Dan Hicks was so so cool, flowing between genres and eras. Truly one of a kind. The whole Charlatans / Red Dog Saloon thing was just up the hill from here so he became part of local lore and got quite a bit of FM play over the next few decades until our older jocks retired and the airwaves got corporate.
You mean Mr. Manilow's first #1 single, which is a long way's away from here. There were seven more singles Bell put out after that. As I seek to avoid jumping ahead, that's all I'll put it at this point.
From the last week that Yellow Ribbon was #1, here's some of my favorites from the Top 40 that didn't hit #1: Little Willy - The Sweet Drift Away - Dobie Gray Stuck in the Middle With You - Stealers Wheel Daniel - Elton John Reelin' In The Years - Steely Dan Wildflower - Skylark Hocus Pocus - Focus The Right Thing To Do - Carly Simon Right Place, Wrong Time - Dr. John Let's Pretend - The Raspberries
Clearly the best stuff wasn't making it to the top, which was clogged with garbage. Every single one of those is scads better than the current #1. In fact they're better than many of the #1s so far this year, and the year ain't over yet. Loved "Right Place, Wrong Time", which my uncle had the single of. Loved Carly. Always loved Steely Dan. Elton's "Daniel" is a total classic. Adored "Stuck In The Middle With You", could never get enough of it. "Drift Away" is another timeless classic that to my ear has always sounded much older than '73.
Man, do I love "Hocus Pocus" - one minute it's a gonzo guitar assault, and the next you've got yodeling and whistling & a flautist doing his best Ian Anderson.
Agree. Each of your selections is infinitely better than the current chart topper. Clearly, 1973 wasn't a stellar year for Top 40 music (overall). I know there were some exceptions (Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, the songs Sunspot listed, etc.)
Rich was always a hard guy to categorize. He had a lot of talent as a singer, songwriter, and musician - there really wasn't much he couldn't do and do well.
If this is the song Grant was referring to then that explains why I didn't figure it out. It never reached #1 and those are the songs I was focusing on.
Classic 70's pop. Discovered this one in the 80's, when Mama's family was on TV. Never knew she sang until then!
Well, I don't know about that. Seems like there's a ton of good stuff on the charts - it's just not making it to the top. I suspect part of that was due to ever-increasing album sales. The good stuff was parked on LPs and only getting modest airplay on select radio stations - enough to promote the albums, but not enough to chart very high.
good points. For me, this was about the time that I was finding more and more that I liked on FM and less and less on the top 40, so I switched most of my listening to FM - I got a crappy little stereo from the hardware store (but it had detachable speakers, TT, and headphone jack. Car radio was still AM only so that's probably where I heard most of the top 40 hits.
This was also around the time a lot of older stereos and console TVs that included stereos and that had been used by the parents during the '60s got replaced by newer units - or full component stereo systems for younger, hipper, wealthier parents - and were demoted to the teen kids' rooms, including FM tuners the kids didn't have before and decent turntables. So the middle class and up teens started listening to FM and FM started to adapt itself to this college-bound audience's tastes.
Still waiting for a song to debut at #100 and then go to #1 the following week. It's almost happened, though. Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You" debuted at #97 and went to #1 the next week in 2009.
The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia The first of the Georgia smash hits of this era. I probably haven't heard this one in thirty years, and literally the only part I remembered was the chorus (and just the title, really). Listening to it again, this was probably the first time I ever actually realized what this one was about. And now that I have heard the words, I can only say, GOOD GRIEF! Vicki Lawrence as a murderer? Mama, how could you? It really does add a new spin to that show, doesn't it? To be honest, we've had a good run so far in 1973, but this song is pretty dire. It does make me wish that some of the other stars of Carol Burnett's show could have had their moment on the Hot 100. I can only wonder what Tim Conway or Harvey Korman might have come up with. I've loved reading about all the theories about the lyrics, though. Here are my two big questions: 1. What was Andy thinking? So "brother" happens into this bar after his trip and Andy just flat out confesses he slept with his wife? Especially after he went to the pains of telling him about the other guy she slept with. Probably not the best strategy. The only two explanations I can come up with for this dork move are: a. he was raging drunk or b. everyone in town already knew what was going on and he was trying to soften the blow. B. seems likely given my second question: 2. What was Vicki Lawrence thinking? No, I'm not talking about beloved TV comedienne Vicki Lawrence, we know what her motive was (ka-ching!). She's about the only person in this story that walked out ahead of the game. I'm talking about the narrator, whom I'll call Vicki cause, why not? First of all, how did she know about the affair? That lends credence to the idea that *everyone* in town knew and it was hot gossip. Secondly, if her motive was to preserve the family name, she did a damn poor job of it. Her brother ends up getting executed as a murderer after all. But seriously, what is her motive? Even if she hates her sister in law, don't you think it's really none of her business in the end? It looked like her brother was going to handle this in the same way anyway, but shouldn't he have had the right to confront the woman? And all this activity caused the lights to go out in Georgia, unless that's just a metaphor for... something. Seems clear as a bell to me. Mystery 2.5 I guess is what happened to Seth Amos, who seemed to have gotten off scot free (unless Vicki also deep sixed him off camera and we never heard). So this lovely little ditty allows us to hear all about a sweet little mass murderer who in the end was a far worse person than sis-in-law, Andy, Seth, brother, or any backwoods southern lawyer. Nice! My other thought was that this is now the second song to reach #1 with Georgia mentioned in the title (the first was Ray Charles' Georgia on my Mind, although I doubt this song represents the Georgia he was thinking of!). And there will be another soon. But has any other state been name dropped in any #1 song? I can't recall any, at least as of 1973. California almost made it, with California Girls and California Dreamin', but no #1. It's weird that Georgia has multiple entries when no other state has any. Am I forgetting one? Yeah, anyhoo.... Next song?
"Abraham, Martin & John?" So what exactly would be the point? Because this song sounds just as middle-of-the-road as the rest of their repertoire.
California Gurls - Katy Perry New York almost made it but Alicia Keys chose the title Empire State Of Mind. The Yellow Rose Of Texas - Mitch Miller. Way back in '55. Kansas City - Wilbert Harrison There are also #1s with cities, countries, continents, planets and the sun and the moon in the title but I'm too exhausted to list them!
This only reached #62 in '72 but it's a damned fine record. Lead singer of Los Bravos Mike Kennedy with Louisiana:
Beside the #1 hits Georgia was mentioned in many other songs: Gonna Send You Back To Georgia (A City Slick) at #41 in 1964 Gonna Send You Back To Walker (Gonna Send You Back To Georgia) at #57 in 1964 Hitchike Back To Georgia at #114 in 1964 El Pito (I'll Never Go Back To Georgia) at #115 in 1966 Georgia Pines at #81 in 1967 Atlanta Georgia Stray at #120 in 1968 Rainy Night In Georgia at #4 in 1970 Georgia Took Her Back at #88 in 1970 Never Goin' Back To Georgia at #113 in 1970 Georgia Sunshine at #118 in 1971 Georgia Porcupine at #94 in 1974 Georgia Rhythm at #68 in 1977 The Devil Went Down To Georgia at #3 in 1979 Georgia at #98 in 2001 (Carolyn Dawn Johnson) (*) Georgia Rain at #78 in 2005 Georgia at #39 in 2006 (Ludacris & Field Mob w/ Jamie Foxx) (*) (*) different songs I omitted some songs because it was not Georgia the U.S. state but probably the first name.