Rant #2,322: Everyday People and Crimson and Clover Build Me Up Buttercup and Touch Me Proud Mary

Well, enough Marilyn Munster already!

And enough about Amazon reconsidering their decision to pull out of having their second headquarters in Long Island City, Queens. New York legislators can literally get on their knees and beg them to reconsider--which Governor Cuomo and others have been doing for the past month since the announcement--but Amazon would have to be absolutely crazy to go back on what they said.

Once bitten, twice shy, as has been said.

So, enough Marilyn Munster, enough Amazon, let's get to something that is far more interesting and fun to look back at--

The top singles for this week 50 years ago in 1969.

Sometimes you have to look back to move forward, and I think looking back at what we were listening to in music in 1969 is the perfect tonic for the troops, and it will help me continue to get better with my own health--where I am 99 and 9/10 percent back to where I should be.

So let's go back 50 years on this first day of March and see what was happening on the Billboard Hot 100 a half century ago.

For the week beginning March 1, 1969, the top record in the country--and probably the top band at this point in time--was "Everyday People" by Sly and the Family Stone. Led by Sylvester Stewart, the music-bending band tapped into rock, soul, and rhythm and blues and came out with funk, and this was one of their best songs to demonstrate this then-unique mix.

Right behind it at No. 2 was its predecessor at No. 1, "Crimson and Clover" by Tommy James and the Shondells. The band almost seamlessly moved from AM radio darlings to AM/FM radio superstars with this tune, and it led off a whole slew of AM/FM hits for the band.

What the British call "Northern Soul" was firmly at the No. 3 position on the charts, as the Foundations' "Build Me Up Buttercup" came in the "show" position for the week, followed by the Doors' "Touch Me" at No. 4.

Rounding out the top five was "Proud Mary" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Its placement so high on the chart signaled the emergence of "Swamp Rock," a murkier kind of pop music, into our sensibilities.

The Turtles took an old Byrds' tune and made it their own with "You Showed Me," which came in at No. 6 this week, followed by "This Magic Moment"--another cover version, originally done by the Drifters--by Jay and and Americans at No. 7.

Motown continued to be ubiquitous on the Billboard Hot 100 into 1969 and beyond, and at No. 8 was "Baby, Baby Don't Cry" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. Of all their biggest hits, this one, for whatever reason, gets the least airplay on oldies radio today.

Yet another cover version came in at No. 9 this week, as the Brooklyn Bridge's "Worst That Could Happen" filled the No. 9 slot. This song was an almost note by note cover of the 5th Dimension's original version of the tune from a year or so earlier, and the song is another in the canon of Jimmy Webb.

Rounding out the top 10 most popular songs for the week was "Dizzy" by Tommy Roe, one of the all-time great bubblegum hits which made a dizzying path to the No. 1 slot, which it would occupy just two weeks later.

The highest debuting record on the Hot 100 this week was "Rock Me" by Steppenwolf at No. 63. This would eventually be the third and final Top 20 song for the band, hitting No. 10, but John Kay and his band would hit the Hot 100 10 other times through the mid 1970s with other songs.

Edwin Starr's "25 Miles" was the biggest mover on the chart, jumping from No. 94 to No. 66 in just one week. The song would eventually reach No. 6, one of more than a dozen Hot 100 hits by the singer through the late 1970s.

So there you have it ... no Marilyn Munster, no Amazon, just some absolutely great music, one classic after another.

Speak you again on Monday, Have a great weekend.