"Sugar Sugar" jumps from #8 to #1 this week (was there ever really any doubt?), on its way to becoming the Biggest Hit of 1969 on many year-end charts.
All four top tunes this week have bullets as being the week's biggest movers ... "Hurt So Bad" by The Lettermen at #2, "Easy To Be Hard" at #3 for Three Dog Night and "Green River" by Creedence Clearwater Revival at #4.
Another Top Ten Hit deserving of a bullet would seem to be "Get Together" by The Youngbloods, up from #13 to #9 this week ... yet somehow missing from this honor.
"I'd Wait A Million Years" by The Grass Roots continues to climb the chart, moving from #16 to #11 this week. "Keem-O-Sabe" by Electric Indian climbs ten places from #23 to #13. And it looks like Gary Puckett and the Union Gap have another smash on their hands as "This Girl Is A Woman Now" (my personal favorite by them) climbs fourteen spots from #29 to #15.
The New Colony Six move up nine spots from #28 to #19 with their latest, "I Want You To Know," while "I Can't Get Next To You" by The Temptations jumps ten places from #33 to #23.
And The Rugbys seem to have a big local hit ... "You, I" jumps from #37 to #25 this week, a move of twelve places.
New on the chart this week ... teen idol Bobby Sherman debuts at #33 with his first chart hit, "Little Woman" ... and Nilsson premiers at #36 with "Everybody's Talkin'" from the #1 Box Office Smash, "Midnight Cowboy." (You may recall from our 1967 series that this track dates back to then and was resurrected for inclusion in the film. Nilsson felt that he could write a more contemporary song that better fit with the overall concept of the film ... and came up with the very similar sounding "I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City" ... but producers wanted the original, NON-Nilsson written track so that's the one they went with. It paid off in the long run ... "Everybody's Talkin'" made The Top Ten and is still considered a classic some 50+ years later. "I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City" (NOT included in the film) was released as the follow-up single and only reached #33.)
And then, of course, there's that '60's classic "Mah-Na, Mah-Na," shown here as by Pete Howard, that debuts at #40.
THIS WEEK IN 1969:
August 26th - The Rolling Stones earn a gold record for "Honky Tonk Women"
August 27th – Forgotten Hits Founder Kent Kotal celebrates his 16th birthday.
August 28th – Elvis completes his four week run at The International Hotel in Las Vegas. By all accounts, it is a record-breaking stay ... 101,500 people would have seen him perform in the Grand Ballroom, earning gross receipts of just over $1.5 Million. International Hotel Vice President Alex Shoofey shows his appreciation (and congratulations) by treating Elvis and eight others to an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii. (He is due to return to The International in January, 1970, for his next engagement.)
Also on this date, Paul and Linda McCartney welcome their first daughter together, Mary, named after Paul’s mother. (Paul will later adopt Linda’s daughter Heather from a previous marriage.)
Also on this date, actor Jack Black is born
August 29th – A TWA flight from Rome to Tel Aviv is hijacked and diverted to Syria
Also on this date, Elvis and Priscilla Presley go to see Nancy Sinatra perform at The International Hotel in Las Vegas
August 30th - The three-day Texas International Pop Festival opens at the Dallas International Motor Speedway. Artists performing at this event include Santana, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin and The Chicago Transit Authority and Bob Dylan.
August 29th – A TWA flight from Rome to Tel Aviv is hijacked and diverted to Syria
Also on this date, Elvis and Priscilla Presley go to see Nancy Sinatra perform at The International Hotel in Las Vegas
August 30th - The three-day Texas International Pop Festival opens at the Dallas International Motor Speedway. Artists performing at this event include Santana, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin and The Chicago Transit Authority and Bob Dylan.
August 30th and 31st - The Who, Bob Dylan, Joe Cocker, The Moody Blues, Free and others perform at the annual Isle of Wight Festival.
August 31st – Bob Dylan makes his first live, paid appearance since his motorcycle accident three years ago at England’s Isle of Wight Pop Festival. He is once again backed by The Band (and earns 38,000 Pounds for a one hour show)
August 31st – Bob Dylan makes his first live, paid appearance since his motorcycle accident three years ago at England’s Isle of Wight Pop Festival. He is once again backed by The Band (and earns 38,000 Pounds for a one hour show)
Also on this date, Boxer Rocky Marciano dies …
And rocker Bob Seger files for divorce from his wife Sandy after just ten months of marriage.
