“We’ve Only Just Begun” #2 10/31/1970

Once in a while an ad turns into a hit record. Paul Williams, along with Roger Nichols, composed a jingle (which could be expanded to a full song) as part of an ad for attracting young couples to California’s Crocker National Bank. Richard Carpenter guessed correctly it was A&M labelmate Williams singing the jingle, and asked if he and sister Karen could record the full-length tune. With the Wrecking Crew providing the backing music, this was the Carpenters’ second #1 easy listening hit.

“Take Five” #25 10/9/1961

In the early days of rock, tunes from other genres regularly snuck onto the pop charts. Here’s one that became a moderate pop hit in October 1961. Dave Brubeck was a well-established pianist in the jazz field when his quartet recorded this instrumental in 1959, but it wasn’t released for two years. Brubeck would often perform in unusual time signatures; this one was in 5/4 time, thus the title “Take Five.” The single cut out almost all the drum solo, which sounds free-form here on the album version but was actually very structured. I can SO appreciate the musicianship on this record.

“Wheels” #3 3/6/1961

An accidental instrumental hit from March 1961 by the String-A-Longs. I say accidental because it was actually called “Tell The World” with another tune, “Wheels” as the B-side. However, their record company goofed and reversed the song titles on the labels. The group came from the Texas Panhandle and was produced by Norman Petty, who also produced fellow West Texan Buddy Holly’s recordings. A version by Billy Vaughn (who also did “A Swingin’ Safari”) got to #28.

“Because They’re Young” #4 7/4/1960

There were some forgettable movies that produced great title songs. “Unchained Melody,” “A Summer Place” and “The Happening” are a few that come to mind. Duane Eddy performed the title track to this summer 1960 movie that starred Dick Clark as a high school principal. Yeah, I didn’t know about that flick, either.

“Run, Woman Run” #92 (#1 Country) 10/24/1970

The eighth solo #1 on the country charts from Tammy Wynette made it into the lower reaches of the Hot 100. In October 1970, soon after giving birth to daughter Georgette Jones, Tammy required both an appendectomy and a hysterectomy. According to Wikipedia, she had 26 major surgeries in her lifetime. Wow.

“Closer To Home (I’m Your Captain)” #22 10/24/1970

Only rarely did a lengthy song get played in full on AM radio back in the day. Capitol Records put out an edited version of this Grand Funk Railroad track, but the band didn’t care about Top 40 radio. FM was their thing, and FM played the daylights out of this ten minute tune which featured a “Hey Jude” type of long, repetitive refrain at the end. GFR was another of those bands critics despised but the fans loved.

“Still Water (Love)” #11 10/24/1970

The Four Tops had something of a dry spell for several years before this unexpected hit, co-written by Smokey Robinson. Marv Tarplin of the Miracles appeared here, as did the Andantes plus Brenda Joyce Evans and Billie Rae Calvin, soon to become two-thirds of the Undisputed Truth (“Smiling Faces Sometimes”). This inspired Marvin Gaye’s comeback effort “What’s Going On.”

“Lola” #9 10/24/1970

David Bowie and Lou Reed may not have had careers without this song, the first tune about gender fluidity to become a hit. The Kinks hadn’t had any real success in the States since 1966, so this 45 saved them over here. Back in the UK, “Lola” was banned at first by the BBC, not for sexual content but due to product placement by mentioning Coca-Cola and all that. So Ray Davies had to fly back to London in the middle of a US concert tour just to replace two words (“cherry cola”) on the record.

“Mongoose” #50 10/17/1970

The group Elephant’s Memory doesn’t even qualify as a one-hit wonder, as none of their singles made the Top 40. No, they’re best remembered as John and Yoko’s backup band for a couple of years when those two first moved to NYC. The Allmusic website, in addition to describing them as sounding kind of ragged, notes that Carly Simon was part of the group for about six months. Luckily, she would go on to much bigger things. I don’t think Carly appears on this particular record.

“That’s Where I Went Wrong” #29 10/17/1970

The followup to “Which Way You Goin’ Billy?” for the Poppy Family was a song they had recorded a year or so previously. Both records were Top 10 easy listening hits. By this point the other guys in their band had split, leaving only Susan and Terry Jacks as actual members. They would divorce in 1973.

“Out In The Country” #15 10/17/1970

The sixth of 18 straight Top 20 singles from Three Dog Night. Like several of their other hits this was co-written by Paul Williams, one of the top songwriters of the 70’s. He also co-wrote “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Rainy Days And Mondays” for the Carpenters. Paul dabbled in acting, playing Little Enos in the “Smokey And The Bandit” movies. He’d also served as president of music licensing outfit ASCAP.

“It’s A Shame” #14 10/17/1970

You could say it’s a shame when someone busts their butt for the company they work for, doing everything asked of them and more, and get treated like dirt. That’s what happened to the Spinners. These guys did all sorts of jobs for their label, even working in the mail room. This Top 5 soul record, produced and co-written by Stevie Wonder who also played many of the instruments, would be their last hit at Motown before leaving for Atlantic Records (on the advice of Aretha Franklin) and finally achieving huge success later in the 70’s.

“All Right Now” #4 10/17/1970

An enduring one-hit wonder from the band Free. The song came about one evening after the group played to a near-empty hall and realized they needed something more uptempo to close their shows. The edited single cuts almost a minute from the guitar solo; again, the album version is preferred today. Lead vocalist Paul Rodgers and bassist Simon Kirke went on to form Bad Company in the 70’s. In the 2000’s Rodgers spent some time as front man of a reconstituted version of Queen.

“Green-Eyed Lady” #3 10/17/1970

The first of Sugarloaf’s two huge hits. An early member of a predecessor band was Jimmy Greenspoon, who went on to become Three Dog Night’s keyboardist. The Denver-area group had been called Chocolate Hair but their label asked for a change citing possible political incorrectness, so they took a new name from a mountain outside of Boulder. The song ran almost seven minutes, thus several edits exist. The unedited album version is preferred today.

“I’ll Be There” #1 10/17/1970

The fourth straight #1 single from the Jackson 5 was also Motown’s biggest US seller before the label officially moved from Detroit to L.A. in 1972. It once again featured an 11-year-old Michael Jackson on lead vocals. Michael had been told by Berry Gordy to toss in “just look over your shoulder” as a nod to the Four Tops’ “Reach Out I’ll Be There” but he said “shoulders.” That would’ve required quite a feat of body contortion to look over both simultaneously, like something out of “The Exorcist.”

“Last Night” #3 8/7/1961

From August 1961, a huge instrumental from the Mar-Keys, the original house band at Stax Records in Memphis. The lineup was rather fluid over the years and included all the members of Booker T. and the MG’s. Part of the reason for the song’s popularity was due to the fact one could “slow twist” to it, and in those days anything to which you could do the Twist was just about automatically a hit.

“San Antonio Rose” (Floyd Cramer) #8 7/17/1961

Another appearance by Floyd Cramer, with this instrumental remake from July 1961 of a country music standard first popularized in the late 1930’s by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. Those guys put the Western swing in country and western music with fiddles, steel guitar, electric guitar, drums and a horn section way before it was hip. Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and even Jimi Hendrix said Wills was a big influence on their style.

“Bumble Boogie” #21 5/8/1961

As we’ve mentioned before, many early rock hits were remakes of the standards. These guys went one step further with a May 1961 rocked-up version of “Flight Of The Bumblebee.” Guitarist René Hall, drummer Earl Palmer and sax man Plas Johnson (all New Orleans natives) formed the nucleus of an L.A. session group called B. Bumble and the Stingers. They became part of the famed Wrecking Crew of first-call studio musicians, each playing on literally hundreds of records, i.e., Johnson played sax on Henry Mancini’s “Pink Panther” theme. Ernie Freeman was on piano here.

“Asia Minor” #8 4/17/1961

 Jimmy Wisner was part of a jazz trio in the late 50’s, but tried something different with his April 1961 rocked-up version of Grieg’s “Piano Concerto In A Minor” which he renamed “Asia Minor.” He developed a unique feel by using shellac to coat the hammers of a cheap, somewhat out of tune piano, creating a ticky-tack sound. Wisner used the name Kokomo here so as not to alienate the jazz audience. He would later produce acts like the Buckinghams and Tommy James. This shows up many times as an accompaniment for figure skating routines.

“On The Rebound” #4 4/17/1961

Back to instrumentals from the early days of rock, as we make a stop in April 1961 with this Floyd Cramer tune that followed up “Last Date” and also made the Top 10. Cramer made a name for himself with a “slip note” style of piano playing, where he’d hit a note slightly out of tune and slide his way up to the right key. It worked so well that he was one of Nashville’s most in-demand session musicians.

“Long Long Time” #25 10/10/1970

What came to be called California country music was popularized by the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers and Linda Ronstadt among others and was far, far different than Nashville country music. This was Linda’s first solo hit after the Stone Poneys disbanded. She wouldn’t have another until 1975’s “You’re No Good.” Her backing band in those days included all four original members of the Eagles.

“Cracklin’ Rosie” #1 10/10/1970

Neil Diamond had written #1 songs for others (i.e., “I’m A Believer”) but this was his first chart-topper as a performer. The story goes that he was in western Canada and heard about a tribe of indigenous people who enjoyed a brand of cheap wine called Crackling Rosé. I suppose that worked better as a song title than Mad Dog 20/20 or Boone’s Farm. Music by the Wrecking Crew. I think the video is from Dutch TV.

John Lennon’s 80th: “I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party” #39 3/20/1965

John Lennon would’ve been 80 today. That’s a reality check for sure. This country-flavored one was on the UK album ”Beatles For Sale,” but the US release was held back by Capitol Records for several months, finally showing up on the Beatles VI album over here. It was also the B-side of the “Eight Days A Week” single, reaching #39 on its own. John could write in just about any style, as this was apparently meant for Ringo to sing. For whatever reason Lennon did the vocals himself. Gone far too soon, John. Far too soon.

“Funk #49” #59 10/3/1970

A classic rock radio staple from the James Gang. It was a variation on their previous “Funk #48.” The James Gang was always known as an album rock act; singles weren’t their thing. Guitarist Joe Walsh would soon leave the band, going solo for a while before joining the Eagles later in the 70’s. Good career move for him.

“Sunday Morning Coming Down” (Johnny Cash) #46 10/3/1970

Kris Kristofferson was just coming into his own as a Nashville songwriter, but this one as done by Johnny Cash on his TV show really put him on the map. It would be next week’s #1 country hit in 1970 and just missed the Top 40. Kris, a Rhodes Scholar, former Army captain and helicopter pilot, was offered a professor’s position at West Point but chucked it all to write songs. Cash was asked to change one line about “wishing, Lord that I was stoned” but refused; indeed, on the live recording he emphasized “stoned.” Who would’ve thought Ray Stevens recorded this first?

“Joanne” #21 10/3/1970

Mike Nesmith was actually ahead of the curve in many ways. Frustrated that his tunes weren’t being used on the Monkees TV show, Mike’s songs were done by others like Linda Ronstadt (“Different Drum”). He was influential in the burgeoning L.A. country-rock scene with tracks like this, his biggest hit as a solo act and credited to the First National Band. Nesmith later produced innovative music videos such as Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long.” He had health issues in 2018, needing a quadruple bypass.

“(I Know) I’m Losing You” (Rare Earth) #7 10/3/1970

Many times Motown acts recorded the same songs, more often than not resulting in each version doing quite well. That happened in this case, too. Rare Earth re-did a Temptations song and scored their first Top 10 with “Get Ready” so they tried it again - and had another Top 10 smash. Hey, if it works don’t mess with success.

“Candida” #3 10/3/1970

After several hits in the early 60’s, Tony Orlando had moved on to a career as a music publishing executive. Hank Medress of the Tokens asked Tony to record this tune as a favor, which was fine except Orlando worked for a different label and needed to use a pseudonym or he’d lose his day job. Besides, Tony didn’t totally believe in the song. The group name Dawn was picked, though Joyce Wilson and Telma Hopkins hadn’t been hired yet; they were still successful session singers in Detroit. Backing vocals were done here by Jay Siegel of the Tokens and the song’s co-writer, Toni Wine.

“Long As I Can See The Light” #2 10/3/1970

The other side of CCR’s current single reflected many of Creedence’s influences, but mainly some great R&B. The song has a vibe that sounded like it was recorded at 3 AM in a darkened studio. Unbeknownst to most, there were some big changes ahead concerning the group. A couple more hit singles followed, but...

“Lookin’ Out My Back Door” #2 10/3/1970

CCR was the best American band to never have a #1 single on Billboard. They had five #2’s, of which this double-sided hit was the last. This side was allegedly full of drug references but John Fogerty vehemently disputed that, saying the song was in more of a nonsensical Dr. Seuss vein, with a Buck Owens reference tossed in, too. This was the only time he played dobro on a Creedence track. I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like this song.

“Loving You Is A Natural Thing” #87 9/26/1970

The first pop chart entry from Ronnie Milsap. He’d been a session musician in Memphis and had appeared on a slew of Elvis’s recent recordings like “Kentucky Rain” and “Don’t Cry Daddy.” After the relative disappointment of this single, he turned to country music and in a few years became an absolute superstar.

“Riki Tiki Tavi” #55 9/26/1970

The first single from Donovan in four years to miss the Top 40. He’d decided to step away from being the featured performer, and became part of a group called Open Road. He’d also decided to move back to the UK despite exorbitant taxes. This song was adapted from the name of a mongoose in Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book.”