That’s one of my fav Paul McCartney solo tracks so glad to see it went to number one on your chart. Also absolutely love T-Rex one of my favourite glam rock bands of the 70s.

 

Like Neill Diamonds classic but been tainted a bit in recent years as it’s a NI fans song 😥

 

Thanks Steve, glad you like the solo macca, under-rated as a rule that one - though the other Beatles didn't like it so he saved it for his solo stuff! :o T.Rex are timeless :wub: Sweet Caroline is a classic, but if I have to sit through another karaoke version on holiday....!! Everyone sings it. Prob why it's a big seller on itunes all the time... :)

20th March 1971

 

It's 4 weeks on top for T.Rex presiding over a static top 5, all too classic to be shifted by inrushing greats. Bread get a second top 10 with If and New Seekers get a second Melanie song in the top 10, following where Melanie had already been. Highest new entry is the inventive reggae of Dave & Ansell Collins at 11, as it started to get big in the UK with influx of the Caribbean communities, which was totally fab to me, I loved Double Barrel, and the follow-up too. New and fresh-sounding at the time (the time being later in 1971 when we returned to the UK).

 

In Singapore, though, I adored The Jackson 5 ballad Never Can Say Goodbye nearly as much as I loved I'll Be There - but I ended up loving the 1974 Gloria Gaynor disco anthem version even more. New at 16, for a 7th top 20 for them. Middle Of The Road get a first top 20, but the last, Chirpy Chirpy holding up quite well in my affections for a repetitive novelty song of sorts (being obsessive about it as I was).

 

The Fantastics was one I liked a lot in Singapore, Something Old Something New being a brand of British soul from established British songwriters Tony Macauley, Roger Cook & Roger Greenaway, and sung by this UK-based American band, formerly known as The Velours in the States. It fit well into the Northern Soul sound and the songwriters would have loads more monster hits. For other acts, though! Lobo debuts with his Dog, Boo, and it wouldnt be long before he'd love you to want him too (though the UK had to wait till 1974 for that).

 

Keith Michell was another song that made it's way to Singapore MOR radio, I'll Give You The Earth being a French hit from the 60's with English lyrics written by Keith himself, it seems. As I generally love French torch chansons it makes total sense that I loved this one - now that I just found out about it's history! Shirley La Bassey covers Andy Williams' cover, and does a surprisingly understated and tasteful job of it, and finally Gilbert gets a 2nd entry with a song I'd heard of, but never really known, Underneath The Blanket Go not at all what I expected as a follow-up to Nothing Rhymed.

 

 

1 ( 1 ) HOT LOVE T.Rex # 1

2 ( 2 ) ANOTHER DAY Paul McCartney # 1

3 ( 3 ) WHAT’S GOING ON? Marvin Gaye # 1

4 ( 4 ) IT’S TOO LATE Carole King # 4

5 ( 5 ) (YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A) NATURAL WOMAN Carole King # 5

6 ( 7 ) MY LITTLE ONE The Marmalade # 6

7 ( 14 ) IF Bread # 7

8 ( 8 ) JUST MY IMAGINATION (RUNNING AWAY WITH ME) The Temptations # 4

9 ( 6 ) CASTLES IN THE AIR Don McLean # 1

10 ( 15 ) NICKEL SONG The New Seekers featuring Eve Graham # 10

 

11 ( NEW ) DOUBLE BARREL Dave & Ansell Collins # 11

12 ( 16 ) I AM...I SAID Neil Diamond # 12

13 ( 17 ) SO FAR AWAY Carole King # 13

14 ( 18 ) NEVER DREAMED YOU’D LEAVE IN SUMMER Stevie Wonder # 14

15 ( 9 ) FOR ALL WE KNOW Carpenters # 2

16 ( NEW ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE The Jackson 5 # 16

17 ( 10 ) JUST A LITTLE LOVIN’ (EARLY IN THE MORNING) Barbra Streisand # 10

18 ( 11 ) TOAST AND MARMALADE FOR TEA Tin Tin # 11

19 ( 12 ) YOU COULD’VE BEEN A LADY Hot Chocolate # 12

20 ( 35 ) CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP Middle Of The Road # 20

 

21 ( 13 ) I CAN’T STOP The Osmonds # 10

22 ( 29 ) POWER TO THE PEOPLE John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band # 22

23 ( 32 ) IF NOT FOR YOU Olivia Newton-John # 23

24 ( 19 ) MY SWEET LORD George Harrison # 1

25 ( 34 ) TIME AND LOVE Barbra Streisand # 25

26 ( 26 ) I FEEL THE EARTH MOVE Carole King # 26

27 ( 36 ) TREAT HER LIKE A LADY Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose # 27

28 ( 38 ) TIRED OF BEING ALONE Al Green # 28

29 ( 20 ) THE SONG OF MY LIFE Petula Clark # 20

30 ( 24 ) ONE BAD APPLE The Osmonds # 2

 

31 ( 21 ) (COME ‘ROUND HERE) I’M THE ONE YOU NEED Smokey Robinson & The Miracles # 5

32 ( 25 ) AMAZING GRACE Judy Collins # 2

33 ( 22 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY Andy Williams # 9

34 ( 30 ) STONED LOVE The Supremes # 1

35 ( 28 ) TOO BUSY THINKING ‘BOUT MY BABY Mardi Gras # 2

36 ( 31 ) LONELY DAYS The Bee Gees # 1

37 ( 39 ) DREAM BABY (HOW LONG MUST I DREAM) Glen Campbell # 37

38 ( 27 ) HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN? Creedence Clearwater Revival # 4

39 ( 44 ) FUNNY FUNNY The Sweet # 39

40 ( 45 ) JACK IN THE BOX Clodagh Rodgers # 40

 

41 ( 23 ) YOU’RE ALL I NEED TO GET BY Aretha Franklin # 18

42 ( 37 ) IF YOU COULD READ MY MIND Gordon Lightfoot # 2

43 ( 50 ) WALKIN' C.C.S. # 43

44 ( 51 ) YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND Carole King # 44

45 ( 33 ) ME AND MY ARROW Nilsson # 10

46 ( 42 ) SAMBA PA TI Santana # 1

47 ( 49 ) AFTER THE FIRE IS GONE Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn # 47

48 ( 43 ) SUNNY HONEY GIRL Cliff Richard # 8

49 ( NEW ) SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW The Fantastics # 49

50 ( 46 ) I DON’T KNOW HOW TO LOVE HIM Yvonne Elliman # 2

 

51 ( 41 ) BABY JUMP Mungo Jerry # 16

52 ( 57 ) INDIAN RESERVATION (THE LAMENT OF THE CHEROKEE RESERVATION INDIAN) The Raiders # 52

53 ( 48 ) RIDE A WHITE SWAN T.Rex # 1

54 ( 55 ) I BELIEVE IN MUSIC Mac Davis # 54

55 ( 58 ) WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME TOMORROW Carole King featuring James Taylor & Joni Mitchell # 55

56 ( 40 ) THE LOOK OF LOVE Isaac Hayes # 40

57 ( 53 ) I THINK I LOVE YOU The Partridge Family Starring Shirley Jones & featuring David Cassidy # 1

58 ( 63 ) WE CAN WORK IT OUT Stevie Wonder # 58

59 ( 64 ) THE GOOD TIMES ARE COMIN’ Mama Cass # 59

60 ( 54 ) LAYLA Derek & The Dominoes # 4

 

61 ( 65 ) LOVE MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND Kiki Dee # 61

62 ( 67 ) TOO YOUNG TO BE MARRIED The Hollies # 62

63 ( NEW ) ME AND YOU AND A DOG NAMED BOO Lobo # 63

64 ( 66 ) RIGHT ON THE TIP OF MY TONGUE Brenda And The Tabulations # 64

65 ( 70 ) ADRIENNE Tommy James # 65

66 ( 71 ) MOTHER John Lennon # 66

67 ( NEW ) I’LL GIVE YOU THE EARTH Keith Michell # 67

68 ( 69 ) (WHERE DID IT GO) THE SONG WE USED TO SING Desmond Dekker # 68

69 ( 52 ) WILD WORLD Cat Stevens # 15

70 ( 72 ) WARPATH The Isley Brothers # 70

 

71 ( 73 ) I’LL MEET YOU HALFWAY The Partridge Family Starring Shirley Jones & featuring David Cassidy # 71

72 ( 59 ) NO MATTER WHAT Badfinger # 1

73 ( 74 ) (FOR GOD’S SAKE) GIVE MORE POWER TO THE PEOPLE! The Chi-Lites # 73

74 ( NEW ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY Shirley Bassey # 74

75 ( NEW ) UNDERNEATH THE BLANKET GO Gilbert O’Sullivan # 75

 

 

 

 

23rd March 1971

 

It's another week on top for Paul and Another Day, as Rose Garden threatens at 2 - but Lynn never quite topped my charts back in the day. T.Rex up to 4, and Clodagh Rodgers pops up to 6 - a bit over-rated, see my my Retro charts for a fairer chart position, most likely, oops! That goes for Elvis too, one I liked a lot back in '71, one I'm not fond of in '21. Still like Ray Stevens novelty though!

 

New in CCR and one of their best, future Bonnie Tyler cover, at 11, Andy Williams vocal cover of the movie tune, and the best thing about the film Love Story apart from Ryan "Peyton Place" O'Neal who'd been a fave of mine when I watched the show in the 60's. Jonathan King re-vamps the 1933 Hoagy Carmichael song, pretty ancient at the time at 38 years old. So a bit like someone covering something from 1983 nowadays, yikes!

 

In our garden, by this time the twig that was stuck in what passes for grass in Singapore, by our local Malay gardeners, had turned into a small tree offering shade from the sun, and big enough for me and my brother to climb, inside 12 - 15 months. I loved the exotic fast-growing plants, even the weeds attracted exotic moths, butterflies, tiny things or huge multi-coloured wings. Gardens with no shade just radiate heat through the daytime, and hard surfaces get too hot to walk on barefoot. On the other hand, when it rained it was a cooling deluge, Small Monsoon drains in the garden got full quickly and drained into deep Monsoon drains at the side of footpaths and roads, and torrents of water rushed downhill into local rivers where I used to catch guppies for my fish tank. Great place and time to be a kid! All of that was total fun.

 

1 ( 1 ) ANOTHER DAY Paul McCartney

2 ( 4 ) ROSE GARDEN Lynn Anderson

3 ( 2 ) I THINK I LOVE YOU The Partridge Family

4 ( 7 ) HOT LOVE T.Rex

5 ( 3 ) SWEET CAROLINE (GOOD TIMES NEVER SEEMED SO GOOD) Neil Diamond

6 ( 11 ) JACK IN THE BOX Clodagh Rodgers

7 ( 6 ) SUNNY HONEY GIRL Cliff Richard

8 ( 14 ) BRIDGET THE MIDGET Ray Stevens

9 ( 20 ) THERE GOES MY EVERYTHING Elvis Presley

10 ( 10 ) MY SWEET LORD George Harrison

 

11 ( NEW ) HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN? Creedence Clearwater Revival

12 ( 9 ) ROSE GARDEN New World

13 ( 13 ) STONEY END Barbra Streisand

14 ( 18 ) POWER TO THE PEOPLE John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band

15 ( 16 ) BABY JUMP Mungo Jerry

16 ( 8 ) WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO MY SONG, MA Melanie

17 ( NEW ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY Andy Williams

18 ( NEW ) LAZYBONES Jonathan King

19 ( 19 ) STONED LOVE The Supremes

20 ( NEW ) IF NOT FOR YOU Olivia Newton-John

27th March 1971

 

It's 5 weeks on top for Hot Love, as a new contender emerges from The Jackson 5, and their lovely Never can Say Goodbye, their second-biggest to date. Neil Diamond makes it 3 top 10's, Carole King gets a 3rd off Tapestry, and Dave & Ansell Collins get a first. Al Green gets his first top 20, and Babs Streisand her 3rd Laura Nyro top 20. Highest new entry is Mozart 40, already out in Europe for Waldo De Los Rios, and a huge hit on the way much to the chagrin of Classical Music fans who didn't like the 'pop do-over" - which to be honest wasn't anywhere near as insulting as Hooked On Classics, so the snooty crowd can just go sulk as I loved this version, and still do, in at 22. The cover which charted first from Sovereign Collection, I never heard until the 90's and it's a bit weedier sounding, hence the lower chart entry.

 

There's a bunch of tracks new to me, or not huge faves that I do know, so I've had to extend the charts for now to 80, but they are entering down the nether regions until there's room above, most surprisingly led by Jonathan King's pisstake of Heavy Metal via a cover of Sugar Sugar, which sounds OK actually. Rosetta I rather like, but Fame & Price Together, I'm sorry, were never as good as Fame & Price solo, as both produced some great stuff leading up to this merger. Invictus act Honey Cone drops by with Want Ads, a nice bit of funk, Delaney & Bonnie are back with a quite catchy little number that would shortly become a huge fave of mine - by The New Seekers. John Denver also debuts, with Take Me Home Country Roads, which Olivia Newton-John would cover in the UK long before it was massacred during a pub singalong from The Netherlands in 2001.

 

 

1 ( 1 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex # 1

2 ( 16 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - The Jackson 5 # 2

3 ( 2 ) ANOTHER DAY - Paul McCartney # 1

4 ( 3 ) WHAT’S GOING ON? - Marvin Gaye # 1

5 ( 4 ) IT’S TOO LATE - Carole King # 4

6 ( 6 ) MY LITTLE ONE - The Marmalade # 6

7 ( 7 ) IF - Bread # 7

8 ( 12 ) I AM...I SAID - Neil Diamond # 8

9 ( 13 ) SO FAR AWAY - Carole King # 9

10 ( 11 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins # 10

 

11 ( 5 ) (YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A) NATURAL WOMAN - Carole King # 5

12 ( 14 ) NEVER DREAMED YOU’D LEAVE IN SUMMER - Stevie Wonder # 12

13 ( 8 ) JUST MY IMAGINATION (RUNNING AWAY WITH ME) - The Temptations # 4

14 ( 9 ) CASTLES IN THE AIR - Don McLean # 1

15 ( 20 ) CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP - Middle Of The Road # 15

16 ( 10 ) NICKEL SONG - The New Seekers featuring Eve Graham # 10

17 ( 23 ) IF NOT FOR YOU - Olivia Newton-John # 17

18 ( 22 ) POWER TO THE PEOPLE - John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band # 18

19 ( 28 ) TIRED OF BEING ALONE - Al Green # 19

20 ( 25 ) TIME AND LOVE - Barbra Streisand # 20

 

21 ( 15 ) FOR ALL WE KNOW - Carpenters # 2

22 ( NEW ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios # 22

23 ( 26 ) I FEEL THE EARTH MOVE - Carole King # 23

24 ( 27 ) TREAT HER LIKE A LADY - Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose # 24

25 ( 17 ) JUST A LITTLE LOVIN’ (EARLY IN THE MORNING) - Barbra Streisand # 10

26 ( 19 ) YOU COULD’VE BEEN A LADY - Hot Chocolate # 12

27 ( 24 ) MY SWEET LORD - George Harrison # 1

28 ( 21 ) I CAN’T STOP - The Osmonds # 10

29 ( 18 ) TOAST AND MARMALADE FOR TEA - Tin Tin # 11

30 ( 40 ) JACK IN THE BOX - Clodagh Rodgers # 30

 

31 ( 37 ) DREAM BABY (HOW LONG MUST I DREAM) - Glen Campbell # 31

32 ( 39 ) FUNNY FUNNY - The Sweet # 32

33 ( 44 ) YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND - Carole King # 33

34 ( 31 ) (COME ‘ROUND HERE) I’M THE ONE YOU NEED - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles # 5

35 ( 30 ) ONE BAD APPLE - The Osmonds # 2

36 ( 34 ) STONED LOVE - The Supremes # 1

37 ( 32 ) AMAZING GRACE - Judy Collins # 2

38 ( 43 ) WALKIN' - C.C.S. # 38

39 ( 49 ) SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW - The Fantastics # 39

40 ( 52 ) INDIAN RESERVATION (THE LAMENT OF THE CHEROKEE RESERVATION INDIAN) - The Raiders # 40

 

41 ( 36 ) LONELY DAYS - The Bee Gees # 1

42 ( 33 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY - Andy Williams # 9

43 ( 35 ) TOO BUSY THINKING ‘BOUT MY BABY - Mardi Gras # 2

44 ( 29 ) THE SONG OF MY LIFE - Petula Clark # 20

45 ( 38 ) HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN? - Creedence Clearwater Revival # 4

46 ( 63 ) ME AND YOU AND A DOG NAMED BOO - Lobo # 46

47 ( 42 ) IF YOU COULD READ MY MIND - Gordon Lightfoot # 2

48 ( 67 ) I’LL GIVE YOU THE EARTH - Keith Michell # 48

49 ( 46 ) SAMBA PA TI - Santana # 1

50 ( 61 ) LOVE MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND - Kiki Dee # 50

 

51 ( 55 ) WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME TOMORROW - Carole King featuring James Taylor & Joni Mitchell # 51

52 ( 48 ) SUNNY HONEY GIRL - Cliff Richard # 8

53 ( 58 ) WE CAN WORK IT OUT - Stevie Wonder # 53

54 ( 64 ) RIGHT ON THE TIP OF MY TONGUE - Brenda And The Tabulations # 54

55 ( 65 ) ADRIENNE - Tommy James # 55

56 ( 50 ) I DON’T KNOW HOW TO LOVE HIM - Yvonne Elliman # 2

57 ( 62 ) TOO YOUNG TO BE MARRIED - The Hollies # 57

58 ( 53 ) RIDE A WHITE SWAN - T.Rex # 1

59 ( 59 ) THE GOOD TIMES ARE COMIN’ - Mama Cass # 59

60 ( 45 ) ME AND MY ARROW - Nilsson # 10

 

61 ( 66 ) MOTHER - John Lennon # 61

62 ( 57 ) I THINK I LOVE YOU - The Partridge Family Starring Shirley Jones & featuring David Cassidy # 1

63 ( 71 ) I’LL MEET YOU HALFWAY - The Partridge Family Starring Shirley Jones & featuring David Cassidy # 63

64 ( 68 ) (WHERE DID IT GO) THE SONG WE USED TO SING - Desmond Dekker # 64

65 ( 60 ) LAYLA - Derek & The Dominoes # 4

66 ( 70 ) WARPATH - The Isley Brothers # 66

67 ( NEW ) SUGAR SUGAR - Sakkarin # 67

68 ( 47 ) AFTER THE FIRE IS GONE - Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn # 47

69 ( RE ) I PLAY AND SING - Dawn # 69

70 ( NEW ) ROSETTA - Fame & Price Together # 70

 

71 ( 51 ) BABY JUMP - Mungo Jerry # 16

72 ( 75 ) UNDERNEATH THE BLANKET GO - Gilbert O’Sullivan # 72

73 ( 73 ) (FOR GOD’S SAKE) GIVE MORE POWER TO THE PEOPLE! - The Chi-Lites # 73

74 ( 74 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY - Shirley Bassey # 74

75 ( NEW ) MOZART 40 - Sovereign Collection # 75

76 ( NEW ) WANT ADS - Honey Cone # 76

77 ( NEW ) CAN’T FIND THE TIME - Rose Colored Glass # 77

78 ( NEW ) NEVER ENDING SONG OF LOVE - Delaney & Bonnie # 78

79 ( NEW ) TAKE ME HOME COUNTRY ROADS - John Denver # 79

80 ( NEW ) I’M COMIN’ HOME - Dave Edmunds # 80

 

30th March 1971

 

It's 3 weeks on top for Ex-Beatle, as another Ex-Beatle replaced a 3rd Ex-Beatle in my top top and a 4th Ex-Beatle is poised to drop a debut solo single in a couple of weeks. So, did all 4 chart at the same time? Doh! No, John Lennon made a quick exit as Ringo debuts. It'll def happen in my retro charts though. T.Rex peak at 2 with Hot Love, by virtue of not hearing it for another few months, and my love for Another Day lasting decades till Hot Love caught up and overtook it - see my Retro chart.

 

In Singapore, Glen Campbell was a family fave still, though Dream Baby wasn't quite up to standard, but he did a decent job of the cover of the Roy Orbison song. New in at 16. Funny Funny is another one I wouldn't hear for a few months, so from my point of view the first Sweet single I heard was Alexander Graham Bell, so 18 is fair enough. Double Barrel, ditto, I didn't hear it till the Xmas run-down so for me it's the follow-up to big fave Monkey Spanner. I did love it right off the bat, though. In at 20 for the unusual fab reggae track.

 

In the USA the final episode of The Virginian was broadcast, the good James Drury western series - but it would turn up still on UK TV until the revamp (The Men From Shiloh, extended episodes and rotating lead actors) took over in 1972. One of the great TV theme tunes too, The Virginian. Not too far away from us, the shitshow that followed East Pakistan declaring independence as Bangladesh triggered violence, intolerance and other politically and religiously-based intolerance which would rattle on through the year.

 

Unknown to me at the time Nathan Fillion was also born this week, Firefly fave 30-odd years into the future. The final Ed Sullivan Show was broadcast in the States, though we were still watching them in Singapore, running behind somewhat. As we pushed on towards Easter school term was drawing to a close, with only one left to go before we started to pack stuff up and get ready to leave. I didn't want to leave, the tropical climate and culture suited me. Though I was looking forward to the pop music & TV, and the food.

 

 

1 ( 1 ) ANOTHER DAY - Paul McCartney

2 ( 4 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex

3 ( 3 ) I THINK I LOVE YOU - The Partridge Family

4 ( 2 ) ROSE GARDEN - Lynn Anderson

5 ( 6 ) JACK IN THE BOX - Clodagh Rodgers

6 ( 9 ) THERE GOES MY EVERYTHING - Elvis Presley

7 ( 8 ) BRIDGET THE MIDGET - Ray Stevens

8 ( 5 ) SWEET CAROLINE (GOOD TIMES NEVER SEEMED SO GOOD) - Neil Diamond

9 ( 7 ) SUNNY HONEY GIRL - Cliff Richard

10 ( 14 ) POWER TO THE PEOPLE - John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band

 

11 ( 11 ) HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN? - Creedence Clearwater Revival

12 ( 18 ) LAZYBONES - Jonathan King

13 ( 10 ) MY SWEET LORD - George Harrison

14 ( 17 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY - Andy Williams

15 ( 20 ) IF NOT FOR YOU - Olivia Newton-John

16 ( NEW ) DREAM BABY (HOW LONG MUST I DREAM) - Glen Campbell

17 ( 12 ) ROSE GARDEN - New World

18 ( NEW ) FUNNY FUNNY - The Sweet

19 ( 15 ) BABY JUMP - Mungo Jerry

20 ( NEW ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins

3rd April 1971

 

It's a whopping 6 weeks on top for Hot Love as The Jackson 5 are still runners-up with the sweetly sad Never Can Say Goodbye at 2 with nothing much happening at the top end, bar Stevie Wonder grabbing his first since Never Had A Dream Come True, and 5th in total. R. Dean Taylor is the highest new entry at 27 as Gotta See Jane finally charts in the USA 3 years after being a UK hit, and topping my retro charts. I don't normally re-chart retro tracks that have already charted, but this is such a great record.

 

Carly Simon debuts with her US smash That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be, one I have heard but am not that familiar with, and it's very nice too, getting her 20-year-span of hits (more or less) off to a start, while a lesser Cliff track gives him 2 on the list - where I knew and loved Sunny Honey Girl at the time, I was only really aware of Silvery Rain by reference and one or two plays over 50 years. I like it though.

 

The Strawbs also debut with a flop single Witchwood - apparently it flopped because the single-pressing quality was shoddy and it was withdrawn. That's a shame, cos it's rather nice in a gentle folky fashion, and nothing like their later tracks from 1972/73. Garland Green brings some nice Philly-style soul into the lower end, and Michael Nesmith gets his 3rd post-Monkees chart entry, and it's still 6 years to go till the fab Rio, where he started his video-experimenting ahead of a little thing he was involved in called MTV.

 

1 ( 1 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex # 1

2 ( 2 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - The Jackson 5 # 2

3 ( 3 ) ANOTHER DAY - Paul McCartney # 1

4 ( 4 ) WHAT’S GOING ON? - Marvin Gaye # 1

5 ( 6 ) MY LITTLE ONE - The Marmalade # 5

6 ( 7 ) IF - Bread # 6

7 ( 10 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins # 7

8 ( 12 ) NEVER DREAMED YOU’D LEAVE IN SUMMER - Stevie Wonder # 8

9 ( 9 ) SO FAR AWAY - Carole King # 9

10 ( 5 ) IT’S TOO LATE - Carole King # 4

 

11 ( 15 ) CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP - Middle Of The Road # 11

12 ( 19 ) TIRED OF BEING ALONE - Al Green # 12

13 ( 8 ) I AM...I SAID - Neil Diamond # 8

14 ( 11 ) (YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A) NATURAL WOMAN - Carole King # 5

15 ( 17 ) IF NOT FOR YOU - Olivia Newton-John # 15

16 ( 14 ) CASTLES IN THE AIR - Don McLean # 1

17 ( 22 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios # 17

18 ( 18 ) POWER TO THE PEOPLE - John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band # 18

19 ( 13 ) JUST MY IMAGINATION (RUNNING AWAY WITH ME) - The Temptations # 4

20 ( 16 ) NICKEL SONG - The New Seekers featuring Eve Graham # 10

 

21 ( 23 ) I FEEL THE EARTH MOVE - Carole King # 21

22 ( 20 ) TIME AND LOVE - Barbra Streisand # 20

23 ( 21 ) FOR ALL WE KNOW - Carpenters # 2

24 ( 30 ) JACK IN THE BOX - Clodagh Rodgers # 24

25 ( 31 ) DREAM BABY (HOW LONG MUST I DREAM) - Glen Campbell # 25

26 ( 32 ) FUNNY FUNNY - The Sweet # 26

27 ( NEW ) GOTTA SEE JANE - R. Dean Taylor # 27

28 ( 33 ) YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND - Carole King # 28

29 ( 24 ) TREAT HER LIKE A LADY - Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose # 24

30 ( 39 ) SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW - The Fantastics # 30

 

31 ( 27 ) MY SWEET LORD - George Harrison # 1

32 ( 46 ) ME AND YOU AND A DOG NAMED BOO - Lobo # 32

33 ( 40 ) INDIAN RESERVATION (THE LAMENT OF THE CHEROKEE RESERVATION INDIAN) - The Raiders # 33

34 ( 34 ) (COME ‘ROUND HERE) I’M THE ONE YOU NEED - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles # 5

35 ( 25 ) JUST A LITTLE LOVIN’ (EARLY IN THE MORNING) - Barbra Streisand # 10

36 ( 28 ) I CAN’T STOP - The Osmonds # 10

37 ( 48 ) I’LL GIVE YOU THE EARTH - Keith Michell # 37

38 ( 29 ) TOAST AND MARMALADE FOR TEA - Tin Tin # 11

39 ( 36 ) STONED LOVE - The Supremes # 1

40 ( 26 ) YOU COULD’VE BEEN A LADY - Hot Chocolate # 12

 

41 ( 35 ) ONE BAD APPLE - The Osmonds # 2

42 ( 50 ) LOVE MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND - Kiki Dee # 42

43 ( 37 ) AMAZING GRACE - Judy Collins # 2

44 ( 41 ) LONELY DAYS - The Bee Gees # 1

45 ( 51 ) WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME TOMORROW - Carole King featuring James Taylor & Joni Mitchell # 45

46 ( 38 ) WALKIN' - C.C.S. # 38

47 ( 53 ) WE CAN WORK IT OUT - Stevie Wonder # 47

48 ( 47 ) IF YOU COULD READ MY MIND - Gordon Lightfoot # 2

49 ( 49 ) SAMBA PA TI - Santana # 1

50 ( 54 ) RIGHT ON THE TIP OF MY TONGUE - Brenda And The Tabulations # 50

 

51 ( 43 ) TOO BUSY THINKING ‘BOUT MY BABY - Mardi Gras # 2

52 ( 42 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY - Andy Williams # 9

53 ( 45 ) HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN? - Creedence Clearwater Revival # 4

54 ( 63 ) I’LL MEET YOU HALFWAY - The Partridge Family Starring Shirley Jones & featuring David Cassidy # 54

55 ( 67 ) SUGAR SUGAR - Sakkarin # 55

56 ( 61 ) MOTHER - John Lennon # 56

57 ( 66 ) WARPATH - The Isley Brothers # 57

58 ( 44 ) THE SONG OF MY LIFE - Petula Clark # 20

59 ( 58 ) RIDE A WHITE SWAN - T.Rex # 1

60 ( 69 ) I PLAY AND SING - Dawn # 60

 

61 ( 52 ) SUNNY HONEY GIRL - Cliff Richard # 8

62 ( 56 ) I DON’T KNOW HOW TO LOVE HIM - Yvonne Elliman # 2

63 ( 70 ) ROSETTA - Fame & Price Together # 63

64 ( 74 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY - Shirley Bassey # 64

65 ( 62 ) I THINK I LOVE YOU - The Partridge Family Starring Shirley Jones & featuring David Cassidy # 1

66 ( 72 ) UNDERNEATH THE BLANKET GO - Gilbert O’Sullivan # 66

67 ( NEW ) THAT’S THE WAY I’VE ALWAYS HEARD IT SHOULD BE - Carly Simon # 67

68 ( 76 ) WANT ADS - Honey Cone # 68

69 ( 75 ) MOZART 40 - Sovereign Collection # 69

70 ( NEW ) SILVERY RAIN - Cliff Richard # 70

 

71 ( 77 ) CAN’T FIND THE TIME - Rose Colored Glass # 71

72 ( NEW ) PLAIN AND SIMPLE GIRL - Garland Green # 72

73 ( NEW ) WITCHWOOD - Strawbs # 73

74 ( 79 ) TAKE ME HOME COUNTRY ROADS - John Denver # 74

75 ( NEW ) NEVADA FIGHTER - Michael Nesmith # 75

 

 

 

 

 

6th April 1971

 

It's still Macca on top, keeping off T.Rex back in the day. It's telling that big pop ditties I was a fab of at 13, like Jack In A Box, Ray Stevens, and others havent done as well 50 years later in my rankings. I'm fond of them, still, but hey tastes change over time! CCR go top 10 and get their biggest track since Bad Moon Rising, The Fantastics enter with one I taped off the local Singapore radio, as does the classical revamp of Mozart from Waldo De Los Rios which I liked even more. Diana Ross' Remember Me was one I didn't hear till later in the year , and in comparison to I'm Still Waiting it was a bit lacklustre at the time. It grew on me though.

 

Olivia Newton-John debuts a few months ahead of me seeing her debut movie Toomorrow, all cheesy flying saucers, aliens and 60's pop group fun, and she manages to turn a Bob Dylan vocal into something sweet and charming. As Livvy was, and has remained, to be honest.

 

1 ( 1 ) ANOTHER DAY - Paul McCartney

2 ( 2 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex

3 ( 5 ) JACK IN THE BOX - Clodagh Rodgers

4 ( 7 ) BRIDGET THE MIDGET - Ray Stevens

5 ( 3 ) I THINK I LOVE YOU - The Partridge Family

6 ( 11 ) HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN? - Creedence Clearwater Revival

7 ( 4 ) ROSE GARDEN - Lynn Anderson

8 ( 15 ) IF NOT FOR YOU - Olivia Newton-John

9 ( 8 ) SWEET CAROLINE (GOOD TIMES NEVER SEEMED SO GOOD) - Neil Diamond

10 ( 9 ) SUNNY HONEY GIRL - Cliff Richard

 

11 ( 6 ) THERE GOES MY EVERYTHING - Elvis Presley

12 ( 16 ) DREAM BABY (HOW LONG MUST I DREAM) - Glen Campbell

13 ( 14 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY - Andy Williams

14 ( 13 ) MY SWEET LORD - George Harrison

15 ( 18 ) FUNNY FUNNY - The Sweet

16 ( 20 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins

17 ( NEW ) SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW - The Fantastics

18 ( NEW ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios

19 ( 10 ) POWER TO THE PEOPLE - John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band

20 ( NEW ) REMEMBER ME - Diana Ross

10th April 1971

 

It's back on top for R. Dean Taylor, who'd turned the trick in 1968 in my retro charts when it became a UK hit, and now as a US hit, so it's his 3rd spin on top with the 1967 There's A Ghost In My House also doing it - though only after I'd posted my charts on Haven and realised I'd forgotten to include the Northern Soul classic, and adjusted them for better accuracy. Middle Of The Road chirp a cheepy top 10 slot, and I remain unashamed in still loving the band :P

 

Al Green gets a first top 10, and The Jackson 5 are stuck at 2 for a 3rd week. Highest new entry is Ringo Starr's debut hit It Don't Come Easy, a pretty solid solo effort, and it gives a Set Of Solo Beatles in my charts. As Ringo and George singles are more thin on the ground than Paul and John's, I'm not sure this will ever happen again, especially if you take Wings to not be a solo Paul. The next potential opportunity with all 4 in the chart with new material will be late 1974. Though you might argue Ringo and George are both on Photograph late 1973 so that counts along with Helen Wheels/Band On The Run album and Mind Games.

 

Bruce Ruffin does a nice reggae version of the Jose Feliciano song new inside the top 40, Cliff shoots into the top 40, and a sprinkling of new tracks down the bottom end: The Rolling Stones' Brown Sugar debuts, a critically-applauded and popular track that has mystified me for 50 years. I just don't get it. But then The Stones 70's stuff passed me by, for the most part, until Miss You. Love the 60's stuff, but, hey ho.

 

Jig-A-Jig I think I've heard once, a long time ago, it's not bad. Sandra & Andres I caught up with in 1972, as a Eurovision Netherlands act that stood out, so this very European pop track is a new discovery, as is the Brotherhood Of Man US minor hit, which doesn't sound like any version of Brotherhood Of Man, but does have hitmakers Sue & Sunny visible at times, so I've given them credit so I don't miss when doing an A-Z of hits for Sue & Sunny (Doctor's Orders, The Pearls, and others). Finally, Reggie Garner pops in with local Chicago break-out soul hit Teddy Bear. Nothing on t'internet about him whatsoever, but he sounds very young and clearly got nowhere, but it's a decent track which he appears to have co-written.

 

 

1 ( 27 ) GOTTA SEE JANE - R. Dean Taylor # 1

2 ( 2 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - The Jackson 5 # 2

3 ( 1 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex # 1

4 ( 4 ) WHAT’S GOING ON? - Marvin Gaye # 1

5 ( 3 ) ANOTHER DAY - Paul McCartney # 1

6 ( 8 ) NEVER DREAMED YOU’D LEAVE IN SUMMER - Stevie Wonder # 6

7 ( 11 ) CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP - Middle Of The Road # 7

8 ( 5 ) MY LITTLE ONE - The Marmalade # 5

9 ( 6 ) IF - Bread # 6

10 ( 12 ) TIRED OF BEING ALONE - Al Green # 10

 

11 ( 7 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins # 7

12 ( 17 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios # 12

13 ( 13 ) I AM...I SAID - Neil Diamond # 8

14 ( 9 ) SO FAR AWAY - Carole King # 9

15 ( 15 ) IF NOT FOR YOU - Olivia Newton-John # 15

16 ( 10 ) IT’S TOO LATE - Carole King # 4

17 ( 18 ) POWER TO THE PEOPLE - John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band # 17

18 ( 14 ) (YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A) NATURAL WOMAN - Carole King # 5

19 ( 21 ) I FEEL THE EARTH MOVE - Carole King # 19

20 ( 16 ) CASTLES IN THE AIR - Don McLean # 1

 

21 ( 24 ) JACK IN THE BOX - Clodagh Rodgers # 21

22 ( 19 ) JUST MY IMAGINATION (RUNNING AWAY WITH ME) - The Temptations # 4

23 ( 26 ) FUNNY FUNNY - The Sweet # 23

24 ( 32 ) ME AND YOU AND A DOG NAMED BOO - Lobo # 24

25 ( 28 ) YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND - Carole King # 25

26 ( 20 ) NICKEL SONG - The New Seekers featuring Eve Graham # 10

27 ( 23 ) FOR ALL WE KNOW - Carpenters # 2

28 ( 33 ) INDIAN RESERVATION (THE LAMENT OF THE CHEROKEE RESERVATION INDIAN) - The Raiders # 28

29 ( 22 ) TIME AND LOVE - Barbra Streisand # 20

30 ( 30 ) SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW - The Fantastics # 30

 

31 ( 37 ) I’LL GIVE YOU THE EARTH - Keith Michell # 31

32 ( NEW ) IT DON’T COME EASY - Ringo Starr # 32

33 ( 31 ) MY SWEET LORD - George Harrison # 1

34 ( 25 ) DREAM BABY (HOW LONG MUST I DREAM) - Glen Campbell # 25

35 ( NEW ) RAIN - Bruce Ruffin # 35

36 ( 42 ) LOVE MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND - Kiki Dee # 36

37 ( 70 ) SILVERY RAIN - Cliff Richard # 37

38 ( 54 ) I’LL MEET YOU HALFWAY - The Partridge Family Starring Shirley Jones & featuring David Cassidy # 38

39 ( 45 ) WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME TOMORROW - Carole King featuring James Taylor & Joni Mitchell # 39

40 ( 34 ) (COME ‘ROUND HERE) I’M THE ONE YOU NEED - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles # 5

 

41 ( 29 ) TREAT HER LIKE A LADY - Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose # 24

42 ( 39 ) STONED LOVE - The Supremes # 1

43 ( 36 ) I CAN’T STOP - The Osmonds # 10

44 ( 35 ) JUST A LITTLE LOVIN’ (EARLY IN THE MORNING) - Barbra Streisand # 10

45 ( 41 ) ONE BAD APPLE - The Osmonds # 2

46 ( 43 ) AMAZING GRACE - Judy Collins # 2

47 ( 44 ) LONELY DAYS - The Bee Gees # 1

48 ( 55 ) SUGAR SUGAR - Sakkarin # 48

49 ( 38 ) TOAST AND MARMALADE FOR TEA - Tin Tin # 11

50 ( 67 ) THAT’S THE WAY I’VE ALWAYS HEARD IT SHOULD BE - Carly Simon # 50

 

51 ( 40 ) YOU COULD’VE BEEN A LADY - Hot Chocolate # 12

52 ( 60 ) I PLAY AND SING - Dawn # 52

53 ( 49 ) SAMBA PA TI - Santana # 1

54 ( 48 ) IF YOU COULD READ MY MIND - Gordon Lightfoot # 2

55 ( 57 ) WARPATH - The Isley Brothers # 55

56 ( 56 ) MOTHER - John Lennon # 56

57 ( 63 ) ROSETTA - Fame & Price Together # 57

58 ( 64 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY - Shirley Bassey # 58

59 ( 47 ) WE CAN WORK IT OUT - Stevie Wonder # 47

60 ( 72 ) PLAIN AND SIMPLE GIRL - Garland Green # 60

 

61 ( 69 ) MOZART 40 - Sovereign Collection # 61

62 ( 59 ) RIDE A WHITE SWAN - T.Rex # 1

63 ( 51 ) TOO BUSY THINKING ‘BOUT MY BABY - Mardi Gras # 2

64 ( 71 ) CAN’T FIND THE TIME - Rose Colored Glass # 64

65 ( 53 ) HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN? - Creedence Clearwater Revival # 4

66 ( 73 ) WITCHWOOD - Strawbs # 66

67 ( 68 ) WANT ADS - Honey Cone # 67

68 ( 74 ) TAKE ME HOME COUNTRY ROADS - John Denver # 68

69 ( 75 ) NEVADA FIGHTER - Michael Nesmith # 69

70 ( 65 ) I THINK I LOVE YOU - The Partridge Family Starring Shirley Jones & featuring David Cassidy # 1

 

71 ( NEW ) TEDDY BEAR - Reggie Garner # 71

72 ( NEW ) REACH OUT YOUR HAND - Brotherhood Of Man featuring Sue & Sunny # 72

73 ( NEW ) THOSE WORDS - Sandra & Andres # 73

74 ( NEW ) JIG-A-JIG - East Of Eden # 74

75 ( NEW ) BROWN SUGAR - The Rolling Stones # 75

 

 

 

 

 

13th April 1971 CHARTS OF THE 70'S

 

So, in Singapore, Knock Three Times was a big hit - I loved the song, bouncy bubblegum pop, and dad even bought (for a laugh) a Mandarin cover version by a local duo named The Travellers on a Singapore record label. He heard it coming from Changi Market on a record stall selling non-Western-music and it tickled his fancy. I still have it, but have since found out they gave dad the wrong record sleeve for the disc, so it must have come straight off the record player into the wrong sleeve. Hey ho!

 

Meanwhile back in the UK Double Barrel was shooting to the top spot, so although it's a bit early for the charts based on when I first heard it (at Xmas), it's interrupting the Singapore-fave singles along with The Sweet and Olivia Newton-John. Cos I did love it, taped it, and played it a lot. Ringo gets his first entry, and It Don't Come Easy - about one hit a year in fact - but it's pretty good and the other Fabs were happy to see him get a solo career. Rosetta puts together 2 60's faves in Georgie Fame & Alan Price - and doesn't reach the heights of either solo.

 

1 ( NEW ) KNOCK THREE TIMES - Dawn

2 ( 1 ) ANOTHER DAY - Paul McCartney

3 ( 6 ) HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN? - Creedence Clearwater Revival

4 ( 2 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex

5 ( 16 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins

6 ( 5 ) I THINK I LOVE YOU - The Partridge Family

7 ( 3 ) JACK IN THE BOX - Clodagh Rodgers

8 ( 4 ) BRIDGET THE MIDGET - Ray Stevens

9 ( 13 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY - Andy Williams

10 ( 7 ) ROSE GARDEN - Lynn Anderson

 

11 ( 9 ) SWEET CAROLINE (GOOD TIMES NEVER SEEMED SO GOOD) - Neil Diamond

12 ( 15 ) FUNNY FUNNY - The Sweet

13 ( 17 ) SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW - The Fantastics

14 ( 18 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios

15 ( 14 ) MY SWEET LORD - George Harrison

16 ( 11 ) THERE GOES MY EVERYTHING - Elvis Presley

17 ( 20 ) REMEMBER ME - Diana Ross

18 ( 8 ) IF NOT FOR YOU - Olivia Newton-John

19 ( NEW ) IT DON’T COME EASY - Ringo Starr

20 ( NEW ) ROSETTA - Fame & Price Together

17th April 1971

 

After 3 weeks as runners-up, it's The Jackson 5 on top with the still-gorgeous Never Can Say Goodbye. It won't be the last time that song tops my chart, cos there's an even-better version dropping in just over 3 years time. Highest new entry is from 60's hitmakers The Fortunes. Had I been charting in 1965 they would have topped my charts with the still-awesome, and not-nearly-known-enough-for-my-liking, You've Got Your Troubles, a song I just adored as a kid. And adult. Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again was a fab comeback hit for them - in the USA. Quite why it didn't hit in the UK is beyond me, cos it's fab, but it did at least set them up for 2 more big UK hits, one of which topped my 1972 charts.

 

Mozart at last gets into my top 10 after 183 years of waiting patiently. I assume he would've at any rate, but as it was written in 1788 that makes it the oldest tune to make my charts up to that point. Ringo knocks John out of the 20, but it don't come easy. Other newies include Stevie Wonder's track off his new album, and future US/UK hit in late 1971/early 1972, If You Really Loved Me, which is blatantly nearly a duet with his wife Syreeta at times, so I've given her credit, as she contributes more than the average "featuring" guest rapper does these days. Two voices in harmony is of more value than an irritating 2 or 4 lines of nothing much plonked into a record that isn't improved but is designed to sell it to a wider audience.

 

Luther Ingram is back with a bit of a soul goodie, Diana Ross transforms a Four Tops classic into another, lesser, Ain't No Mountain High Enough talk's n strings cover, but Reach Out I'll Be There will also be improved as the follow-up 1975 hit to the Gloria Gaynor smash cover of The Jackson 5's Never can Say Goodbye. It's Eurovision! Clodagh is top 20, and was a radio staple in Singapore. The contest was not broadcast there (Boo!) so I had no idea who won (Severine), nor did I hear the track for years, by which time I wasn't too fussed about it on one listen. I've caught it a few times since then, mostly after I bought the 2-CD Eurovision Hits album (up to 1980) ten years or so ago, and it's quite pleasant. Clodagh's is better though, but at least the UK have won in the last 50 years, which is more than Monaco can claim, so no hard feelings.

 

Norman Greenbaum gets a follow-up chart entry, unexpectedly, as I'd never heard of California Earthquake - at first I was expecting a Mamas & Papas cover, but no it's a decent rock blues pop effort. That leaves Free's My Brother Jake. Like Brown Sugar, another big rock hit I just. don't. get. At least the Stones have some balls going in theirs, but this is still a bit disappointing. I may have been influenced by the order in which I originally heard the Free hits: 1st, Little Bit Of Love 1972 which was good, Wishing Well 1973 which was utterly brilliant, then All Right Now a hit again in 1973 which was Little Bit Of Love-ish from my point of view but not as good, then this in 1976 and on the 1978 Free EP I bought. Often tracks grow on me with the years but this one has never done more than the minimum requirement to be worthy of scraping a mention: It's OK.

 

 

 

1 ( 2 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - The Jackson 5 # 1

2 ( 1 ) GOTTA SEE JANE - R. Dean Taylor # 1

3 ( 3 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex # 1

4 ( NEW ) HERE COMES THAT RAINY DAY FEELING AGAIN - The Fortunes # 4

5 ( 6 ) NEVER DREAMED YOU’D LEAVE IN SUMMER - Stevie Wonder # 5

6 ( 7 ) CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP - Middle Of The Road # 6

7 ( 4 ) WHAT’S GOING ON? - Marvin Gaye # 1

8 ( 10 ) TIRED OF BEING ALONE - Al Green # 8

9 ( 5 ) ANOTHER DAY - Paul McCartney # 1

10 ( 12 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios # 10

 

11 ( 8 ) MY LITTLE ONE - The Marmalade # 5

12 ( 9 ) IF - Bread # 6

13 ( 15 ) IF NOT FOR YOU - Olivia Newton-John # 13

14 ( 11 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins # 7

15 ( 13 ) I AM...I SAID - Neil Diamond # 8

16 ( 24 ) ME AND YOU AND A DOG NAMED BOO - Lobo # 16

17 ( 16 ) IT’S TOO LATE - Carole King # 4

18 ( 32 ) IT DON’T COME EASY - Ringo Starr # 18

19 ( 21 ) JACK IN THE BOX - Clodagh Rodgers # 19

20 ( 23 ) FUNNY FUNNY - The Sweet # 20

 

21 ( 14 ) SO FAR AWAY - Carole King # 9

22 ( 18 ) (YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A) NATURAL WOMAN - Carole King # 5

23 ( 20 ) CASTLES IN THE AIR - Don McLean # 1

24 ( 22 ) JUST MY IMAGINATION (RUNNING AWAY WITH ME) - The Temptations # 4

25 ( 35 ) RAIN - Bruce Ruffin # 25

26 ( 28 ) INDIAN RESERVATION (THE LAMENT OF THE CHEROKEE RESERVATION INDIAN) - The Raiders # 26

27 ( 27 ) FOR ALL WE KNOW - Carpenters # 2

28 ( 31 ) I’LL GIVE YOU THE EARTH - Keith Michell # 28

29 ( 37 ) SILVERY RAIN - Cliff Richard # 29

30 ( 17 ) POWER TO THE PEOPLE - John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band # 17

 

31 ( 19 ) I FEEL THE EARTH MOVE - Carole King # 19

32 ( 26 ) NICKEL SONG - The New Seekers featuring Eve Graham # 10

33 ( 38 ) I’LL MEET YOU HALFWAY - The Partridge Family Starring Shirley Jones & featuring David Cassidy # 33

34 ( 25 ) YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND - Carole King # 25

35 ( 30 ) SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW - The Fantastics # 30

36 ( 33 ) MY SWEET LORD - George Harrison # 1

37 ( 29 ) TIME AND LOVE - Barbra Streisand # 20

38 ( 48 ) SUGAR SUGAR - Sakkarin # 38

39 ( 50 ) THAT’S THE WAY I’VE ALWAYS HEARD IT SHOULD BE - Carly Simon # 39

40 ( 55 ) WARPATH - The Isley Brothers # 40

 

41 ( 40 ) (COME ‘ROUND HERE) I’M THE ONE YOU NEED - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles # 5

42 ( 42 ) STONED LOVE - The Supremes # 1

43 ( 64 ) CAN’T FIND THE TIME - Rose Colored Glass # 43

44 ( 36 ) LOVE MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND - Kiki Dee # 36

45 ( 45 ) ONE BAD APPLE - The Osmonds # 2

46 ( 47 ) LONELY DAYS - The Bee Gees # 1

47 ( 46 ) AMAZING GRACE - Judy Collins # 2

48 ( 57 ) ROSETTA - Fame & Price Together # 48

49 ( 41 ) TREAT HER LIKE A LADY - Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose # 24

50 ( 66 ) WITCHWOOD - Strawbs # 50

 

51 ( 61 ) MOZART 40 - Sovereign Collection # 51

52 ( 52 ) I PLAY AND SING - Dawn # 52

53 ( 53 ) SAMBA PA TI - Santana # 1

54 ( NEW ) IF YOU REALLY LOVE ME - Stevie Wonder featuring Syreeta Wright # 54

55 ( 58 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY - Shirley Bassey # 55

56 ( 54 ) IF YOU COULD READ MY MIND - Gordon Lightfoot # 2

57 ( 34 ) DREAM BABY (HOW LONG MUST I DREAM) - Glen Campbell # 25

58 ( 43 ) I CAN’T STOP - The Osmonds # 10

59 ( 60 ) PLAIN AND SIMPLE GIRL - Garland Green # 59

60 ( 67 ) WANT ADS - Honey Cone # 60

 

61 ( 39 ) WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME TOMORROW - Carole King featuring James Taylor & Joni Mitchell # 39

62 ( 68 ) TAKE ME HOME COUNTRY ROADS - John Denver # 62

63 ( 69 ) NEVADA FIGHTER - Michael Nesmith # 63

64 ( 62 ) RIDE A WHITE SWAN - T.Rex # 1

65 ( NEW ) BE GOOD TO ME BABY - Luther Ingram # 65

66 ( 73 ) THOSE WORDS - Sandra & Andres # 66

67 ( 71 ) TEDDY BEAR - Reggie Garner # 67

68 ( NEW ) REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE - Diana Ross # 68

69 ( 75 ) BROWN SUGAR - The Rolling Stones # 69

70 ( 51 ) YOU COULD’VE BEEN A LADY - Hot Chocolate # 12

 

71 ( NEW ) UN BANC, UN ARBRE, UNE RUE - Severine # 71

72 ( 72 ) REACH OUT YOUR HAND - Brotherhood Of Man featuring Sue & Sunny # 72

73 ( 74 ) JIG-A-JIG - East Of Eden # 73

74 ( NEW ) CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE - Norman Greenbaum # 74

75 ( NEW ) MY BROTHER JAKE - Free # 75

 

 

 

 

My Original Charts

for 20th April 1971

 

It's 2 weeks on top for Dawn, making a total of 6 knocks on the ceiling as CCR get runners-up spot. The Sweet get a first top 5, but funny funnily it'll be pretty much every Sweet single through to the end of 1974 that goes top 5. The Fantastics get a top 10, and highest new entry is the song that I woke up singing in my head one sunny morning in Singapore. And I'd never heard it before, but that hook was insistent. Switched on the radio and it was on the radio coming to the end of the song. I'm guessing someone in the house adjacent had accidentally put the radio on loud and it woke me up. Or I'm psychic and tuned into radio waves. One or the other.

 

Hot Choc enter with a second single, a band I would be mad for by the end of the year as I go all obsessive on the next single, and a band I never stopped loving. Still love 'em. At 19, and a Singapore radio-aired track my dad probably taped, I think, and one I rather liked in a quaint fashion, as actor Keith Michell tries to give is the Earth. Given what we've done to it over the last 50 years, I'd say his trust was rather over-optimistic. Nice tune though. Keith would crop up on Morecambe & Wise, various BBC drama shows, and....in the 1980 top 10 with Captain Beaky. I prefer this one.

 

 

1 ( 1 ) KNOCK THREE TIMES - Dawn

2 ( 3 ) HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN? - Creedence Clearwater Revival

3 ( 2 ) ANOTHER DAY - Paul McCartney

4 ( 12 ) FUNNY FUNNY - The Sweet

5 ( 9 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY - Andy Williams

6 ( 6 ) I THINK I LOVE YOU - The Partridge Family

7 ( 4 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex

8 ( 7 ) JACK IN THE BOX - Clodagh Rodgers

9 ( 5 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins

10 ( 13 ) SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW - The Fantastics

 

11 ( 8 ) BRIDGET THE MIDGET - Ray Stevens

12 ( 14 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios

13 ( 10 ) ROSE GARDEN - Lynn Anderson

14 ( NEW ) MY LITTLE ONE - Marmalade

15 ( 19 ) IT DON’T COME EASY - Ringo Starr

16 ( 20 ) ROSETTA - Fame & Price Together

17 ( 16 ) THERE GOES MY EVERYTHING - Elvis Presley

18 ( NEW ) YOU COULD’VE BEEN A LADY - Hot Chocolate

19 ( NEW ) I’LL GIVE YOU YOU THE EARTH - Keith Michell

20 ( 18 ) IF NOT FOR YOU - Olivia Newton-John

24th April 1971

 

It's a first week on top for The Fortunes 6 years after they would have had a 100% certain chart-topper in my hypothetical charts of 1965 (I adored You've Got Your Troubles), with the US hit Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again. Highest new entry is The Supremes' Nathan Jones fabulously in at 5 and outdoing Ms. Ross' latest effort. There's a double helping of Rain into the top 20, from Cliff Richard & Bruce Ruffin, and the Elgins enter with their 1966 Holland-Dozier-Holland goodie that had become a Northern Soul classic after flopping first time out in the UK, Heaven Must Have Sent You at 29.

 

The Beginning Of The End debut with Funky Nassau, a very Santana-ish track that wasn't a UK hit until 1974, so nostalgically it's all about living near Gloucester and not Singapore, for me. James Brown does what he does best, ballads for me, with I Cried in at 58 with a song I've been unaware of before. It's good. Lulu's clapping, meanwhile, at her TOTP appearance still existing - I'm guessing thanks to then-hubby Maurice Gibb, who co-wrote the song with Lulu's brother. Mo was meticulous in getting TV recordings of The Bee Gees appearances and also his missus, so I wouldn't be surprised if he recorded the whole show. I certainly don't see a listing of, say, Frank Sinatra or Bill Haley that might have made the Wiper-Man decide it was worthy of keeping.

 

 

 

1 ( 4 ) HERE COMES THAT RAINY DAY FEELING AGAIN - The Fortunes # 1

2 ( 2 ) GOTTA SEE JANE - R. Dean Taylor # 1

3 ( 1 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - The Jackson 5 # 1

4 ( 3 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex # 1

5 ( NEW ) NATHAN JONES - The Supremes # 5

6 ( 8 ) TIRED OF BEING ALONE - Al Green # 6

7 ( 7 ) WHAT’S GOING ON? - Marvin Gaye # 1

8 ( 10 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios # 8

9 ( 9 ) ANOTHER DAY - Paul McCartney # 1

10 ( 6 ) CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP - Middle Of The Road # 6

 

11 ( 5 ) NEVER DREAMED YOU’D LEAVE IN SUMMER - Stevie Wonder # 5

12 ( 16 ) ME AND YOU AND A DOG NAMED BOO - Lobo # 12

13 ( 11 ) MY LITTLE ONE - The Marmalade # 5

14 ( 18 ) IT DON’T COME EASY - Ringo Starr # 14

15 ( 12 ) IF - Bread # 6

16 ( 14 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins # 7

17 ( 13 ) IF NOT FOR YOU - Olivia Newton-John # 13

18 ( 29 ) SILVERY RAIN - Cliff Richard # 18

19 ( 25 ) RAIN - Bruce Ruffin # 19

20 ( 15 ) I AM...I SAID - Neil Diamond # 8

 

21 ( 17 ) IT’S TOO LATE - Carole King # 4

22 ( 26 ) INDIAN RESERVATION (THE LAMENT OF THE CHEROKEE RESERVATION INDIAN) - The Raiders # 22

23 ( 19 ) JACK IN THE BOX - Clodagh Rodgers # 19

24 ( 22 ) (YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A) NATURAL WOMAN - Carole King # 5

25 ( 23 ) CASTLES IN THE AIR - Don McLean # 1

26 ( 24 ) JUST MY IMAGINATION (RUNNING AWAY WITH ME) - The Temptations # 4

27 ( 21 ) SO FAR AWAY - Carole King # 9

28 ( 20 ) FUNNY FUNNY - The Sweet # 20

29 ( NEW ) HEAVEN MUST HAVE SENT YOU - The Elgins # 29

30 ( 33 ) I’LL MEET YOU HALFWAY - The Partridge Family Starring Shirley Jones & featuring David Cassidy # 30

 

31 ( 27 ) FOR ALL WE KNOW - Carpenters # 2

32 ( 39 ) THAT’S THE WAY I’VE ALWAYS HEARD IT SHOULD BE - Carly Simon # 32

33 ( 43 ) CAN’T FIND THE TIME - Rose Colored Glass # 33

34 ( 40 ) WARPATH - The Isley Brothers # 34

35 ( 38 ) SUGAR SUGAR - Sakkarin # 35

36 ( 32 ) NICKEL SONG - The New Seekers featuring Eve Graham # 10

37 ( 30 ) POWER TO THE PEOPLE - John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band # 17

38 ( 36 ) MY SWEET LORD - George Harrison # 1

39 ( 31 ) I FEEL THE EARTH MOVE - Carole King # 19

40 ( 50 ) WITCHWOOD - Strawbs # 40

 

41 ( 28 ) I’LL GIVE YOU THE EARTH - Keith Michell # 28

42 ( 48 ) ROSETTA - Fame & Price Together # 42

43 ( 34 ) YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND - Carole King # 25

44 ( 37 ) TIME AND LOVE - Barbra Streisand # 20

45 ( 42 ) STONED LOVE - The Supremes # 1

46 ( 41 ) (COME ‘ROUND HERE) I’M THE ONE YOU NEED - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles # 5

47 ( 35 ) SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW - The Fantastics # 30

48 ( 54 ) IF YOU REALLY LOVE ME - Stevie Wonder featuring Syreeta Wright # 48

49 ( 51 ) MOZART 40 - Sovereign Collection # 49

50 ( 46 ) LONELY DAYS - The Bee Gees # 1

 

51 ( 45 ) ONE BAD APPLE - The Osmonds # 2

52 ( 47 ) AMAZING GRACE - Judy Collins # 2

53 ( 53 ) SAMBA PA TI - Santana # 1

54 ( NEW ) FUNKY NASSAU - The Beginning Of The End # 54

55 ( 67 ) TEDDY BEAR - Reggie Garner # 55

56 ( 68 ) REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE - Diana Ross # 56

57 ( 63 ) NEVADA FIGHTER - Michael Nesmith # 57

58 ( NEW ) I CRIED - James Brown #

59 ( 59 ) PLAIN AND SIMPLE GIRL - Garland Green # 59

60 ( 66 ) THOSE WORDS - Sandra & Andres # 60

 

61 ( 65 ) BE GOOD TO ME BABY - Luther Ingram # 61

62 ( 62 ) TAKE ME HOME COUNTRY ROADS - John Denver # 62

63 ( 56 ) IF YOU COULD READ MY MIND - Gordon Lightfoot # 2

64 ( 71 ) UN BANC, UN ARBRE, UNE RUE - Severine # 64

65 ( 69 ) BROWN SUGAR - The Rolling Stones # 65

66 ( 60 ) WANT ADS - Honey Cone # 60

67 ( 73 ) JIG-A-JIG - East Of Eden # 67

68 ( 72 ) REACH OUT YOUR HAND - Brotherhood Of Man featuring Sue & Sunny # 68

69 ( 64 ) RIDE A WHITE SWAN - T.Rex # 1

70 ( 74 ) CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE - Norman Greenbaum # 70

 

71 ( 55 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY - Shirley Bassey # 55

72 ( 52 ) I PLAY AND SING - Dawn # 52

73 ( NEW ) EVERYBODY’S GOT TO CLAP - Lulu # 73

74 ( 49 ) TREAT HER LIKE A LADY - Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose # 24

75 ( NEW ) MALT & BARLEY BLUES - McGuinness Flint # 75

 

 

 

 

 

Wot I liked then

27th April 1971

 

It's 3 weeks on top for Dawn as Marmalade stage their biggest challenge to the top spot since Reflections Of My Life as they hit 2, and Mozart goes top 10 and Ringo goes top 10 for the first time solo. The Partridge Family replace themselves in the top 20 as Doesn't Somebody Want To Be Wanted follows up I Think I Love You, though as the TV show was well into it's Singapore TV run by now, my fave track was the non-single Somebody Wants To Love You. R. Dean Taylor is on the run from the law as he cries Indiana Wants Me, still a great ballad, and finally Sugar Sugar is back. In a Jonathan King cover mickey-take of Hard Rock, as he implies that it's bubblegum as much as Bubblegum is. I prefer the original, but it's amusing.

 

In Singapore the Shangri-La Hotel opened this week, future site of important political summits, while back in the UK the 1971 census was taken showing 55.5 million in the UK, give or take, and of course we missed that one not being in the country. Future historians trying to trace my whereabouts will remain puzzled until the 1981 census when it will appear as if I haven't moved since I was born in 1958 in the same house I was registered in for 1981, yet mysteriously don't turn up in the 1961 census (probably in Germany, or else just back in the same house) or 1971 census (Singapore). There will also be no record of my dad being in the RAF for the same reason, as he also had left the RAF by 1981. So 20 years of moving about wouldn't even get a mention. A flawed system, I think....!

 

 

1 ( 1 ) KNOCK THREE TIMES - Dawn

2 ( 14 ) MY LITTLE ONE - Marmalade

3 ( 3 ) ANOTHER DAY - Paul McCartney

4 ( 2 ) HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN? - Creedence Clearwater Revival

5 ( 10 ) SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW - The Fantastics

6 ( 12 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios

7 ( 4 ) FUNNY FUNNY - The Sweet

8 ( 7 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex

9 ( 5 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY - Andy Williams

10 ( 15 ) IT DON’T COME EASY - Ringo Starr

 

11 ( 8 ) JACK IN THE BOX - Clodagh Rodgers

12 ( 16 ) ROSETTA - Fame & Price Together

13 ( 18 ) YOU COULD’VE BEEN A LADY - Hot Chocolate

14 ( 9 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins

15 ( 13 ) ROSE GARDEN - Lynn Anderson

16 ( 11 ) BRIDGET THE MIDGET - Ray Stevens

17 ( NEW ) DOESN’T SOMEBODY WANT TO BE WANTED - The Partridge Family

18 ( 19 ) I’LL GIVE YOU YOU THE EARTH - Keith Michell

19 ( NEW ) INDIANA WANTS ME - R. Dean Taylor

20 ( NEW ) SUGAR SUGAR - Sakkarin

1st May 1971

 

It's a first week on top for The Supremes 4th number one, putting Mary Wilson one up on Diana Ross, who was absent from Stoned Love and Nathan Jones. It's also the wettest top 20 ever. That's not a comment on the quality or genre of song, it's just that there are 5 rain-related songs in the top 20, The Fortunes getting knocked off the top, Cliff Richard & Bruce Ruffin climbing, and the 2 highest entries both about the wet stuff too: The Doors enter at 8 with their top notch finale, Riders Of The Storm, the epic track off L.A. Woman, fresh out although not a single till late in the year in the UK, and I still remember the TOTP made-up promo they used for the moody masterpiece on the show. T'other one is the Carpenters' 4th US hit in at 19, fresh out and shooting up the Billboard airwaves charts, Rainy Days And Mondays, sadly a UK flop - as were a surprising number of their singles, even some well-known ones.

 

Barbra Streisand has her 4th Laura Nyro track on my charts inside 6 months, and the last, sadly, as Flim Flam man is another great song choice. The Osmonds return with their official follow-up, Double Lovin', not one I know that well, and it turns out to be pretty good, a little bit One Bad Apple, but slightly more adult. Also in are The Stylistics with some sophisticated smooth soul, and a song written by the wonderful Thom Bell & Linda Creed, Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart), and another Easy Listening flop in the UK, though when Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye covered it in 1974 it finally charted. Freda Payne's back with a good anti-war song I don't know, Tony Christie is also back, and he's not getting away with murder, though he insists he did what he did for his late wife.

 

Gene Chandler is back again, also, with a decent self-produced smooth soul track, You're A Lady, though he's still got another 8 years to wait for another UK hit follow-up to his early 60's hits. The Rolling Stones have Sticky Fingers this week, so they get a second charting track as the Susan Boyle fave is unzipped off the album by me, and allowed to roam free with some Wild Horses. Isaac hayes does another sultry, sexy, slowed-down cover - this time the still-charting Jackson 5's Never Can Say Goodbye. A sign of a classic song, is it can be done in any genre and still sound great - be it sweet Motown, sexy soul, pumping disco or 80's synth. Finally we have Meatloaf debuting. Yes, I'm as surprised as you, but this week he was bubbling under the Billboard Hot 100 in a rockfunk duet workout with Stoney (whoever she was) - and it's pretty good. He'll be back with Rocky Horror before breaking big with the late Jim Steinman's Bat Out Of Hell in 7 years time.

 

 

1 ( 5 ) NATHAN JONES - The Supremes # 1

2 ( 1 ) HERE COMES THAT RAINY DAY FEELING AGAIN - The Fortunes # 1

3 ( 3 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - The Jackson 5 # 1

4 ( 2 ) GOTTA SEE JANE - R. Dean Taylor # 1

5 ( 4 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex # 1

6 ( 6 ) TIRED OF BEING ALONE - Al Green # 6

7 ( 8 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios # 7

8 ( NEW ) RIDERS OF THE STORM - The Doors # 8

9 ( 7 ) WHAT’S GOING ON? - Marvin Gaye # 1

10 ( 14 ) IT DON’T COME EASY - Ringo Starr # 10

11 ( 9 ) ANOTHER DAY - Paul McCartney # 1

12 ( 12 ) ME AND YOU AND A DOG NAMED BOO - Lobo # 12

13 ( 13 ) MY LITTLE ONE - The Marmalade # 5

14 ( 16 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins # 7

15 ( 10 ) CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP - Middle Of The Road # 6

16 ( 11 ) NEVER DREAMED YOU’D LEAVE IN SUMMER - Stevie Wonder # 5

17 ( 18 ) SILVERY RAIN - Cliff Richard # 17

18 ( 19 ) RAIN - Bruce Ruffin # 18

19 ( NEW ) RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS - Carpenters # 19

20 ( 29 ) HEAVEN MUST HAVE SENT YOU - The Elgins # 20

 

21 ( 15 ) IF - Bread # 6

22 ( 17 ) IF NOT FOR YOU - Olivia Newton-John # 13

23 ( 21 ) IT’S TOO LATE - Carole King # 4

24 ( 20 ) I AM...I SAID - Neil Diamond # 8

25 ( 25 ) CASTLES IN THE AIR - Don McLean # 1

26 ( 24 ) (YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A) NATURAL WOMAN - Carole King # 5

27 ( 30 ) I’LL MEET YOU HALFWAY - The Partridge Family Starring Shirley Jones & featuring David Cassidy # 27

28 ( 26 ) JUST MY IMAGINATION (RUNNING AWAY WITH ME) - The Temptations # 4

29 ( 33 ) CAN’T FIND THE TIME - Rose Colored Glass # 29

30 ( 34 ) WARPATH - The Isley Brothers # 30

 

31 ( 22 ) INDIAN RESERVATION (THE LAMENT OF THE CHEROKEE RESERVATION INDIAN) - The Raiders # 22

32 ( 32 ) THAT’S THE WAY I’VE ALWAYS HEARD IT SHOULD BE - Carly Simon # 32

33 ( 48 ) IF YOU REALLY LOVE ME - Stevie Wonder featuring Syreeta Wright # 33

34 ( 40 ) WITCHWOOD - Strawbs # 34

35 ( 31 ) FOR ALL WE KNOW - Carpenters # 2

36 ( 23 ) JACK IN THE BOX - Clodagh Rodgers # 19

37 ( 27 ) SO FAR AWAY - Carole King # 9

38 ( NEW ) FLIM FLAM MAN - Barbra Streisand # 38

39 ( 42 ) ROSETTA - Fame & Price Together # 39

40 ( 38 ) MY SWEET LORD - George Harrison # 1

 

41 ( 36 ) NICKEL SONG - The New Seekers featuring Eve Graham # 10

42 ( 54 ) FUNKY NASSAU - The Beginning Of The End # 42

43 ( 28 ) FUNNY FUNNY - The Sweet # 20

44 ( 37 ) POWER TO THE PEOPLE - John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band # 17

45 ( 45 ) STONED LOVE - The Supremes # 1

46 ( 56 ) REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE - Diana Ross # 46

47 ( 57 ) NEVADA FIGHTER - Michael Nesmith # 47

48 ( 35 ) SUGAR SUGAR - Sakkarin # 35

49 ( 55 ) TEDDY BEAR - Reggie Garner # 49

50 ( 58 ) I CRIED - James Brown # 50

 

51 ( 39 ) I FEEL THE EARTH MOVE - Carole King # 19

52 ( 64 ) UN BANC, UN ARBRE, UNE RUE - Severine # 52

53 ( 53 ) SAMBA PA TI - Santana # 1

54 ( 50 ) LONELY DAYS - The Bee Gees # 1

55 ( 46 ) (COME ‘ROUND HERE) I’M THE ONE YOU NEED - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles # 5

56 ( 60 ) THOSE WORDS - Sandra & Andres # 56

57 ( NEW ) DOUBLE LOVIN’ - The Osmonds # 57

58 ( 51 ) ONE BAD APPLE - The Osmonds # 2

59 ( 61 ) BE GOOD TO ME BABY - Luther Ingram # 59

60 ( NEW ) STOP LOOK LISTEN (TO YOUR HEART) - The Stylistics # 60

 

61 ( 52 ) AMAZING GRACE - Judy Collins # 2

62 ( 47 ) SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW - The Fantastics # 30

63 ( 67 ) JIG-A-JIG - East Of Eden # 63

64 ( NEW ) BRING THE BOYS HOME - Freda Payne # 64

65 ( 65 ) BROWN SUGAR - The Rolling Stones # 65

66 ( 41 ) I’LL GIVE YOU THE EARTH - Keith Michell # 28

67 ( 68 ) REACH OUT YOUR HAND - Brotherhood Of Man featuring Sue & Sunny # 67

68 ( 73 ) EVERYBODY’S GOT TO CLAP - Lulu # 68

69 ( NEW ) I DID WHAT I DID FOR MARIA - Tony Christie # 69

70 ( 70 ) CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKE - Norman Greenbaum # 70

 

71 ( NEW ) YOU’RE A LADY - Gene Chandler # 71

72 ( NEW ) WILD HORSES - The Rolling Stones # 72

73 ( 75 ) MALT & BARLEY BLUES - McGuinness Flint # 73

74 ( NEW ) WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET - Stoney & Meatloaf # 74

75 ( NEW ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - Isaac Hayes # 75

 

 

 

 

 

4th May 1971

 

It's a second chart-topper for Marmalade in my charts of the time, My Little One following where Reflections Of My Life had already been. The Partridge Family get a second top 10, Keith Michell a one and only, and Hot Chocolate also a 2nd of many many many top 10's. The only new entry is the 5th Jackson 5 single in the UK, give or take a Christmas effort, as Mama's Pearl is in at 18.

 

In the USA "All In The Family" was about to storm the Emmy's, as their version of "Till Death Us Do Part" brings a new cynical. political sitcom into the mainstream almost a decade after the UK had done the same. I never liked either one as the bigoted abrasive central character was too annoying to bear sitting through, and I don't recall ever laughing at either one either. My taste is still with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which would remain a fond and highly-regarded sitcom, political in its own quiet way, but a much-more positive and loveable fashion, and the super-wonderful Betty White would go on to win more Emmy's than any other actor (though now equalled) and has been working in TV and movies for over 75 years, and is still sharp, witty and funny at the age of 99. Total legend.

 

1 ( 2 ) MY LITTLE ONE - Marmalade

2 ( 1 ) KNOCK THREE TIMES - Dawn

3 ( 5 ) SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW - The Fantastics

4 ( 3 ) ANOTHER DAY - Paul McCartney

5 ( 6 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios

6 ( 4 ) HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN? - Creedence Clearwater Revival

7 ( 17 ) DOESN’T SOMEBODY WANT TO BE WANTED - The Partridge Family

8 ( 18 ) I’LL GIVE YOU YOU THE EARTH - Keith Michell

9 ( 13 ) YOU COULD’VE BEEN A LADY - Hot Chocolate

10 ( 8 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex

 

11 ( 7 ) FUNNY FUNNY - The Sweet

12 ( 9 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY - Andy Williams

13 ( 11 ) JACK IN THE BOX - Clodagh Rodgers

14 ( 19 ) INDIANA WANTS ME - R. Dean Taylor

15 ( 15 ) ROSE GARDEN - Lynn Anderson

16 ( 14 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins

17 ( 16 ) BRIDGET THE MIDGET - Ray Stevens

18 ( NEW ) MAMA’S PEARL - The Jackson 5

19 ( 10 ) IT DON’T COME EASY - Ringo Starr

20 ( 12 ) ROSETTA - Fame & Price Together

9th May 1971

 

It's straight in on top for 1966 Northern Soul classic I'm Gonna Run Away From You, Tami Lynn's fabulous dance track having missed first-time round in the UK, but was out again this week after demand from the dance scene. It was so good, it made the UK charts all over again in 1975 (when it topped my personal charts, being as I'd missed it second-time round, even though it was a UK top 5, so in my head it's memories of the hot summer of '75). There are loads of great new entries this week as I got to view a copy of Record Mirror online with reviews of new releases ahead of them making the UK charts - which compensates for the dropping of the Bubbling Under section from Billboard for a few weeks at least.

 

In at 5, it's South African tribal-rhythmed John Kongos' fabulous He's Gonna Step On You Again, as covered to lesser effect (but more famously) by Happy Mondays. Their melon-twisting Manchester slacker version lacked the menace of the original, for me, though it was fun enough. In at 9 for another top 10, the terrific Blue Mink return with an actual marching band pop song, The Banner Man, complete with a catchy melody. Blue Mink were always varied of style, it has to be said. In at 23, Norman "Hurricane" Smith starts a chart career after giving up being a Beatles and Pink Floyd sound engineer, with the old-fashioned but sweet Don't Let It Die, the stand-out feature of his records being his very unusual singing voice, marmite for most people I expect. Me, I love it.

 

Others new in: Peter Noone, actual Herman minus his Hermits, covers bloody David Bowie! And does it well, making Oh You Pretty Things the first Bowie song to chart in two versions in the retro countdown, but it won't be the last. White Plains are also back, with their best track, When You Are A King, lovely melody that one. Elvis bellows his way into the countdown with a cover of 50's song Rags To Riches, and he really makes an OTT meal of it, as a spot of country slips in for Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds on Don't Pull Your Love, a song I knew first as a Glen Campbell US hit from 1976 as part of a mash-up with Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye.

 

Jonathan King is also back, as Sakkarin drop out, with Lazybones, a plodding whimsical version of a song by Hoagy Carmichael dating back to 1933, or pre-historic by my then-view of old music. Or the equivalent of, say, George Ezra covering something from 1983 these days. Labi Siffre debuts with his flop single Get To The Country, which is a bit early I think, as it wasn't on his new charting album which got plugged with 3 tracks on Top Of The Pops (though it did get added to the extended CD version). I follow Labi on Twitter, very involved in social and political issues still, and like Get To The Country as I first heard it in 1972 on one of the Ronco compilation albums I bought - 20 Star Tracks I think, which was in pride of place on my record rack behind newly purchased singles Nut Rocker and Bernadette (Hey, I loved oldies even when I was 14!) when someone placed the electric fire too close to them one day. All 3 were warped, the singles unplayable. Tragedy!

 

 

 

1 ( NEW ) I’M GONNA RUN AWAY FROM YOU - Tami Lynn # 1

2 ( 1 ) NATHAN JONES - The Supremes # 1

3 ( 2 ) HERE COMES THAT RAINY DAY FEELING AGAIN - The Fortunes # 1

4 ( 8 ) RIDERS OF THE STORM - The Doors # 4

5 ( NEW ) HE’S GONNA STEP ON YOU AGAIN - John Kongos # 5

6 ( 3 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - The Jackson 5 # 1

7 ( 5 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex # 1

8 ( 6 ) TIRED OF BEING ALONE - Al Green # 6

9 ( NEW ) THE BANNER MAN - Blue Mink # 9

10 ( 19 ) RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS - Carpenters # 10

 

11 ( 4 ) GOTTA SEE JANE - R. Dean Taylor # 1

12 ( 9 ) WHAT’S GOING ON? - Marvin Gaye # 1

13 ( 7 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios # 7

14 ( 11 ) ANOTHER DAY - Paul McCartney # 1

15 ( 17 ) SILVERY RAIN - Cliff Richard # 15

16 ( 10 ) IT DON’T COME EASY - Ringo Starr # 10

17 ( 18 ) RAIN - Bruce Ruffin # 17

18 ( 20 ) HEAVEN MUST HAVE SENT YOU - The Elgins # 18

19 ( 14 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins # 7

20 ( 12 ) ME AND YOU AND A DOG NAMED BOO - Lobo # 12

 

21 ( 15 ) CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP - Middle Of The Road # 6

22 ( 13 ) MY LITTLE ONE - The Marmalade # 5

23 ( NEW ) DON’T LET IT DIE - Hurricane Smith # 23

24 ( 38 ) FLIM FLAM MAN - Barbra Streisand # 24

25 ( 16 ) NEVER DREAMED YOU’D LEAVE IN SUMMER - Stevie Wonder # 5

26 ( 23 ) IT’S TOO LATE - Carole King # 4

27 ( 60 ) STOP LOOK LISTEN (TO YOUR HEART) - The Stylistics # 27

28 ( 25 ) CASTLES IN THE AIR - Don McLean # 1

29 ( 24 ) I AM...I SAID - Neil Diamond # 8

30 ( 33 ) IF YOU REALLY LOVE ME - Stevie Wonder featuring Syreeta Wright # 30

 

31 ( 21 ) IF - Bread # 6

32 ( 26 ) (YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A) NATURAL WOMAN - Carole King # 5

33 ( 22 ) IF NOT FOR YOU - Olivia Newton-John # 13

34 ( 42 ) FUNKY NASSAU - The Beginning Of The End # 34

35 ( 47 ) NEVADA FIGHTER - Michael Nesmith # 35

36 ( 28 ) JUST MY IMAGINATION (RUNNING AWAY WITH ME) - The Temptations # 4

37 ( 50 ) I CRIED - James Brown # 37

38 ( 46 ) REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE - Diana Ross # 38

39 ( 52 ) UN BANC, UN ARBRE, UNE RUE - Severine # 39

40 ( 35 ) FOR ALL WE KNOW - Carpenters # 2

 

41 ( 29 ) CAN’T FIND THE TIME - Rose Colored Glass # 29

42 ( 64 ) BRING THE BOYS HOME - Freda Payne # 42

43 ( 57 ) DOUBLE LOVIN’ - The Osmonds # 43

44 ( 40 ) MY SWEET LORD - George Harrison # 1

45 ( 32 ) THAT’S THE WAY I’VE ALWAYS HEARD IT SHOULD BE - Carly Simon # 32

46 ( 59 ) BE GOOD TO ME BABY - Luther Ingram # 46

47 ( 41 ) NICKEL SONG - The New Seekers featuring Eve Graham # 10

48 ( 56 ) THOSE WORDS - Sandra & Andres # 48

49 ( 49 ) TEDDY BEAR - Reggie Garner # 49

50 ( 45 ) STONED LOVE - The Supremes # 1

 

51 ( 30 ) WARPATH - The Isley Brothers # 30

52 ( 37 ) SO FAR AWAY - Carole King # 9

53 ( 36 ) JACK IN THE BOX - Clodagh Rodgers # 19

54 ( 27 ) I’LL MEET YOU HALFWAY - The Partridge Family Starring Shirley Jones & featuring David Cassidy # 27

55 ( 31 ) INDIAN RESERVATION (THE LAMENT OF THE CHEROKEE RESERVATION INDIAN) - The Raiders # 22

56 ( 34 ) WITCHWOOD - Strawbs # 34

57 ( NEW ) OH YOU PRETTY THINGS - Peter Noone # 57

58 ( 53 ) SAMBA PA TI - Santana # 1

59 ( 63 ) JIG-A-JIG - East Of Eden # 59

60 ( 54 ) LONELY DAYS - The Bee Gees # 1

 

61 ( 39 ) ROSETTA - Fame & Price Together # 39

62 ( 44 ) POWER TO THE PEOPLE - John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band # 17

63 ( NEW ) WHEN YOU ARE A KING - White Plains # 63

64 ( 69 ) I DID WHAT I DID FOR MARIA - Tony Christie # 64

65 ( 65 ) BROWN SUGAR - The Rolling Stones # 65

66 ( 68 ) EVERYBODY’S GOT TO CLAP - Lulu # 66

67 ( 71 ) YOU’RE A LADY - Gene Chandler # 67

68 ( 72 ) WILD HORSES - The Rolling Stones # 68

69 ( NEW ) RAGS TO RICHES - Elvis Presley # 69

70 ( 74 ) WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET - Stoney & Meatloaf # 70

 

71 ( NEW ) DON’T PULL YOUR LOVE - Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds # 71

72 ( 75 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - Isaac Hayes # 72

73 ( NEW ) LAZYBONES - Jonathan King # 73

74 ( NEW ) GET TO THE COUNTRY - Labi Siffre # 74

75 ( NEW ) HEY WILLY - The Hollies # 75

 

 

 

 

 

11th May 1971 Charts Of The Time

 

It's 2 weeks on top for Marmalade as The Partridge Family threaten a 2nd chart-topper at 2, R.Dean Taylor is chased by the Indiana Police up to 5, and Neil Diamond is all mellow at entering at 8, his 3rd top 10 inside 5 months, I Am...I Said, he exclaims with imagery of palm trees, which certainly spoke to me and my sunny, lazy, tropical Singapore lifestyle at the time. I could do with some more of that. The Jackson 5 get a 5th top 10, and new in is Bruce Ruffin;s reggae cover of Jose Feliciano's Rain, at 19, and The Elgins Heaven Must Have Sent You, a 60's Northern Soul stomper, is in at 20.

 

 

1 ( 1 ) MY LITTLE ONE - Marmalade

2 ( 7 ) DOESN’T SOMEBODY WANT TO BE WANTED - The Partridge Family

3 ( 5 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios

4 ( 2 ) KNOCK THREE TIMES - Dawn

5 ( 14 ) INDIANA WANTS ME - R. Dean Taylor

6 ( 8 ) I’LL GIVE YOU YOU THE EARTH - Keith Michell

7 ( 3 ) SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW - The Fantastics

8 ( NEW ) I AM...I SAID - Neil Diamond

9 ( 6 ) HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN? - Creedence Clearwater Revival

10 ( 18 ) MAMA’S PEARL - The Jackson 5

 

11 ( 10 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex

12 ( 11 ) FUNNY FUNNY - The Sweet

13 ( 12 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY - Andy Williams

14 ( 9 ) YOU COULD’VE BEEN A LADY - Hot Chocolate

15 ( 15 ) ROSE GARDEN - Lynn Anderson

16 ( 16 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins

17 ( 17 ) BRIDGET THE MIDGET - Ray Stevens

18 ( 19 ) IT DON’T COME EASY - Ringo Starr

19 ( NEW ) RAIN - Bruce Ruffin

20 ( NEW ) HEAVEN MUST HAVE SENT YOU - The Elgins

15th May 1971

 

It's a new entry on top for the 3rd week in a row as classic faves of mine start to invade either the US or UK charts, and in this case by featuring on the latest Carpenters album which I played t'other week - Superstar would be a single towards the end of the year, following up Rainy Days and Mondays, which was a UK flop, and For All We Know which hit as double A with Superstar in the UK as Richard & Karen did some serious TV specials promo in the UK. This song was originally a Delaney & Bonnie (Mr & Mrs Bramlett) and Leon Russell co-write which came out in 1969, but this glorious version is the first of 2 Delaney & Bonnie tracks that will top my charts in cover versions in 1971, starting with this achingly wistful and gorgeous version. Karen invariably did the definitive versions of songs in the early/mid-70's, give or take the odd There's A Kind Of Hush blip.

 

Hurricane Smith gets a first top 10, Stylistics a first top 20, both will repeat that in 1972; Babs Streisand gets a 4th consecutive top 20 Laura Nyro song cos I love that soul-gospel feel. Pity she didn't try that genre again. Freda Payne gets a second top 20, and 2nd-highest new entry is the great Draggin' The Line, Tommy James US hit that got some airplay in the UK later in the year (I know cos I wrote it down in my "songs I like" book and remember really liking it, and getting frustrated that I barely heard it again until REM did a great cover in the 90's.

 

Bill Withers' Harlem was one I didn't know at the time, but bought the CD remix (plus original) after a brace of remix hits in the late 80's, and duly charted it for myself then. Bill was fab, and will be back with some monsters before long after this debut. The much-sampled Mr. Big Stuff, Jean Knight's fun funk US biggie (UK flop) was another I was barely aware of until many years later, but it's weathered very well. James Taylor's cover of Carole King's You've Got A Friend was recorded at the same time as her version from Tapestry, and was intended to be a single, out this week after Carole was inspired to write it after hearing his Fire And Rain lyrics. TBH I thought it was dull when it was a big UK hit in the Autumn, and one of my least-fave tracks in the charts then, but 50 years on I've mellowed. Still prefer Carole King's tho.

 

 

1 ( NEW ) SUPERSTAR - Carpenters # 1

2 ( 1 ) I’M GONNA RUN AWAY FROM YOU - Tami Lynn # 1

3 ( 2 ) NATHAN JONES - The Supremes # 1

4 ( 5 ) HE’S GONNA STEP ON YOU AGAIN - John Kongos # 4

5 ( 3 ) HERE COMES THAT RAINY DAY FEELING AGAIN - The Fortunes # 1

6 ( 9 ) THE BANNER MAN - Blue Mink # 6

7 ( 4 ) RIDERS OF THE STORM - The Doors # 4

8 ( 10 ) RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS - Carpenters # 8

9 ( 7 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex # 1

10 ( 23 ) DON’T LET IT DIE - Hurricane Smith # 10

 

11 ( 6 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - The Jackson 5 # 1

12 ( 18 ) HEAVEN MUST HAVE SENT YOU - The Elgins # 12

13 ( 24 ) FLIM FLAM MAN - Barbra Streisand # 13

14 ( 12 ) WHAT’S GOING ON? - Marvin Gaye # 1

15 ( 8 ) TIRED OF BEING ALONE - Al Green # 6

16 ( 27 ) STOP LOOK LISTEN (TO YOUR HEART) - The Stylistics # 16

17 ( 14 ) ANOTHER DAY - Paul McCartney # 1

18 ( 11 ) GOTTA SEE JANE - R. Dean Taylor # 1

19 ( 42 ) BRING THE BOYS HOME - Freda Payne # 19

20 ( 13 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios # 7

 

21 ( 17 ) RAIN - Bruce Ruffin # 17

22 ( 15 ) SILVERY RAIN - Cliff Richard # 15

23 ( 16 ) IT DON’T COME EASY - Ringo Starr # 10

24 ( 19 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins # 7

25 ( 21 ) CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP - Middle Of The Road # 6

26 ( 20 ) ME AND YOU AND A DOG NAMED BOO - Lobo # 12

27 ( 30 ) IF YOU REALLY LOVE ME - Stevie Wonder featuring Syreeta Wright # 27

28 ( 26 ) IT’S TOO LATE - Carole King # 4

29 ( 22 ) MY LITTLE ONE - The Marmalade # 5

30 ( 37 ) I CRIED - James Brown # 30

 

31 ( 28 ) CASTLES IN THE AIR - Don McLean # 1

32 ( 34 ) FUNKY NASSAU - The Beginning Of The End # 32

33 ( 25 ) NEVER DREAMED YOU’D LEAVE IN SUMMER - Stevie Wonder # 5

34 ( 29 ) I AM...I SAID - Neil Diamond # 8

35 ( 35 ) NEVADA FIGHTER - Michael Nesmith # 35

36 ( 39 ) UN BANC, UN ARBRE, UNE RUE - Severine # 36

37 ( 32 ) (YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A) NATURAL WOMAN - Carole King # 5

38 ( 31 ) IF - Bread # 6

39 ( 57 ) OH YOU PRETTY THINGS - Peter Noone # 39

40 ( 43 ) DOUBLE LOVIN’ - The Osmonds # 40

 

41 ( 48 ) THOSE WORDS - Sandra & Andres # 41

42 ( 36 ) JUST MY IMAGINATION (RUNNING AWAY WITH ME) - The Temptations # 4

43 ( 40 ) FOR ALL WE KNOW - Carpenters # 2

44 ( 33 ) IF NOT FOR YOU - Olivia Newton-John # 13

45 ( 46 ) BE GOOD TO ME BABY - Luther Ingram # 45

46 ( 44 ) MY SWEET LORD - George Harrison # 1

47 ( 38 ) REACH OUT I’LL BE THERE - Diana Ross # 38

48 ( 63 ) WHEN YOU ARE A KING - White Plains # 48

49 ( 59 ) JIG-A-JIG - East Of Eden # 49

50 ( NEW ) DRAGGIN’ THE LINE - Tommy James # 50

 

51 ( 64 ) I DID WHAT I DID FOR MARIA - Tony Christie # 51

52 ( NEW ) HARLEM - Bill Withers # 52

53 ( 50 ) STONED LOVE - The Supremes # 1

54 ( 47 ) NICKEL SONG - The New Seekers featuring Eve Graham # 10

55 ( 67 ) YOU’RE A LADY - Gene Chandler # 55

56 ( 69 ) RAGS TO RICHES - Elvis Presley # 56

57 ( NEW ) MR. BIG STUFF - Jean Knight # 57

58 ( 66 ) EVERYBODY’S GOT TO CLAP - Lulu # 58

59 ( 65 ) BROWN SUGAR - The Rolling Stones # 59

60 ( 58 ) SAMBA PA TI - Santana # 1

 

61 ( 70 ) WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET - Stoney & Meatloaf # 61

62 ( 68 ) WILD HORSES - The Rolling Stones # 62

63 ( 60 ) LONELY DAYS - The Bee Gees # 1

64 ( 72 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - Isaac Hayes # 64

65 ( 71 ) DON’T PULL YOUR LOVE - Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds # 65

66 ( 41 ) CAN’T FIND THE TIME - Rose Colored Glass # 29

67 ( 74 ) GET TO THE COUNTRY - Labi Siffre # 67

68 ( 73 ) LAZYBONES - Jonathan King # 68

69 ( NEW ) YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND - James Taylor # 69

70 ( 45 ) THAT’S THE WAY I’VE ALWAYS HEARD IT SHOULD BE - Carly Simon # 32

 

71 ( NEW ) THINK ABOUT YOUR TROUBLES - Harry Nilsson # 71

72 ( 53 ) JACK IN THE BOX - Clodagh Rodgers # 19

73 ( 52 ) SO FAR AWAY - Carole King # 9

74 ( 75 ) HEY WILLY - The Hollies # 74

75 ( 49 ) TEDDY BEAR - Reggie Garner # 49

 

 

 

 

 

18th May 1971

 

It's back in tropical Singapore for me, 50 years ago, and I was loving the lazy tropical-sounding I Am.. I Said, giving Neil Diamond a second chart-topper inside 6 months - and never again for the next 50 years, despite popping in now and again. Elvis cropped up in a Top 10 chart rundown that I managed to record on my reel-to-reel, it had 2 Jackson 5 tracks, and Elvis in it, including this OTT slab of high 50's cheese, as Elvis tries to destroy Rags To Riches. I liked it though. Meanwhile in The UK Tony Christie was crooning a double-murder ballad which I didn;t get to hear till the end of the year Chart rundown, by which time he was already on a little ditty called Amarillo which didn't do nearly as well in the charts. Not for 35 years at any rate.

 

1 ( 8 ) I AM...I SAID - Neil Diamond

2 ( 1 ) MY LITTLE ONE - Marmalade

3 ( 2 ) DOESN’T SOMEBODY WANT TO BE WANTED - The Partridge Family

4 ( 6 ) I’LL GIVE YOU YOU THE EARTH - Keith Michell

5 ( 4 ) KNOCK THREE TIMES - Dawn

6 ( 3 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios

7 ( 10 ) MAMA’S PEARL - The Jackson 5

8 ( 5 ) INDIANA WANTS ME - R. Dean Taylor

9 ( 9 ) HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN? - Creedence Clearwater Revival

10 ( 7 ) SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW - The Fantastics

 

11 ( 11 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex

12 ( NEW ) RAGS TO RICHES - Elvis Presley

13 ( 13 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY - Andy Williams

14 ( 12 ) FUNNY FUNNY - The Sweet

15 ( 16 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins

16 ( 19 ) RAIN - Bruce Ruffin

17 ( 17 ) BRIDGET THE MIDGET - Ray Stevens

18 ( 20 ) HEAVEN MUST HAVE SENT YOU - The Elgins

19 ( NEW ) I DID WHAT I DID FOR MARIA - Tony Christie

20 ( 14 ) YOU COULD’VE BEEN A LADY - Hot Chocolate

Some amazing songs in there, so much of what followed was from the 60/70s. Didn’t realise Olivia Newton John was around this early!

 

Also great to see the Stylistics in there for the first time and Bill Wither ❤️

Some amazing songs in there, so much of what followed was from the 60/70s. Didn’t realise Olivia Newton John was around this early!

 

Also great to see the Stylistics in there for the first time and Bill Wither ❤️

 

Thanks Steve, yes luvverly Livvie was guesting on variety shows by 1971, mate of Cliff and all, and I saw her at the pictures that year in a 1970 sci-fi musical called Toomorrow - she was the lead singer of a band of that name that got captured by aliens in a flying saucer over swinging London. It was truly awful, but I went mad on it for a while cos of Olivia (everyone loved her), the songs were OK, and I like sci-fi alien psychedelia. I only got to see it cos the Forces had small cinemas on each camp (RAF Swinderby, now long-gone, in my case) showing films that had flopped, or like this one, been withdrawn after a week in London by the Director/Producer from shame. He refused to let it be shown anywhere until he died, so it's now on DVD and it's nearly a decade before Grease. But shhh Olivia doesn't like to mention it! :lol:

Yeh she’s a lovely looking woman even now in her 60s!

22nd May 1971

 

It's yet another new track straight in at 1 as the personal fave classics come thick and fast, this time reggae band Greyhound get the children's assembly song into the pop charts in the UK. It's a lovely sentiment, and it's one we had to sing at school later in 1971 when back in the UK, and it was always a total mess as the kids tried to sing the reggae version and the school did the dull piano version. I loved British band Greyhound (aka Freddie Notes & The Rudies), the lead singer really gave it some oomph vocally and in performance, including a great Top Of The Pops debut, and an amazing performance on youtube in Germany, where the band perform Black & White to a zombie zoned-out seated TV audience and the lad literally bursts his trouser zip open at the end manically trying to get some sort of response from the audience. Total legend! Oh, and another song Three Dog Night ruined in the US. Say what you like about Three Dog Night (please) but they were consistently bad throughout.

 

So, the surprise is the brilliant US chart-topper from Paul & Linda McCartney enters at 3, not on top (yet) as it's a huge fave of mine - I love Macca's Band On The Run-style mash-ups of different songs. Some hate them, but not me, Uncle Albert-Admiral halsey should have been the UK single, as Back Seat Of My Car (in at 42) was clearly not in the same league, though still good. Both tracks are taken from new-release Ram, the second album to get slagged off by the critics of the time from Macca, who was busy inventing Indie rockpop post-Beatles to their chagrin. Peter Noone climbs fast into the 20, Bill Withers into the 40, and other new entries:

 

Mungo Jerry get a 3rd chart entry with Lady Rose, I really loved the tune at the time - though I heard no more than once or twice till it cropped up on Radio One as an oldie. The Move make it 5 years in a row with Roy Wood's Tonight, one I didn't get to hear for a few years though, long after The Move had ceased to be, while Summer Sand is one track I got to hear precisely once just before we left Singapore. The US hit was the 3rd hit single for Dawn, and I got back to the UK expecting to hear it. Nah. The UK had gone for another single, so in this case I didn't get to hear it again till I bought the Greatest Hits album!

 

The Supremes & The Four Tops have a new album out and I've cherry-picked the UK hit single over the New Year into 1972, Gotta Have Love In Your Heart, which is OK but not up to previous glories for both acts. Gladys Knight keeps releasing the soul goodies, and keeps not getting big hits (Hello Buddah, Goodbye Motown beckons in 1972), The Maytals get a 3rd reggae charter, Medicine Head debut with a record I knew of and have never heard properly, seems nice enough. That leaves me with Susan Shirley debuting at 73 with a monster worldwide tune. OK, who? She did the ragtime original version of a song that would get new lyrics for a coke add and be recorded by the band sitting one place higher than Susan. I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing.

 

 

1 ( NEW ) BLACK AND WHITE - Greyhound # 1

2 ( 1 ) SUPERSTAR - Carpenters # 1

3 ( NEW ) UNCLE ALBERT/ADMIRAL HALSEY - Paul & Linda McCartney # 3

4 ( 2 ) I’M GONNA RUN AWAY FROM YOU - Tami Lynn # 1

5 ( 3 ) NATHAN JONES - The Supremes # 1

6 ( 6 ) THE BANNER MAN - Blue Mink # 6

7 ( 4 ) HE’S GONNA STEP ON YOU AGAIN - John Kongos # 4

8 ( 7 ) RIDERS OF THE STORM - The Doors # 4

9 ( 5 ) HERE COMES THAT RAINY DAY FEELING AGAIN - The Fortunes # 1

10 ( 10 ) DON’T LET IT DIE - Hurricane Smith # 10

 

11 ( 8 ) RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS - Carpenters # 8

12 ( 19 ) BRING THE BOYS HOME - Freda Payne # 12

13 ( 12 ) HEAVEN MUST HAVE SENT YOU - The Elgins # 12

14 ( 9 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex # 1

15 ( 13 ) FLIM FLAM MAN - Barbra Streisand # 13

16 ( 16 ) STOP LOOK LISTEN (TO YOUR HEART) - The Stylistics # 16

17 ( 11 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - The Jackson 5 # 1

18 ( 39 ) OH YOU PRETTY THINGS - Peter Noone # 18

19 ( 14 ) WHAT’S GOING ON? - Marvin Gaye # 1

20 ( 21 ) RAIN - Bruce Ruffin # 17

 

21 ( 17 ) ANOTHER DAY - Paul McCartney # 1

22 ( 15 ) TIRED OF BEING ALONE - Al Green # 6

23 ( 30 ) I CRIED - James Brown # 23

24 ( 27 ) IF YOU REALLY LOVE ME - Stevie Wonder featuring Syreeta Wright # 24

25 ( 36 ) UN BANC, UN ARBRE, UNE RUE - Severine # 25

26 ( 24 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins # 7

27 ( 20 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios # 7

28 ( 32 ) FUNKY NASSAU - The Beginning Of The End # 28

29 ( 25 ) CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP - Middle Of The Road # 6

30 ( 23 ) IT DON’T COME EASY - Ringo Starr # 10

 

31 ( 18 ) GOTTA SEE JANE - R. Dean Taylor # 1

32 ( 22 ) SILVERY RAIN - Cliff Richard # 15

33 ( 28 ) IT’S TOO LATE - Carole King # 4

34 ( 31 ) CASTLES IN THE AIR - Don McLean # 1

35 ( 29 ) MY LITTLE ONE - The Marmalade # 5

36 ( 52 ) HARLEM - Bill Withers # 36

37 ( 50 ) DRAGGIN’ THE LINE - Tommy James # 37

38 ( 26 ) ME AND YOU AND A DOG NAMED BOO - Lobo # 12

39 ( 45 ) BE GOOD TO ME BABY - Luther Ingram # 39

40 ( 51 ) I DID WHAT I DID FOR MARIA - Tony Christie # 40

 

41 ( 34 ) I AM...I SAID - Neil Diamond # 8

42 ( NEW ) THE BACK SEAT OF MY CAR - Paul & Linda McCartney # 42

43 ( 48 ) WHEN YOU ARE A KING - White Plains # 43

44 ( 33 ) NEVER DREAMED YOU’D LEAVE IN SUMMER - Stevie Wonder # 5

45 ( 37 ) (YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A) NATURAL WOMAN - Carole King # 5

46 ( 40 ) DOUBLE LOVIN’ - The Osmonds # 40

47 ( 49 ) JIG-A-JIG - East Of Eden # 47

48 ( 38 ) IF - Bread # 6

49 ( 46 ) MY SWEET LORD - George Harrison # 1

50 ( 42 ) JUST MY IMAGINATION (RUNNING AWAY WITH ME) - The Temptations # 4

 

51 ( 35 ) NEVADA FIGHTER - Michael Nesmith # 35

52 ( 55 ) YOU’RE A LADY - Gene Chandler # 52

53 ( 43 ) FOR ALL WE KNOW - Carpenters # 2

54 ( 57 ) MR. BIG STUFF - Jean Knight # 54

55 ( 56 ) RAGS TO RICHES - Elvis Presley # 55

56 ( 71 ) THINK ABOUT YOUR TROUBLES - Harry Nilsson # 56

57 ( 53 ) STONED LOVE - The Supremes # 1

58 ( 64 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - Isaac Hayes # 58

59 ( 61 ) WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET - Stoney & Meatloaf # 59

60 ( 67 ) GET TO THE COUNTRY - Labi Siffre # 60

 

61 ( 44 ) IF NOT FOR YOU - Olivia Newton-John # 13

62 ( NEW ) LADY ROSE - Mungo Jerry # 62

63 ( 60 ) SAMBA PA TI - Santana # 1

64 ( 41 ) THOSE WORDS - Sandra & Andres # 41

65 ( 68 ) LAZYBONES - Jonathan King # 65

66 ( 69 ) YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND - James Taylor # 66

67 ( NEW ) TONIGHT - The Move # 67

68 ( NEW ) SUMMER SAND - Dawn featuring Tony Orlando # 68

69 ( 74 ) HEY WILLY - The Hollies # 69

70 ( NEW ) YOU GOTTA HAVE LOVE IN YOUR HEART - The Supremes & The Four Tops # 70

 

71 ( NEW ) I DON’T WANT TO DO WRONG - Gladys Knight & The Pips # 71

72 ( 54 ) NICKEL SONG - The New Seekers featuring Eve Graham # 10

73 ( NEW ) TRUE LOVE AND APPLE PIE - Susan Shirley # 73

74 ( NEW ) (AND THE) PICTURES IN THE SKY - Medicine Head # 74

75 ( NEW ) 54-56 WAS MY NUMBER - Toots & The Maytals # 75

 

 

 

 

 

Wot I liked then 25th May 1971

 

It's another week on top for Neil Diamond as The Jackson 5 get second consecutive number 2 with Mama's Pearl, and Elvis having his highest charting track since The Wonder Of You as Rags To Riches gives OTT vibes at 6. Peter Noone, now an ex-Herman's Hermits, covers David Bowie's Oh You Pretty Things, in at 13, and Peter teaches Bowie an important lesson - don't tell personal family details (about his brother) to tattle-mouths, as Noone repeats it all to a journalist in Record Mirror. Lady Rose becomes the first Mungo Jerry track to make the radio airwaves in Singapore since In The Summertime, being somewhat more tuneful than Baby Jump, and Tami Lynn debuts with 1975 chart-topper, and former 1966 flop, I'm Gonna Run Away From You, terrific Northern Soul. Not quite as old, but still late to the UK party, The Delfonics fab Didn't I Blow Your Mind finally charts.

 

In the news of the day, Russians become the first nation to crash land a spacecraft on Mars. There will be many many more failures over the decades, showing landing on a planet with thin atmosphere and lots of slopes and boulders isn't as easy as it sounds. This week in movies, the fab Escape From The Planet Of The Apes, the third in the franchise, was released - though I wouldn't get to see it till it did the rounds of RAF Cinemas in the UK, late in 1971 early 1972. Still a powerful twist on the theme of the brilliant original. Roddy McDowell became a big fave actor as a result. In the UK The Two Ronnies were starting up their long run, while in the US the landmark The Ed Sullivan Show was about to gasp it's last 2 shows. I was viewing the latter 1970/71 shows, I wouldn't get to see the former until 1972.

 

 

1 ( 1 ) I AM...I SAID - Neil Diamond

2 ( 7 ) MAMA’S PEARL - The Jackson 5

3 ( 2 ) MY LITTLE ONE - Marmalade

4 ( 3 ) DOESN’T SOMEBODY WANT TO BE WANTED - The Partridge Family

5 ( 5 ) KNOCK THREE TIMES - Dawn

6 ( 12 ) RAGS TO RICHES - Elvis Presley

7 ( 6 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios

8 ( 4 ) I’LL GIVE YOU YOU THE EARTH - Keith Michell

9 ( NEW ) LADY ROSE - Mungo Jerry

10 ( 8 ) INDIANA WANTS ME - R. Dean Taylor

 

11 ( 9 ) HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN? - Creedence Clearwater Revival

12 ( 11 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex

13 ( NEW ) OH YOU PRETTY THINGS - Peter Noone

14 ( 13 ) (WHERE DO I BEGIN?) LOVE STORY - Andy Williams

15 ( 14 ) FUNNY FUNNY - The Sweet

16 ( 15 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins

17 ( NEW ) I’M GONNA RUN AWAY FROM YOU - Tami Lynn

18 ( 16 ) RAIN - Bruce Ruffin

19 ( 20 ) YOU COULD’VE BEEN A LADY - Hot Chocolate

20 ( NEW ) DIDN’T I BLOW YOUR MIND (THIS TIME) - The Delfonics

29th May 1971

 

It's a first week on top for Paul McCartney & missus, Paul's 2nd cfab hart-topper post-Beatles, as the chart undergoes a classics invasion thanks to a number of albums containing classic tracks coming out - notably Marvin Gaye's What's Going On which gives Mercy Mercy Me highest new entry at 2, some 20 years ahead of Robert Palmer's cover topping my charts, and also Inner City Blues sneaking in down the lower end. It's an all-time classic album, though, and the messages are still as relevant today as they were 50 years ago. That's quite the indictment of large sectors of the human race.

 

Also debuting, Bill Withers has his first album out at quite a mature age, as Ex-US-forces Bill modestly takes to the World soul music stage brilliantly, with Harlem climbing and cherry-picked class Ain't No Sunshine in at 3. I adore the song, Michael Jackson topped my 1972 charts with his epic version when I was 14, then Bill's 80's remix and an original version also did the same. In at 6, a song that topped the US charts (as did Macca's Uncle Albert) for The Bee Gees, not to mention a fab version by Al Green doing well - neither of them criminally ever a UK hit, I mean WTF! How Can You Mend A Broken Heart works as Country or Soul, either way it's brilliant.

 

In at 7 it's the Yamasukis. Who? Only the dad of one of Daft Punk, that's who, Daniel (Vangarde) Bangalter & his musical partner Jean Kluger, producing the Avante-garde experimental world-music creation for an album that had a single (yet to come) picked up by John Peel's Dandelion label and future Bananarama single. This track came out in 1971 in some territories, but was pushed in the UK in 1974 when it topped my charts, I adored the pseudo-Japanese style and kids chanting the hook. You may have heard of his other hits with Ottawan (D.I.S.C.O.) and Gibson Brothers (Cuba) and see the link with his son Thomas getting into the music biz with even more success. Anyways, Yamasuki is a fab record and they'll be back with another in 2 or 3 months.

 

At 9, the first record I bought when I got back from Singapore to the UK, my Auntie Ann (then 15) had bought it and I played it incessantly while we stayed with grandma and grandad for a week or 2, and then bought it as soon as I could afford to: The New Seekers group-choral version of Delaney & Bonnie's Never Ending Song Of Love. I loved it to bits, and still do, especially the Muppet-sounding whoops. Stomping, and out on the New Seekers new album. Another LP out? Rod Stewart has one, and it features a minor little couple fo tracks that will sneak out soon called to Reason To Believe, and a B side of Rod's called Maggie May. They got flipped, and Rod became a superstar, Maggie May wasn't my fave record when it was topping the UK charts in October/November, I mean I liked it but didn't love it. By 1976, and it's re-issue, I was very much having my opinion changed. It's great and in at a lowly 27 because everything is being pushed prematurely down with so many great new ones.

 

Like Bob & Marcia's fab reggae cover of Pied Piper, a kiddie 60's fave of mine from Crispian St Peters, only in at 33, The Sweet's Co-Co which I loved in 1971 sneaking in at 63, Olivia Newton-Johns's gentle cover of Laura Duncan's fab Love Song following where Elton John has already been (and Lesley will shortly go), a Bee Gees movie theme single that I'd missed from a couple of months back enters, very nice too, Middle Of The Road's B side pops in, cos I loved it then, The Delfonics are never far away from my chart, Over And Over, Lorraine Ellison debuts with a Northern Soul obscurity (her of the showstopping classic original version of Stay With Me Baby, which has to be heard to be believed), and finally I just found a Billboard reference to a song I've been searching for details on for 50 years: Man Of Many Faces was one I recorded off the radio in Singapore around about June, turns out it was a hit in Malaysia for Christie (we got their radio too, in Singapore), of Yellow River fame but I missed who they said it was and it's been a mystery to me until today! Better late than never.....

 

 

1 ( 3 ) UNCLE ALBERT/ADMIRAL HALSEY - Paul & Linda McCartney # 1

2 ( NEW ) MERCY MERCY ME (THE ECOLOGY) - Marvin Gaye # 2

3 ( NEW ) AIN’T NO SUNSHINE - Bill Withers # 3

4 ( 1 ) BLACK AND WHITE - Greyhound # 1

5 ( 2 ) SUPERSTAR - Carpenters # 1

6 ( NEW ) HOW CAN YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART - The Bee Gees # 6

7 ( NEW ) YAMASUKI - The Yamasukis # 7

8 ( 4 ) I’M GONNA RUN AWAY FROM YOU - Tami Lynn # 1

9 ( NEW ) NEVER ENDING SONG OF LOVE - The New Seekers # 9

10 ( 5 ) NATHAN JONES - The Supremes # 1

 

11 ( 6 ) THE BANNER MAN - Blue Mink # 6

12 ( 7 ) HE’S GONNA STEP ON YOU AGAIN - John Kongos # 4

13 ( 8 ) RIDERS OF THE STORM - The Doors # 4

14 ( 9 ) HERE COMES THAT RAINY DAY FEELING AGAIN - The Fortunes # 1

15 ( 12 ) BRING THE BOYS HOME - Freda Payne # 12

16 ( 10 ) DON’T LET IT DIE - Hurricane Smith # 10

17 ( 11 ) RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS - Carpenters # 8

18 ( 16 ) STOP LOOK LISTEN (TO YOUR HEART) - The Stylistics # 16

19 ( 13 ) HEAVEN MUST HAVE SENT YOU - The Elgins # 12

20 ( 14 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex # 1

 

21 ( 15 ) FLIM FLAM MAN - Barbra Streisand # 13

22 ( 17 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - The Jackson 5 # 1

23 ( 23 ) I CRIED - James Brown # 23

24 ( 19 ) WHAT’S GOING ON? - Marvin Gaye # 1

25 ( 21 ) ANOTHER DAY - Paul McCartney # 1

26 ( 18 ) OH YOU PRETTY THINGS - Peter Noone # 18

27 ( NEW ) MAGGIE MAY - Rod Stewart # 27

28 ( 36 ) HARLEM - Bill Withers # 28

29 ( 20 ) RAIN - Bruce Ruffin # 17

30 ( 42 ) THE BACK SEAT OF MY CAR - Paul & Linda McCartney # 30

 

31 ( 22 ) TIRED OF BEING ALONE - Al Green # 6

32 ( 26 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins # 7

33 ( NEW ) THE PIED PIPER - Bob & Marcia # 33

34 ( 28 ) FUNKY NASSAU - The Beginning Of The End # 28

35 ( 37 ) DRAGGIN’ THE LINE - Tommy James # 35

36 ( 24 ) IF YOU REALLY LOVE ME - Stevie Wonder featuring Syreeta Wright # 24

37 ( 33 ) IT’S TOO LATE - Carole King # 4

38 ( 27 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios # 7

39 ( 29 ) CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP - Middle Of The Road # 6

40 ( 56 ) THINK ABOUT YOUR TROUBLES - Harry Nilsson # 40

 

41 ( 34 ) CASTLES IN THE AIR - Don McLean # 1

42 ( 35 ) MY LITTLE ONE - The Marmalade # 5

43 ( 43 ) WHEN YOU ARE A KING - White Plains # 43

44 ( 25 ) UN BANC, UN ARBRE, UNE RUE - Severine # 25

45 ( 30 ) IT DON’T COME EASY - Ringo Starr # 10

46 ( 31 ) GOTTA SEE JANE - R. Dean Taylor # 1

47 ( 40 ) I DID WHAT I DID FOR MARIA - Tony Christie # 40

48 ( 54 ) MR. BIG STUFF - Jean Knight # 48

49 ( 38 ) ME AND YOU AND A DOG NAMED BOO - Lobo # 12

50 ( 52 ) YOU’RE A LADY - Gene Chandler # 50

 

51 ( 41 ) I AM...I SAID - Neil Diamond # 8

52 ( 39 ) BE GOOD TO ME BABY - Luther Ingram # 39

53 ( 49 ) MY SWEET LORD - George Harrison # 1

54 ( 32 ) SILVERY RAIN - Cliff Richard # 15

55 ( 60 ) GET TO THE COUNTRY - Labi Siffre # 55

56 ( 58 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - Isaac Hayes # 56

57 ( 62 ) LADY ROSE - Mungo Jerry # 57

58 ( 67 ) TONIGHT - The Move # 58

59 ( 45 ) (YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A) NATURAL WOMAN - Carole King # 5

60 ( 57 ) STONED LOVE - The Supremes # 1

 

61 ( 53 ) FOR ALL WE KNOW - Carpenters # 2

62 ( 66 ) YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND - James Taylor # 62

63 ( NEW ) CO-CO - The Sweet # 63

64 ( 70 ) YOU GOTTA HAVE LOVE IN YOUR HEART - The Supremes & The Four Tops # 64

65 ( 74 ) (AND THE) PICTURES IN THE SKY - Medicine Head # 65

66 ( 55 ) RAGS TO RICHES - Elvis Presley # 55

67 ( 71 ) I DON’T WANT TO DO WRONG - Gladys Knight & The Pips # 67

68 ( 68 ) SUMMER SAND - Dawn featuring Tony Orlando # 68

69 ( NEW ) LOVE SONG - Olivia Newton-John # 69

70 ( 75 ) 54-56 WAS MY NUMBER - Toots & The Maytals # 70

 

71 ( NEW ) MELODY FAIR - The Bee Gees # 71

72 ( NEW ) RAININ’ N’ PAININ’ - Middle Of The Road # 72

73 ( 73 ) TRUE LOVE AND APPLE PIE - Susan Shirley # 73

74 ( NEW ) INNER CITY BLUES (MAKE ME WANNA HOLLER) - Marvin Gaye # 74

75 ( NEW ) REASON TO BELIEVE - Rod Stewart # 75

76 ( NEW ) OVER AND OVER - The Delfonics # 76

77 ( NEW ) CALL ME ANYTIME YOU NEED SOME LOVIN’ - Lorraine Ellison # 77

78 ( NEW ) MAN OF MANY FACES - Christie # 78

79 ( 44 ) NEVER DREAMED YOU’D LEAVE IN SUMMER - Stevie Wonder # 5

80 ( NEW ) I DON’T BLAME YOU AT ALL - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles # 80

 

 

1st June 1971 My charts of the time

 

It's 3 weeks on top for Neil Diamond, with new tracks from Blue Mink and John Kongos which I loved a little later in the year, my charts from here on being a mix of stuff I loved in Singapore with increasing numbers of tracks that I associate with the UK. These charts were a compromise after the event listing of what I liked to fill in gaps until September/October when my weekly charts become actual recorded charts of what I liked (sometimes more than one in a week, so I've had to cherry-pick which one I consider "official") pretty much through to the present with the odd chart missed and rolled over due to life events, or I ran out of notepads to write them down on while moving house.

 

So as far as My LIfe back then, we now had exactly 3 months of the glorious tropical lifestyle left and I was trying to enjoy what was left of it, cos apart from missing the family in the UK, especially my grandma, and missing British food, & the music scene, I really wasn't that bothered about living on the equator (more or less). By now I was acclimated that on days when the temperature dropped into the 80's (F) I put a jumper on in the house. As I was now 13, my body was going through changes that all came as a bit of a surprise to me, we had no sex education classes in those days to tell you about hormones kicking in, so I had to make a lot of assumptions. Mum tried to explain the basics to me, but for the most part I just refused to talk about anything to anyone cos I was too embarrassed. For years!

 

 

1 ( 1 ) I AM...I SAID - Neil Diamond

2 ( 2 ) MAMA’S PEARL - The Jackson 5

3 ( 3 ) MY LITTLE ONE - Marmalade

4 ( 6 ) RAGS TO RICHES - Elvis Presley

5 ( 5 ) KNOCK THREE TIMES - Dawn

6 ( 4 ) DOESN’T SOMEBODY WANT TO BE WANTED - The Partridge Family

7 ( 13 ) OH YOU PRETTY THINGS - Peter Noone

8 ( 9 ) LADY ROSE - Mungo Jerry

9 ( 7 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios

10 ( 17 ) I’M GONNA RUN AWAY FROM YOU - Tami Lynn

 

11 ( 8 ) I’LL GIVE YOU YOU THE EARTH - Keith Michell

12 ( NEW ) THE BANNER MAN - Blue Mink

13 ( 10 ) INDIANA WANTS ME - R. Dean Taylor

14 ( NEW ) HE’S GONNA STEP ON YOU AGAIN - John Kongos

15 ( 16 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins

16 ( RE ) SUGAR SUGAR - Sakkarin

17 ( 19 ) YOU COULD’VE BEEN A LADY - Hot Chocolate

18 ( 20 ) DIDN’T I BLOW YOUR MIND (THIS TIME) - The Delfonics

19 ( RE ) IT DON’T COME EASY - Ringo Starr

20 ( NEW ) BROWN SUGAR - The Rolling Stones

5th June 1971

 

It's a second chart-topper of 1971 for Marvin Gaye, and his 3rd in total, as Mercy Mercy Me tops the chart 20 years ahead of Robert Palmer's cover/mash-up doing the same. That keeps off fellow soul-classic Ain't No Sunshine from the top spot, Bill Withers up to 2. There are only 6 new entries this week but 3 of them are major faves in line with the upper-end invasion of the last few weeks (the entire top 11 have topped my charts, either in this retro rundown or original personal charts), this time First Nation/Native American band Redbone return with their classic swamp rock Witch Queen Of New Orleans a huge UK hit, not so big in the USA for some bizarre reason. Redbone, though had a huge US no. 1 hit in 1974 with Come And Get Your Love - these better days as that fab track off Guardians Of The Galaxy that keeps selling and popping into the sales charts - which floped in the UK (but I charted). Both are fab.

 

In at 20, back with a cover of Joe South's Birds Of A Feather soon to be taken off their new album, it's The Raiders (no more Paul Revere!) and this chugging bubblegum-ish pop track I heard once in late December/early January 1972 on Lift With Ayshea, the kids TV weekly music show that often featured non-radio, non-chart stuff. I went mad on it instantly, charted it in my personal charts - and then had to wait until 1973 to hear it again after finding a copy of it in a department store in Lincoln when I had 50p on me to spare to buy it. That sounds cheap these days, but that was ten shillings in old money - which was a lot! I could buy 10 new DC comics for that. Or 16 bags of crisps. You had to LOVE records to buy them cos kids didn't have that sort of cash every week if you wanted to go the cinema, or buy other stuff.

 

In at 37, Nancy & Lee are back with a naughty Country cover, tongue in cheek and suggestive, it's great fun - Did You Ever? ALL the time! It's also their first chart activity in 3 years, and an 8th entry including 2 chart-toppers, Nancy has another solo chart-topper in these retro charts, and another 10 solo, plus one with daddy Frank, or her 19th in total. Lee has 10 in total. At 49, Cat Stevens drops his new hit album, and the soon-single Moonshadow debuts for a 6th since Matthew And Son topped my retro charts in 1967. That leaves 2 sneaking in at the lower-end, Faith, Hope & Charity's Come Back & Finish What You A Started, one I didn't know at the time, but the girls would chart for me in 1976, and the song in 1978 for Gladys Knight's more disco version of the soul track. Finally Archie Bell & The Drells add another to the growing tally. Another new to me, but I generally like their stuff when I hear it, not least 1969 chart-topper Here I Go Again.

 

 

1 ( 2 ) MERCY MERCY ME (THE ECOLOGY) - Marvin Gaye # 1

2 ( 3 ) AIN’T NO SUNSHINE - Bill Withers # 2

3 ( 1 ) UNCLE ALBERT/ADMIRAL HALSEY - Paul & Linda McCartney # 1

4 ( 6 ) HOW CAN YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART - The Bee Gees # 4

5 ( 4 ) BLACK AND WHITE - Greyhound # 1

6 ( 7 ) YAMASUKI - The Yamasukis # 6

7 ( 5 ) SUPERSTAR - Carpenters # 1

8 ( 9 ) NEVER ENDING SONG OF LOVE - The New Seekers # 8

9 ( 8 ) I’M GONNA RUN AWAY FROM YOU - Tami Lynn # 1

10 ( NEW ) THE WITCH QUEEN OF NEW ORLEANS - Redbone # 10

 

11 ( 10 ) NATHAN JONES - The Supremes # 1

12 ( 11 ) THE BANNER MAN - Blue Mink # 6

13 ( 12 ) HE’S GONNA STEP ON YOU AGAIN - John Kongos # 4

14 ( 14 ) HERE COMES THAT RAINY DAY FEELING AGAIN - The Fortunes # 1

15 ( 13 ) RIDERS OF THE STORM - The Doors # 4

16 ( 27 ) MAGGIE MAY - Rod Stewart # 16

17 ( 26 ) OH YOU PRETTY THINGS - Peter Noone # 17

18 ( 15 ) BRING THE BOYS HOME - Freda Payne # 12

19 ( 16 ) DON’T LET IT DIE - Hurricane Smith # 10

20 ( NEW ) BIRDS OF A FEATHER - The Raiders # 20

 

21 ( 17 ) RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS - Carpenters # 8

22 ( 18 ) STOP LOOK LISTEN (TO YOUR HEART) - The Stylistics # 16

23 ( 28 ) HARLEM - Bill Withers # 23

24 ( 20 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex # 1

25 ( 21 ) FLIM FLAM MAN - Barbra Streisand # 13

26 ( 19 ) HEAVEN MUST HAVE SENT YOU - The Elgins # 12

27 ( 30 ) THE BACK SEAT OF MY CAR - Paul & Linda McCartney # 27

28 ( 24 ) WHAT’S GOING ON? - Marvin Gaye # 1

29 ( 22 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - The Jackson 5 # 1

30 ( 25 ) ANOTHER DAY - Paul McCartney # 1

 

31 ( 33 ) THE PIED PIPER - Bob & Marcia # 31

32 ( 23 ) I CRIED - James Brown # 23

33 ( 35 ) DRAGGIN’ THE LINE - Tommy James # 33

34 ( 29 ) RAIN - Bruce Ruffin # 17

35 ( 40 ) THINK ABOUT YOUR TROUBLES - Harry Nilsson # 35

36 ( 69 ) LOVE SONG - Olivia Newton-John # 36

37 ( NEW ) DID YOU EVER? - Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood # 37

38 ( 32 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins # 7

39 ( 43 ) WHEN YOU ARE A KING - White Plains # 39

40 ( 48 ) MR. BIG STUFF - Jean Knight # 40

 

41 ( 31 ) TIRED OF BEING ALONE - Al Green # 6

42 ( 37 ) IT’S TOO LATE - Carole King # 4

43 ( 34 ) FUNKY NASSAU - The Beginning Of The End # 28

44 ( 38 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios # 7

45 ( 39 ) CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP - Middle Of The Road # 6

46 ( 41 ) CASTLES IN THE AIR - Don McLean # 1

47 ( 58 ) TONIGHT - The Move # 47

48 ( 42 ) MY LITTLE ONE - The Marmalade # 5

49 ( NEW ) MOONSHADOW - Cat Stevens # 49

50 ( 57 ) LADY ROSE - Mungo Jerry # 50

 

51 ( 55 ) GET TO THE COUNTRY - Labi Siffre # 51

52 ( 36 ) IF YOU REALLY LOVE ME - Stevie Wonder featuring Syreeta Wright # 24

53 ( 56 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - Isaac Hayes # 53

54 ( 53 ) MY SWEET LORD - George Harrison # 1

55 ( 51 ) I AM...I SAID - Neil Diamond # 8

56 ( 63 ) CO-CO - The Sweet # 56

57 ( 71 ) MELODY FAIR - The Bee Gees # 57

58 ( 72 ) RAININ’ N’ PAININ’ - Middle Of The Road # 58

59 ( 62 ) YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND - James Taylor # 59

60 ( 64 ) YOU GOTTA HAVE LOVE IN YOUR HEART - The Supremes & The Four Tops # 60

 

61 ( 46 ) GOTTA SEE JANE - R. Dean Taylor # 1

62 ( 50 ) YOU’RE A LADY - Gene Chandler # 50

63 ( 65 ) (AND THE) PICTURES IN THE SKY - Medicine Head # 63

64 ( 60 ) STONED LOVE - The Supremes # 1

65 ( 44 ) UN BANC, UN ARBRE, UNE RUE - Severine # 25

66 ( 45 ) IT DON’T COME EASY - Ringo Starr # 10

67 ( 68 ) SUMMER SAND - Dawn featuring Tony Orlando # 67

68 ( 67 ) I DON’T WANT TO DO WRONG - Gladys Knight & The Pips # 67

69 ( 70 ) 54-56 WAS MY NUMBER - Toots & The Maytals # 69

70 ( 74 ) INNER CITY BLUES (MAKE ME WANNA HOLLER) - Marvin Gaye # 70

 

71 ( 49 ) ME AND YOU AND A DOG NAMED BOO - Lobo # 12

72 ( 61 ) FOR ALL WE KNOW - Carpenters # 2

73 ( 73 ) TRUE LOVE AND APPLE PIE - Susan Shirley # 73

74 ( 75 ) REASON TO BELIEVE - Rod Stewart # 74

75 ( 59 ) (YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A) NATURAL WOMAN - Carole King # 5

76 ( 76 ) OVER AND OVER - The Delfonics # 76

77 ( 77 ) CALL ME ANYTIME YOU NEED SOME LOVIN’ - Lorraine Ellison # 77

78 ( 78 ) MAN OF MANY FACES - Christie # 78

79 ( NEW ) COME BACK AND FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED - Faith, Hope & Charity # 79

80 ( NEW ) I JUST WANT TO FALL IN LOVE - Archie Bell & The Drells # 80

 

 

 

 

8th June 1971 Wot I Liked Then

 

It's straight in at 1 for my new obsession - Scottish band Middle Of The Road's cover of Lally Stott's Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep. A kid in the 2nd year at RAF Changi Grammar brought a new-fangled cassette recorder into school, they were catching on as a great way of recording music you love off the radio or friend's record collections. My reel-to-reel was far too heavy and cumbersome to cart anywhere, but these were light and portable. Anway, in the boys changing room after Games, he was showing off his music to everyone and on came this bubblegum track. Instantly catchy, in your head forever after one play, and sounding like nothing else, largely due to hot-pants-wearing boys' fave Sally Carr's unusual vocals. By the time I could get to a record shop to buy it, our record player and everything had been packed up to ship out by cargo ship back to the UK, school had ended - quite literally they were giving away Library books and everything as the Troops prepared to pull out of Singapore, and Teachers were headed home to the UK. So it had to travel in the hand luggage along with a few DC Comics I'd also bought on board the VC-10. I was worried it would break, but it got back OK and I finally got to play it on my grandad and grandma's radiogram-record player. This was late Mid/late September - and my Auntie Ann (15 years old) had it as well!

 

 

1 ( NEW ) CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP - Middle Of The Road

2 ( 1 ) I AM...I SAID - Neil Diamond

3 ( 2 ) MAMA’S PEARL - The Jackson 5

4 ( 10 ) I’M GONNA RUN AWAY FROM YOU - Tami Lynn

5 ( 3 ) MY LITTLE ONE - Marmalade

6 ( 8 ) LADY ROSE - Mungo Jerry

7 ( 4 ) RAGS TO RICHES - Elvis Presley

8 ( 5 ) KNOCK THREE TIMES - Dawn

9 ( 12 ) THE BANNER MAN - Blue Mink

10 ( 6 ) DOESN’T SOMEBODY WANT TO BE WANTED - The Partridge Family

 

11 ( 9 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios

12 ( 14 ) HE’S GONNA STEP ON YOU AGAIN - John Kongos

13 ( 7 ) OH YOU PRETTY THINGS - Peter Noone

14 ( 11 ) I’LL GIVE YOU YOU THE EARTH - Keith Michell

15 ( 13 ) INDIANA WANTS ME - R. Dean Taylor

16 ( 15 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins

17 ( 17 ) YOU COULD’VE BEEN A LADY - Hot Chocolate

18 ( 16 ) SUGAR SUGAR - Sakkarin

19 ( NEW ) JUST MY IMAGINATION (RUNNING AWAY WITH ME) - The Temptations

20 ( 19 ) IT DON’T COME EASY - Ringo Starr

12th June 1971

 

It's a first week on top for Bill Withers' brilliant Ain't No Sunshine, as Harlem also goes top 20, and Rod Stewart gets a second top 10, following on from In A Broken Dream, the Python Lee Jackson debut from 6 months earlier, Maggie May about to start it's world-domination any week now, as soon as US DJ's flip over Reason To Believe to the B side. Highest new entry is the chart prog-rock of Dutch band Curved Air, Sonja Kristina being a bit of schoolboy pin-up, I found when I started school in the UK in September/October. Me, I instantly liked Back Street Luv, but didn't get to tape it off the radio - it had dropped out the charts by the time my reel-to-reel recorder arrived from Singapore. I have the vinyl single now, though, took about ooh 10 or 15 years to get hold of a copy.

 

In at 56, one of the final 2 Singapore-era tracks to make these charts - after this week every new entry will post-Singapore, even if we didn't leave the island until September 1st - and it's actor-singer-dancer Peter Gordeno, who starred in the Gerry Anderson fab live-action sci-fi series U.F.O. as a pilot for the first few episodes. Here It Comes was played on the radio, we taped it, and I still have very fond memories of loving it, even if it's utterly obscure in the UK. It's a sort of pop showtune, not unlike Tony Christie, and is not available anywhere, has not been available to listen to anywhere for 50 years (except on my tape)...until recently some kind soul popped a copy on Youtube, for which I'm grateful! The other Singapore track is in at the bottom end, it's a Mandarin cover version of Knock Three Times, which my dad heard on Changi market record stall, it tickled him, he bought it, and the band (The Travellers) were based in Singapore and had quite a list of 3 or 4-track EP's released on the Sina label, based in Singapore. I like to think we were 40 years ahead of K-Pop.....but you will never find it anywhere to listen to unless I decide to post it on Youtube for a laugh, assuming I can work how to make some visuals to do it.

 

Other newies: The Four Tops get a second on the list; Michael Nesmith gets solo number 4, and both acts were charting first in these retro charts when I started up with Jan 1967. Mac & Katie Kissoon debut with their version of Chirpy Cheep Cheep Cheep, a US hit - one I remember not being too fussed about when I got to hear it in early 1972, either on Lift Off With Ayshea, or Dave Cash Music Box, both kids shows featuring pop music. I became more fond of them in 1975 though, and saw Katie in later years as a backing singer to the big stars after the hits dried up. Mac had a striking voice though, Katie's was sweeter. Finally, Julie Felix returns with one I don;t know, but sounds nice, and The Chi-Lites re-use their own horn/rhythm section (pretty much) from the future Beyonce Crazy In Love monster hit 32 years before she & Jay-Z thought of doing the same.

 

 

1 ( 2 ) AIN’T NO SUNSHINE - Bill Withers # 1

2 ( 1 ) MERCY MERCY ME (THE ECOLOGY) - Marvin Gaye # 1

3 ( 4 ) HOW CAN YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART - The Bee Gees # 3

4 ( 3 ) UNCLE ALBERT/ADMIRAL HALSEY - Paul & Linda McCartney # 1

5 ( 6 ) YAMASUKI - The Yamasukis # 5

6 ( 5 ) BLACK AND WHITE - Greyhound # 1

7 ( 10 ) THE WITCH QUEEN OF NEW ORLEANS - Redbone # 7

8 ( 8 ) NEVER ENDING SONG OF LOVE - The New Seekers # 8

9 ( 7 ) SUPERSTAR - Carpenters # 1

10 ( 16 ) MAGGIE MAY - Rod Stewart # 10

 

11 ( 9 ) I’M GONNA RUN AWAY FROM YOU - Tami Lynn # 1

12 ( 11 ) NATHAN JONES - The Supremes # 1

13 ( 12 ) THE BANNER MAN - Blue Mink # 6

14 ( 13 ) HE’S GONNA STEP ON YOU AGAIN - John Kongos # 4

15 ( 20 ) BIRDS OF A FEATHER - The Raiders # 15

16 ( 14 ) HERE COMES THAT RAINY DAY FEELING AGAIN - The Fortunes # 1

17 ( 15 ) RIDERS OF THE STORM - The Doors # 4

18 ( 18 ) BRING THE BOYS HOME - Freda Payne # 12

19 ( 27 ) THE BACK SEAT OF MY CAR - Paul & Linda McCartney # 19

20 ( 23 ) HARLEM - Bill Withers # 20

 

21 ( 19 ) DON’T LET IT DIE - Hurricane Smith # 10

22 ( 17 ) OH YOU PRETTY THINGS - Peter Noone # 17

23 ( 37 ) DID YOU EVER? - Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood # 23

24 ( 31 ) THE PIED PIPER - Bob & Marcia # 24

25 ( 24 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex # 1

26 ( 21 ) RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS - Carpenters # 8

27 ( 22 ) STOP LOOK LISTEN (TO YOUR HEART) - The Stylistics # 16

28 ( 36 ) LOVE SONG - Olivia Newton-John # 28

29 ( 33 ) DRAGGIN’ THE LINE - Tommy James # 29

30 ( 35 ) THINK ABOUT YOUR TROUBLES - Harry Nilsson # 30

 

31 ( 25 ) FLIM FLAM MAN - Barbra Streisand # 13

32 ( 28 ) WHAT’S GOING ON? - Marvin Gaye # 1

33 ( 30 ) ANOTHER DAY - Paul McCartney # 1

34 ( 56 ) CO-CO - The Sweet # 34

35 ( 29 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - The Jackson 5 # 1

36 ( NEW ) BACK STREET LUV - Curved Air # 36

37 ( 49 ) MOONSHADOW - Cat Stevens # 37

38 ( 47 ) TONIGHT - The Move # 38

39 ( 57 ) MELODY FAIR - The Bee Gees # 39

40 ( 40 ) MR. BIG STUFF - Jean Knight # 40

 

41 ( 26 ) HEAVEN MUST HAVE SENT YOU - The Elgins # 12

42 ( 38 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansell Collins # 7

43 ( 32 ) I CRIED - James Brown # 23

44 ( 34 ) RAIN - Bruce Ruffin # 17

45 ( 50 ) LADY ROSE - Mungo Jerry # 45

46 ( 39 ) WHEN YOU ARE A KING - White Plains # 39

47 ( 42 ) IT’S TOO LATE - Carole King # 4

48 ( 58 ) RAININ’ N’ PAININ’ - Middle Of The Road # 48

49 ( 46 ) CASTLES IN THE AIR - Don McLean # 1

50 ( 44 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios # 7

 

51 ( 41 ) TIRED OF BEING ALONE - Al Green # 6

52 ( 45 ) CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP - Middle Of The Road # 6

53 ( 48 ) MY LITTLE ONE - The Marmalade # 5

54 ( 60 ) YOU GOTTA HAVE LOVE IN YOUR HEART - The Supremes & The Four Tops # 54

55 ( 59 ) YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND - James Taylor # 55

56 ( NEW ) HERE IT COMES - Peter Gordeno # 56

57 ( 54 ) MY SWEET LORD - George Harrison # 1

58 ( 63 ) (AND THE) PICTURES IN THE SKY - Medicine Head # 58

59 ( 55 ) I AM...I SAID - Neil Diamond # 8

60 ( 67 ) SUMMER SAND - Dawn featuring Tony Orlando # 60

 

61 ( 70 ) INNER CITY BLUES (MAKE ME WANNA HOLLER) - Marvin Gaye # 61

62 ( 68 ) I DON’T WANT TO DO WRONG - Gladys Knight & The Pips # 62

63 ( 77 ) CALL ME ANYTIME YOU NEED SOME LOVIN’ - Lorraine Ellison # 63

64 ( 43 ) FUNKY NASSAU - The Beginning Of The End # 28

65 ( 53 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - Isaac Hayes # 53

66 ( 64 ) STONED LOVE - The Supremes # 1

67 ( 76 ) OVER AND OVER - The Delfonics # 67

68 ( 79 ) COME BACK AND FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED - Faith, Hope & Charity # 68

69 ( 69 ) 54-56 WAS MY NUMBER - Toots & The Maytals # 69

70 ( 51 ) GET TO THE COUNTRY - Labi Siffre # 51

 

71 ( 74 ) REASON TO BELIEVE - Rod Stewart # 71

72 ( NEW ) IN THESE CHANGING TIMES - The Four Tops # 72

73 ( 78 ) MAN OF MANY FACES - Christie # 73

74 ( NEW ) CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP - Mac & Katie Kissoon # 74

75 ( 80 ) I JUST WANT TO FALL IN LOVE - Archie Bell & The Drells # 75

76 ( NEW ) SMILING FACE SOMETIMES - The Undisputed Truth # 76

77 ( NEW ) MOONLIGHT - Julie Felix # 77

78 ( NEW ) WE ARE NEIGHBOURS - The Chi-Lites # 78

79 ( NEW ) TEXAS MORNING - Michael Nesmith # 79

80 ( NEW ) KNOCK THREE TIMES - The Travellers # 80

 

 

 

15th June 1971

 

It's 2 weeks on top for Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep, and I'll prepare everyone for a long run on top for Middle Of The Road, as I was obsessed with this catchy little ditty 50 years ago. I was 13, and that's my excuse - assuming I need an excuse for liking such a huge worldwide hit, albeit one not played much these days. Blue Mink get a top 5, John Kongos a top 10, and they'll both be back in the top 10 at least one more time, but not many more times. New entries from the other-worldly vocals of Norman Smith, former Beatles/Pink Floyd sound engineer, and his very old-fashioned (but tuneful) ballad Don't Let It Die and The Sweet's 2nd entry with the Caribbean-flavoured Co-Co, as writer-producers Chinn-Chapman start to get into their pop-dominating stride for the next 6 or 7 years. Bob & Marcia return with reggae cover of a childhood fave tune of mine The Pied Piper, almost as good as Crispian St Peter's version.

 

Possibly my fave TV show at the time, at least sit-com-wise, was Green Acres, being re-run on Singapore/Malaysia TV (I forget which, we had quite a few channels from both countries, certainly more than the UK had at that time - 3!). I watched the first episode of season 4 last night, having finally got the complete DVD series. That's only taken me 50 years waiting, and definitely worth it. It has a wacky period charm, but it was never based remotely in reality, it was pure fantasy (a rich New York couple buy a ramshackle farm in rural America where everyone lives in their own reality, oblivious of the real world, with ambitions to farm away from the rat race and live off the land - despite having no knowledge, equipment or basic services), and the show was a huge inspiration for Matt "Simpsons" Groening, jam-packed with zany, bizarre characters. The rock of sanity is Eddie Arnold, and the lunacy eventually infects his wife, the wonderful Hungarian Eva Gabor as Lisa, who started off hating the Countryside but who fit into the madness better than her still-sane husband: Lisa, in last night's episode noticed the sign saying "2 weeks later" which cut to a scene 2 weeks later as husband Oliver is on the settee, he of course thinking she was insane as she discussed it as words suddenly appeared in real life. Breaking the 4th wall was regular. My fave character at the time was Arnold, the TV-watching super-smart pig who everyone treated like a person, the runaway star of the show was a pig! My fave character now is Hank Kimball the County Agent who pops round and forgets immediately why he's arrived, and everything else. His memory span is about 5 seconds and his rambling diversions beat Ronnie Corbett's by 8 years or so. Still fab, still quirky, still ahead of it's time.

 

 

1 ( 1 ) CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP - Middle Of The Road

2 ( 2 ) I AM...I SAID - Neil Diamond

3 ( 6 ) LADY ROSE - Mungo Jerry

4 ( 9 ) THE BANNER MAN - Blue Mink

5 ( 5 ) MY LITTLE ONE - Marmalade

6 ( 12 ) HE’S GONNA STEP ON YOU AGAIN - John Kongos

7 ( 3 ) MAMA’S PEARL - The Jackson 5

8 ( 4 ) I’M GONNA RUN AWAY FROM YOU - Tami Lynn

9 ( 8 ) KNOCK THREE TIMES - Dawn

10 ( 7 ) RAGS TO RICHES - Elvis Presley

 

11 ( 10 ) DOESN’T SOMEBODY WANT TO BE WANTED - The Partridge Family

12 ( 11 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios

13 ( NEW ) DON’T LET IT DIE - Hurricane Smith

14 ( NEW ) CO-CO - The Sweet

15 ( 14 ) I’LL GIVE YOU YOU THE EARTH - Keith Michell

16 ( 15 ) INDIANA WANTS ME - R. Dean Taylor

17 ( 13 ) OH YOU PRETTY THINGS - Peter Noone

18 ( NEW ) THE PIED PIPER - Bob & Marcia

19 ( 19 ) JUST MY IMAGINATION (RUNNING AWAY WITH ME) - The Temptations

20 ( 20 ) IT DON’T COME EASY - Ringo Starr

19th June 1971 Retro Charts

 

It's a first week on top for the US chart-topper How Can I Mend A Broken Heart, as the entire top 4 this week flop in the UK, and the rest of the top 10, bar Rod, flop in the USA. Talk about diverging music scenes, though to be fair 2 of them flopped everywhere except with me. That gives The Bee Gees a 6th retro chart number one. The Raiders get a first (and last) top 10 with the Joe South song. Highest new entry, courtesy of the Italian charts who are a few months ahead of the UK with Middle Of The Road, is Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum, the first single I bought (along with The New Seekers track above it) in the UK in mid-September, another one I was mad on at the time. It's still sweet, with it's Scottish-themed story song, but isn't exactly well-known these days. The B side Give It Time also debuts.

 

New at 24, Dave, and Ansel Collins, both get a 2nd chart entry as Monkey Spanner pops in - the first track of theirs I knew, as my friend at RAF Swinderby (Graham) had the single, so I got him to play it every time I went round and got it for Xmas. Fun reggae. Graham had been a friend back in 1969 when we lived there before, though we went to different schools. I ended up going to the same school this time-round, in his class, and as I immediately was taken for a geek because I had no idea cool kids didn't button up their jackets (we didn't have jackets in Singapore!) that was pretty much the end of the friendship in dribs and drabs as he didn't want to be associated with a loser. Kids are dicks. Trouble is a lot of people never grow out of it....

 

Some albums out this week from Joni Mitchell (the classic Blue) brings in This Flight Tonight 2 years before Nazereth do a great hit version, the lovely Carey, and future Ellie Goulding UK chart-topper doing her best to ruin Christmas, River. Spotlight-avoiding Lesley Duncan gets her debut album out with her own version of Love Song following Elton John and Olivia Newton-John's versions into the chart, and also bringing in the fab Sing Children Sing, also well-known at the time but never a hit. Lesley sort of retired to a Scottish island and left the Biz forever after the 70's. She did a 1979 charity ensemble version of Sing Children Sing, featuring volunteers like Kate Bush, and even that wasn't a hit. Outrageous!

 

The Willy Wonka (aka Charlie & The Chocolate Factory these days) movie was out, and the soundtrack album also dropped so a couple of Anthony Newly songs from the soundtrack debut, The candy man ahead of Sammy Davis Jr's big 1972 US smash version. Gene Wilder had already been in Me Brooks' The Producers, and would get cinema immortality in Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein in 1973 and 74, 2 of my all-time fave movies. Ronnie Dyson covers The Delfonics for future UK hit When You Get Right Down To It, still a goodie, Slade get a 2nd chart entry, the skinhead stomping Get Down & Get With It, but the image was on the way out and Glam on the way in.

 

Three Dog Night actually do a decent cover, shock news! Never heard Liar before, but it's a Russ Ballard song (then of Argent) which tend to be fairly indestructible, and sure enough I'd say it's their best record on one listen, with a good vocal. Never thought I'd say that! Quo enter with an obscure flop I've never heard in my life, certainly never on their Hits compilations, so a 5th to date, and Jim Reeves is selling again in the Uk charts with early 60's golden oldie I Love You Because. Jim was big in our household growing up.

 

 

1 ( 3 ) HOW CAN YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART - The Bee Gees # 1

2 ( 1 ) AIN’T NO SUNSHINE - Bill Withers # 1

3 ( 2 ) MERCY MERCY ME (THE ECOLOGY) - Marvin Gaye # 1

4 ( 4 ) UNCLE ALBERT/ADMIRAL HALSEY - Paul & Linda McCartney # 1

5 ( 7 ) THE WITCH QUEEN OF NEW ORLEANS - Redbone # 5

6 ( 10 ) MAGGIE MAY - Rod Stewart # 6

7 ( 5 ) YAMASUKI - The Yamasukis # 5

8 ( 6 ) BLACK AND WHITE - Greyhound # 1

9 ( 8 ) NEVER ENDING SONG OF LOVE - The New Seekers # 8

10 ( 15 ) BIRDS OF A FEATHER - The Raiders # 10

 

11 ( 9 ) SUPERSTAR - Carpenters # 1

12 ( 11 ) I’M GONNA RUN AWAY FROM YOU - Tami Lynn # 1

13 ( 12 ) NATHAN JONES - The Supremes # 1

14 ( 13 ) THE BANNER MAN - Blue Mink # 6

15 ( 14 ) HE’S GONNA STEP ON YOU AGAIN - John Kongos # 4

16 ( 19 ) THE BACK SEAT OF MY CAR - Paul & Linda McCartney # 16

17 ( 16 ) HERE COMES THAT RAINY DAY FEELING AGAIN - The Fortunes # 1

18 ( 18 ) BRING THE BOYS HOME - Freda Payne # 12

19 ( 24 ) THE PIED PIPER - Bob & Marcia # 19

20 ( 23 ) DID YOU EVER? - Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood # 20

 

21 ( NEW ) TWEEDLE DEE TWEEDLE DUM - Middle Of The Road # 21

22 ( 28 ) LOVE SONG - Olivia Newton-John # 22

23 ( 34 ) CO-CO - The Sweet # 23

24 ( NEW ) MONKEY SPANNER - Dave & Ansel Collins # 24

25 ( 21 ) DON’T LET IT DIE - Hurricane Smith # 10

26 ( 17 ) RIDERS OF THE STORM - The Doors # 4

27 ( 36 ) BACK STREET LUV - Curved Air # 27

28 ( 25 ) HOT LOVE - T.Rex # 1

29 ( 39 ) MELODY FAIR - The Bee Gees # 29

30 ( 38 ) TONIGHT - The Move # 30

 

31 ( 22 ) OH YOU PRETTY THINGS - Peter Noone # 17

32 ( 26 ) RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS - Carpenters # 8

33 ( 37 ) MOONSHADOW - Cat Stevens # 33

34 ( 20 ) HARLEM - Bill Withers # 20

35 ( 32 ) WHAT’S GOING ON? - Marvin Gaye # 1

36 ( 33 ) ANOTHER DAY - Paul McCartney # 1

37 ( 27 ) STOP LOOK LISTEN (TO YOUR HEART) - The Stylistics # 16

38 ( 30 ) THINK ABOUT YOUR TROUBLES - Harry Nilsson # 30

39 ( 45 ) LADY ROSE - Mungo Jerry # 39

40 ( 48 ) RAININ’ N’ PAININ’ - Middle Of The Road # 40

 

41 ( 35 ) NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - The Jackson 5 # 1

42 ( 31 ) FLIM FLAM MAN - Barbra Streisand # 13

43 ( 29 ) DRAGGIN’ THE LINE - Tommy James # 29

44 ( 42 ) DOUBLE BARREL - Dave & Ansel Collins # 7

45 ( NEW ) LOVE SONG - Lesley Duncan # 45

46 ( 55 ) YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND - James Taylor # 46

47 ( 40 ) MR. BIG STUFF - Jean Knight # 40

48 ( 61 ) INNER CITY BLUES (MAKE ME WANNA HOLLER) - Marvin Gaye # 48

49 ( NEW ) CAREY - Joni Mitchell # 49

50 ( 63 ) CALL ME ANYTIME YOU NEED SOME LOVIN’ - Lorraine Ellison # 50

 

51 ( 47 ) IT’S TOO LATE - Carole King # 4

52 ( 49 ) CASTLES IN THE AIR - Don McLean # 1

53 ( 56 ) HERE IT COMES - Peter Gordeno # 53

54 ( 54 ) YOU GOTTA HAVE LOVE IN YOUR HEART - The Supremes & The Four Tops # 54

55 ( NEW ) SING CHILDREN SING - Lesley Duncan # 55

56 ( 62 ) I DON’T WANT TO DO WRONG - Gladys Knight & The Pips # 56

57 ( NEW ) WHEN YOU GET RIGHT DOWN TO IT - Ronnie Dyson # 57

58 ( 58 ) (AND THE) PICTURES IN THE SKY - Medicine Head # 58

59 ( 52 ) CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP - Middle Of The Road # 6

60 ( 50 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios # 7

 

61 ( 57 ) MY SWEET LORD - George Harrison # 1

62 ( 53 ) MY LITTLE ONE - The Marmalade # 5

63 ( 68 ) COME BACK AND FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED - Faith, Hope & Charity # 63

64 ( 71 ) REASON TO BELIEVE - Rod Stewart # 64

65 ( 67 ) OVER AND OVER - The Delfonics # 65

66 ( 51 ) TIRED OF BEING ALONE - Al Green # 6

67 ( NEW ) THIS FLIGHT TONIGHT - Joni Mitchell # 67

68 ( 76 ) SMILING FACE SOMETIMES - The Undisputed Truth # 68

69 ( 72 ) IN THESE CHANGING TIMES - The Four Tops # 69

70 ( NEW ) GIVE IT TIME - Middle Of The Road # 70

 

71 ( NEW ) GET DOWN AND GET WITH IT - Slade # 71

72 ( NEW ) LIAR - Three Dog Night # 72

73 ( 75 ) I JUST WANT TO FALL IN LOVE - Archie Bell & The Drells # 73

74 ( 74 ) CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP - Mac & Katie Kissoon # 74

75 ( NEW ) PURE IMAGINATION - Gene Wilder (from “Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory” Original Soundtrack) # 75

76 ( NEW ) TUNE TO THE MUSIC - Status Quo # 76

77 ( NEW ) K-JEE - Nite-Liters # 77

78 ( NEW ) I LOVE YOU BECAUSE - Jim Reeves # 78

79 ( NEW ) RIVER - Joni Mitchell # 79

80 ( NEW ) THE CANDY MAN - Aubrey Woods (from “Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory” Original Soundtrack) # 80

 

 

 

22nd June 1971

 

It's 3 weeks on top for Chirpy Chirpy Middle Of The Road as I continued to be obsessed about it, while another Singapore track I recorded onto tape at the time pops in at 19 for The Supremes & The Four Tops - but River Deep ain't no Ike & Tina Turner and while I liked it I've always felt it sounded a bit flat in comparison. Hurricane Smith, back in the UK charts from later in the year (for me) grabs a first top 10 with a lovely tune, and The Sweet get a 2nd top with Co-Co. Monkey Spanner I actually heard before I heard Double Barrel, as when we returned to RAF Swinderby in September my friend from 1969, Graham, still lived there and had 2 singles new to me that he'd bought, and I ended up loving - including Dave & Ansel Collins (note that's Dave, the singer, and Ansel Collins (everything else). Current rap-star Dave wasn't the first.

 

That week in the news, the USA had rioting in Jacksonville following the shooting of a 15-year-old black boy, Northern ireland politicians refused to attend the opening of Stormont, both stories sounding like they could have come from 2021. Out this week at the cinema, Jane Fonda's cult movie Klute, Steve McQueen's Le Mans, and the first Black-starring Hollywood smash Shaft, starring Richard Rowntree and Isaac Hayes theme classic theme. On US TV, Doris Day had her own TV show following her bankruptcy courtesy of her ex-husband business mis-management, and Lucille Ball was still sit-com-ing with Here's Lucy. Mission:Impossible was still running, Andy Williams still had the Cookie Bear amidst the singing, and Mary Tyler Moore was being inspirational for women in sitcoms and work.

 

 

 

1 ( 1 ) CHIRPY CHIRPY CHEEP CHEEP - Middle Of The Road

2 ( 4 ) THE BANNER MAN - Blue Mink

3 ( 2 ) I AM...I SAID - Neil Diamond

4 ( 13 ) DON’T LET IT DIE - Hurricane Smith

5 ( 3 ) LADY ROSE - Mungo Jerry

6 ( 5 ) MY LITTLE ONE - Marmalade

7 ( 14 ) CO-CO - The Sweet

8 ( 7 ) MAMA’S PEARL - The Jackson 5

9 ( 9 ) KNOCK THREE TIMES - Dawn

10 ( 6 ) HE’S GONNA STEP ON YOU AGAIN - John Kongos

 

11 ( 8 ) I’M GONNA RUN AWAY FROM YOU - Tami Lynn

12 ( 10 ) RAGS TO RICHES - Elvis Presley

13 ( 12 ) MOZART 40 - Waldo De Los Rios

14 ( 11 ) DOESN’T SOMEBODY WANT TO BE WANTED - The Partridge Family

15 ( 18 ) THE PIED PIPER - Bob & Marcia

16 ( NEW ) MONKEY SPANNER - Dave & Ansel Collins

17 ( 15 ) I’LL GIVE YOU YOU THE EARTH - Keith Michell

18 ( 16 ) INDIANA WANTS ME - R. Dean Taylor

19 ( NEW ) RIVER DEEP MOUNTAIN HIGH - The Supremes & The Four Tops

20 ( NEW ) WHEN YOU ARE A KING - White Plains

I have t heard that Middle Of The Road track til I listened to it but love The Sweet, Neil Diamond, Jackson 5 & Mungo Jerry tracks. My fav in the top 20 has to be The Supremes song though ❤️

I have t heard that Middle Of The Road track til I listened to it but love The Sweet, Neil Diamond, Jackson 5 & Mungo Jerry tracks. My fav in the top 20 has to be The Supremes song though ❤️

 

Hi Steve, yes Middle Of the Road's follow ups are largely unknown these days, but they were big in Europe before they broke in the UK too :) Nathan Jones is still fab, love that distorted electronic guitar gizmo at the start and during the song :)