Friday, November 14, 2014

50 Years Ago This Weekend

November 14 - 15 - 16:  

You'll find three British Acts in Billboard's Top Ten this week ... "Have I The Right" by The Honeycombs is at #5, "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" by Manfred Mann falls to #7 and "She's Not There" by The Zombies jumps 13 points from #22 to #9.  

The Kinks climb to #13 with "You Really Got Me" while The Nashville Teens slip a notch to #15 with "Tobacco Road".  The Rolling Stones have their first Top 20 U.S. Hit as "Time Is On My Side" jumps from #30 to #18. 

Other Top 40 British Hits include "Everybody Knows" by The Dave Clark Five (#23), "I Don't Want To See You Again" by Peter and Gordon (#24), "I Like It" by Gerry and the Pacemakers (#26), "I'm Crying" by The Animals (#27), "I'm Into Something Good" by Herman's Hermits (#28), "A Summer Song" by Chad and Jeremy (#32) and "When You Walk In The Room" (#37) by The Searchers. 

Further down the chart, Manfred Mann debut with their follow-up hit "Sha-La-La", the #71 record this week. The Dave Clark Five aren't far behind them ... their latest, "Any Way You Want It", premiers at #78.  Chad and Jeremy's new single "Willow Weep For Me" barely makes a dent at #94 ... and that's it as far as a British presence this week.







Here in Chicago, The Kinks have the highest charting British Hit on The WLS Silver Dollar Survey as "You Really Got Me" climbs into the #2 spot.  Right behind it at #3, #4 and #5 you'll find "I'm Into Something Good" by Herman's Hermits, "Have I The Right" by The Honeycombs and "She's Not There" by The Zombies.  Also still hanging on to a Top Ten Spot is "Tobacco Road" by The Nashville Teens, which slips from #6 to #10 this week.  

The Overlanders are at #12 with "Don't It Make You Feel Good", up nine places from the week before, followed by "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" by Manfred Mann at #13.  The Rolling Stones complete the British hold on The Top 20 with "Time Is On My Side", #17 this week in Chicago.  That's EIGHT of the Top 17 songs ... or nearly 50% of the chart ... held down by British artists.  (Guess this thing wasn't waning any time soon here in Chi-Town!)





TV - LOTS of British Acts on American TV during October and November of 1964 ...  

On the October 7th edition of SHINDIG (which was taped in London), The Beatles opened the show with "Kansas City / Hey Hey Hey Hey", a song not yet available here in The States.  They later performed "I'm A Loser" (from "Beatles For Sale" / "Beatles '65") and the old Ringo chestnut "Boys". 

Other British acts appearing on this program included Tommy Quickly ("Stagger Lee"), Sandie Shaw ("There's Always Something There to Remind Me"), Sounds Incorporated ("Sounds like Locomotion.") and transported American P.J. Proby, who sang both "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "Hold Me."    

On October 14th, Adam Faith opened the show on Shindig with "It's Alright" and Manfred Mann were shown performing "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" in a clip taped in England.     

Ed Sullivan had The Animals on his program on October 18th ... they performed "House Of The Rising Sun" and "I'm Crying".  A week later (October 25th), it was The Rolling Stones who performed "Around And Around" and "Time Is On My Side".   

On October 28th, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas opened the show on Shindig with "Da Doo Ron Ron".   

On November 1st, The Dave Clark Five were back on The Ed Sullivan Show performing "Any Way You Want It" and "Because".   

On November 4th, Gerry and the Pacemakers kicked off this week's episode of Shindig with "How Do You Do It"  A week later (on November 11th) Billy J. Kramer was back to open the show with his version of the Lennon and McCartney track "I Call Your Name".    

On November 15th, Ed Sullivan welcomed Peter and Gordon to his show ... they performed "I Don't Want To See You Again" and "500 Miles".  

Three nights later Manfred Mann were back on Shindig doing their latest, "Sha La La" ... and a week after that (November 25th) Chad and Jeremy sang "Yesterday's Gone" and Matt Monro sang "My Kind Of Girl".