Rant #2,258: Hey Jude, Those Were the Days For the Love Child With Little Green Apples As You Hold Me Tight

First off, let me wish the happiest of birthdays to my wife.

She celebrates her big day tomorrow, and she deserves a really great day.

She was actually supposed to work on her birthday this year, was able to switch her day with a co-worker, so she is off tomorrow.

We will go out to eat at a restaurant of her choice, and I just know it is going to be a nice day for her.

And she deserves it!

Love you, babe.

And on Sunday, we have Veterans Day, which honors all of those who have served this country proudly in the armed services.

They also deserve a great day, and personally, that goes for my father (see photo), my father in law, and my brother in law, who all served our country, fighting for the rights that so many of us take for granted.

We cannot do enough for them.

To honor both my wife and the veterans today, I decided to look back 50 years ago to the music that we were all listening to back then, the top 10 singles of this week, 50 years to the day, November 9, 1968.

It is the least I can do right here at the blog to honor these great people.

So, without further ado, here we go!

Topping the chart this week was, once again, the No. 1 hit of all the hits the Beatles had, "Hey Jude." A paean to John Lennon's son Julian, the song would spend a total of nine weeks as the top song in the country, and this was its seventh week at the top.

Another wonderful song from the Beatles' Apple label came next, with Mary Hopkins' "Those Were the Days," And no, the urban legend that Paul McCartney wrote this song is just that; he merely produced this fantastic song for the pretty blond singer.

One of the few "political" songs that the Diana Ross and the Supremes ever did, "Love Child," came in at No. 3, and it would eventually supplant "Hey Jude" as the top song in the country.

A song that has become a standard of such, "Little Green Apples" by O.C. Smith, came in at No. 4 on the chart, with Johnny Nash's reggae tinged "Hold Me Tight" rounding out this week's top five.

At No. 6 was Cream's "White Room," the British power trio's second and final top 10 hit in America, and at No. 7 was "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf.

Rounding out this week's top 10 were "Elenore" by the Turtles at No. 8, "Fire" by the Crazy World of Arthur Brown at No. 9, and at No. 10, "Midnight Confessions" by the Grass Roots.

The highest debuting song on the chart this week was "Too Weak To Fight" by Clarence Carter. Debuting at No. 73, the song would reach as high as No. 13 toward the end of the calendar year.

The week's biggest mover, or the song that moved up the most places on the list from one week to another, was Stevie Wonder's "For Once In My Life," which jumped from No. 79 to No. 35 this week. The song would eventually reach No, 2 on the chart later in the year.

So there you have it, the top 10 singles in the country for this week exactly 50 years ago today.

When you have a chart that includes the Beatles, the Supremes, the Turtles and the Grass Roots, you know that music diversity was alive and well way back when.

Again, congratulations to my wife and the veterans, and have a great weekend. I will speak to you again on Monday.