Step into my time machine, week five

...and maybe I can get a fragment of my life being wasted away at work back. I'd go on, but it all becomes bitching after a while, so suffice it to say the end just gets farther and farther away and we'll move on.

On memorial day weekend 35 years ago, we had 12 new additions to the hot 100, 4 to the top 40, and 2 to the top ten, as well as a brand new #1. These list were based on sales and not airplay, which is why they differ somewhat from the billboard charts. The difference being, billboard thinks you should pay for their archive data, and cashbox's is just as good- and free. God bless America!



Of the dozen new songs this week, four posted a major future impact: Glen Campbell's soon to be number one on pop and country, Rhinestone Cowboy, comes in at 96; The Eagles' first chart topper, One of These Nights, at #80; Olivia Newton-John had another of the big country crossovers of 1975, Please Mister Please, at 73; and way up at 69 came McCartney and Wings with Listen to What the Man Says. A couple of other notes to the lower reaches: since I made such a big deal about it last week, the Beach Boys' Sail on Sailor moved up one to 72 this week; and another song more popular on AOR, Supertramp's Bloody Well Right, had peaked at 53 last week and moves down two this week.



The top 40 debuts this week were: Ray Stevens at 40 with Misty; Frankie Valli's Swearing to God (his first true single without the Four Seasons) at 39; the O'Jays with Give the People What They Want (which I sorta remember after just playing a 30-second clip) at 37; and Gwen McRae's Rocking Chair at 31. That song jumped 20 notches, tying for the biggest mover in the countdown with 10cc's I'm Not In Love, which landed at 65 in it's second week. With two moving into the top ten, two fall out: Paul Anka can finally get some sleep as he drifts down from 5 to 11, and Dawn's He Don't Love You tumbles from 7 to 23.



The top ten starts with the song that was most likely my favorite for the week, Chicago's Old Days, moving up 3 to the leadoff position. The sweetheart of covers, Linda Ronstadt, with her redo of the Everly Brothers' 1960 #8, When Will I Be Loved, moves up 2 to #9. Karen and Richard Carpenter move up one to 8 with Only Yesterday; Grand Funk bats cleanup with Bad Time moving from 10 to 7. The Ozark Mountain Daredevils give ground grudgingly, slipping from 4 to 6 with Jackie Blue. America climbs 3 more to the top 5 with Sister Golden Hair; John Denver, with yet another of the country crossovers of 1975, Thank God I'm A Country Boy at 4, up two. In fact, a record six songs would hit #1 on both charts (according to billboard, whom I will now quote after trashing): BJ Thomas' incredibly long titled song; Freddy Fender's Before the Next Teardrop Falls- which is at 3 this week, and holding- the just-debuted Rhinestone Cowboy; CW McCall's truck driving opus Convoy; and Denver's Country Boy as well as the double-sided smash I'm Sorry/ Calypso. John would actually receive country music's entertainer of the year award in 1975; and the controversy over crossover singers being resented by the old guard "flared up" again, as the previous winner, Charlie Rich (who'd had a crossover #1 just the year before) announced the winner, he pulled out a lighter and burned the envelope on stage.

Anyway, as I said, we have a new top dog, which means Earth Wind and Fire have dropped a notch to #2 with Shining Star. The new number one is How Long by Ace, a band led by singer Paul Carrack, better known as the Lead singer for Mike Rutherford's project Mike and the Mechanics. Carrack was the singer for their big hit The living Years which also hit #1 in March of 1989.

Almost left out our biggest dropper this week. Barry Manilow's It's a Miracle tumbles 41 notches to 64. And the mighty Martin Index has a new high of 40 this week. In fact, a couple of years ago I actually did a top 1200 of the seventies. Out of those 1200, one top ten (Listen to what the Man Says at 7), five of my top 50 (Sister Golden Hair at 14, Old Days at 19, Only Yesterday at 22, and Love Will Keep Us Together at 41) 9 out of the top hundred (with Sail on Sailor at 52, Bad Time at 60,Magic by Pilot at 53, and Misty at 83), eleven of the top 200 (Rhinestone Cowboy at 115 and ((Take Me In Your Arms)) Rock Me at 167) and a total (except for those I missed) of 26 out of the top 1000 IN THIS WEEK'S COUNTDOWN. Now do you see why my Wayback Machine stops here?