Ten-year-old me enjoyed this at the time. And don't forget Herbie Flowers' work with Sky (not the TV conglomerate).

 

Yes, I forgot about the classical-popularising band. Toccata was a catchy little ditty!

Yay 2 of us 60's kids love it! :yahoo: I also loved Thank U Very Much and Liverpool Lou, which is about as Scouse as the UK charts have ever got, Scouse act, Scouse referring, Scouse accents and me living in or visiting Liverpool from 1965 through to Feb 2023, or May 2023 if I can get tickets to Eurovision :lol: If only Cilla's touching Liverpool Lullaby had been a hit - that was my childhood that was, street urchin roaming the streets of Waterloo and Kirkdale with dog and little brother and gangs of kids, single parent family in a flat with shared toilet between 4 flats, no heating, no phone, mice in the floorboards, bunk beds in bedroom, fold out settee for mum in Living Room, a TV, no hot water that didnt come out of a kettle. Ah, memories :D Dad, when he got back from a year in the Aden trouble-zone snapped at me and my brother "Why are you talking like that? Stop it!" Cos we were proper Scouse by then. :lol:

 

"Luxury!" "You were lucky...!"

You had a kettle? We had to try and heat water with the warmth of our breath.

You had a kettle? We had to try and heat water with the warmth of our breath.

:lol:

 

30. 2 BECOME 1 Spice Girls (1997)

 

 

The higher of the 2 Spice Girls chart-toppers and the sweet one that got them the debut hat-trick to join Gerry & Pacemakers, Frankie Goes To Hollywood & co. It's not really a Christmas song though, the video is, but it still sounds warm and cosy around Christmas-time.

29. WHEN A CHILD IS BORN Johnny Mathis (1977)

 

 

Time for another Xmas song to bow out, I always liked this one, a more authentic Christmas song than most, and Johnny has a voice of honey. It's not his absolute greatest recording, that's maybe Misty or Chance Are, but it's up there with his best.

28. SOMETHIN’ STUPID Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman (2002)

 

 

One of my fave 60's number ones as a kid was the Frank & Nancy Sinatra original, love it to bits, and I was oblivious at the bizarreness of a father-daughter singing it together. This is not quite as good, but Robbie in crooner phase bringing in movie star Nicole was a great idea and it was fine for them to sing it together, a lost artform since then. Has a male-female duet had a hit since singing in unison? I doubt it! Fun.

27. I’D LIKE TO TEACH THE WORLD TO SING The New Seekers (1972)

 

 

A huge fave from a fave pop act as I turned 14, a coca cola jingle written by professional songwriters featuring young people of all ethnicities holding hands in a continent-spanning hand-holding exercise in peace. Coke sales zoomed, and this became a monster hit, what with being so catchy that Noel G borrowed a bit of it. It's not played much these days, but I'm still residually fond of it and them, though they havent generally stood the test of time. Pleasant though.

I’m still a big fan of 2 Become 1; I bet nobody expected them to come out with a 3rd single as great as that after starting with the iconic but more frivolous Wannabe. ILTTTWTS is lovely. Not so hot on the other 2 - don’t really like the vocals on the Somethin’ Stupid cover and WACIB is a bit one dimensional for me, relying on ahs and talking to bring any excitement. ;)

I’m still a big fan of 2 Become 1; I bet nobody expected them to come out with a 3rd single as great as that after starting with the iconic but more frivolous Wannabe. ILTTTWTS is lovely. Not so hot on the other 2 - don’t really like the vocals on the Somethin’ Stupid cover and WACIB is a bit one dimensional for me, relying on ahs and talking to bring any excitement. ;)

 

I love Robbie's solo stuff from his Imperial Phase but as a crooner vocalist, yeah he's no Frank, Andy, Dean or Sammi...and Nicole is no Nancy Sinatra!

26. DO THEY KNOW IT’S CHRISTMAS? Band Aid (1985)

 

 

And another Xmas monster waves goodbye. Don't get me wrong, I bought this, it topped my chart, Geldof and Ure did so much for good causes, and the line-up of popstars in a low-key get-together with attitudes left at the door is still the only way to do charity records. It's also by far the best charity record featuring all-star casts, and still a christmas classic charting in the UK every year without fail. I'm just fed up of hearing it and have been for quite a lot of christmases. Especially in the post-Christmas sleigh bells overload period....

25. MULL OF KINTYRE Wings (1978)

 

 

Singalong Ex-Beatle does the bagpipes and creates a British chart monster that outsells The Beatles, shock horror! I bought it, I loved it, you can sing it, and I like bagpipes. It's fallen out of popular favour these days which is a shame as it's tons better than the dodgy nominal other A side "Girl's School" which got precious little radio airplay then or since, and it's way better than his annual chart return with Wonderful Christmastime. I worship Macca but I'll take The Monkees' recent cover version of that one, much less chirpy. I turned 20 and was at Uni when this topped the chart, spent Xmas & New year on top, and then was still there back at uni in the new year.

24. GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME Tom Jones (1967)

 

 

This sombre Country ballad about a man about to be executed for murder was oddly touching, and very much not the sort of song that would sell these days, but, hey it's Tom Jones, legend, and I get huge waves of childhood nostalgia washing over me whenever I hear it, suddenly I'm turning 9 years old again as we moved yet again, from Liverpool to RAF Valley on the Isle Of Anglesey. Boyo. How appropriate!

23. Y.M.C.A The Village People (1979)

 

 

Ah, who hasn't done the YMCA dance spelling out the letters at some party or other? Well, me! It didn't exist when this was topping the chart as I turned 21 and knocked off Boney M, which would have been more appropriate (as I will explain shortly). That said, I've no-one to blame but myself, I bought it, it topped my chart too, and I loved the video and the joyous embrace of gay culture in the mainstream charts (it wasn't about having a cheap holiday at the YMCA, I'm sorry kiddies, it really wasn't, though it was about partying. Sort of.) It got less fun in the 80's as AIDS swept the world, and even less fun as it was on constant party replay for 45 years, and then it just started to get annoying as a cliche in pubs and clubs to boot to the point where I recognise this is classic fun record - and why it is so high in the rundown - but please give me a break from it for a few years!

22. BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY Queen (1976)

 

 

OK everyone, cue the gasps of disbelief!! Not even top 20!! The most-popular pop record of all-time, and one of the key recordings of the 20th century!! Not only that, but I adore the video, it was the 3rd Queen personal chart-topper single that I bought in 1974/1975, and topped the UK charts as I turned 18, and again, after Freddie died tragically far too young, on my 33rd birthday. The album is brilliant, Queen are iconic.....but I would rather hear anything else from Queen, I am just so sick of hearing this, 47 years non-stop week-in week-out it's on the radio, TV, movies, Best-Record-Ever polls to the point that I know it backwards, forwards, upside-down and in any form it might exist in from a parallel universe. I have zero interest in ever hearing it again. It's classic, but give me Innuendo any day, that at least sounds fresh as it never gets airplay.

21. TWO LITTLE BOYS Rolf Harris (1970)

 

 

When this topped the charts in 1969 I was living in Singapore, and turned 12 loving hearing it on 2-Way Family Favourites as we lived in our luxurious (to me) house in Bedokville. Rolf was hugely popular as a family entertainer, not least from his fab Sun Arise, didgeridoo populariser, and his many comedy hits of the 60's. So, the song? It's very touching, 2 brothers go to war and one helps his brother after the story of their playing days of childhood mirroring later grim reality. It's a positive song with a strong message, and resonated during the horrific Viet-Nam war images that were on TV every day and slowly-fading memories of World War 2. It will always be sunny, happy Singapore days to me, no matter how much Rolf has done to try and erase the goodwill that generations had for him even in the 90's when Stairway To Heaven was a Knebworth Festival hit.

Would also much rather hear Innuendo than Bohemian Rhapsody now. I’d have also put These Are The Days higher than you did. My mum got the double A Side cassette single; it was a black cover and I was fascinated by it aged 7 and listened to it on loop.

Would also much rather hear Innuendo than Bohemian Rhapsody now. I’d have also put These Are The Days higher than you did. My mum got the double A Side cassette single; it was a black cover and I was fascinated by it aged 7 and listened to it on loop.

 

ahh, cassette singles! I bought hardly any of those, though I do have a few cassette albums. Very retro these days!

I’m struggling to find anything I like so far!

I’m struggling to find anything I like so far!

:lol:

 

January 3rd not a good time of the year for cool indie UK number one singles :lol: I reckon there's 3 you like left, maybe 10 you don't mind, and one you loathe still to come :D

If the Human League and PSBs held on until Jan 3rd then I’ll like those ones at least