Three Dog Night takes over the #1 Spot on the WLS Chart this week with their song from the Broadway Hit Musical "Hair," "Easy To Be Hard." It is their second #1 Record this year here in Chicago.
Nilsson makes a tremendous leap (from #21 to #7 this week) with his movie tune "Everybody's Talkin'" from "Midnight Cowboy" ... and "Jean" (another movie hit, from "The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie") makes a big move for Oliver to #10, up from #17. He scored earlier this year with "Good Morning Starshine" from the Hit Broadway Musical "Hair."
Those "no good" upstarts, The Youngbloods (read last week's entry regarding their non-appearance on The Johnny Carson Show!) fall from #4 to #15.
Tommy James wrote both the #35 and and the #36 songs ("Ball Of Fire" for himself and the Shondells and "Sugar On Sunday" for The Clique, a cover tune of one of Tommy's album cuts.) Tommy Roe is back on the charts with "Jack And Jill" ... he topped the WLS Chart earlier this year with "Dizzy." And Crosby, Stills and Nash debut with what will prove to be another timeless classic rock hit, "Suite Judy Blue Eyes,'" written for Sweet Judy Collins.
But the big news this week is Elvis' latest hit record. "Suspicious Minds" debuts at #33 and will go on to become one of his most durable hits ... fifty years later, we still hear it played at least three or four times a day.
THIS WEEK IN 1969:
September 17th – Newspapers and Radio are all abuzz today as the story that Paul McCartney is dead circulate around the world. (The rumor was actually started as a lark by a Detroit disc jockey, who then provided clues within The Beatles’ album covers and songs that enlightened privileged, enlightened and insightful fans “in-the-know” as to the band’s little secret.) McCartney supposed died in 1966 in a horrible car crash (“he blew his mind out in a car,” “you were in a car crash – and you lost your head”) and was immediately replaced by a Paul McCartney look-a-like contest winner so that the band could continue their success without anyone outside their inner circle being any the wiser. Clues were everywhere if you simply looked. (Beatles record sales went up significantly during this period … it actually could have been a great marketing campaign, had The Fab Four thought it up themselves … and some speculated at the time that John Lennon may have been clever enough to have done exactly that!) Years later in his scathing McCartney-bashing tune “How Do You Sleep” Lennon sang “Those freaks were right when they said you were dead."
It was a crazy time … phone numbers were reportedly circulated that allowed fans to call “Billy Shears” and get the inside scoop. In actual fact, McCartney was on his farm in Scotland with his new wife Linda, pregnant with their first daughter, along with Linda’s daughter Heather from a previous marriage. McCartney was growing his beard and enjoying the quiet life away from all The Beatles craziness going on at Apple at the time. Life Magazine even sent a reporter up to see if he was really alive, which made the cover story a few weeks later!
There are TONS of websites devoted to this whole myth / hoax on the Internet … and some of the clues are pretty far-fetched and outrageous … but some of the others (which included playing tracks backwards or John mumbling “I buried Paul” at the end of “Strawberry Fields Forever”) gave fans at least some cause to pause and reflect.
On a happier note, also on this date, Tiny Tim announced his engagement to “Miss Vicky” … Victoria May Budinger. Exactly three months later, over 40 million viewers would watch the couple tie the knot on The Tonight Show. The couple would have a daughter (Tulip … c’mon, what ELSE could they possibly have named her???) but file for divorce in 1972. (Actually, it was 1977 by the time the divorce was granted.) Miss Vicky would then pose nude in a Men's Magazine, which had to devastate poor Tiny to no end.
And, singer Dionne Warwick hosts her very first television special on CBS this evening in '69. Her guests tonight include red hot Glen Campbell, Burt Bacharach (for whom Dionne seems to be his muse) and rock group Creedence Clearwater Revival.
September 18th – Roger Miller appears as Johnny Appleseed on the hit television series “Daniel Boone.”
September 19th – The album “Glen Campbell – Live” goes gold
Also on this date singer Jimmie Rodgers collapses on stage during a concert at the New Mexico State Fair in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Rodgers, you may recall, was the victim of a serious beating two years earlier along the San Diego Freeway in California under VERY mysterious circumstances (although those in the know have always believed that Morris Levy, head of Roulette Records, for whom Rodgers had recorded for years, was behind the incident.) Rodgers had recently switched labels to A&M and was enjoying a comeback hit of sorts with “Child Of Clay” at the time when the “accident” occurred.
It was a crazy time … phone numbers were reportedly circulated that allowed fans to call “Billy Shears” and get the inside scoop. In actual fact, McCartney was on his farm in Scotland with his new wife Linda, pregnant with their first daughter, along with Linda’s daughter Heather from a previous marriage. McCartney was growing his beard and enjoying the quiet life away from all The Beatles craziness going on at Apple at the time. Life Magazine even sent a reporter up to see if he was really alive, which made the cover story a few weeks later!
There are TONS of websites devoted to this whole myth / hoax on the Internet … and some of the clues are pretty far-fetched and outrageous … but some of the others (which included playing tracks backwards or John mumbling “I buried Paul” at the end of “Strawberry Fields Forever”) gave fans at least some cause to pause and reflect.
On a happier note, also on this date, Tiny Tim announced his engagement to “Miss Vicky” … Victoria May Budinger. Exactly three months later, over 40 million viewers would watch the couple tie the knot on The Tonight Show. The couple would have a daughter (Tulip … c’mon, what ELSE could they possibly have named her???) but file for divorce in 1972. (Actually, it was 1977 by the time the divorce was granted.) Miss Vicky would then pose nude in a Men's Magazine, which had to devastate poor Tiny to no end.
And, singer Dionne Warwick hosts her very first television special on CBS this evening in '69. Her guests tonight include red hot Glen Campbell, Burt Bacharach (for whom Dionne seems to be his muse) and rock group Creedence Clearwater Revival.
September 18th – Roger Miller appears as Johnny Appleseed on the hit television series “Daniel Boone.”
September 19th – The album “Glen Campbell – Live” goes gold
Also on this date singer Jimmie Rodgers collapses on stage during a concert at the New Mexico State Fair in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Rodgers, you may recall, was the victim of a serious beating two years earlier along the San Diego Freeway in California under VERY mysterious circumstances (although those in the know have always believed that Morris Levy, head of Roulette Records, for whom Rodgers had recorded for years, was behind the incident.) Rodgers had recently switched labels to A&M and was enjoying a comeback hit of sorts with “Child Of Clay” at the time when the “accident” occurred.
September 20th – Associated TV buys a controlling interest in The Beatles’ music publishing company, Northern Songs.
Also on this date, Blind Faith’s first (and only) self-titled album reaches #1 on both the US and British Charts.
(Which cover did YOU buy???)
And the music television series “Happening” (starring Paul Revere and Mark Lindsay) airs its last episode.
September 22nd – Willie Mays of The San Francisco Giants becomes the first player in Major League Baseball History to hit 600 career home runs since Babe Ruth
September 22nd – Willie Mays of The San Francisco Giants becomes the first player in Major League Baseball History to hit 600 career home runs since Babe Ruth
Also on this date, the brand new music television series “Music Scene” premiers on ABC. (It won’t last long)
Hosted by comedian David Steinberg, the program spotlights the biggest hits on Billboard’s Pop, Country and Soul charts each week, counting down the Top Ten Singles from each genre, peppered by video clips or live performances by some of the acts featured each week.
Buck Owens and The Buckaroos perform their country hit ''Tall Dark Stranger'' on the premiere episode. Also in the line-up that evening are Tom Jones, James Brown and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. (Truth be told, it was pretty awful ... but we've been running clips from the series throughout our Fifty Year Flashback this year in Forgotten Hits anyway!) kk
Buck Owens and The Buckaroos perform their country hit ''Tall Dark Stranger'' on the premiere episode. Also in the line-up that evening are Tom Jones, James Brown and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. (Truth be told, it was pretty awful ... but we've been running clips from the series throughout our Fifty Year Flashback this year in Forgotten Hits anyway!) kk
