Hits and other songs you maybe should know...but don't

Cafe Society
1

Biggirl was looking for the name of a song in another thread. The answer, it turned out, is Chakachas. I’ve never heard of it before.*

I started thinking about buying CDs, back in the day, before you could buy song by song and had to take the whole album to get what you wanted. I liked a series of compilations by Rhino called “Super Hits of the 70s: Have a Nice Day.”

There were a few nice surprises, e.g. “Run Run Run” by Jo Jo Gunne.

I didn’t know the group or the title of the song when I bought the disc, but once I played it I knew I’d heard it…and it rocks.

But the compilations had other songs I didn’t remember being hits at all. I wondered if these were just padding—songs Rhino got on the cheap and included to improve their bottom line. E.g.:

Julie Do Ya Love Me/Bobby Sherman

But after I moved out of the Midwest, I was talking to a friend who had lived in the Southwest. He mentioned the song being a hit. Perhaps it was a regional hit? Or something that was on “Here Comes the Brides,” which I never watched? I mentioned some other songs that I thought were big hits, but he didn’t recognize them. Hmm…

It would be different if I remembered them and remembered not liking them—I just don’t remember them, period.

Some other songs on the Rhino compilations that I don’t remember at all:

Hot Rod Lincoln/Commander Cody and His Airmen
Dead Skunk/Loudon Wainright
Ma Belle Amie/The Tee Set
For the Love of Him/Bobbi Martin
Which Way You Goin’ Billy/The Poppy Family
Neanderthal Man/Hotlegs
Fallin’ Lady/Punch
Games/Redeye
Burning Bridges/Mike Curb Congregation
In a Broken Dream/Python Lee Jackson
We’ve got to get it on again/Addrisi Brothers

There are more…no time to list them at present however.

Anybody care to validate the above as hits? I was certainly listening to the radio in the 70s but missed these completely. What are the songs that maybe show up in a film etc., causing others to get nostalgic, but you really don’t remember at all?

*Biggirl said she doesn’t remember where she heard it, so maybe it wasn’t a “hit” at the time.

2

The name of the song was Jungle Fever. The band was Chakachas.

The only song that I jumped out at me just from the title listed is Which Way You Going, Billy.

And now, only a bullet will get that wretched thing out of my head. Maybe I can replace it with another barely remeber song-- How Do You Do by Mouth & McNeal.

3

According to my Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, here’s the highest position each song reached on the sales charts:

Hot Rod Lincoln/Commander Cody and His Airmen #9
Dead Skunk/Loudon Wainright #16
Ma Belle Amie/The Tee Set #5
For the Love of Him/Bobbi Martin #13
Which Way You Goin’ Billy/The Poppy Family #2
Neanderthal Man/Hotlegs #22
Fallin’ Lady/Punch Never in the top 40
Games/Redeye #27
Burning Bridges/Mike Curb Congregation #34
In a Broken Dream/Python Lee Jackson Never in top 40
We’ve got to get it on again/Addrisi Brothers #25
So, most of those songs were “hits,” but not necessarily huge hits.

I’m 47, so I was 11 in 1972. Not yet a pop/rock aficionado. So, a song could have been a big hit that year without me hearing it or paying it much attention.

“Hot Rod Lincoln” I remember very well, and it’s still played regularly on classic rock radio stations. I remember “Which Way You Going Billy,” but haven’t heard it in almost 30 years. I never heard “Dead Skunk” in 1972, but have heard it many times since, because Loudon Wainwright has a lot of fans in Austin (I’m not one of them).

“Burning Bridges” wasn’t a big hit, but I remember it very well because it was featured prominently in Clint Eastwood’s war comedy “Kelly’s Heroes.”

The rest are song I have never heard or heard of, even if the numbers suggest they were very popular.

4

I was 10 in 1972, but the starting from then and into middle school years was when I listened to the radio constantly. IN HS I got into albums and didn’t listen as much (although that means only say 4 hours instead of 6).

I don’t recall any of those songs, but then again, I suck at remembering songs by title or artist–I bet if I heard the first verse of some of them, I’d remember them. Some titles I do remember: The Night Chicago Died; Seasons in the Sun; Brandy etc.

But most I don’t. (sorry)

5

I was in high school in the early 70s, but haven’t heard of the majority of the songs in the O.P. I do remember “Hot Rod Lincoln” and “Dead Skunk” as being huge hits. And I certainly was plugged into popular radio in those days. The big artists were acts such as Alice Cooper, B.T.O., Eric Clapton, Wings, etc. But the ones in the O.P. were very obscure to me.

6

I never agreed with what the name of the Rhino collections implied: that the songs contained on the discs were “Super Hits.” Some were, of course, but many more were simply songs that received airplay for a short while, then faded away. Remember, Top 40 AM radio needed a constant supply of music, so it wasn’t unusual for stations to try new artists–sometimes they worked and stayed around, sometimes they were a one-hit wonder (that is still remembered today), and sometimes, the artist/song/both just didn’t work and was never heard from again. I have no doubt that all the songs on the Rhino collections received airplay at some point, but some sure didn’t receive as much as others.

FTR, I remember a number of the songs listed in the OP, and could even recite the lyrics for some of them (“My pappy said son, you’re gonna drive me to drinkin’ if you don’t stop drivin’ that Hot Rod Lincoln”). And I even remember Mouth and McNeil’s “How Do You Do” that Biggirl mentioned. Now I feel old…

7

I also was 10 in 1972. I remember about half of those songs being played on the radio. The other half? I never heard of them til I opened this thread.
The ones I knew:
Hot Rod Lincoln
Dead Skunk
Ma Belle Amie
For the Love of Him
We’ve Got To Get It On Again

70’s Pop is one of my secret vices. I’ve got a hard drive loaded with the stuff. I should find a more socially acceptable habit like heroin or bestiality.

8

Ah, true confessions. I was 8 in '72. Not only do I love '70s Top 40, I’ve had a love affair with the Top 40 from forever. I’ve got stuff from before I was even born. AND I also love, love LOVE disco. Ya know, us black and Puerto Rican people just called it dance music until mainstream America caught on to it-- and then decided that they hated it.
All of this while shooting heroin and making out with goats.

9

With few exceptions, that collection does itself proud by bringing forward the best of the worst of the 70s pop era. There’s probably not a track on it that wasn’t played to death on AM pop radio.

I dunno if Rhino had subsequent re-releases of the collection, but the original SHotS: HAND lists the highest Billboard Pop Chart position for each song on the back of the CD cases.

In my opinion, it’s a great car-wreck collection. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, and forces the listener to see how much punishemnt they can endure prior to clicking the next |>> track button. Some of the stinkiest turds:

[ul][li]R. Dean Taylor “Indiana Wants Me”[/li][li]Edison Lighthouse “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)”[/li][li]Bobby Sherman “Julie, Do Ya Love Me”[/li][li]The Poppy Family “Which Way You Goin’ Billy”[/li][li]Melanie “Brand New Key”[/li][li]Wayne Newton “Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast”[/li][li]Edward Bear “Last Song”[/li][li]Mac Davis “Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me”[/li][li]Clint Holmes “Playground in My Mind”[/li][li]Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods “Billy, Don’t Be a Hero”[/li][li]Paper Lace “The Night Chicago Died”[/li][li]Terry Jacks “Seasons in the Sun”[/li][li]Austin Roberts “Rocky”[/li][li]Sammy Johns “Chevy Van”[/li][li]David Geddes “Run Joey Run”[/li][li]Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds “Fallin’ in Love”[/li][li]Michael Martin Murphey “Wildfire”[/li][li]Henry Gross “Shannon”[/li][li]Burton Cummings “Stand Tall”[/li][li]C.W. McCall “Convoy”[/li][li]Mary MacGregor “Torn Between Two Lovers”[/li][li]Andrew Gold “Lonely Boy’”[/li][li]Kenny Nolan “I Like Dreamin’”[/li][li]Alan O’Day “Undercover Angel”[/li][*]David Soul “Don’t Give Up on Us”[/ul]

10

This website has charts for the radio station that was the soundtrack to my childhood, more or less, WABC in New York City.

Just looking at their listings of the 100 songs of the year, there are quite a few highly placed sons that ring no bells at all (these are all from the top 30):
“One Less Bell to Answer”…The Fifth Dimension
“Don’t Pull Your Love”…Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds
“Black and White”…Three Dog Night
“Playground In My Mind”…Clint Holmes
“Fallin’ In Love”…Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds
“Lonely Night (Angel Face)”…The Captain and Tennille
“Float On” …The Floaters

11

That song never fails to make me snicker. Both the actual title and the phrase most people think is the title (“Don’t Pull Your Love Out On Me, Baby”) have that aren’t-dirty-but-sound-it thing going for them.

12

I think if you heard some of these, you’d know them.

Does:

*My name is Michael. I got a nickle. I got a nickle shiny and new.
I’m gonna buy me all sorts of candy. That’s what I’m gonna do.

My name is Cindy. When we get married we’re gonna have a baby or two
We’re gonna let them visit their grandma. That’s what we’re gonna do.*

ring any bells? That’s Playground in My Mind.

Oh and JohnBckWLD some of those songs test even my very high tolerance for smaltz. But I will still sing every one of them very loudly if I happen to hear them.

I like dweamin, cuz dweamin can make you mine. . .
Now I’m reminded of another song that I kind of remember. It was more on the R&B tip, though. It was a group of guys singing about the kind of girls they like (not Float On). Here’s a little bit of remembered lyric.

Girls. I like 'em fat, I like 'em small.
Some skinny, some tall. . . I’d like to get to know them all. . .

13

I remember 3 of them well; Hot Rod Lincoln/Commander Cody and His Airmen not sure why I know it; I don’t think it got that much airplay over here…

Neanderthal Man/Hotlegs was a big hit in the UK; half the group went on to become 10cc

In a Broken Dream/Python Lee Jackson was a hit in the UK; iirc, it was recorded years before it was released as a single - it’s Rod Stewart on vocals, isn’t it?

I may or may not recognise the others, but I’m sure I know at least as many other obscure early 70s hits…

Black and White was a minor hit here for Greyhound, not Three Dog Night…

14

There must be something wrong with me, because I actually *like *most of the songs **JohnBckWLD **listed.
I draw the line at “Bill, Don’t Be a Hero” and “Run, Joey, run” though.

15

There’s nary a one on that list that isn’t on my hard drive and my iPod. I feel so dirty.

16

I kinda like “Billy, Don’t Be a Hero.” There, I’ve said it. :smiley: I like the anti-war message of the lyrics. Even though the melody is cheesy, and it was released too late to be topical for Vietnam, there’s still something to be said for Billy’s fiance telling him not to be a hero and to just come home. Then in the final verse when she gets the letter describing Billy’s death and how she should feel proud that he died a hero, she just throws the letter away. It’s certainly a refreshing difference from the let’s-put-flowers-in-our-hair-and-hold-hands-and-run-through-a-field-while-we’re-singing-about-peace-love-&-harmony songs from the 60s.

17

I was surprised to see this. It was a great song, but, as pointed out, never charted in the US. It may have been a bigger hit in the UK (and even a hit in the US), if they had bothered to promote the guest lead vocalist – Rod Stewart.

18

OK, I do know this song, and with the expansion of “Don’t Pull Your Love Out on Me Baby” I have to say I know that song too, and I’m off to Google to see how many mustaches there are between Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds (my guess is 2).

Edit: Zero! I’m heartbroken!

19

Wow. A chestnut from 1975…Featuring The Moments & The Whatnauts

20

Anyone know what song these lyrics are from?
“Morning glory, this is a true love story. Someone came along, stole away the night, that’s all right. No more sorrow. Ain’t gonna worry bout tomorrow, da da da der der da der da”