“Your Good Thing (Is About To End)” #18 9/27/1969

The biggest hit from Lou Rawls since “Love Is A Hurtin’ Thing” in 1966. Co-written by David Porter and Isaac Hayes, who also wrote “Soul Man,” “Hold On! I’m Comin’” and plenty more Stax classics, this has a decidedly different feel. Lou became a successful spokesman in the 70’s voicing Budweiser spots and doing TV ads for Colonial Penn insurance long before Alex Trebek. That led to Lou hosting the United Negro College Fund telethons for many years. Rawls was also the singing voice of Garfield the cat in those cartoons.

“Keem-O-Sabe” #16 9/27/1969

The talent level behind the only hit by a studio group, the Electric Indian, was rather impressive. They included members of what became MFSB, the house band for all those monster 70’s hits from Philadelphia International Records. Also appearing were Daryl Hall (before hooking up with John Oates) and Frank Virtue, who had a huge instrumental with “Guitar Boogie Shuffle” in 1959. Produced by Len Barry, a Philly music legend in his own right with the Dovells and as a solo act with “1-2-3.”

“Oh, What A Night” (1969 issue) #10 9/27/1969

A rarity in that the remake was performed by the same group 13 years later. The Dells had a Top 5 R&B hit in 1956 with the original. With a different tempo plus an added spoken intro, their remake topped the soul music chart and made the pop Top 10. They had more soul hits but didn’t chart this highly again on the pop side.

“Easy To Be Hard” #4 9/27/1969

The highest charting single to date for Three Dog Night was yet another song from “Hair.” It was sung by the character of Sheila in the musical; luckily the tune was genderless, making it easy to be (not so) hard for anybody to perform. Chuck Negron once again handled the lead vocals. Very soulful rendition here.

“Green River” #2 9/27/1969

A song about a place that didn’t quite exist. John Fogerty said he wrote this about a place in northern California called Putah Creek, but in his mind he called it Green River, borrowing the name from a fountain soft drink of his youth. Yet the record sounded as swampy as the backwoods of Louisiana. CCR was very prolific in 1969 with three albums all making the Top 10 and four singles all in the Top 3.

“Abbey Road” 50th Anniversary

The Beatles’ final studio LP, “Abbey Road,” was issued in the UK on this date in 1969 and five days later on 10/1/69 in America. After the acrimony of the White Album and the still-unreleased “Get Back” (the title was later changed to “Let It Be” - the drama around that LP led to the dissolution of the band), there was an unspoken acknowledgement this would be their last time in the studio as a group. ***ADDENDUM: An audio tape recently surfaced which casts doubt on this. John, Paul and George had apparently discussed recording another album after “Abbey Road.” Nothing came of it, and because of that and other issues (like John’s heroin addiction, and...well, Yoko), Lennon quit the band.*** So they put their differences mostly aside and gave it one last college try. The front cover is iconic. John was dressed in all white (the preacher), Ringo in all black (the undertaker), Paul was barefoot, out of step and holding a cigarette in his non-dominant hand (surely this was a body double - he was supposedly dead, right?) and George in all denim (the gravedigger). A cottage industry sprung up around the whole “Paul is dead” hoax. The boys strung together a handful of incomplete songs and turned them into a 15 minute+ medley to finish side 2. There was even a hidden track! George proved his songwriting was on a level with Lennon and McCartney’s efforts. Ringo was...well, Ringo. “Abbey Road” was, for me and many others, the Beatles’ finest effort. It was their last studio album, but not their final album release. The “Get Back”/“Let It Be” LP awaited...

“Armstrong” #74 9/20/1969

A tribute to the first man to walk on the moon mixed with some social commentary from John Stewart. He was with the Kingston Trio for seven years and wrote the #1 hit “Daydream Believer” for the Monkees, but success as a performer eluded him until 1979’s “Gold” with some help from Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.