How has your Memorial Day
weekend gone thus far?
You can’t really say “Happy Memorial Day,” because the day has to do with honoring our war dead throughout all the conflicts our country has been involved in.
They died so we could continue the lives we have in this country, so we honor them on this day.
This is also sort of the unofficial start of summer, so I know many of you have spent at least part of your holiday at the beach or in the pool.
And what better way to spend a day at the beach or in the pool than to listen to your favorite music there while you dart in and out of the waves and the water?
I know I said I was not going to do these types of entries anymore, but every once in a while, it isn’t that terrible to look back to what we were listening to on the radio in days gone past.
The kids today have no idea how much fun it was to listen to your favorite stations, DJs and music on the radio, and when you heard something that you liked, you turned up the radio a bit … while you were baking in the sun.
So here, for the first time in a while, we are going to go back 50 years, to the week of May 27, 1972, and see exactly what the top hits of the day were way back when, music we were certainly listening to at the local beach—or pool—as the summer unofficially began.
At #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 of the top-selling singles was “Hot Rod Lincoln” by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. This throwback to the 1950s was the biggest hit for this act.
At #9 was “Sylvia’s Mother” by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show This tongue-in-cheek tune was by an act that had numerous hits through the 1970s, and later shortened their name to simply “Dr. Hook.”
Coming in at #8 was “I Gotcha” by Joe Tex. His music was often tongue-in-cheek, too, but Tax’s mix of rock, pop and soul made him one of the top solo acts of the era.
The Rolling Stones were ubiquitous on the radio during this period, and one of their biggest hits during that time period was “Tumbling Dice,” which was at #7 this week, the highest ranking it would garner.
Cat Stevens became one of the top singer/songwriters of this time period, and his “Morning Has Broken” was at #6 on the chart this week. It would be the highest this song would rise to on the chart.
At #5 on the Hot 100 for the week was one of the hottest songs of the period, “The Candy Man” by Sammy Davis Jr. The song from the film “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” would rise to the top spot in two weeks, where it remained for a total of three weeks.
Al Green’s smooth soul hits continued with “Look What You Done For Me” which hit #4 on this week’s listing. Green became one of the top soul singers of the era with numerous Adult Contemporary soul hits.
One of the biggest hits of the 1970s was “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack, which hit the #3 spot this week. It had fallen from the top spot after spending six weeks there.
"’ll Take You There” by the Staples Singers was at #2 this week. The family act’s gospel-tinged soul led to a number of Top 10 tunes for the act during this era, and this song would hit #1 the very nest week for s single week.
And topping this week’s chart as the #1 song in the country 50 years ago was …
“Oh Girl” by the Chi-Lites, another smooth soul ballad that spent one week at the top spot.
Even though still a teenager, Michel Jackson was hot as a pistol both with his family group the Jackson 5 and as a solo artist, and his “I Want to Be Where You Are” was the highest debuting record on the Hot 100, coming in at #59 for the week. It would eventually get as high as #16 a few weeks later.
The Biggest Mover on the chart, the song that moved up the most places from the previous week to this week, was an "out-of-leftfield” hit, Amazing Grace“ by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, something of a novelty tune that went from #59 last week to #31 this week. The song, one of the few if not the only Hot 100 hit ever to have the bagpipers as its primary musical instrument, rose to #11 during its run.
So there you have it, the top 10 tunes of 50 years ago heading into 1972’s Memorial Day.
Again, I said I would never do such a Rant again, but I guess one can “never say never” when it cones to such a column.
And it was fun doing it again, a perfect antidote to our current world and what is going on in it.
I hope you had as much fun reminiscing as I did with these songs.
And I also hope that your holiday was as good as it could be.
You can’t really say “Happy Memorial Day,” because the day has to do with honoring our war dead throughout all the conflicts our country has been involved in.
They died so we could continue the lives we have in this country, so we honor them on this day.
This is also sort of the unofficial start of summer, so I know many of you have spent at least part of your holiday at the beach or in the pool.
And what better way to spend a day at the beach or in the pool than to listen to your favorite music there while you dart in and out of the waves and the water?
I know I said I was not going to do these types of entries anymore, but every once in a while, it isn’t that terrible to look back to what we were listening to on the radio in days gone past.
The kids today have no idea how much fun it was to listen to your favorite stations, DJs and music on the radio, and when you heard something that you liked, you turned up the radio a bit … while you were baking in the sun.
So here, for the first time in a while, we are going to go back 50 years, to the week of May 27, 1972, and see exactly what the top hits of the day were way back when, music we were certainly listening to at the local beach—or pool—as the summer unofficially began.
At #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 of the top-selling singles was “Hot Rod Lincoln” by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. This throwback to the 1950s was the biggest hit for this act.
At #9 was “Sylvia’s Mother” by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show This tongue-in-cheek tune was by an act that had numerous hits through the 1970s, and later shortened their name to simply “Dr. Hook.”
Coming in at #8 was “I Gotcha” by Joe Tex. His music was often tongue-in-cheek, too, but Tax’s mix of rock, pop and soul made him one of the top solo acts of the era.
The Rolling Stones were ubiquitous on the radio during this period, and one of their biggest hits during that time period was “Tumbling Dice,” which was at #7 this week, the highest ranking it would garner.
Cat Stevens became one of the top singer/songwriters of this time period, and his “Morning Has Broken” was at #6 on the chart this week. It would be the highest this song would rise to on the chart.
At #5 on the Hot 100 for the week was one of the hottest songs of the period, “The Candy Man” by Sammy Davis Jr. The song from the film “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” would rise to the top spot in two weeks, where it remained for a total of three weeks.
Al Green’s smooth soul hits continued with “Look What You Done For Me” which hit #4 on this week’s listing. Green became one of the top soul singers of the era with numerous Adult Contemporary soul hits.
One of the biggest hits of the 1970s was “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack, which hit the #3 spot this week. It had fallen from the top spot after spending six weeks there.
"’ll Take You There” by the Staples Singers was at #2 this week. The family act’s gospel-tinged soul led to a number of Top 10 tunes for the act during this era, and this song would hit #1 the very nest week for s single week.
And topping this week’s chart as the #1 song in the country 50 years ago was …
“Oh Girl” by the Chi-Lites, another smooth soul ballad that spent one week at the top spot.
Even though still a teenager, Michel Jackson was hot as a pistol both with his family group the Jackson 5 and as a solo artist, and his “I Want to Be Where You Are” was the highest debuting record on the Hot 100, coming in at #59 for the week. It would eventually get as high as #16 a few weeks later.
The Biggest Mover on the chart, the song that moved up the most places from the previous week to this week, was an "out-of-leftfield” hit, Amazing Grace“ by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, something of a novelty tune that went from #59 last week to #31 this week. The song, one of the few if not the only Hot 100 hit ever to have the bagpipers as its primary musical instrument, rose to #11 during its run.
So there you have it, the top 10 tunes of 50 years ago heading into 1972’s Memorial Day.
Again, I said I would never do such a Rant again, but I guess one can “never say never” when it cones to such a column.
And it was fun doing it again, a perfect antidote to our current world and what is going on in it.
I hope you had as much fun reminiscing as I did with these songs.
And I also hope that your holiday was as good as it could be.
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