think, anyway. This much-covered song debuts under the Motown Spinners moniker. Monica? Fab anyway, one that's grown with the years.

 

 

1 ( 3 ) RIDE A WHITE SWAN T.Rex

2 ( 2 ) SNOWBIRD Anne Murray

3 ( 1 ) CRACKLIN’ ROSIE Neil Diamond

4 ( 4 ) HOME LOVIN’ MAN Andy Williams

5 ( 7 ) I HEAR YOU KNOCKING Dave Edmunds

6 ( 6 ) IT’S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE Glen Campbell

7 ( NEW ) I’LL BE THERE The Jackson 5

8 ( 8 ) SAN BERNADINO Christie

9 ( 9 ) SUNSHINE The Archies

10 ( 10 ) IT’S WONDERFUL (TO BE LOVED BY YOU) Jimmy Ruffin

 

11 ( 13 ) PATCHES Clarence Carter

12 ( 12 ) INDIAN RESERVATION Don Fardon

13 ( NEW ) MY WAY Frank Sinatra

14 ( NEW ) NOTHING RHYMED Gilbert O’Sullivan

15 ( 15 ) HEAVEN IS HERE Julie Felix

16 ( 11 ) FIRE AND RAIN James Taylor

17 ( 14 ) WOODSTOCK Matthews Southern Comfort

18 ( 18 ) LOOK WHAT THEY’VE DONE TO MY SONG, MA The New Seekers

19 ( NEW ) BLAME IT ON THE PONY EXPRESS Johnny Johnson & The Bandwagon

20 ( NEW ) IT’S A SHAME The Motown Spinners

8th December 1970

 

It's a first week on top for Andy Williams (though he'll be back in the 90's and beyond with oldies) and his great ballad, Home Lovin' Man, a bit of anthem for Ex-Pats in the Forces missing the UK as Christmas approached. Not me. I just loved the song. Clive Dunn enters at 7 with another of those Two-Way Family Favourites radio staples of the time, Grandad, fresh from his stint as Corporal Jones in Dad's Army. Clive was an actor, and he wasn't old, he was just made-up to look old. The song was written by Herbie Flowers, of Blue Mink, and the man who played THAT bass line on Lou Reed's Walk On The Wild Side, among many other music-biz achievements. I loved the song at the time, though my grandad (at home in the UK) thought it was sentimental slop (my Auntie Ann had bought it, she's two years older than me). Mind you, grandad thought most pop records were slop.

 

McGuiness Flint pop in with When I'm Dead And Gone, ex-Manfred Mann and future The Manfreds, who I've seen several times and are always a great night out. The Bee Gees US hit, and minor UK hit, Lonely Days debuts at 14. Essentially their final "60's" sounding record, and a great one too, all dramatic n fab. From here on it would be ballads all the way till disco-funk. This week in 1970, Kevin Sussman was born. Not that I was aware of it at the time, but if you'd said a baby had been born who'd play a Comic Book Store owner on a fab sitcom called The Big Bang Theory for 12 years in the 21st Century, I would have been gripped. Ticking all sorts of boxes for me that sentence.

 

 

1 ( 4 ) HOME LOVIN’ MAN Andy Williams

2 ( 2 ) SNOWBIRD Anne Murray

3 ( 1 ) RIDE A WHITE SWAN T.Rex

4 ( 3 ) CRACKLIN’ ROSIE Neil Diamond

5 ( 6 ) IT’S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE Glen Campbell

6 ( 7 ) I’LL BE THERE The Jackson 5

7 ( NEW ) GRANDAD Clive Dunn

8 ( 13 ) MY WAY Frank Sinatra

9 ( 8 ) SAN BERNADINO Christie

10 ( 10 ) IT’S WONDERFUL (TO BE LOVED BY YOU) Jimmy Ruffin

 

11 ( 5 ) I HEAR YOU KNOCKING Dave Edmunds

12 ( 14 ) NOTHING RHYMED Gilbert O’Sullivan

13 ( NEW ) WHEN I’M DEAD AND GONE McGuiness Flint

14 ( NEW ) LONELY DAYS The Bee Gees

15 ( 11 ) PATCHES Clarence Carter

16 ( 12 ) INDIAN RESERVATION Don Fardon

17 ( 19 ) BLAME IT ON THE PONY EXPRESS Johnny Johnson & The Bandwagon

18 ( 17 ) WOODSTOCK Matthews Southern Comfort

19 ( 20 ) IT’S A SHAME The Motown Spinners

20 ( 15 ) HEAVEN IS HERE Julie Felix

15th December 1970

 

It's 2 weeks on top for Andy Williams as Xmas nears. Not much happening, though, Frankie Valli in at 16 with his Northern Soul stomper, You're Ready Now. Northern Soul, unbeknownst to me, was getting to be a big British movement as kids in Wigan and beyond were grooving at night to obscure US soul dance tracks, but ones with a specific bpm and sound which crossed over into blue-eyed soul like this one. Also out, this week, was a track I wouldn't hear for another 40 years, a little Xmas ditty called Felice Navidad, now huge on streaming and download presumably from it's US success spilling over to non-US markets. It certainly never got any UK radio play until the 21st century! On the other hand 2 other festive regulars, The Jackson 5's Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, and Carpenters Merry Christmas Darling would both chart in the UK 2 years later, and then become semi-regulars.

 

 

1 ( 1 ) HOME LOVIN’ MAN Andy Williams

2 ( 5 ) IT’S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE Glen Campbell

3 ( 2 ) SNOWBIRD Anne Murray

4 ( 3 ) RIDE A WHITE SWAN T.Rex

5 ( 6 ) I’LL BE THERE The Jackson 5

6 ( 4 ) CRACKLIN’ ROSIE Neil Diamond

7 ( 7 ) GRANDAD Clive Dunn

8 ( 9 ) SAN BERNADINO Christie

9 ( 12 ) NOTHING RHYMED Gilbert O’Sullivan

10 ( 10 ) IT’S WONDERFUL (TO BE LOVED BY YOU) Jimmy Ruffin

 

11 ( 14 ) LONELY DAYS The Bee Gees

12 ( 8 ) MY WAY Frank Sinatra

13 ( 11 ) I HEAR YOU KNOCKING Dave Edmunds

14 ( 13 ) WHEN I’M DEAD AND GONE McGuiness Flint

15 ( 17 ) BLAME IT ON THE PONY EXPRESS Johnny Johnson & The Bandwagon

16 ( NEW ) YOU’RE READY NOW Frankie Valli

17 ( 18 ) WOODSTOCK Matthews Southern Comfort

18 ( 16 ) INDIAN RESERVATION Don Fardon

19 ( 19 ) IT’S A SHAME The Motown Spinners

20 ( 20 ) HEAVEN IS HERE Julie Felix

22nd December 1970

 

Glen Campbell gets his 2nd chart-topper of the year with his great version of It's Only Make Believe. I would be getting This Is Glen Campbell for Xmas (I wanted Honey Come Back but it wasn't available in the record store, just as well as the one I got had Wichita Lineman & Galveston on it). Lonely Days goes top 10, and there are 3 newies: Apeman - The Kinks record was one I would buy for 2 pence in early 1972 at the RAF Swinderby Thrift Shop after I'd sold off some precious DC Legion Of Super-Heroes Adventure Comics I bought in Singapore - I was made to feel I was too old for comics (at 14!) and then immediately regretted it, went back to collect them, but they'd already gone. Never listen to parents when they nag you to get rid of stuff, it'll all just become a huge source of regret for the rest of your life and turn you into a hoarder. That's my excuse anyway!

 

Judy Collins was another track that would be huge in 1972 - for the bagpipes version - and give Judy another chart run for ever and a day until it got on everyone's nerves, but I've come back to Amazing Grace of late (her version is rather mournfully lovely).

I missed the early hits of Chairmen Of The Board, but again, in 1972 I became a big fan of their latter singles, and retroactively discovered the early stuff, so they get included in these charts I did in the mid 70's. Another 9 months till my Actually-Compiled-at-the-time weekly charts start in earnest after some sporadic false starts in 1968 and 1969.

 

 

1 ( 2 ) IT’S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE Glen Campbell

2 ( 1 ) HOME LOVIN’ MAN Andy Williams

3 ( 5 ) I’LL BE THERE The Jackson 5

4 ( 3 ) SNOWBIRD Anne Murray

5 ( 4 ) RIDE A WHITE SWAN T.Rex

6 ( 7 ) GRANDAD Clive Dunn

7 ( 6 ) CRACKLIN’ ROSIE Neil Diamond

8 ( 11 ) LONELY DAYS The Bee Gees

9 ( 9 ) NOTHING RHYMED Gilbert O’Sullivan

10 ( 15 ) BLAME IT ON THE PONY EXPRESS Johnny Johnson & The Bandwagon

 

11 ( 10 ) IT’S WONDERFUL (TO BE LOVED BY YOU) Jimmy Ruffin

12 ( 13 ) I HEAR YOU KNOCKING Dave Edmunds

13 ( 16 ) YOU’RE READY NOW Frankie Valli

14 ( 14 ) WHEN I’M DEAD AND GONE McGuiness Flint

15 ( 12 ) MY WAY Frank Sinatra

16 ( NEW ) APEMAN The Kinks

17 ( NEW ) AMAZING GRACE Judy Collins

18 ( NEW ) YOU’VE GOT ME DANGLING ON A STRING Chairmen Of The Board

19 ( 19 ) IT’S A SHAME The Motown Spinners

20 ( 18 ) INDIAN RESERVATION Don Fardon

John, did you hear Cindy and Bert cover version of "Paranoid" ?

 

 

This song sounds very unpredictably for German schlager duo Cindy and Bert, especially if you are familiar with their discography. I love Cindy's vocals on this track, she could be a minor rock star.

Edited December 26, 20204 yr by Last Dreamer

John, did you hear Cindy and Bert cover version of "Paranoid" ?

 

 

This song sounds very unpredictably for German schlager duo Cindy and Bert, especially if you are familiar with their discography. I love Cindy's vocals on this track, she could be a minor rock star.

 

Ha, thanks Alex, I actually think that's great fun. It's like they covered a heavy metal classic in a 1967 psychedelic vibe in German :)

29th December 1970

 

It's The Jackson 5's glorious I'll Be There on top, their first chart-topper, and a track that followed me to Sentosa Island as I got off the cable car from Mount Faber in Singapore in 1995, appropriately evoking powerful nostalgic emotional memories of 1971 Singapore. At least until Mariah Carey attempted to murder them with her warbling cover a year or two earlier than 1995, but that brought it all back to me. It was Xmas presents in Singapore, mum had to explain to our cleaner (or Amah as they called them) what snow on the cards was, as Ahchoo had never seen it. Took her to the icebox of our first-ever fridge to explain! Being low-paid working-class the idea of having a cleaner was quite embarrassing, but it was sort of expected that RAF families would help support jobs in the local community, and she lived just down the road in a Kampong (a wooden hut community). Kampongs have long since been demolished in ultra-modern Singapore as everyone was repatriated into tower block flats.

 

New in at 8 it's Karen & Richard Carpenter and the fab We've Only Just Begun, which has been popular again in 2020 thanks to an advert cover from Bat For Lashes, and a second top 10 for the duo. Stevie Wonder sneaks briefly in with the well-meaning but not-a-massive-fave Heaven Help Us All, which I first came across on a Ronco or K-Tel album a couple of years later, I think. They were the equivalent of the Now albums in those days....

 

 

 

1 ( 3 ) I’LL BE THERE The Jackson 5

2 ( 2 ) HOME LOVIN’ MAN Andy Williams

3 ( 1 ) IT’S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE Glen Campbell

4 ( 6 ) GRANDAD Clive Dunn

5 ( 4 ) SNOWBIRD Anne Murray

6 ( 5 ) RIDE A WHITE SWAN T.Rex

7 ( 7 ) CRACKLIN’ ROSIE Neil Diamond

8 ( NEW ) WE’VE ONLY JUST BEGUN Carpenters

9 ( 12 ) I HEAR YOU KNOCKING Dave Edmunds

10 ( 8 ) LONELY DAYS The Bee Gees

 

11 ( 13 ) YOU’RE READY NOW Frankie Valli

12 ( 16 ) APEMAN The Kinks

13 ( 11 ) IT’S WONDERFUL (TO BE LOVED BY YOU) Jimmy Ruffin

14 ( 9 ) NOTHING RHYMED Gilbert O’Sullivan

15 ( 10 ) BLAME IT ON THE PONY EXPRESS Johnny Johnson & The Bandwagon

16 ( 17 ) AMAZING GRACE Judy Collins

17 ( 15 ) MY WAY Frank Sinatra

18 ( 14 ) WHEN I’M DEAD AND GONE McGuiness Flint

19 ( 18 ) YOU’VE GOT ME DANGLING ON A STRING Chairmen Of The Board

20 ( NEW ) HEAVEN HELP US ALL Stevie Wonder