As expected, The Beatles rise to the #1 spot this week with their latest two-sided hit, "Come Together" / "Something." (While "Something" was the designated A-Side of this single ... a first for a George Harrison composition ... WLS (like many other radio stations around the country) flipped the deck to feature "Come Together" as the more prominent track. Both became Beatles standards, however, so no harm was done ... and today, some fifty years later, you're as likely to hear EITHER track ... and often both ... on the radio on a somewhat regular basis.
If you're keeping score, this is The Beatles' 15th #1 Hit on the WLS Chart. (They would go on to have three more, including the 1976 reissue of "Got To Get You Into My Life" released several years after the band had already split up.)
Other big movers this week include "Holly Holy" by Neil Diamond (up seven places from #14 to #7), "Eli's Coming" by Three Dog Night, which jumps nine places from #18 to #9, "Leaving On A Jet Plane" by Peter, Paul and Mary, which takes a ten point leap from #20 to #10, "And When I Die" by Blood, Sweat and Tears (up eight spots from #21 to #13), while "Love Will Find A Way" by Jackie DeShannon and "Roosevelt And Ira Lee" by Tony Joe White, both up seven places this week to numbers 19 and 20 respectively, far out-pacing their national peak showings of #30 and #32. Also moving up seven spots is the instrumental novelty hit "Groovy Grubworm" by Harlow Wilcox, which climbs from #40 to #33. "Na Na, Hey Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye" by Steam also makes an impressive leap of nine spots from #37 to #28.
But the two biggest movers this week are "Fortunate Son" (still shown as only a one-sided hit ... its B-Side "Travelin' Band" will join it shortly), which leaps twelve spots from #39 to #27 and "Baby, I'm For Real" by The Original, up thirteen places from #30 to #17.
New on the chart this week are four more personal favorites ... "Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday" by Stevie Wonder (premiering at #30), "Cherry Hill Park," a nice comeback record for Billy Joe Royal, which bows at #35, "Make Your Own Kind Of Music" by Mama Cass, debuting at #36 and "Backfield In Motion" by Mel and Tim, which ties things up nicely at #40.
THIS WEEK IN 1969:
October 28th – Elvis Presley receives a gold record for his #1 Hit Single “Suspicious Minds”
October 29th – Johnny Cash and Linda Ronstadt appear on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
October 31st – Colonel Tom Parker signs a side deal with RCA Records for which he is paid $20,000 for two “extra” singles released this year … “Suspicious Minds” and the up-and-coming “Don’t Cry Daddy.” Elvis’ new double album “From Vegas To Memphis / From Memphis To Vegas” will released tomorrow.
Also on this date Jimmie Rodgers performs on “Jimmy Durante Presents The Lennon Sisters”
November 2nd – The Band performs “Up On Cripple Creek” on The Ed Sullivan Show. Also on hand that night are Petula Clark and Buck Owens.
November 3rd – Tonight’s episode of “Music Scene” will feature a group of guests singing unusual tracks not typically associated with them in order to best portray the current Billboard charts. For example, Della Reese performs “MacArthur Park” and Bobby Sherman sings “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight.” On the actual hits side, R.B. Greaves perfoms “Take A Letter Maria” and Johnny Cash does both sides of his current country hit single “Blistered” and “See Ruby Fall.”
