Here's the chart story on Something/Come Together across the 3 US charts, most interesting: -------------------------------------------------- Billboard, starting 10-18-69: . . . . . . . . . . . .Something charted like this: 20-11-11-9-3-3 . . . . . . . .Come Together charted like this: 23-13-10-3-2-7 then they were combined as Come Together/Something: 1-3-4-6-7-12-16-20-22-29 Note that Something started out higher for 2 weeks, Come Together took over the lead for 3 weeks, Something took it back for 1 week, and then they were combined, with Come Together listed first for the final 10 weeks. On the week before they were combined, Something was at #3 and peaking, while Come Together was at #7 and dropping. -------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile at Cash Box, they were separate for their entire chart run, starting 10-18-69: . . . . Something: 36-11 - 2- 2- 3-2-6-10-14-22-30-37-53- x Come Together: 39-30-16-8- 2-1- 1 - 1 - 4 - 5 -17 -19-26-41 Something had the initial lead for 4 weeks, then Come Together took over for the final 10 weeks. -------------------------------------------------- Over on Record World, they charted as only 1 weekly position for the entire run, starting 10-11-69: . . . . . . . . Something: 63-43 Something/Come Together: 14-4-1-1 . then as Come Together/Something: 1-1-1-3-6-7-14-16-27 Most interesting that while it was #1, it flipped which side was listed first!
My memory of this episode was that their manager was none other than Eppy Brianstone, AKA the prehistoric version of Beatles' manager Brian Epstein. I always loved Beatles references from sixties TV shows!
Josie and the P-Cats were great! Unlike Cattanooga Cats, I have very clear memories of watching that show and Globetrotters as a kid. It always bugged me that one of the guys in Josie was a dead ringer for Reggie, though. Then later they went to space, which was really weird. I actually remember the space show better than the normal one. Harlem Globetrotters had an awesome theme song. I still remember it to this day, and I hadn't heard it for forty years until I dug it up on YouTube:
I remember that! We saw it and the '80s and cracked up! Starts at 3:55 in this video... The Flintstones - No Biz Like Show Biz | B99.TV
Holy crap, this is a fabulous disaster! Sammy channeling William Shatner? Who'd a thunk it? "where else? The ghetto. Dig!". Ay yi yi...
Rhino released two full CDs of these abominations. Would you like to hear Chad Everett sing "Nights On Broadway"?
Chad's album is pretty good. Nino Tempo wrote and produced most of it. When it didn't sell he rerecorded most of the same songs with John Travolta.
Actually, one of the other guys bore a resemblance to Freddy of Scooby-Doo - and the shaggy-haired one had a very slight resemblance to Shaggy of the same show with the same Great Dane. Although I do prefer Brother Bones' "Sweet Georgia Brown" which had been the Globetrotters' actual theme seemingly forever. From what it sounds like, the producers of the cartoon series couldn't get the rights to that . . .
Indeed. And later on, radio in my neck of the woods (Philadelphia) latched onto "Here Comes The Sun", further boosting George Harrison's stock as a songwriter and singer.
Sure, but that's Chad Everett, never noted as a singer. This is Sammy Davis, Jr. Music is his middle name! You can hear him occasionally wanting to break out and actually sing during In the Ghetto, but he keeps resisting, almost as if he isn't entirely taking the lyrics seriously. I suspect he was using some sort of mind altering painkiller and his judgement wasn't entirely sound that week. (by the way, my favorite 'Golden Throat' is probably Sebastian Cabot, Actor, performing Bob Dylan, Poet. "Do you want to make a deeeeeal?" )
Something After the debacle of the Get Back sessions, it looked like the Beatles might never record together again. For the next few months they went their separate ways: Ringo made a film with Peter Sellers, George had to deal with a drug bust, Paul got married, and John and Yoko were sleeping in a bed on television. Slowly but surely, work began on the next Beatles album. Compared to Get Back, it was civil and productive, although the times were never as fun as before, and there was still a lot of tension in the air. Several factors were pulling them apart. Apple had become a nightmare, and as a result, three of the Beatles enlisted tough talking New York agent Allen Klein to deal with it. Paul wanted his new father in law, whom he trusted more than Klein. Klein did manage to negotiate a good new record deal for the Beatles, right about the time John privately let the group know that he wanted to quit. Then Paul died, which didn't help group unity either. Given all of that, it's amazing Abbey Road worked out as well as it did. Klein broke with tradition and released two songs from the album as a single, and for the first time, George Harrison got an A side, while Paul was shut out. It was a great single, too, although it amazingly did not stay for long at #1, and only got there because Billboard changed the rules that dictate chart placement to give more credit to double-A side singles. It was probably hurt by the fact that half of America already owned the songs on Abbey Road. IMO Something was George's most accomplished Beatles track, and would become their second most covered song after Yesterday. Frank Sinatra called it his favorite Lennon-McCartney song ("Thanks, Frank", Paul would joke years later), and Sinatra did a memorable cover where he changed one line to: 'you stick around, Jack, she may show'. Hmmmm.... I don't know, Frank... I don't knoooooow... George had started writing the song back during the White Album, but even as of the end of the Get Back sessions, it was still in a fragmented state. The first line was swiped from a James Taylor song, 'Something in the Way She Moves' (Taylor's debut album was on Apple). But George had some trouble with the other lines. There is a wonderful audio clip from the time of Get Back featuring John and Paul working together to help George with the song. To paraphrase: George: 'What's the next line, Paul? Attracts me like ... what?' John: 'Just say whatever comes into your head each time. Attracts me like a cauliflower'. George: 'Attracts me like a pomegranate...' Even at this late date, this track showed that all the boys, even John, could be motivated to work hard on a song if they felt it had potential... even if it was George's song. George even asks Paul for advice, an incredible move considering his bitterness towards Paul during some of the Let It Be tapes. Enjoy being a fly on the wall as the Beatles work on a classic: In the mid 70s when George went on tour, he sadly had trouble remembering a few of his lyrics. One he botched frequently was Something. He rephrased the first line as 'if something's in the way, we move it'. OK, that's an... interesting take, I guess. But hey, he wrote it, so more power to him!
I know, I have it. It is embarrassing to listen to. Sammy Davis Jr. trying to sound cool and hip...he should have stayed in his square little world.
Always loved this one, didn't realize for years it had been a #1 hit - it got played on oldies radio when I was a kid, but seemed somewhat obscure. Borderline bubblegum I suppose, but an irresistible earworm. I'm kinda surprised nobody ever had a hit cover of this one in the US (Bananarama of course had one in the UK).
Sorry to be late for Wedding Bell Blues - It was great to me that the 5th Dimension scored another #1 within a year, off the same album. The songs were very different, and it showed they took two very different songs (actually 3) and made them their own.
Once again, I must point to some past rebuttals of the Sinatra story: Incorrect music "facts" you used to believe Hit songs often credited to the wrong artist What are George Harrison's 3 signature Beatles songs?
The last #1 for Fontana Records in its history. Shortly thereafter, the label was discontinued and what was left of its artist roster transferred to Mercury - including Steam. But the mono is the way to go, especially given numerous differences in the mix in the second half between mono and stereo:
