A Monday Morning Quickie

>>>Here's my '67 I bought in '71. (It's in my garage now) David Lewis

>>>If that sucker's still running, I call "shotgun" when we get to Nashville!!! (kk)

Yep - it's still taking occasional spins around the neighborhood and to the occasional local "cruise-in" or car show. 

DL

Kent,

I've been enjoying all the posts about 1971.  It's one of the first years I can remember hearing pop music as a five year-old kid with two older brothers constantly listening to the radio. 

Please see attached my exclusive list of the Top 100 Airplay Songs of 1971.

This list is based on an inverse point system of 4,372 individual Top 40 U.S. radio station surveys published that year.  That comes out to about 364 per month or about 84 surveys per week.  All size markets are covered from coast to coast.

I feel this list is the most accurate representation of the Top 100 hits of 1971 based strictly on Top 40 formatted radio stations in the United States and the songs you would've heard the most on your local Top 40 station in 1971.

Paul Haney

1	Joy To The World	Three Dog Night
2	Knock Three Times	Dawn
3	It's Too Late	Carole King
4	Maggie May	Rod Stewart
5	One Bad Apple	The Osmonds
6	Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves	Cher
7	Indian Reservation	The Raiders
8	Brand New Key	Melanie
9	Go Away Little Girl	Donny Osmond
10	Theme From Shaft	Isaac Hayes
11	How Can You Mend A Broken Heart	The Bee Gees
12	Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey	Paul & Linda McCartney
13	Superstar	The Carpenters
14	She's A Lady	Tom Jones
15	Brown Sugar	The Rolling Stones
16	Rainy Days And Mondays	The Carpenters
17	Don't Pull Your Love	Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds
18	Yo-Yo	The Osmonds
19	Family Affair	Sly & The Family Stone
20	Baby I'm - A Want You	Bread
21	Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)	The Temptations
22	Draggin' The Line	Tommy James
23	Got To Be There	Michael Jackson
24	You've Got A Friend	James Taylor
25	Signs	The Five Man Electrical Band
26	Mr. Big Stuff	Jean Knight
27	The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down	Joan Baez
28	Me And Bobby McGee	Janis Joplin
29	Want Ads	Honey Cone
30	Have You Seen Her	The Chi-Lites
31	Put Your Hand In The Hand	Ocean
32	It Don't Come Easy	Ringo Starr
33	Imagine	John Lennon
34	For All We Know	The Carpenters
35	Smiling Faces Sometimes	The Undisputed Truth
36	Never Can Say Goodbye	The Jackson 5
37	Sweet And Innocent	Donny Osmond
38	Lonely Days	The Bee Gees
39	An Old Fashioned Love Song	Three Dog Night
40	Take Me Home, Country Roads	John Denver
41	Doesn't Somebody Want To Be Wanted	The Partridge Family
42	Treat Her Like A Lady	Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose
43	Do You Know What I Mean	Lee Michaels
44	Rose Garden	Lynn Anderson
45	Ain't No Sunshine	Bill Withers
46	Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It)	Daddy Dewdrop
47	What's Going On	Marvin Gaye
48	I Hear You Knocking	Dave Edmunds
49	Me And You And A Dog Named Boo	Lobo
50	I've Found Someone Of My Own	The Free Movement
51	If You Could Read My Mind	Gordon Lightfoot
52	Beginnings	Chicago
53	If	Bread
54	Another Day	Paul McCartney
55	Your Song	Elton John
56	Stay Awhile	The Bells
57	Cherish	David Cassidy
58	Mama's Pearl	The Jackson 5
59	Amos Moses	Jerry Reed
60	Liar	Three Dog Night
61	Temptation Eyes	The Grass Roots
62	Sweet City Woman	The Stampeders
63	I Am … I Said	Neil Diamond
64	One Toke Over The Line	Brewer & Shipley
65	Have You Ever Seen The Rain	Creedence Clearwater Revival
66	Mr. Bojangles	The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
67	Sweet Hitch-Hiker	Creedence Clearwater Revival
68	Proud Mary	Ike & Tina Turner
69	Peace Train	Cat Stevens
70	Love The One You're With	Stephen Stills
71	Sweet Mary	Wadsworth Mansion
72	I Just Want To Celebrate	Rare Earth
73	Timothy	The Buoys
74	Love Her Madly	The Doors
75	What Is Life	George Harrison
76	Watching Scotty Grow	Bobby Goldsboro
77	Theme From Love Story	Henry Mancini
78	Two Divided By Love	The Grass Roots
79	Sooner Or Later	The Grass Roots
80	Spanish Harlem	Aretha Franklin
81	Never Ending Song Of Love	Delaney & Bonnie & Friends
82	All I Ever Need Is You	Sonny & Cher
83	Help Me Make It Through The Night	Sammi Smith
84	Groove Me	King Floyd
85	When You're Hot, You're Hot	Jerry Reed
86	If You Really Love Me	Stevie Wonder
87	I'll Meet You Halfway	The Partridge Family
88	Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)	Marvin Gaye
89	If I Were Your Woman	Gladys Knight & The Pips
90	Stoney End	Barbra Streisand
91	Wild World	Cat Stevens
92	That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be	Carly Simon
93	Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get	The Dramatics
94	Everybody's Everything	Santana
95	Respect Yourself	The Staple Singers
96	Hey Girl	Donny Osmond
97	Nathan Jones	The Supremes
98	I Woke Up In Love This Morning	The Partridge Family
99	Won't Get Fooled Again	The Who
100	One Fine Morning	Lighthouse

It looks like Best Classic Bands has jumped on our 1971 bandwagon.  Their 1971 musical timeline reiterates just how much great music was released that year. (kk)

https://bestclassicbands.com/1971-music-highlights-1-1-211/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2026-10-01&utm_campaign=1971+The+Year+in+Music+Ground+Zero+for+Rock+

https://bestclassicbands.com/number-one-singles-1971-7-2-20/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2026-10-03&utm_campaign=The+Beatles+Expanded+Edition+of+1965+s+Landmark+Rubber+Soul+was+Worth+the+Wait 

From our “Everything Old Is New Again” Department, Earth, Wind and Fire’s 1979 hit “September” is back on the chart again for the first time since its initial 1979 chart run where it peaked at #8 in Billboard and #4 overall in Record World.

Thanks to the recent passing of “the 21^st day of September,” which garnered the Pop and R&B classic a ton of additional streams, airplay and downloads (6 million official streams, 3,000 song sales and 3.3 million in radio airplay to be a bit more precise), the song found its way back on to Billboard’s Hot 100 Pop Singles chart this past week, debuting at #45.

I don’t know that it’ll go any higher now that the milestone date has passed, but it’s a pretty impressive comeback to say the least. (If you haven’t already seen it, check out the Questlove EWF documentary now available On Demand.)  Earth, Wind and Fire scored 17 National Top 40 Hits between 1973 and 1993, including nine pop Top 10’s and eighteen Top 10’s on Billboard R&B Chart. (kk)

Billy Joel talked a little more about his brain condition on his Sirius / XM radio show last week, this time addressing the possibility of his return to the stage … which would likely be a VERY poor move at this stage of the game.  The good news is he IS improving – the therapy is working, which I’m sure only fuels the desire to get back up there on stage and perform for his fans again … but Billy REALLY needs to concentrate on his own health right now if he wants to extend his life with his family.

“I realized, and the doctors told me this, because of my job, which is playing rock and roll music very loud, that it was giving me something like a concussion every time I did a show.  It was causing damage to my brain nerves and I could be losing more brain cells the more shows I did and I realized that means I shouldn’t be doing this right now. I gotta improve.”  -- Billy Joel

A smart move for sure. (kk)

More here:  https://ew.com/billy-joel-shares-health-update-and-whether-he-plans-to-return-to-the-stage-amid-brain-disorder-12151541

Michael McDonald made headlines last week when he was reunited with his biological son, Michael Goessling.

McDonald, then 14, and his 13 year old girlfriend put their baby up for adoption as both were obviously too young to commit to raising a family at the time.  (Michael disclosed all of this in his autobiography a year or two ago.)

Upon the family reunion, McDonald also learned that he was a grandfather!  (I'm thinking these folks still have a lot of issues to work out!!!  But Michael always said he regretted having to give up the baby ... and has kept in touch with the birth mother for all these decades.)  kk 

Kent, 

Thanks for posting Rick Nelson's I WILL FOLLOW YOU. Hadn't heard that in a long time. I played it twice. I always did like Percy Faith's instrumental version as well.

I've also heard in the past week or so a commercial for dog food, I believe. The song YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY is being played in the background. Maybe this is an old commercial I don't know but again like you said, why these songs are picked as background music is anyone's guess. 

Larry

All I know is it’s ads like these that are helping to keep our great music alive, 50, 60 and even 70 years later!  And I love it!

Does anybody REALLY think that sixty years from now many of the commercials on TV will be filled with gangster-rap tunes???  (kk)

And from Rick Nelson to Rick Nielsen …

Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick is auctioning off some of his guitars and memorabilia in an upcoming Nashville auction.  Of particular note is his five-neck Hamer guitar …

[photos courtesy Julien’s Auctions]

… but Rick will have over 300 items up on the auction block.

The auction takes place live October 24^th at Nashville’s Musicians Hall Of Fame at Historic Nashville Municipal Auditorium.  (kk)

So now AARP’s getting into the act of listing their choices of overlooked artists by The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

https://www.aarp.org/entertainment/music/rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-snubs/?fbclid=IwY2xjawUrIH1leHRuA2FlbQIxMABwZG9mBWJyaWQRMU9mVTJENHlUU21yQm8wbHdzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeCMUfSZdob2E0b7OqMN0tqZbMXfnFz1ib0PrxztT-BeCdBi54rZKmIAL-s50_aem_-r3LegoVNsCszZW3QsX1hQ 

Honestly, I can’t say that I agree with very many of these … and we’re only talking The Top Ten here.

The first one that jumped out at me was John Coltrane.  How is it even remotely possible that he’s never been inducted as an Early Influence?  I guess he never really made our radar here at Forgotten Hits when we were putting together our own list of Deserving And Denied Artists over the past 25+ years … but he DEFINITELY deserves some recognition for all of the artists that he’s influenced over the past century.

The Monkees?  For sure … long overdue.  Connie Francis?  On OUR ballot since Day One.  I thought that maybe with her recent passing (and her massive Tik Tok hit), she may come back into favor again.  Time will tell.

Chic?  Nile Rodgers was inducted back in 2017, nearly ten years ago … but that’s not to say the Chic isn’t also deserving of such an honor (although I think Rodgers always got the lion’s share of the credit for this group … and any other act he ever produced.)  But if not the whole band Chic, then what about Bernard Edwards?  He and Rodgers were joined at the hip for all of those early productions.

As for Devo, Smashing Pumpkins, Jane’s Addiction, The Smiths and The Replacements?  Worthy based on what???  The Shangri-Las?  I guess I can kinda see this one (in a Ronettes sort of way) – but there are still PLENTY of other far more worthy acts who have been ignored for decades now.  Let’s get some of these heavy hitters in there first before we work our way down to The Shangri-Las, starting with The Guess Who who, with Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman leading the way, regrouped this past year and put on stellar shows all over North America.  (And let’s not forget Bachman-Turner Overdrive either!)  kk

More Micky ...

https://shorelocalnews.com/when-being-an-architect-was-micky-dolenzs-career-blueprint/ 

Here is something that ties in nicely with what you just posted about Jimi Hendrix's first live appearance in England ...

It should make for a good follow-up piece.

Harvey Kubernik 

Guitarist, record producer, DJ, and the founder of www.cavehollywood.com, David Kessel, was the first person in Southern California and the United States to witness the Jimi Hendrix Experience, November 25, 1966, debut in London at Bag O’Nails club.

I interviewed him about this monumental event.

“In a circumstance of being at the right place, at the right time, and having inside connections, I was able to see the debut of the Jimi Hendrix Experience gig at The Bag O’Nails club in London.

"I was going to school in Switzerland, along with my brother Dan. Our dad, jazz guitarist and record producer Barney Kessel, was touring Europe and England and suggested we all meet up in London. By sheer luck, our dad had a connection at Polydor Records in the UK, as he was on the label and was a popular booking in London at the Ronnie Scott club and in Europe, and was able to persuade (mild terminology) them that they needed to arrange for us to get into see Jimi, Mitch and Noel at the club.

"When the band Yes was forming, the members all came to see Barney in England.

"Pete Townshend did one of his solo albums, and he wrote a song called 'Barney Kessel.' Eric Clapton also played a Barney Kessel guitar model early in his career.

"The magic atmosphere of this UK venue in 1966 was filled with the who’s who of the English Rock world only intensifying the atmosphere. Jimi 'blew the roof of the sucker,' completely wowing the room filled with musical royalty. This was a game changer in that Jimi was bringing on something that was ‘here to fore nonexistent.'

“Here is this charismatic American Black musician going crazy on guitar, and these two White English guys holding up their end quite excellently. Having grown up around the jazz guitar and jazz in general, it was easier to assimilate what was happening. Jimi had great showmanship, but I could see he was channeling a new guitar vision for rock and blues music. It also stood out to us that drummer Mitch Mitchell was playing from a jazz drummer’s mindset. Noel Redding held it down as well.

“The bottom line here is that it was a jaw- dropping, mind-altering musical UFO landing. The kind of thing that gives you actual goosebumps, and makes you rethink a lot of things. A new sonic scene was happening. Jimi had it all going on. The clothes, vibe, vision, and support of swinging London’s finest, helped by his manager, Chas Chandler.  Jimi was given the confidence and encouragement to take his ‘trip’ all the way. All this, with a Mod, psychedelic glowing aura, was incredibly stunning and inspiring. He had the kind of attitude that the secret had finally got to this part of town.” 

I’ve gotta tell you, I’m more than a little pissed off at Paul McCartney’s latest money grab!

Just four months after the release of his latest CD, “The Boys On Dungeon Lane,” Macca’s releasing a “special edition” version with four bonus tracks (one of which is an alternate “flip mix” of the track he cut with Ringo, “Home To Us”), forcing you to rebuy the whole CD all over again for another $24!!!  (That means you’re REALLY paying $6 a track for the four new ones … because you already own and have bought and paid for all of the other tracks!)

This again from a guy who certainly doesn’t NEED the money … and pledges undying loyalty to his fans … and you can pretty much bet that you won’t be able to download these four “new” tracks (deemed not good enough to make the original album, mind you) without purchasing the entire album again as a download either.

Bad form, Sir Paul … makes you wonder if he has more to spring on us for the holiday season … or a brand new “2-CD Edition” for 2027.  (kk)

Lots of early Grammy buzz, however, regarding not only McCartney's new album but also recently released albums by both The Rolling Stones and Madonna.

If these three "legacy artists" get nominated this year, it will be the first time all three appear on the same ballot since 1987, the first, last and only time they did so.  (That's 39 years ago for those of you out there keeping score!)

All three certainly proved that they can still deliver the goods ... 

Now it's a matter of what the voters think.  (kk) 

Meanwhile, The Rolling Stones have released another new video from their latest LP, “Foreign Tongues.”

This one stars Alexander Skarsgard and is set to The Stones’ tune “Mr. Charm” (one of the better tracks) from their most recent release.

You can check it out here:

And finally, here's more info on that WLS Unwound Special we told you about the other day ...

Last weekend we saluted newly inducted Radio Hall of Famer Fred Winston with a three hour radio special / career retrospective that aired through The Illinois Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Museum. (It originally aired on Rewound Radio last year.)

Now, coming up on October 11, 2026, it’s WLS Unwound: Again !

If you remember, last year we brought together five legendary WLS Musicradio personalities — Tommy Edwards, Chuck Buell, Chuck Knapp, Jim Kerr, and Catherine Johns — inside the WLS studios to share stories and revisit classic moments from 1960 through 1985.

This year, we’re doing it again. 

Our guests are three more WLS icons: Fred Winston, Lyle Dean, and Jeff Davis, each returning to relive the funniest, wildest, and most unforgettable moments from their years at The Big 89.

Guiding the conversation is our master of ceremonies, WLS historian Scott Childers - air personality, author, and the definitive expert on all things WLS.

Bill Shannon and I have assembled audio gems that capture exactly what the DJs and the music of The Rock of Chicago meant to all of us who grew up in the Midwest. This year’s special also coincides with the induction of the Class of 2026 into the Radio Hall of Fame. WLS adds two more names to its distinguished roster, as Charlie Van Dyke and Fred Winston are honored during Thursday night’s ceremony. They join Jim Dunbar, Dick Biondi, Larry Lujack, John Records Landecker, Yvonne Daniels, Steve & Garry, and Don Wade — an extraordinary lineup of broadcasting greats.

Be sure to catch this radio special on WLS, AM 890, Sunday night (10/11) from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. You can also listen via the station’s stream at WLSAM.com.

Join us, won’t you?

Ted Gorden Smucker