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The Daily Dose/April 19, 2010
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around the Human Experience...
THIS IS CASEY, COUNTING THEM DOWN: Like you probably did, we found ourselves listening to the April 23, 1973 edition of Casey Kasem's American Top 40 Sunday morning.
April, 1973 was a bit before our time, we were only seven then, but it still took us back because circa 1977 or so we listened to Casey every Sunday morning on KIIS-FM, Los Angeles.
Go In Peace, Serve The Lord: We seldom got to hear the entire countdown, either, because it aired from 9am till 1pm and Dad usually drug us to church at 10am, though we were usually back in time to pick up the countdown in the late teens or so. Growing up Lutheran as we did, we didn't whine about this because Lutherans are big on being happy with what you have because others have less, so we were happy with some Casey, rather than whining about not hearing the whole show.
The Buck Stops Here: We did manage to worm our way out of going to church when Casey counted down the biggest songs of the 1970's in December, 1979. This wasn't easy to do because Casey took two weeks to do this, counting down from 100-51 the first week, then 50-1 the following week.
Dry, Technical Matter: The biggest mover in the countdown this week was at #27, where the Dutch group Focus moved up twelve big notches with their only US hit, Hocus Pocus. Hocus Pocus would ultimately peak at #9.
A Nice Run: Roberta Flack's Killing Me Softly, a song about Don McLean, is working its way down the charts, stopping at #20 this week after spending five weeks at #1.
Oh, Jesus H: A song that has always made us barf, Walk on the Wild Side, produced by David Bowie and sung by Lou Reed, is at #16, its fifth week on the chart.
Fortunately, this is as high as it would get.
Dry, Filler Material: Over the years Casey utilized various features to stretch the show out to four hours, including long distance dedications, reviewing the #1 songs of a certain decade and answer listener questions. This week he answered a question from a guy in Staten Island who wanted to know what male solo act has had the most chart singles.
Going The Extra Mile: Casey, not surprisingly, went above and beyond the call of duty, not only informing us that Elvis held the record with 130 chart singles, but that Connie Francis held the ladies' mark with 55 hits but that only covered the rock era, which any regular Casey listeners knows began when Rock Around the Clock went to #1 on July 9, 1955. Casey takes it back even further, going back to 1940, when Billboard published a variety of charts, and advised the ladies record is held by Patti Page, who had 68 chart singles.
Fast Forward: Elvis, and this isn't even close, still holds the all-time and male solo act record, though now it's been bumped up to 151 chart singles. Aretha Franklin now holds the female record with 76 hits. The Beatles hold the record for a group with 72.
FunFact: James Brown is in second place all-time with 99 hits.
Top Ten Time: The Four Tops led off the Top 10 this week with Ain't No Woman Like The One I Got. It would later peak at #4.
Donny Osmond peaks at #8 this week with The Twelfth of Never. Donny, who still headlines in Las Vegas with his inevitable sister Marie, was 15 at the time. It was his seventh Top 40 hit.
Stevie Wonder is at #6 with You Are The Sunshine of My Life. Stevie, of course, hired out the first two lines of the song to James Gilstrap and Lani Groves. The song is only in its fifth week on the chart and would later become Wonder's third #1 song.
Oooh: The same group that would later favor mankind with that seminal work Fox on the Run, some British blokes who called themselves The Sweet, are at #5 with Little Willy.
Meanwhile: The former #1 by Vikki Lawrence, The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia is at #4, dropping from #2.
In Other Top 10 News: The Carpenters are at #3 for the second straight week with Sing. Casey noted Richard and Karen Carpenter had recently bought their folks a $300,000 house. $300,000 homes are pretty common now, or were until the housing market crashed, but $300,000 in 1973 more or less equates to $1.5 million in 2010 dollars.
Father Forgive Me: We've always liked Sing here at the Writer's Shack.
As The Countdown Rolls On: War moves up "a couple of notches" to the runner-up spot with their biggest hit to date, Cisco Kid.
So This Is Where It Started: The custom of using a yellow ribbon to welcome hostages, soldiers, et al home can be blamed squarely on Tony Orlando and Dawn, who are at #1 for the second of four weeks with Tie A Yellow Ribbon Around The Old Oak Tree.
Keep Your Feet In The Ground And Keep Reaching For The Stars: American Top 40 debuted on July 4, 1970 and is still on the air, hosted by the infernal Ryan Seacrest. Casey hosted it until the summer of 1988.
Closing Credits: As always, AT40 was produced in Hollywood by Watermark, Incorporated and the producer was Don Bustany.
The On This Date feature continues its season-long review of the major league record book.
BATTER UP: On Opening Day in Philadelphia, on this date in 1938, Brooklyn's Ernie Koy and Philadelphia's Emmett 'Heinie' Mueller each hit home runs in their first major league at-bat, the only time in major league history one game has had two players hit home runs in their first big league game, much less their first at-bat. The home runs came off of Philadelphia's Wayne LeMaster and Brooklyn's Van Mungo. Brooklyn would win 12-5 in front of an estimated crowd of 1,000.
What The Hell's Going On Here? You can forgive Phillies fans if the spring of 1938 did not produce a particularly virulent strain of pennant fever, what with the Phillies in the middle of a 13-year streak where they finished last or next-to-dead-last. After finishing seventh in 1937, 1938 would be the first of five straight seasons where the Phillies finished last in the National League, ending up with a 45-105 record and drawing 166,111 fans.
Historical Context: The Dodgers would finish seventh in the National League in 1938, after which they would hire Leo Durocher as manager, who would lead them to their first pennant since 1920 in 1941.
Fading Away: General Douglas McArthur ends his 52-year army career on this date in 1951, addressing a joint meeting of the United States Congress, eight days after being dismissed my President Harry Truman.
FunFact: Like his father before him, McArthur was awarded the Medal of Honor, and, unlike his father, he was nominated for another. .
Thought For The Day: When the time comes for truth to speak, it may choose an unfamiliar tongue; the task is to heed what is said. - Robertson Davies, The Lyre of Orpheus
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Archie Goodwin, Nero Wolfe's confidential assistant, was born in Chillicothe, Ohio.
Today's Stumper: In what action did Douglas McArther earn his Medal of Honor? - Answer next time!
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