Jason’s Jukebox Volume 19

Jason Maloney reviews

JASON’S JUKEBOX
V o l u m e # 1 9 Chart Date: Week Ending 29th May 1971 Online Date: 27th May 2004

Dawn: Tie a Yellow Ribbon Short-lived US hitmakers Dawn were at Number One for the third of five weeks with Knock Three Times. Their debut hit Candida had reached #9 earlier in the year, and another Top 3 smash would soon follow in the form of What Are You Doing Sunday.

Two years later they returned with their second #1 – Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree – but that proved to be the last time Dawn experienced Top 10 success in the UK.

---

Ringo Starr: Ringo Knock three times was exactly what The Rolling Stones had done at the top of the charts in trying to dethrone Dawn, but the groundbreaking triple-A sided single Brown Sugar/Bitch/Let It Rock had been stuck at #2 for three weeks in a row. The Stones’ previous two releases, Jumpin’ Jack Flash and Honky Tonk Women, both reached #1 but neither Brown Sugar/Bitch/Let It Rock nor any single in the subsequent 30 or so years has managed to add to their tally of 8 UK chart-toppers. In fact, they didn’t even reach the Top 3 again until 1978.

Free, the seminal 70s rock band featuring Paul Rodgers on lead vocals, managed four chart hits in their career and My Brother Jake (up 7 to its peak of #4) was the second of the quartet. It followed All Right Now, which had made #2 in 1970 and, through several re-issues and re-entries over three decades, chalked up no less than 44 weeks on the UK chart.

Twelve months on from The Beatles’ final single and album Let It Be, drummer Ringo Starr was in the Top 10 with It Don’t Come Easy (down 4 to #8). It was the first of four back-to-back Top 10 hits in the UK, of which Photograph (#2) became the biggest.

---

The Essential Neil Diamond Husky-voiced singer/songwriter Neil Diamond was on a hot streak of his own during 1970 and 1971, with Cracklin’ Rosie (#3) and Sweet Caroline (#8) hitting the charts either side of I Am.. I Said, the track which was charting this week 33 years ago. I Am… I Said moved up from #18 to #11, and went on to reach #4.

For the King of Rock’n’Roll, the one and only Elvis Presley, the latter half of the 1960s had been a time of unspectacular chart action, with many releases falling short of the UK Top 20 and in some cases even the Top 40. The new decade saw a marked upturn in fortunes, however, led first by the #2 success of Suspicious Minds and then his long-overdue return to #1 with The Wonder Of You. Now, a cover of Tony Bennett’s Rags To Riches took Elvis from #23 up to #16 and eventually into the Top 10; the sixth of seven singles to do so since Suspicious Minds had put his career back on track.

---

The Best of Tony Christie One place below The King at #17 and also climbing 7 places, Tony Christie‘s I Did It All For Maria was on a chart run that saw the single go as high as #2. Following 1976’s Drive Safely Darlin‘ (#35), the hits dried up completely before The All Seeing I brought Christie back from the wilderness in 1999 to sing on the Jarvis Cocker-penned #10 hit Walk Like A Panther.

Peter Noone enjoyed 20 hit singles with Herman’s Hermits, but his debut solo effort Oh You Pretty Thing – up a promising 14 places to #20 – turned out to be Noone’s sole chart entry under his own steam. Also climbing were Motown legends Stevie Wonder (moving #31-#27) with his cover of The Beatles’ We Can Work It Out and the Temptations (up from #39 to #33) with Just My Imagination.

Meanwhile, there were new entries for The Hollies’ Hey Willy at #29, Mungo Jerry‘s Lady Rose at #30 and Banner Man by Blue Mink at #31. The latter two became Top 5 hits, but The Hollies only reached a modest #22.

Page Content copyright © Jason Maloney, 2004.