Rant #3,140: Frankenstein

Let me say at the get-go that I really don’t have that much to say about the passing of Tina Turner.

Yes, she was an icon, yes, she was “Lady Rock and Roll,” yes, we all know about her struggles and her triumphs over great adversity—

But I have to admit that I was never a fan of hers, either with Ike Turner or without him.

I have exactly one record of hers/theirs in my collection—a re-release of the “River Deep, Mountain High” LP—but frankly, she and they were never among my favorites.

I just found it all so interesting that the frenetic pace that they performed at was never linked to the church, because like James Brown, a lot of that electricity that the two performers displayed was more like a church revival meeting than a rock concert, but not being much of a fan, what do I know?

R.I.P. Tina, you did well.

But let’s move on from that to this coming holiday weekend, which for some people, is already here and has been here for at least a day or two.

Yesterday, I spoke about the real meaning of Memorial Day, beyond the picnics and barbecues and baseball and flip flops and the swimming and the like.

But today, I am going to go where most of us go this holiday, and that is the more commercial route.

Whether we buy into it or not, Memorial Day pretty much begins the summer season for our culture and country, and while by me it is only in the high 60s and low 70s temperature-wise, people are already getting out their beach wear and are ready to go into the water (while looking out for sharks).

So Memorial Day takes on a different tone for most of us, and what were most of us listening to on the radio 50 years ago to the day?

And boy, was the music we were listening to back then on the beach during Memorial Day weekend 1973 an interesting collection of tunes!

Let’s get right into it!

At #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for May 26, 1973 was the yodeling one-hit wonder Focus with “Hocus Pocus,” certainly one of the strangest tunes ever to appear in the Hot 100.

Coming in at #9 was another one-hit wonder, Skylark, with “Wildflower,” and at #8 was two-hit wonder Dobie Gray with “Drift Away” (but to be fair, Gray had many hits on the country chart).

The Sweet—with the added “The” which they were known by at the time—had one of the biggest novelty tunes of all time with their “Little Willy,” which came in at #7. They had quite a string of hits, the majority of which were in the bubblegum/glam/novelty vein, and we all know what this double entendre tune was all about.

The equally controversial “Pillow Talk” by Sylvia came in at #6. Many stations banned this song because of its suggestive lyrics, which were pretty much more to the point than the Sweet song’s lyrics were.

The next two songs were moving down the chart from the #1 position during this week. At #5 was Steve Wonder’s “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” and at #4 was Dawn featuring Tony Orlando’s “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree,” the song about how we honor soldiers in the Vietnam War that became something of a standard during the war years.

Elton John’s “Daniel” was at #3, and it was preceded by Paul McCartney and Wings’ “My Love” at #2, a song that became one of the former Beatles’ best-selling hits after his time with the Fab Four, eventually reaching #1 and staying there for four weeks.

And at #1, pretty much another one-hit wonder, one of the great novelty instrumentals of all time—

“Frankenstein” by The Edgar Winter Group, which would remain at the top spot on the chart for just this one week.

The highest debut on this week’s Hot 100 chart was “What About Me” by Anne Murray, which debuted at #83 but would only creep up to #64 during its very brief chart run.

The biggest mover—or the song that jumped the most places on the chart from one week to another—was George Harrison’s “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth),” which went from #59 the prior week to #34 this week on its way to the #1 spot in late June—supplanting, what else, but Paul McCartney and Wings’ “My Love” from the top position.

Have a great holiday listening to these tunes and more recent ones, and I am going to take Memorial Day off too, so I will speak to you again on Tuesday.