What a wild ride this show is turning out to be!
40. Walking In Rhythm - The Blackbyrds. I've been enjoying this song for some 40 years, and only now am I wondering, just what is "Walking in Rhythm?" Is it walking in time with the beat, like John Travolta at the beginning of Saturday Night Fever? Or is it when a group of people are walking in a choreographed step, a la The Monkees? I neeed to know.
39. Baby That's Backatcha - Smokey Robinson. Never sure what Casey means by "chart hits." Sometimes it seems like Top 40 hits, other times it's Hot 100 hits. Totday he helps out by saying Hot 100 hits. Thanks! And he doesn't talk over the bongoes at the end!
38. Judy Mae - Boomer Castleman. Back in the 70's, program directors would intentionally add a crappy song, to make everything else sound that much better in comparison. Casey always seems captivated when the artist produces his own track.
37. Hey Won't You Play - BJ Thomas. And this week he's captivated by the fact that a lot of songs by BJ Thomas (from Houston Texas!) have long song titles. (But he doesn't write this stuff, he's just reading a script.)
36. Good Lovin Gone Bad - Bad Company. Well I don't know what song by Bad Company they are playing, but it sure as heck isn't GOod Lovin Gone Bad! Where is th QC when you need it? I've never heard this kind of mistake before. Maybe it is a SiriusXM thing? Maybe it is why Premiere has never played it! Really strange...
35. The Hustle - Van McCoy. "Van has his first hit as a singer. Here's "The Hustle." lol
34. Misty - Ray Stevens. As noted above, Casey corrects an error from last week with another error. At least he didn't mention "Bridget the Midget"!
33. The Way We Were - Gladys Kinght & The Pips. Casey says Gladys uses the song Try to Remember as "a verbal introduction," and I think he means as a "spoken" introduction. Not sung. I wonder if he ever used "verbage" instead of "verbiage"
One of the songs where the Pips took a smoke break, I'm guessing.
32. Killer Queen - Queen. Dropping from 12 to 32. Ouch!
31. Attitude Dancing - Carly Simon. Also features an unbilled Carole King. I bet Joni Mitchell and James Taylor were there, too!
30. My Ship - Tavares. Can a song truly be called a double-sided hit if only one song is a hit? First time I've ever heard this song played on the radio. Maybe they were both B sides?
?
29. Shakey Ground - The Temptations. Well, only Dennis, but it's a funky track! And Casey cracks, "not one of their swiftest songs." Pretty rare to hear a negative comment from him.
28. I Wanna Dance Wit' Choo - Disco Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes. On its way to No.6 (in the UK.)
27. I'll Play for You - Seals and Crofts. Not really recorded live, now was it? Charlatans!
26. Take Me In Your Arms - Doobie Brothers. Best cover of a Motown song ever.
25. Love Will Keep Us Together - Captain and Tennille. Casey provides a nice mini-bio of the duo. Can you imagine living in a time where the Captain and Tennille were unknown? I would not call that living!
24. The Last Farewell - Roger Whittaker. Casey tells one of the most interesting stories of how a song came to become a hit. "The song the record stores didn't want to hear!" It's even better than the Starbuck story!
23. Magic - Pilot. "From Scotland!"
22. Get Down, Get Down - Joe Simon. Casey mentions how Joe has had 29 hits without reaching the Top 10. Did he congratulate him on June 14th?
21. Bad Luck - Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. "From Philadelphia!" I guess when he had nothing to say, mentioning where the artist was from was his go-to move.
20. Wildfire - Michael Murphy. FINALLY! Out from under the shadow of his #27 smash "Geronimo's Cadillac."
19. Only Women Bleed - Alice Cooper. There, I said it. Casey never did. He also thinks the Alice Cooper group was still together and perform this track. Nope. He also calls a song that has reached No. 19 "A smash." Is that really a smash? Helen Reddy took "Somewhere in the Night" to No. 19. Was that a smash?
18. Shoeshine Boy - Eddie Kendricks. I think I have 5 shows with this song, and Casey never told a story about it. I will:
" A knee-jerk reaction almost kept Eddie Kendricks' endearing "Shoeshine Boy" from
the public. A record executive, who obviously had "issues," thought that the song
was "demeaning" to black people. Motown founder Berry Gordy intervened, reminding
the executive that all shoeshine boys aren't black. Written by Linda Allen and
Harry Booker, who himself was once a shoeshine boy, "Shoeshine Boy"'s simple,
encouraging message of doing the best you that you can do, no matter what you do,
can be understood by just about anyone. The chugging mid-tempo groove gives the
track an "enterprising" tone that reinforces the lyric. Kendricks was at
first hesitant about recording the song until producer Frank Wilson
convinced him of its merit."
17. Jackie Blue - Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Casey says it features "one of the most memorable melodies of the year." I think he's right but have to ask: is the year November 1974 to November 1975?
16. He Don't Love You - Dawn. Casey offhands, "He don't love ya, like I love ya." I bet the script said "luv." So endearing!
15. I'm Not Lisa - Jessi Colter. Probably the best example of when Casey's story is more interesting than the song that accompanies it.
14. Hijack - Herbie Mann. Do you like it when Casey gives the "Chart Action" of a song? I think he does that once a week. Along with reciting a poignant lyric, which he did at No. 33.
13. Cut the Cake - Average White Band. "From Scotland!" Did "Bad Luck" ever hit No. 13? That would have been fitting.
12. Philadelphia Freedom - Elton John. "From Philadelphia!" (Well, the freedom was.) I think Theresa Auburn is a big dope!
11. Love Won't Let Me Wait - Major Harris. The SiriusXM "Egregious Edit of the Week" winner. Why do they hate Casey? Why do they hate us?
10. When Will I Be Loved - Linda Rondstadt. My takeaway from Casey's story (taken from Rolling stone!) was remembering a time when cameras had flashbulbs. Like in the climax of "Rear Window." Or, like the girl in "Dr. No." This song was A SMASH too!
9. I Don't Like to Sleep Alone - Paul Anka. Feeling bad for the lovely and talented vocalist Eau de Cologne, who only gets two lines in her solo this time out. Poor dear.
8. Shining Star - Earth Wind & Fire. "From Chicago!" This song had already reached No. 1 on the Soul chart before it entered the Top 40. Makes me think that certain songs or artists had to pay their dues before hitting the Top 40. Honestly, how could a song go all the way to No. 1 Soul and not be in the Top 40? Crazy.
7. Old Days - Chicago. In his intro to the song, Casey makes the case for Grand Funk being in the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame. And he's right! From Chicago!
6. Bad Time - Grand Funk. "They could go all the way to No. 1." Did Casey ever have one of his legendary meltdowns when predictions like this failed to come true? He'd be melting down a lot!
5. Sister Golden Hair - America. Casey misunderstands their quote to Cameron Crowe. But he says they too "have a shot at No. 1." When your in the Top 5, you have a shot at No. 1, doncha think?
4. Only Yesterday - The Carpenters. aka, "The Remarkable Carpenters." Pity that sobriquet didn't stick.
3. How Long - Ace. Casey will never have anything to say about you when you are at No. 3, since he needs to give us the updates on the other charts. There would have been some conflict if a song ever jumped from No. 40 to No. 3! "From England!" He just manages to sneak that in!
2. Thank God I'm A Country Boy - John Denver. "His Rocky Mountain Highness." Ugh. Growing up in Boston, one radio station* used to offer a "Bummer of the Week" -- a song, voted by listeners, that was so irritating that they would stop playing it. This one gets my vote.
*WBZ-FM
1. Before the Next Teardrop Falls - Freddy Fender. Sheesh, every No. 1 song is a record-breaker of some sort, if you care to parse the data that finely. From San Benito! SiriusXM spells his name wrong on the chyron. What a fitting end!
But I will tune in next week...
One of the songs where the Pips took a smoke break, I'm guessing.