REMEMBER WHEN - 12TH May 1973

1973
Week 19
WEEK ENDING 12TH MAY 1973

TOP 40 SINGLES

TW	LW
1	1	Dawn	Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree
2	4	Sweet	Hell Raiser
3	2	Gary Glitter	Hello Hello I'm Back Again
4	6	Wizzard	See My Baby Jive
5	11	Roger Daltrey	Giving It All Away
6	20	Perry Como	And I Love You So
7	9	Hot Chocolate	Brother Louie
8	3	David Bowie	Drive In Saturday
9	12	Wings	My Love
10	13	Alice Cooper	No More Mr. Nice Guy
11	7	Geordie	All Because Of You
12	8	Gilbert O'Sullivan	Get Down
13	25	Anne Marie David	Wonderful Dream
14	16	Judge Dread	Big Eight
15	10	David Cassidy	I'm A Clown / Some Kind Of Summer
16	5	Little Jimmy Osmond	Tweedle Dee
17	29	Carly Simon	The Right Thing To Do
18	21	Shirley Bassey	Never Never Never
19	NEW	Deodato	Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)
20	30	Detroit Spinners	Could It Be I'm Falling In Love
21	19	Chicory Tip	Good Grief Christina
22	27	Status Quo	Mean Girl
23	15	Mud	Crazy
24	34	Medicine Head	One And One Is One
25	14	Roxy Music	Pyjamarama
26	18	Donny Osmond	The Twelfth Of Never
27	NEW	Nazareth	Broken Down Angel
28	24	O'Jays	Love Train
29	26	Cliff Richard	Power To All Our Friends
30	17	Stuart Gillies	Amanda
31	31	Tom Jones	Letter To Lucille
32	NEW	Lou Reed	Walk On The Wild Side
33	NEW	Detroit Emeralds	You Want It You Got It
34	NEW	Gene Pitney	24 Sycamore
35	23	'Deliverance' Soundtrack	Duelling Banjos
36	35	Handley Family	Wam Bam
37	33	Joe Brown	Hey Mama
38	RE	Don McLean	Everyday
39	38	Detroit Emeralds	Feel The Need In Me
40	NEW	Jeff Beck & Rod Stewart	I've Been Drinking

Dawn

Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree

I remember a friend Allan Davies asking me if I liked the song "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree". I don't remember my reply, maybe I pretended that I did, but I hadn't heard it. When I did hear it, yes I liked it, and the following December, it was on my list of records that I'd like for Christmas (and I got it).
It climbed quite slowly at first, and didn't make number one until it's seventh chart week. It spent four weeks on top, but it wouldn't go away. By the middle of August, it stood at number 39 and seemed destined to fall out of the chart after 23 weeks. But the follow up, "Gypsy Rose" was now charting and this led to renewed interest in "Ribbon". So the following week, it shot back up to number 29 and spent another couple of weeks in the top 40 after that. They even appeared on Top Of The Pops singing both hits on one particular show. But even that wasn't the end of the story. After a couple of weeks away, it came back for another eight weeks, and then another week after that. In all, it spent 35 weeks in the top 40, and a further five between 41-50. Naturally, it was the best selling single of the year.
A couple of years later, I did the immature thing of course. It was catchy, it was extremely popular, so I hated it (well, you do don't you ?). These days, I don't mind it at all for those very same reasons.

Sweet

Hell Raiser

The Sweet reached number two with "Hellraiser". This was the first of three consecutive number two's for the band. It was deemed to be a big thing amongst school friends that guitarist 'Andy Scott' was from my home town of 'Wrexham'.
The first time that I became aware of this song was early one Sunday afternoon when schoolfriend Malcolm Hughes was singing it. I asked what he was singing and he told me it was the latest by his favourite group "The Sweet" and was called "Hell Raiser". We were waiting for Sunday School to begin !

Gary Glitter

Hello Hello I'm Back Again

This was Gary's fourth hit and the third to peak at number two. As I previously said, I wasn't particularly interested in music at the time, but I do remember hearing a lot of this one. I also remember hearing it inside the top twenty when Tom Browne played the top sixty of 1973.
His next single changed my life.

Wizzard

See My Baby Jive

This was the second top ten hit by what was basically Roy Wood with a band of people that no one knew the names of. This one went all the way to number one and spent four weeks there.
Roy Wood had previously enjoyed success with 'The Move' and had been a founder member of 'ELO', but he is most fondly remembered as the lead singer of Wizzard. As Glam Rock hit the UK, many acts had began using make up in an attempt to look outrageous. But Roy did it better (or worse ?) than all of the Bowies and Bolans of this world as he went completely over the top. But that shouldn't over shadow what a brilliant pop song this was. It didn't change the world, but music doesn't have to. He never even got close to this peak again. But this proudly stands up as one of the best pop songs of all time. Even today, that intro sends a shiver down the spine as memories of innocent days come flooding back.

Roger Daltrey

Giving It All Away

Roger Daltrey reached umber five with his first and biggest solo hit. "Giving It All Away" was written by the then unknown Leo Sayer.

Perry Como

And I Love You So

This was Perry Como's highest charting single since "Delaware" reached number three in 1960. It was also his first hit for two years, and his longest charting single ever, spending 35 weeks in the top 50, and also hitting number three. The song was written by Don McLean, but considering how much money he must have made out of Perry's version, I doubt that he's too upset that most people associate the song with Perry rather than him.
Good song, great singer, Perry passed away in May 2001.

Hot Chocolate

Brother Louie

Hot Chocolate reached number seven with "Brother Louie". This is one that I clearly remember from Top Of The Pops, and hated it at first. I thought "Who are this horrible group with the menacing looking lead singer ?"
It wasn't long though, before I realised just how good this really was.

David Bowie

Drive In Saturday

David Bowie made number three with a song that seldom gets played on the radio. In fact, "Drive In Saturday" has oddly been missing from many of the numerous Bowie compilations to have been released through the years. Happily it finally appeared on two of his 90's released compilations. Quite right too, it's a great track.

Wings

My Love

Paul McCartney's Wings took "My Love" as the only single release from the "Red Rose Speedway" album. It made number nine and also spent nine weeks in the chart.

Alice Cooper

No More Mr. Nice Guy

Alice Cooper reached number ten with what was to be his last top ten hit for 16 years. I don't think I heard this until quite a few years later, but consider it to be one of his best. Megadeth also had a hit with this song when their cover was featured in the film 'Shocker' in 1990.

Geordie

All Because Of You

When I first heard Geordie, I thought that they were Slade imitators. Well, Slade had the heaviest sound I knew at the time, so it was quite natural to make that comparison. But in reality, they were nothing like Slade. They were more like AC/DC than anyone, except that we hadn't even heard of AC/DC at the time. Not only that but the AC/DC I'm talking about is post 1980, when Geordie vocalist Brian Johnson had become the vocalist for AC/DC.
I don't actually remember this single being current, but it was their only top ten hit reaching number six. It has a very mid '70s sound to it, and I couldn't imagine it being a hit at any other time.

Gilbert O'Sullivan

Get Down

I like Gilbert O'Sullivan, but I'm not keen on his two chart topping singles. This spent two weeks at number one and could have been good with different lyrics, but instead, was very sickly.

Anne-Marie David

Wonderful Dream

This number 13 peaking single was the 1973 winner of the Eurovision Song Contest. Even though I watched the contest that year, I quickly forgot about this song. I only became aware of it again on my twelfth birthday in April 1974. That was the day that I was given my first cassette recorder. I was also given a pre-recorded cassette which was a K-Tel compilation titled "Dyna-Mite". "Wonderful Dream" was included on that tape and without realising that it was the Eurovision song, I liked it. I'm pretty sure she had a follow up single released in the UK, but it didn't chart at all.

Judge Dread

Big Eight

Judge Dread reached number 14 with this third hit. This was his last top 40 entry for two years. Naturally this didn't get played on Radio One, and while I don't disagree with the BBC's decision to not play it, I have been thinking about censorship a lot lately. Some people seem to think it makes them appear really "Cool" when they make statements along the lines of "I don't believe there should be any censorship at all". It makes me wonder if these people also think it's ok to have child pornography on the net, or maybe even on the top shelf at their local newsagents. I didn't really have an opinion on whether songs like this should be played on the radio at the time, I just took it as being only natural that they wouldn't be. But in todays (far too relaxed) climate, it would probably be aired on kiddies Saturday morning TV.
Yes, since becoming a Father I have become concerned about what now seems to be acceptable in the media. In a couple of years time, any CDs of my own that I don't want my daughter to hear, I'll be able to put out of harms way. But will I do if we're listening to music on the radio, or watching on MTV etc and there's numerous one second gaps in the sound, each coming after the word "Mother" is rapped ?
How am I going to explain that ?
Or how about the vulgar word for backside that seems to be mispronounced so that they're singing/rapping about donkeys, that one seems compulsary these days. But I don't want her to be going to school as a 3 or 4 year old and telling the teacher that she's fallen on her ar**/ass instead of saying bum or bottom.
Don't take me for a prude, because I'm not. I like Judge Dread, the Sex Pistols, Crass, and (coming up to date) I have both Lil' Kim albums. But where is Mary Whitehouse when we really need her ?
I'd be very interested to hear the views of other parents, particularly those of around my age who remember how it used to be.

David Cassidy

I Am A Clown / Some Kind Of Summer

"Some Kind Of Summer" was one of the featured songs in my first issue of 'Disco 45', and having heard it a few times on the radio, I soon learnt to sing it. I watched Top Of The Pops one week and was disappointed that "I Am A Clown" was featured instead. There was a promo film that consisted of David walking along a street in what looked to be a very quiet town (well, a village actually, but what we would call a village seems to be called a town in America). I don't think that I've ever heard "Some Kind Of Summer" on the radio since it completed it's chart run, which is a shame as I think it's a good song. It reached number three and spent ten weeks in the top 40.

Little Jimmy Osmond

Tweedle Dee

This was Little Jimmy's "Stairway To Heaven" !
Well ok, not exactly that, but it was much less annoying than "Long Haired Lover From Liverpool", and that makes it something to be grateful for.
The song had previously been a number 17 hit for Frankie Vaughan and a number 20 hit for Georgia Gibbs (both in 1955). Jimmy took his rendition to number four and spent ten weeks in the top 40.

Carly Simon

The Right Thing To Do

Pleasant enough second hit from Carly. Surprising that it only reached number 17.

Shirley Bassey

Never Never Never

Here's another one that seemed to be around forever. It reached number eight in it's fifth week and then stayed around for a further 11 weeks. I knew this one very well due to it being played every week on Family Favourites. This was a radio show that was broadcast every Sunday at Dinner Time on Radio Two (some of you may call it Lunch Time, but we had our main meal of the day at 12:00, so it was indeed Dinner Time).

Deodato

Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)

Deodato made number seven with his jazzed up version of this classical piece. I remember this as being the last single my Father bought for some time (his next one was surprisingly "Streets Of Philadelphia" by Bruce Springsteen over 20 years later). Deodato had no more hits, but followed this single with his version of "Rhapsody In Blue". He also later released a version of the 'Star Trek' theme, that I bought out of curiosity.

Detroit Spinners

Could It Be I'm Falling In Love

It could get quite confusing with all this Detroit stuff, the Spinners and the Emeralds. Detroit Spinners were having their first hit for three years with "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love". When this entered the chart the Emeralds were having their biggest hit with "Feel The Need In Me", and by a strange coincidence, both that plus this Spinners hit were back in the top 40 during the spring of 1977. By the time this was on it's way out of the chart, The Emeralds were back with their follow up "You Want It, You Got It".
This reached number 11 for the Spinners this time around, and number 32 when issued as the lead track of an EP in '77. It was a much bigger hit when performed as a duet between David Grant and Jaki Graham in 1985 (number five), and was taken to number 15 by 'Worlds Apart' in 1994.

Chicory Tip

Good Grief Christina

Imagine someone listening to Chicory's "Son Of My Father", any of the versions of "Hippy Hippy Shake" and "David Watts", and then attempting to compose a song. I think you'd end up with something like this, a song that gives an initial impression that it's going to be awful, but doesn't turn out too bad at all.
It finally reached number 17 in it's seventh week on the chart, and three weeks later they were spendintg their last ever week in the top 40.

Status Quo

Mean Girl

Status Quo reached number 20 with this old track that had been released by their previous record company 'PYE'. Some of that old stuff was quite good, but I'm not keen on this one.

Mud

Crazy

The first chart hit for Mud, the songwords of which appeared in that issue of Disco 45 that I bought. A couple of weeks after I got into music proper, I was watching TOTP with my Mum and Sister when Mud came on with their next single "Hypnosis". They followed a promo of David Bowie's "Life On Mars" in which he wore lots of make up and women's clothing. Keen to impress with my knowledge of the pop world, I remarked that the group now on, also sang a song called "Crazy". Quick as a flash My Mum remarked that the soft mare that had just been on was Crazy.
I dunno, seemed funny at the time.
It reached number 12.

Medicine Head

One And One Is One

Medicine Head peaked at number three with their second (and biggest) hit. They'd had to wait a while for it though. Their first hit "(And The) Pictures In The Sky" had come two years earlier. They wouldn't have to wait as long for their other two hits, they came in the following nine months.

Roxy Music

Pyjamarama

You don't hear this much on the radio do you ?
Yet, it did reach number ten, and at least they didn't rename the Pyjama part of the title "PJ". I hate it when people do that, talk about laziness !

Donny Osmond

The Twelfth Of Never

I was aware of this one, but I didn't like it very much. It spent one week at number one, but you could be forgiven for thinking that it was much longer than that, it seemed to be around forever. It spent 12 weeks in the top 40.

Nazareth

Broken Down Angel

Nazareth reached a peak of number nine with this first of seven hits. It was also included on the 'Hot Tracks' EP in 1977.

O'Jays

Love Train

The second hit for the O'Jays,and also the one that turned out to be the biggest in reaching number nine. I'm surprised that this has never been a hit for a second time considering how much airplay it still gets. And who can forget the closing scene at the end of the film "The Last Days Of Disco" when all those people are dancing to it on a subway train ?
Hmm, yes, I suppose that was corny and far too predictable.

Cliff Richard

Power To All Our Friends

I liked this one a lot at the time. Cliff had his own early Saturday evening TV Show at the time with Olivia Newton John guesting each week. As Cliff had been chosen to represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest in this year, he sang one of six songs each week, and then all six on the following week's show. The public were instructed to vote for their choice by postcard, and the result was anounced the week after that. My favourite had been "Help It Along" which I think came second, and was later released as a single. "Power To All Our Friends" was a convincing winner, but unfortunately lost out in the actual contest.
It also lost out in it's attempt to reach the top of the charts, it spent three weeks at number four.

Stuart Gillies

Amanda

Stuart was another of those 'Opportunity Knocks' winners. If my memory isn't failing me, he had blonde hair (looked a little like Scott Fitzgerald actually), and had the dress sense of Val Doonican with the Arran sweaters etc. To be fair, he did have a good voice. But he was twenty years too late to make it big with the material he was given to perform. This song was just about bearable and reached number 13, he had no further hits.

Tom Jones

Letter To Lucille

The last time that Tom had been to number one was in late 1966 when he found himself in jail on "Green Green Grass Of Home" (a great song that I remember being at number one). Now he must have been hoping that putting himself back in jail would also put him back at number one. But it didn't work as this struggled to reach number 31. Things got worse for Tom after that though, he didn't even get as high as that again until 1987.

Lou Reed

Walk On The Wild Side

Lou Reed peaked at ten with "Walk On The Wild Side". I believe that this was playlisted by the BBC at the time, but then dropped due to it's reference to oral sex. Of course I didn't know what they were talking about, but I do know that BBC TV were quite happily screening Horse Racing where Jockeys could be openly seen using a whip on the exploited animals. Animals were also being used in a lot of variety shows on TV at the time too. I'll leave you to judge which was more obscene.
Back to the song, and two very dodgy cover versions charted in 1990, but Lou himself only managed one more hit in the UK. That was in 1987 when in collaboration with Sam Moore, he reached number 30 with "Soul Man". "Walk On The Wild Side" was taken from his "Transformer" album, an album that also included the much covered song "Perfect Day" that was taken to number one in 1997 by a line up of artists that included Lou himself.

Detroit Emeralds

You Want It You Got It

This didn't sound anything like "Feel The Need In Me", and doesn't stick in the mind either. If I did hear it at the time, I forgot and just had to remind myself of it. Not bad, not good either, just a 'Travis' track (annoyingly average). Reached number 12.

Gene Pitney

24 Sycamore

I thought I had this on a compilation CD somewhere, but it seems not. So I can't really comment on the song as I don't remember it. It reached number 34.

'Deliverance' Soundtrack

Duelling Banjos

This was actually Eric Weissberg on a Banjo, and Steve Mandell on guitar. It consisted of two minutes of lazy picking away at a familiar sounding tune, followed by just over a minute of cotton picking yankee doodle dandy type renditions of the same tune.
I was going to say that this was a pointless release, but enough people bought it to push it to number 17, so there must have been a point there somewhere.

Handley Family

Wam Bam

Opportunity Knocks winners featuring a child vocalist. They reached number 30 and had no further hits.

Joe Brown

Hey Mama

Joe had ten hits in the '60s, the biggest being the number two peaking "A Picture Of You". "Hey Mama" was his first chart entry for six years, and this number 33 peaking single was also his last. Joe is always regarded as a chirpy cockney and not particularly liked by Northerners for that very reason. Strange considering he was born in Lincolnshire. I like Joe Brown, he's always struck me as being a nice friendly chap. Nothing wrong with Cockneys either (apart from the cast of Eastenders). Then again, I'm probably not a typical Northerner, I think that on the whole, Southerners are friendlier than Northerners (despite 39 years of being told the opposite).

Don McLean

Everyday

Fairly good cover of the Buddy Holly song that only reached number 38.

Detroit Emeralds

Feel The Need In Me

The Detroit Emeralds were having their first hit with the number four peaking "Feel The Need In Me". This was out just a few months before music became important to me, so I missed it at the time. But I heard it a lot over the next few years before discovering the name of the performing act. They had two more hits in 1973 before not charting again until they returned with a re-recorded version of "Feel The Need" in 1977. This song has also been a hit for 'Leif Garrett' in 1979, 'Forrest' in 1983, and 'Shakin Stevens' in 1988, but neither of those covers have matched the success of either of the two versions by the Emeralds. It is still a regular on oldies radio stations, maybe a little too regular !

Jeff Beck & Rod Stewart

I've Been Drinking

"I've Been Drinking" had been recorded by the Jeff Beck group while Rod Stewart was a member during the late 60's. RAK had decided to cash in on Rod's recent success by releasing it as a single. Quite good actually, but it only reached number 27.

This was in the top 50 this week, but failed to reach the top 40.

New World

Rooftop Singing

The 'Opportunity Knocks' cheats were still around. Their previous single "Living Next Door To Alice" had missed the chart completely (but would later chart for Smokie). This one spent a week at number 50, and that was it, they never charted again. Despite it's low position, I do remember this one. It went something like,
"Rooftop Singing is absolutely crazy, rooftop singing ------- lazy", or whatever.

Disclaimer All comments concerning the quality of the songs in this and any other chart, are purely my opinion and not a statement of fact. I believe that we are all equal when it comes to deciding what makes a good song. I do not believe that good songs have to be serious or dull. I am of the opinion that if a single sells many copies, then many people like it, so it must be good whether I like it or not. Good music is everything YOU like, and it's also everything I like.

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Email: nige@innotts.co.uk

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