Either my reading has gone pretty far down or you guys missed Mmmm Bop.
There were actually two versions of The Birdie Song in the charts at the same time! One by The Tweets, and a far superior 
version by The Electronicas. Don’t ask how I’ve managed to remember this.
He also charted with Wolf Creek Pass. It’s way up on the Great Divide, and then he went truckin’ on down the other side. C.W. rode the CB craze for all it was worth.
And I don’t care what anybody thinks, I like The Night Chicago Died. I like the reference to the “east side” of Chicago, a forgotten bit of real estate near the Indiana border that seldom gets its due (not that the Brits who wrote the song had any idea where it was). I like the guys going “huh huh huh” in the background. I like the bouncy bubblegum sound. Granted, the “nah nah nah, nah nah NAH, nah nah nah nah” might be a little over the top. But still, it’s harmless pop, not utter dreck like the other songs in this thread.
No kiddding. I LOVE Turning Japanese.
My vote is for Taco’s Puttin’ on the Ritz…yowza what a piece of crap.
C.W. McCall was a stage name for an actor who did commercials and created a character named “C.W. McCall.” The fact that he had just one hit wasn’t surprising since he wasn’t really in the music business. Rick Dees never had a hit beyond “Disco Duck” since he made tons of money as a DJ.
You prefer the Peter Boyle version maybe?
Of course! 
Actually, the song itself is not a loser, it’s just that arrangement Taco used…awful, awful, awful. He ruined a perfectly good old classic. I’m actually quite fond of the old version Fred Astaire sang in Blue Skies.
There was a whole host of truckin’ songs that came out with the “Convoy”… led to a movie “Smokey And the Bandit”… whilest singularly anyone of them could be a “one hit wonder”, togehter they formed a theme for awhile (TeddyBear)
My nominations:
Ice, Ice Baby.
Giddyap.
There was a whole host of truckin’ songs that came out with the “Convoy”… led to a movie “Smokey And the Bandit”… whilest singularly anyone of them could be a “one hit wonder”, togehter they formed a theme for awhile (TeddyBear)
My nominations:
Ice, Ice Baby.
Just a Swingin’
(thought I stopped that first post before it posted… dangit)
Yeah, I’d forgotten about Wolf Creek Pass, though one lyric couplet has stayed with me:
“One side looks like worms
The other - like malaria germs”
In the subcategory of one-hit wonders from Germany, we should not fail to mention 99 Red Balloons by someone named Nina. Or Ninny.
And Kraftwerk’s* Autobahn, probably the worst road song in history, which featured endless repetitions of:
“Wir fahr’n fahr’n fahr’n auf der Autobahn”
Roughly translated, “We are driving on the Autobahn”. Like cosmic, man.
*I know they sold a bunch of albums to deluded people, but this is their only pop hit that I know of.
From the December 1974 issue of Creem:
Nena.
[/quote]
And Kraftwerk’s* Autobahn, probably the worst road song in history, which featured endless repetitions of:
“Wir fahr’n fahr’n fahr’n auf der Autobahn”
Roughly translated, “We are driving on the Autobahn”. Like cosmic, man.
*I know they sold a bunch of albums to deluded people, but this is their only pop hit that I know of.
[/QUOTE]
That’s fightin’ talk. But “Autobahn” is a bit too long and monotone to be a good single I think. Wasn’t the rather poppier “The Model” a hit in the US?
I think 2525 and The Night Chicago Died are tied for last place. Excellent combinations of insipid melodies and utterly nonsensical lyrics.
About Ballad of the Green Berets…last month, I followed the Cal Bears to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, as they faced Texas A&M. The Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band apparently knows only 6 songs – 2 of them are school songs, and one of the others is TBotGB. So I heard it more times in those 3 days than I had heard it in the previous 40 years.
(If that says something significant about A&M…so be it. I’ll let others make that claim.)
Victor Lundberg’s “Open Letter to My Teenage Son” is another prime Vietnam Era artefact!
“Achy Breaky Heart”. I’m ashamed of you all.
mm
I just don’t think you’d understand.
That’s actually the one I had in my head, but my brain refused to let me type the words…
Good God, who would have thought that there were Vapors fans? I do understand how you feel however once I read this post:
Annie-Xmas:
I love CW McCall and the truck driving songs. I think he also charted with the glurge ballad “Roses for Mother.” I currently have CJ-5 on my IPOD along with other trucker tunes.
Sgt Schwartz