Every RPM Canadian Content #1 single discussion thread 1964-2000

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by bunglejerry, Aug 17, 2020.

  1. Paul C

    Paul C Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    I hadn't been looking hard enough. Here's a version by one of the song's writers, Francis Lemarque:

     
  2. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    On February 14 on the Cross Canada Chart, at #14 it's Douglas Rankine & The Secrets with
    Clear the Track, Here Comes Shack



    Eddie "the Entertainer" Shack played as a third liner for the Toronto Maple Leafs for seven seasons in the 1960s and was a part of four Stanley Cup winning teams. Because of his playing style ("a big puppy let loose in a wide field" according to one sportswriter) and humble beginnings (he never learned to read or write) he was a cult favourite with fans. He was sent to the minors at the start of the 1965-66 season, but he once he was back with the big club, he would start scoring goals at a furious pace (he would end up with 26, a career high).

    [​IMG]


    Brian McFarlane was a local hockey broadcaster and friend of Shack's (his father created The Hardy Boys series of books) . He would become host of Hockey Night In Canada in the 1970s (as well as NBC's coverage back then), invent Peter Puck, and put out hockey annuals for kids where he would take corny jokes and insert the phrase "hockey player" in them. (Hockey player: What's the difference between ignorance and apathy? Other hockey player: I don't know and I don't care!/ Psychiatrist: You have a split personality. Hockey player: Send the bill to my other half then!)

    [​IMG]

    With Shack as the talk of the town (and Toronto as centre of the universe), McFarlane approached his friend:
    'Clear The Track': How NHL's Eddie Shack Topped Toronto's Music Charts
    That group was local band The Secrets (with lead singer Douglas Rankine).
    The song would be released by RCA Victor and climb the #1 on Toronto's CHUM chart for two weeks:

    [​IMG] [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
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  3. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    After another Stanley Cup in 1967, Eddie Shack would get traded and play for five teams in eight years (including the Leafs again).

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]

    After retirement, he would become known to a new generation as the spokesman for the Pop Shoppe. I remember my dad taking me to an event at the local Pop Shoppe when I was a kid where Henri Richard signed an autograph for me and Eddie Shack handed out cards with a caricature of himself and his "autograph". I was curious at the time why he wasn't signing autographs like the Pocket Rocket.



    The song caused friction between McFarlane and Shack because Shack didn't quite understand the concept of "royalties":
    'Clear The Track': How NHL's Eddie Shack Topped Toronto's Music Charts

    Shack would pass away at the age of 83 this July. As for the Secrets?
    Brian McFarlane:
    We'll be hearing more from them later as both the Secrets and Quiet Jungle.
     
  4. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    On February 21, peaking at #11, from Montreal, it's the Sceptres with "It's All Over Now" (no, not that song) b/w "A Boy Like Me" . On the obscure Fi-Sound label, which was associated with Allied Records.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Neither side is on youtube. We'll be hearing more from them later.
     
  5. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    Hitting #9 on March 7 (reaching #64 on the big chart) are the Shays (now without David Clayton Thomas) with "This Hour Has Seven Days" b/w "Want You I Don't".


    [​IMG]

    The song borrowed it's title from a popular and controversial CBC current affairs show.
    This Hour Has Seven Days - Wikipedia

    [​IMG]
     
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  6. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    Just missing the top spot at #2 on March 14 is "It's A Long Way Home", the latest from the Staccatos. It would peak at #22 on the big chart.

     
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  7. He didn't create the Hardy Boys but he did "write" a bunch of them. He would get an outline from the American publisher and then go to his cottage for the weekend and bang out the book. This is why you don't find the Hardy Boys in the library - they weren't written so much as they were assembled.
     
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  8. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    Hardy Boy: What's the difference between ignorance and apathy? Other Hardy Boy: I don't know and I don't care!
     
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  9. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    For the mining of old gold, I prefer LOUISE by Pierre Lalonde a little better than Rose Marie

     
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  10. bunglejerry

    bunglejerry Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    26. BELIEVE ME
    by THE GUESS WHO?
    #1 for 2 weeks: March 21 and 28, 1966




    [​IMG]
    Changes, changes, changes. Changes to the Guess Who, and changes to RPM. Let's start with the former. We've passed over one Guess Who single that didn't top RPM's CanCon chart, "Hurting Each Other", which the band covered a few months after its original release by Jimmy Clanton and years before its most famous version by the Carpenters - the Guess Who's version is an impressive achievement, but it isn't at all the kind of song we'd expect to hear them cover. Anyway, this is the Real Deal. This is Randy Bachman's first hit a-side as a composer. It's the first single from the band's third album, It's Time, which is their last album on Quality Records, their last full-length album for three whole years, and their last album with Chad Allen on it. Though it's Allen doing the lead vocals on this track, his replacement Burton Cummings is perfectly audible on this recording: not his voice but his organ, which gets a prominent solo late in the track.

    Oh, and also: the question mark is still there, but the old band name has been permanently deep-sixed.

    The track is obviously quite derivative of English bands like, say, the Kinks, but still it sees the Guess Who developing their own sound. It's a catchy little number, fun and full of energy. Randy Bachman has another few decades of great guitar riffs ahead of him, but here's one of his very first. Bob Burns produced this, and it was indeed released on Scepter in the USA. While Australia (on the W&G label) and the Netherlands (on CNR again) got domestic releases of this single, two rather more unexpected countries to press this 7" are Greece (on the Pan-Vox label) and Peru (on the Corona label)- which credits the single to "Chad Allan Y The Guess Who".

    And lastly, in one of their most Canadian moves ever, the Guess Who recorded this song in both English and French. The French version, "Croyez-moi", was translated with the help of Randy's high school French teacher. Burton gamely struggles through it, but nobody is going to confuse him with a francophone. I don't know if "Croyez-moi" was actually commercially released back in the day.

    OTHER RPM CHARTS: And talking about changes... in the March 21st issue, RPM scrapped its Top 40 chart and replaced it with the RPM 100 chart. Billboard had launched its Hot 100 in 1958, and RPM - despite documenting a market 1/10th the size of Billboard's - followed less than eight years later. The first number one of the RPM 100 era was "Listen People" by Herman's Hermits. Having one hundred places allows for fully three recordings of the Batman theme to chart: the Marketts' version at number six, Neil Hefti's original at 55, and Jan and Dean's at 68 (which was from the album Jan and Dean Meet Batman and was the last single released before Jan's car accident).

    Actually, looking at discogs, I find that I'm wrong: Jan and Dean's 7" was a different song called "Batman", though on the Batman-centric concept album they do also cover Hefti's theme. It's enough to make your head spin.

    This is what is written on the front page about the new feature:

    "RPM this week expands the listings of pop singles to 100. Disc jockeys and record men will appreciate this new feature which will become a national guide for programming from coast to coast in Canada, as well as a spring board for foreign records. For some time Canada has been the testing ground for foreign product and RPM's past listings have contributed significantly to hitmaking. Included in this 100 are Canadian singles rated at their popularity according to chart action which is based on public demand. Record companies have been asked to submit listings of their product each week to RPM's Single Survey Department, 1940 Yonge St., Toronto 7, Canada."

    RPM's main chart will remain a top 100 for the duration of its existence except for a three-and-a-half-year period from 1980 till 1984 when it will be halved to fifty spots.
     
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  11. Paul C

    Paul C Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    Although CNR continued releasing Chad Allan era Guess Who 45s in The Netherlands, only "Shakin' All Over" made their Top 40, reaching #24:

    Top 40 week 34 van 1965
     
  12. Paul C

    Paul C Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada

    Douglas Rankine & The Secrets and The Quiet Jungle were the same guys??? Just about every day I learn something on this thread that makes my jaw drop.

    "(Clear The Track) Here Comes Shack" peaked at #54 on the main RPM chart. It has never been on any legit CD that I know of. Apparently, RCA Canada didn't even save a tape of this one. It's on the first volume of the unauthorized Made In Canada series, which also contains the similarly themed "Gordie Howe" by Bog Bob & The Dollars (#35 on the CHUM chart in 1963, but it must have been a much bigger hit in Windsor and Saskatchewan):





    "Gordie Howe" runs faster in the Youtube clip than on the CD, but I don't know if the 45 is sped up on the Youtube clip or slowed down on the CD.
     
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  13. Paul C

    Paul C Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    We should grant equal time to Bobby Hull. Here's "The Golden Jet" by Billy Van, which is available on the SuperOldies Billy Van compilation.




    There must be a chanson out there about Maurice Richard. Anyone?
     
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  14. Paul C

    Paul C Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    On the March 28, 1966, main RPM chart, The Counts peaked at #18 with their rendition of the Jerry Butler classic "He Will Break Your Heart". The single's flip was their version of the Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller composition "Searchin'", originally a hit for The Coasters. Although only "He Will Break Your Heart" made the main chart, both sides made the Cross Canada (CanCon) chart. I am now kicking myself because before I sold my copy less than a year ago, I only dubbed "He Will Break Your Heart" (since I was limiting my collecting of RPM hits to songs that made the main chart's Top 40).

    The Ebay buyer turned out to be Mike Stoller's son, who I believe now runs the Lieber-Stoller publishing company (Leiber died a couple of years ago). He told me that he is trying to collect every recording of a Leiber-Stoller song and had not previously been aware of this one.

    Anyway, here's the side that made the main chart Top 40, "He Will Break Your Heart":



    [​IMG]




    I can't find any evidence that they ever released another record. The challenge in unearthing any information about them is that there have been so many "The Counts" groups over the years. Discogs lists more than twenty.
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2020
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  15. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    Can't recall that being played or sold anywhere in Detroit or Windsor. It's completely new to me.
     
  16. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    According to Billboard, the Counts were a "popular Toronto show band". "Searchin'" can be found here:
    Counts - Searchin' b/w He Will Break Your Heart (picture sleeve)

    [​IMG]
     
  17. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    First Billy Van reference in the thread

     
  18. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    Peaking at #9 on the Cross Canada Chart (#76 on the big chart) on March 28 are James and the Bondsmen with "Look What You're Doing To Me" b/w "Mister Soul".



    [​IMG]

    From Edmonton and led by Dennis Ferbey, they started out as the CJCA Pharaohs before changing their name. This was the second of three singled they recorded in Memphis for Capitol, the first being "Get Smart" (with Scott Cameron, a local DJ) b/w "El Toredo" . Interestingly, the catalogue # for the first two singles were 72334 and 72335.

    [​IMG]

    They never did finish that album but they released another single (which we'll get to later).
     
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  19. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    Peaking at #17 (also on March 28) is "I'm Such A Dreamer" b/w "Take A Heart", the debut single from Ottawa's the Townsmen. They were formed by two former members of the Esquires along with three members from another Ottawa band, the Darnells.
    The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Townsmen – Vancouver Pop Music Signature Sounds
    [​IMG]

    Here's the B-side, a cover of "Take A Heart" by England's the Sorrows


    [​IMG]

    We'll be hearing much more from them later.
     
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  20. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    "We think long hair is a fad on the way out"
    Famous last words
     
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  21. bunglejerry

    bunglejerry Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    27. YOU LAUGH TOO MUCH
    by LITTLE CAESAR AND THE CONSULS
    #1 for 2 weeks: April 4 and 11, 1966




    [​IMG]
    The only upload of this particular song on Youtube, the one linked above, is pretty horrible. The audio is broken up and it makes the track unlistenable... or, rather, it makes the track even more unlistenable. It is, in fact, an outdated novelty song taken from their 1965 album. (If you're really dying to hear it, a crystal-clear version can be found on the band's website, where you'll find that they are amazingly still together and uploading COVID-era social distancing videos.) The second of its two weeks at number one on the CanCon chart, it made it to number 9 on the main RPM 100 chart - where it rubbed shoulders with such songs as "Homeward Bound" by Simon and Garfunkel, "19th Nervous Breakdown" by the Rolling Stones, "Bang Bang" by Cher, "Shapes of Things" by the Yardbirds, "These Boots are Made for Walkin'" by Nancy Sinatra, and a dozen other songs besides that make Little Caesar and the Consuls' third number-one single, their eighth single overall, seem positively antiquated in comparison.

    Let us never speak of it again.
     
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  22. Paul C

    Paul C Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    From the same source as the above clip but without the audio breakups. Still not a very good song:



    Both clips are sourced from the unauthorized Still Hangin' On CD, on which the sound quality ranges from bad to horrific. This is actually one of the better sounding tracks (which gives you an idea of how bad the disc's overall sound is).
     
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  23. bunglejerry

    bunglejerry Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    The Little Caesar official website, littlecaesarmusic.com, describes this as a "3rd Party Compilation" and provides a link to a highly dodgy website with a French URL but lots of Cyrillic writing that purports to allow you to download this - and other major label releases by Elliot Smith, R.E.M., and the Tragically Hip - on MP3.
     
  24. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    That's Leaning-on-a-Lampost bad.
     
  25. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    I LIKE LOAL. This?........
     

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