Anyone for karaoke?

This song, I Did What I Did for Maria, was a worldwide hit in 1971. It had a fairly crummy promotional film, as music videos were known at the time. 

Another day

The British comedy scene has lost one its most significant talents, with the passing of Neil Innes. Innes was a frequent musical collaborator with Monty Python, and alongside Eric Idle, created the Rutles, an affectionate parody of the Beatles. I would have liked to have seen him perform live, but I wasn't aware of his work during his last Australian tour.

https://www.rutles.org/

Fathers matter

In my opinion, hit songs from the past are superior and more memorable to those of the present day. Mike Rutherford, guitarist with British prog rock band Genesis, also formed a side project, Mike and the Mechanics. They had a massive hit in 1989 with The Living Years. The song was written from the perspective of a son who has a difficult relationship with his father. When his father dies, he discovers that he and his father had a stronger connection than he realised. He regrets that he never had the chance to tell him this when he was still alive.

It reminds me that fathers are crucial in a child's upbringing, and that it's healthy for men to express grief when their fathers have died prematurely.

https://rateyourmusic.com/list/jwjstone/fox-fm-top-30-singles-16-march-1989-melbourne-vic-australia/

https://www.smoothradio.com/features/the-living-years-mike-and-the-mechanics-meaning/

Social conscience

Where did the years go? In January 1990, Phil Collins had a top twenty hit with Another Day in Paradise. It was the lead single from his But Seriously album. It was about homelessness, and it is still impactful, even now. I still have this song on cassingle.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/phil_collins/another_day_in_paradise___heat_on_the_street_f1/

Keep your fluids up

This is the first time I've ever mentioned Brisbane on this blog. It is my least favourite Australian city. It's too small, and the humidity is a killer. Nitpicking aside, the Bee Gees lived in the Brisbane suburb of Redcliffe early in their careers. In December 1966, they had a hit with their most successful Australian single, Spicks and Specks. On this day, it held the number six position on Brisbane radio station 4BC's Top 40 chart. By this time, they had already decided to return to their native England to further their career. This led to them achieving international fame, and becoming one of the most successful groups of all time. They continued to use the song in their set list on all of their later Australian tours. Barry Gibb also performed it on his solo tours. It was their, and his way, of thanking their Australian fans for supporting them.

Infectious drum beats

By Source, Fair use, Link

In 1979, Fleetwood Mac released Tusk, the follow up to their massively successful album, Rumours. On November 2 of that year, the title track from the album held the 8th position on 3XY's Top 40. I remember watching the film clip on television for this song back when I was a wee lad. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InjF8xj93LU

Spectacle

Today is the birthday of Mike Hugg, best known as the drummer in Manfred Mann. Here he is in action on their 1968 hit, My Name is Jack. The song is actually about a dodgy hotel in San Francisco.

Legs akimbo

Rick Parfitt, guitarist with Status Quo, has died at the age of 68. I present this video as a mark of respect for the deceased.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-25/status-guo-guitarist-rick-parfitt-dies-in-spain-aged-68/8147408

Do yourself a favour

What were you doing in the week ending October 14, 1977? At the time I was too young to know what calendars were, nor did I follow the music charts.

Had I known, I would have been aware that Emerson, Lake and Palmer's instrumental, Fanfare for the Common Man held the number 7 position in the 3XY top 40. Its highest chart position was number 4.

A generation of Australian television viewers came to know it when it was used by Channel 7 for many years in the opening titles of live sports broadcasts.

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Badgerdarkness/3xy_top_40___14_october_1977___melbourne_vic_australia/

Brothers in pedantry

Another day, another website that contains a punctuation error. This time it's for the Dire Straits experience tour, in which two of the original members of the band will team up with some other musicians to perform their hits live.

 

I immediately noticed an incorrectly used apostrophe in a paragraph on the main page. In the context of this sentence, its is possessive, and correct. It's is short for "it is" and "it has."

Why this error wasn't picked up before uploading I'll never know.

Get over yourself and stop pining

Smokie's Living Next Door to Alice is on high rotation on my iTunes playlist, and is also a bad karaoke choice for me. Aside from this, it was the number 10 song on 3XY's top 40 chart for the week ending June 10, 1977.  I won't mention the somewhat vulgar 1995 version with comedian Roy "Chubby" Brown.

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Badgerdarkness/3xy_top_40___10_june_1977___melbourne_vic_australia/

Circular breathing

There's no way this would happen nowadays; a instrumental bagpipe song making the pop charts. The Pipes and Drums of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards had a big hit worldwide hit with their version of Amazing Grace. It's still stirring even now.

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Badgerdarkness/4bc_official_top_40___02_june_1972___brisbane_qldaustralia/

http://toponehitwonders.com/1970s/amazing-grace-the-royal-scots-dragoon-guards/

From Redcliffe, by way of Manchester

I present another in my occasional series in which I look at the music charts for this week in a given year in the past. The number 1 single this week back in May 1979 was Lay Your Love on Me by Racey. The band enjoyed limited success in the late seventies and early eighties. The singles in the number 23 and 24 positions respectively were Oliver's Army by Elvis Costello, and Tragedy by the Bee Gees.

Sadly, the world is just as tumultuous now as it was when Costello released that song, which alluded to such global troublespots as Northern Ireland, South Africa, and Cyprus. Tragedy was on the set list when Barry Gibb did his solo tour of Australia in early 2013. Real talent and good song writing stands the test of time, even if his falsetto vocals aren't as strong as they were at the height of the Bee Gees' popularity.

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Badgerdarkness/3xy_top_40___04_may_1979___melbourne_vic_australia/

Head shots from different angles

The reader of this blog may or may not have noticed that it hasn't been updated for a few days. The main reason for this is that my laptop has been sent away for repairs. Occasionally I write about hit songs that were in the charts this week exactly 40 or 50 years ago, but this time I'll look at another year.

When I was younger I went through a phase in which I was heavily into British art rock band, Genesis. In 1981 their lead singer, Phil Collins launched his highly successful solo career with In the Air Tonight, the first single from Face Value, his debut solo album. In so doing he inspired a generation of annoying air drummers. On May 1, 1981, it was the number 2 single on 3XY's Top 40 chart, and was also a massive hit around the world.

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Badgerdarkness/3xy_top_40___01_may_1981___melbourne_vic_australia/

Emotional depth

Cast your minds back to 1968. This was the year that Engelbert Humperdinck released his hit, A Man Without Love. The song is about a man expressing heartbreak over an ended romance.

It's a mystery to me where Engelbert found the passion and emotion for his performance. He wasn't drawing on personal experience. He has been married for over fifty years. As well as that, he has also remorsefully admitted to having a string of extramarital relationships.

It can safely be said that unlike the protagonist of the song, he has never been without love.

Irreverance

I dare any of my plethora of engaged friends and acquaintances to incorporate this piece of music into their wedding ceremony.

A class act

Clodagh Rodgers is one of Northern Ireland's most beloved entertainers. In this 1973 television appearance, she performed a medley of Christmas songs. Back in her day, one needed actual talent to have a musical career. She never had to resort to shock tactics and flaunting her body.

Mainstreaming

Back in 1978 after Peter Gabriel left the band, and Phil Collins took over as lead singer, Genesis took a new musical direction. They shifted away from progressive rock towards a more commercial, radio friendly sound. The single Follow You, Follow Me was a sentimental ballad that helped the band to find a wider audience.

In Australia it was number 90 on the top 100 singles of 1978, peaking at 16, it reached number 23 in the United States, and number 7 in the UK.

http://australian-charts.com/forum.asp?todo=viewthread&id=35289

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Follow_You_Follow_Me

Too right

Time for some more mid 1960's nostalgia. In this week in September 1965, the number 38 song on Melbourne radio station 3DB's chart was You've Got Your Troubles by The Fortunes. It was a number 2 hit in the band's native UK, and reached number 7 in the United States. It peaked at number 8 on the 3DB chart.

http://www.thefortunes.co.uk

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/jwjstone/3db_top_40___03_september_1965___melbourne_vic_australia/

Anglophile corner

Venerable British singer and television personality, Cilla Black has passed away at the age of 72. Her exact cause of death is unknown at the time of writing. She was one of those rare entertainers who carried herself with dignity, and didn't let her fame and the trappings of success go to her head. You're My World (1964) was one of her best known and biggest hits.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-33751060