Rant #2,416: In the Year 2525, Crystal Blue Persuasion Leads to Spinning Wheel and My Cherie Amour, What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)

This was a pretty momentous week in history, with some of those momentous occasions, including the first moon walk and Dylan going electric, taking place this week 50 or more years ago.

Another event took place this week, but in a bit more recent times.

Yesterday was the 41st birthday of Louise Joy Brown, who came into this world as our first test tube baby, as this Britisher was born after conception by in vitro fertilization.

Not that much is known about Brown today, as she has pretty much faded into the woodwork, although it is known that she is married and has two sons, both born naturally.

Happy birthday, and I guess the 1965 Herman's Hermits song, "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter" presaged by nearly 20 years the events leading up to Louise Brown's birth.

And since we are on the subject of music, what songs were the most popular 50 years ago today, on July 26, 1969?

These songs were popular just after the Apollo 11 mission was over, but they still smack of that very special time and place.

Let's look at what we were all listening to on the radio way back when.

In 10th place on the Billboard Hot 100 for this week half a century ago was the "Love Theme From Romeo and Juliet," by Henry Mancini, which continued to be a hot song from one of the top movies of the day. This former No. 1 song left the Top 10 after this week.

At No. 9 was Andy Kim's "Baby, I Love You," a cover of the old Ronettes hit. A Canadian of Middle Eastern extraction, Kim was a writer and producer who was white hot at this time, with his many collaborations with Jeff Barry leading to the No. 1 hit "Sugar Sugar" by the Archies.

One of the Beatles' strangest concoctions, in my eye and ear at least, was their "Ballad of John and Yoko," which came in at No. 8 this week. The song memorialized the increasing relationship between John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who had recently married, and I do believe that Lennon and Paul McCartney are the only band members on this tune.

At No. 7 was the first big hit--one of the eventual many--that were produced by Three Dog Night, a band with three lead singers. "One" did eventually get there, and this tune was written by Harry Nilsson, who was one of the brightest young singer songwriters of the day, brought to the fore by his tow associations--with the Monkees to get his career in high gear--and with the Beatles, and namely John Lennon--the two were major party buddies, if you know what I mean.

"Hair" continued to be a hot Broadway show, and Oliver's "Good Morning Starshine" certainly fit the mood of the play and the mood of the country as the Apollo 11 made its triumphant voyage, and it sat at No. 6 on the chart this week.

Entering the top five, at No. 5 was "What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) by Motown's Jr. Walker and the All-Stars. This was another vocal hit by the once all instrumental act.

Reaching No. 4 on the chart this week was another Motown soon-to-be classic, "My Cherie Amour," by the then-teen wunderkind, Stevie Wonder, one of his many hits during his recording career, which stretches to this day.

Blood, Sweat and Tears were one of the hottest acts on the charts back then, and their mix of pop, rock and jazz was perhaps never more evident than on "Spinning Wheel," which was at No. 3 on the Hot 100 this week.

Tommy James and the Shondells were one of the few acts that were able to crossover from AM radio staple to FM radio darlings during this period, and their single "Crystal Blue Persuasion" got played on both areas of the radio dial, and was the No. 2 song on the chart this week.

Topping this week chart was, like a few other songs on this Top 10 list, a very appropriate song for the time and place. It was by one of the ultimate one-hit wonders, Zager and Evans, who had one fo the biggest hits of the 1960s with "In the Year 2525," and then were virtually never heard from again.

The highest debut on this week's Hot 100 chart was the wordplay bending "A Boy Named Sue" by Johnny Cash, which came into the Hot 100 at No. 42 and eventually became the country singer's biggest crossover hit, reaching No. 4 a few weeks later.

The "Biggest Mover" on this week's Hot 100 chart was another song that eventually became a major smash, the Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women," which moved up 51 places on the chart from the prior week to this week, from No. 79 to No. 29. The song would eventually hit No. 1 in August, supplanting "In the Year 2525" as the top song in the country.

So there you have it, the top 10 best-selling singles in America the week after the crew of the Apollo 11 landed on the moon.

What a chart, and what a time to be alive!

Have a great weekend, and I will speak again to you on Monday.