I must admit that I've disliked "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" from the beginning and nothing has changed my opinion since. It is soporific, IMHO. Yawn.
Rod. No, I don't think you're sexy. Ick. Yet, incredibly, he still manages to get some of the world's best-looking women, for a time. I'm sure it is his warm personality.
I must admit when we went to see SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, I was hooked as soon as "Stayin' Alive" came on.
"Knock Three Times" by Tony Orlando & Dawn has one of my all-time favorite images:
"When you look out your window tonight, Pull in the string with the note that's attached to my heart."
Think about it.
Was that Patridge Family song really that big a hit?
I've always found it interesting that the Gilbert O'Sullivan song was a much bigger hit in the U.S. than in Britain (or Ireland?). Then again, "To Sir, With Love" didn't even chart in Britain.
Seriously? There must be 25 songs in the 26-75 lists that are better than any of these. (The only one I hear at all on the radio station I listen to is "My Sweet Lord," and I think that's largely because they play a lot of Beatles/post-Beatles stuff.)
I'm a big Rod Stewart fan, but with "Do You Think I'm Sexy," I pretty much stopped buying his records. I love the early stuff, however. If any of you have peeked at #1, you might be having a heart attack by now. The list isn't of "good songs." It's just the biggest hits.
More trivia : for their first two songs (Candida and Knock Three Times) Tony Orlando & Dawn didn't really exist, as such. They recorded their parts separately and Dawn was a studio group, if they existed at all.
And, of course, Chart Info is only somewhat reflective of sales. I doubt #1 was the best-selling single of the decade, even given its popularity. "Brand New Key" was certainly one of the more annoying songs of the decade not by Gibbs or Leo Sayer.
Chart rankings back then seem to have been a combination of limited sales information, limited airplay information (from ASCAP and BMI), and, um, side payments? Now, it's pretty much based on actual sales (scanner/Amazon/etc.) data. I'll admit that I expected something like chart data to be behind this; it couldn't possibly have been anyone's assessment of actual quality.
Well, I answered my own question, and they are *very* different. I'm not going to go into it here, but will post what I found on my blog after the Top 10 show up here. (I'll link to it here, in case anyone cares.)
13 comments:
I must admit that I've disliked "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" from the beginning and nothing has changed my opinion since. It is soporific, IMHO. Yawn.
Rod. No, I don't think you're sexy. Ick. Yet, incredibly, he still manages to get some of the world's best-looking women, for a time. I'm sure it is his warm personality.
I must admit when we went to see SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, I was hooked as soon as "Stayin' Alive" came on.
"Knock Three Times" by Tony Orlando & Dawn has one of my all-time favorite images:
"When you look out your window tonight,
Pull in the string with the note that's attached to my heart."
Think about it.
Was that Patridge Family song really that big a hit?
I've always found it interesting that the Gilbert O'Sullivan song was a much bigger hit in the U.S. than in Britain (or Ireland?). Then again, "To Sir, With Love" didn't even chart in Britain.
Jeff
Seriously? There must be 25 songs in the 26-75 lists that are better than any of these. (The only one I hear at all on the radio station I listen to is "My Sweet Lord," and I think that's largely because they play a lot of Beatles/post-Beatles stuff.)
I'm a big Rod Stewart fan, but with "Do You Think I'm Sexy," I pretty much stopped buying his records. I love the early stuff, however. If any of you have peeked at #1, you might be having a heart attack by now. The list isn't of "good songs." It's just the biggest hits.
So one of my guesses for #1 ("Stayin' Alive") comes in at #19, but "American Pie" is still in play.
My Dad absolutely LOVED "Tie A Yellow Ribbon"--therefore, I still know every word.
/I'm coming home, I've done my time...
More trivia : for their first two songs (Candida and Knock Three Times) Tony Orlando & Dawn didn't really exist, as such. They recorded their parts separately and Dawn was a studio group, if they existed at all.
Jeff
Heaven help me, but I watched their variety show on TV.
No worse than the other musician-hosted variety series.
And, of course, Chart Info is only somewhat reflective of sales. I doubt #1 was the best-selling single of the decade, even given its popularity. "Brand New Key" was certainly one of the more annoying songs of the decade not by Gibbs or Leo Sayer.
Chart rankings back then seem to have been a combination of limited sales information, limited airplay information (from ASCAP and BMI), and, um, side payments? Now, it's pretty much based on actual sales (scanner/Amazon/etc.) data. I'll admit that I expected something like chart data to be behind this; it couldn't possibly have been anyone's assessment of actual quality.
I wonder if the results are different using Billboard data instead of Cashbox.
I'm sure they'd be different. Those two publications use different criteria.
Well, I answered my own question, and they are *very* different. I'm not going to go into it here, but will post what I found on my blog after the Top 10 show up here. (I'll link to it here, in case anyone cares.)
We'll all be interested.
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