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

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

  1. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    That's why I was thrown off. Got it . . .
    [​IMG]
    That and the Side 1 label both were from Scranton, with label type by Keystone Printed Specialties Co., Inc. Much prefer their type among the U.S. variants of that label in this period.
     
  2. bunglejerry

    bunglejerry Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    The Pickwick issue, which Canada got too, drops the cover of the Beatles' "You're Going to Lose That Girl", making it a ten-track album instead of eleven. Presumably the royalties would have cut into Pickwick's reduced margins.
     
  3. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    Black Sheep of The Family was cut from side 2 making it a typically truncated 9
     
  4. bunglejerry

    bunglejerry Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    Not if discogs is correct. Discogs has the Beatles song taken off of side 1 and "Black Sheep" moved from side 2 to side 1 to replace it.

    Of course, I'm just basing that on discogs. I've never seen it.
     
  5. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    Your right, I just checked. I guess no reason for Pickwick to deal with Beatle publishing
     
  6. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    Wonder if the guys made anything on those Pickwick issues?
     
  7. Foreign Object

    Foreign Object Forum Resident

    Always thought "It Never Rains on Maple Lane" was such a good pop tune that should should have been bigger than it was.
     
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  8. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
  9. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    Back in those mid-late 60s years, I never noticed Any Kim, and probably wrote Archies off as bubblegum.

    Time and again in this thread, I have to say there are many songs and performers I’ve never heard of before this thread, though I spent a lot of time listening to radio in the 60s. Was it because I lived on the East Coast in those years - PEI, then Halifax?
     
  10. Paul C

    Paul C Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    How about some hard-to-find single mixes/versions of the CanCon-ish songs mentioned above...

    The mono single mix of "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In" has only been issued on CD on Real Gone Music's The Complete Soul City/Bell Singles 1966-1975.
    The 5th Dimension The Complete Soul City/Bell Singles 3CD Set




    Producer Bones Howe was not supportive of the group's desire to record "Aquarius" until he went to see a performance of the musical and came up with the idea of recording it as part of a medley with "Let The Sunshine In". In the original musical, "Aquarius" and "Let The Sunshine In" were separate songs.
     
    Last edited: Dec 5, 2020
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  11. Paul C

    Paul C Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    To the best of my knowledge, the single version of The Cowsills' "Hair" has never been issued on CD. The single and LP versions have different endings.

     
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  12. Paul C

    Paul C Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    The single version of "You've Made Me So Very Happy" is a 3:28 edit of the 4:15 LP version. It is available on Real Gone Music's The Complete Columbia Singles.
    Blood, Sweat & Tears (2CD Set)




    The three singles from the Blood, Sweat & Tears album were mono. All subsequent Blood, Sweat & Tears singles were stereo.
     
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  13. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    Canadian MGM was way behind the 8 ball by this point with label designs. The US MGM had already moved on to the gold/cyan "yin and yang" label:
    [​IMG]
     
  14. bunglejerry

    bunglejerry Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    81. WHAT CAN THE MATTER BE
    by THE POPPY FAMILY
    LONDON M. 17369
    #1 for 1 week: May 19, 1969




    [​IMG]
    Roud Folk Song number 1279 dates back to the 18th century and is described by Wikipedia as a 'nursery rhyme'. Variant titles listed at the Roud Folk Song Index include "Bunch of Blue Ribbons", "Johnny's So Long at the Fair", "Johnny Shall Have a New Bonnet" and "Seven Old Ladies", but by a distance the song is best known as "Oh, Dear! What Can the Matter Be?" If you dare to, you can go to Youtube and sift through hundreds of versions of the traditional ditty. They range from acceptable to excruciating.

    In any case, in the trad context, you won't find this Poppy Family song, which is merely based on the old folk ditty but is very much a Terry Jacks composition. No talk of fairs or ribbons, instead the three verses of topical lyrics devote one verse each to condemning racism, industrial pollution and the war on drugs.

    "What Can the Matter Be" was the Poppy Family's second single release. Both Terry Jacks and Susan Jacks née Pesklevits have shown up previously across these pages, though neither has had a song go to number one (on the CanCon chart) until now. Neither was born in BC, Susan being from Saskatoon and Terry from Winnipeg, but both had moved to the Vancouver area by the early sixties. Meeting on the CBC television programme Let's Go, their professional relationship predated their romantic relationship, but not by long, and they were married in 1967. A trio with guitarist Craig McCaw called Powerline became a quartet with tabla player Satwant Singh, rechristened the Poppy Family after a leaf through the dictionary.

    Though a subsequent album release put this recording on shelves in at least ten countries, this single came out only in Canada. This will not be the case with their next single.

    ON THE PAGES OF RPM: Several pages of this particular issue are devoted to an in-depth summary of the events that transpired at the first annual BMI Canada Awards, where certificates of honour were given to 44 composers for having made, in the words of the certificate itself, "an outstanding contribution to Canadian music". As the initial ceremony, it wasn't intended to merely honour successes over the previous twelve months but instead, in the words of RPM itself: "This first Awards presentation deviated somewhat from its initial purpose and awarded Certificates of Honour to some of the 'evergreens' in Canadian popular music, a belated pre -awards recognition." I reproduce the list of 44 honourees in full, typos intact. It's about as eclectic a list as you can imagine.
    • A QUI L'P'TITE COEUR APRES NEUF HEURES - Roger Miron-Les Editions Troubadour Enrg.
    • APPROCHE - Andre Lejeune
    • ARE YOU MINE - Myrna Lorrie,Don Grashey, Jim Amadeo (Jamie Music Publishing Company)
    • BIRD WITHOUT WINGS - Bruce Cockburn-Bytown Music Publishing
    • BLUEBIRD ON YOUR WINDOWSILL - Elizabeth Clarke -Empire Music Publishers Ltd.
    • BOITE A SURPRISE - Herbert Ruff -Editions Pierouf
    • BORN TO BE WILD - Mars Bonfire-Manitou Music Ltd.
    • CANADIANA SUITE - Oscar Peterson-Tomi Music Company
    • CLAP YOUR HANDS - Joe Frechette, Ray Hutchinson, Mike Robitaille-Giless Tailleur
    • CORNFLAKES AND ICE CREAM- Greg Fitzpatrick
    • CRUNCH CRUNCH - Milton Carman
    • DECEMBER TIME - Wally Grieve
    • FORTUNE TELLER - Basil Hurdon, Dyer Hurdon-Hurdon Music Pub.
    • GOODBYE MRS. DURKIN - Will Millar -Antrim Music
    • HEYGOODE HARDY - Burton Cummings -Friends of Mine Enterprises-Cirrus Music
    • HOOTENANNY EXPRESS - Bob Regan-Doral Music Company
    • IRENA CHEYENNE - Al Oster-Manitou Music Ltd.
    • JAZZ BAROQUE - Francois Morel -Sound Advertising Associates
    • JE CHERCHE - Serge Lambert, Jean-Paul Brouillard Les Editions Musicales Low-Cat
    • L'AMOUR S'EN VA - Bruce Huard, Denis Forcier-Densta Music
    • LOST IN THE SHUFFLE- Ray Griff
    • LOVE CHILD - R. Dean Taylor (Pam Sawyer, Frank Wilson, Deke Richard) Jobete Music Company Inc.
    • MAN IN A RAINCOAT - Warwick Webster
    • MANITOBA WALTZ - Andy De Jarlis
    • MAPLE SUGAR - Ward Allen
    • MORNING MAGIC - Rich Dodson -Corral Music Publishers
    • NATHALIE - Eric-Densta Music
    • OUR WINTER LOVE - Johnny Cowell
    • LE RAPIDE BLANC - Oscar Thiffault-Les Editions Sommet
    • SILLY JILLY - Art Snider - Troika Publishing
    • SNOWFLAKE BREAKDOWN - Wally Traugott-Wentworth Music Company
    • SQUID JIGGIN' GROUND - Art Scammell
    • STRAWBERRY JAM - Johnny Cowell
    • SUR' L'PERRON - Camille Andrea
    • SUZANNE - Leonard Cohen -Project Seven Music
    • SWINGING SHEPHERD BLUES - Moe Koffman-Bennell Music Co.
    • THESE ARE THE YOUNG YEARS - Johnny Cowell
    • TOI TU ES TOUT POUR MOI - Pat Distasio-Manor Music Reg'd
    • WALK HAND IN HAND - Johnny Cowell-Marwood Music
    • WATCH OUT FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE - Phil Nimmons -Nimmons 'n' Music
    • WAYNE AND SHUSTER SHOW - Johnny Dobson-Showtune Music Company
    • WHERE DID HOLLY GO - Les Emmerson-Arelee Music
    • WHIRLPOOL - Art Samuels -Banff Music Publishing Co.
    • WHITE WATER JIG - Bob Scott
     
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  15. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    Here's Terry Jacks and Susan Pesklevits from the November 14, 1966 edition of Let's Go ("British Invasion" show)

     
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  16. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    "What Can The Matter Be?" made it to #53 the week of May 26, reaching #3 on Vancouver's CKLG. Here's the B-side "Evil Overshadows Joe":


    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    At this time Satwant Singh would become a group member.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2020
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  17. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  18. Paul C

    Paul C Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    Thanks for posting this article. I didn't know about the 'remixed' version it says was going to be released in the U.S. on the Brother label. I can't find any evidence of this U.S. 45, so such a 45 may never have actually been released. However, the overdubs described in the article do match all versions on Youtube (and on both Poppy Family compilations I have), so it's possible this 'remix' version was used for the Which Way You Goin Billy album. I'm now going to be on the hunt for a London 45 to see if it differs.
     
  19. Paul C

    Paul C Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    I didn't know "Bluebird On Your Windowsill" (a #30 Billboard pop hit in 1949 for Doris Day and a #11 country hit for Tex Williams) was written by a Canadian. It turns out that there's actually an interesting and heartwarming story behind the song. The following account is from Youtube user 'Joe Lake':

    This song has a great story of it's own. It was written by a Vancouver nurse, Carmen Elizabebeth Clarke who worked at what was then called the Hospital for Sick and Crippled Children. She wrote this song in 1947 after after a conversation with one of her patients, a little boy who told her about a sparrow that had been coming to visit him via his windowsill.Eventually she got to sing her song on CKNW in Vancouver, and requests began pouring in. The song was published by local publisher Empire Music in 1948 and the first record of the song was released by local Aragon Records, sung by Don Murphy. It was also recorded by local favorites the Rhythm Pals, and became increasingly popular in the area. Soon Canadian country legend Wilf Carter covered it. Then it leaped the border to be recorded by Tex Williams. Suddenly, versions of this song began popping up all over. Carmen Cavallero, Freddy Martin, Ralph Flanagan, the Andrews Sisters, Bing Crosby and our beloved Doris all recorded it. Doris had the biggest hit. In 1949, the March of Dimes chose Bluebird as the theme song for their 1950 campaign. And you know what? Every penny Elizabeth Clarke earned from her wonderful little song was donated to children's hospitals all across Canada.Isn't that a wonderful story? It's a wonderful song.

    Here is the version by Canada's first country star, Wilf Carter:
     
  20. Paul C

    Paul C Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    On the May 19, 1969, RPM main chart, Frank Sinatra peaked at #26 with "My Way", a French song for which Paul Anka had written English lyrics. The song charted as high as #2 on RPM's 'Young Adult' chart. Only Sinatra could get away with referring to Anka the way he does at 0:26 of this live performance:



    [​IMG]


    Interesting that the song was published by Don Costa's publishing company and not by Anka's. (Costa was producing both Sinatra and Anka at the time.)

    In 1975, Frank Sinatra would have a #1 RPM Adult Contemporary hit with another Paul Anka song.
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2020
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  21. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    Actually, according to the U.S. label . . .
    [​IMG]
    . . . both Anka's and Costa's respective publishing entities had their fingers in this pie.
     
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  22. bunglejerry

    bunglejerry Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    82. FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIFE
    by MARS BONFIRE
    COLUMBIA 4-44772
    #1 for 2 weeks: May 26 and June 2, 1969




    [​IMG]
    Rather amazingly, this is the first, and final, time that either of the McCrohan brothers has topped the CanCon charts since our eighth number one, "If You Don't Want My Love", by Jack London and the Sparrows back in January 1965. Certainly if @bekayne can rep every Kelowna band here, I'm entitled to shout out the only Oshawa act ever to get anywhere near the top of the RPM CanCon charts (sadly the Killer Dwarfs and the Inbreds were not quite able to pull it off), but I actually don't have a whole lot to say about Mars Bonfire and this particular song.

    To take out story up to date, after the Sparrows became Sparrow and moved to California, they more or less reformed as Steppenwolf. And we have been speaking a fair amount about Steppenwolf recently. The drumming half of the McCrohan brothers, Jerry, carried on with Steppenwolf, but the guitarist, Dennis, adopted a groovy moniker and went onto a solo career. Of sorts.

    This single was released in Canada and the USA (also on Columbia). The album it serves as the title track of was, if you believe discogs, only released in the USA (on Columbia). Normally, I'd say there's no way that's true, but in this case it's plausible, as this album was really just a repackaging of 1968's Mars Bonfire album (which came out in Canada and the USA on UNI) with two songs stripped off to make way for the a-side and b-side of this single. In any case, this quasi-second album was the last major-label album Bonfire released. His name turns up as a songwriter for Steppenwolf fully six times (three times on a single album), which is a lot for a non-member (including, of course, this song, which first appeared as the first track on Steppenwolf's 1968 album The Second, with Jerry on lead vocals instead of John Kay).

    But discogs has 506 citations for Bonfire as songwriter, and only half of those are different recordings of "Born to Be Wild". He featured as a songwriter or instrumentalist on a constant stream of releases by relatively obscure artists such as Juicy Groove, Rainbow Red Oxidizer and Sky "Sunlight" Saxon. He had a constant connection with famed rock huckster Kim Fowley as well, showing up on a number of Fowley-related releases.

    ON THE PAGES OF RPM: Rather atypically for the magazine, there is a fawning two-page photo spread of images from the Manhattan penthouse of who RPM calls "Newfoundland-born record produced Bob Crewe". They write the following:

    "Many in the industry will probably express much surprise in learning that world renowned record producer Bob Crewe was born in Newfoundland. Crewe, who is one of the most successful record producers in the United States, spent much of his childhood in and around Dawson's Cove, Newfoundland before moving to the States. His Grandmother, now in her eighties, still lives on Canada's island Province, and Crewe has consistently maintained an interest in Canada and the Canadian music scene."

    Among the many who might be surprised to learn of Bob Crewe's Newfoundland birth would surely include Mr and Mrs Crewe, unless you replace "-foundland" with "Jersey". But RPM's proud assertion, while incorrect, is not entirely out of the blue, as Mr and Mrs Crewe themselves were indeed from Dawson's Cove and Heart's Delight, respectively. While that makes Bob Crewe no more Canadian than Jimi Hendrix, it is an interesting footnote.
     
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  23. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    The U.S. ish of Mr. Bonfire's record seemed not to get past the promo stage:
    [​IMG]
    The Canadian ish, as you can see, used label copy type and artwork imported from the label's East Coast US pressing plant in Pitman, NJ.
     
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  24. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    Nothing in Crewe's bios suggests Canadian birth or raising; RPM seemed to have subsituted "-foundland" for "-ark," as both Wiki and IMDb maintain he was born in Newark, NJ and raised in Belleville, NJ.
     
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  25. Paul C

    Paul C Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    Mars Bonfire's "Faster Than The Speed Of Life" never charted higher than #47 on the RPM 100. The song that RPM should have shown at #1 on the CanCon chart both weeks it was showing Mr. Bonfire at the top position was his brother's band's "It's Never Too Late", which spent both of those weeks at its peak position of #33.



    [​IMG]


    The label on the Canadian RCA 45 states that it is stereo. If that is correct, then it differs from the American Dunhill 45, which is mono. So I guess I'm now going to try to track down a Canadian 45.
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2020
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