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Get Back, the penultimate UK chart-topper for The Beatles, was enjoying the
fourth of its six weeks at #1 some 35 years ago this week. The single was
notable for a number of reasons; it was the only time a Fab Four hit went
straight in at #1 (they usually hit the summit on their second or third week of
release), it took their tally of British number ones to a then-record of
sixteen, and it was also the only one of their official singles to have an outsider
given shared billing; Get Back was credited to The Beatles with Billy
Preston. Three weeks later another Beatles single would appear, The Ballad Of John &
Yoko.
Beatles protege Mary Hopkin, the first signing to the band's Apple label,
had just spent three weeks at #2 with Goodbye. Initially, it was Desmond Dekker
& The Aces' The Israelites which denied it top billing. Goodbye now dropped
to #5 - swapping places with My Sentimental Friend by Herman's Hermits, while
The Israelites was still in the top 10, falling gently from #6 to #8.
The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac
In 1969, Fleetwood Mac were still a British blues-based pop act led by Peter
Green who were notching up a succession of Top 10 hit singles in the UK,
including the instrumental #1 Albatross which had topped the listings in
February of that year. The follow-up single, Man Of The World, was up 4 places to #3
on the chart of May 14th.
At #6 was the single which continues to hold the title for most weeks on the
UK chart of all-time. My Way by Frank Sinatra, up 3 places from #9, would
soon peak at #5 but eventually registered an incredible 124 appearances on the
chart before bowing out.
Not averse to holding a few longevity records of their own, Simon &
Garfunkel's latest opus The Boxer was climbing from #15 to #9. Throughout the first
half of the 1970s, their Greatest Hits set would dominate the UK album chart
while Bridge Over Troubled Water clocked up in excess of 300 weeks on the Top
100.
The Who: Then & Now
Other big names charting were The Who with Pinball Wizard (down from its
high of #4 to #10), Cream with the George Harrison co-write Badge (falling 7 to
#25) and Stevie Wonder with his former #16 hit I Don't Know Why.
Classics-in-the-making included I Heard It Through The Grapevine by Marvin Gaye (still
charting after 14 weeks), Smokey Robinson & The Miracles'Tracks Of My Tears
(advancing to #30 on its second week; it would ultimately reach the Top 10),
and Jackie Wilson's Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher And Higher (new at #39).
Harlem Shuffle, at #13 and on its way down the chart for Bob and Earl, would
return to the top 40 in 1986 thanks to the Rolling Stones. The song at #11 -
Dizzy by Tommy Roe - went on to top the chart for a solitary week inbetween
The Beatles' Get Back and The Ballad Of John & Yoko. It also became a UK #1
in 1994 for Vic Reeves & The Wonder Stuff.
Des O'Connor: Back to Back
Lulu's Boom Bang-A-Bang, the UK's entry for Eurovision in 1969, was still on
the top 40 (rebounding 5 places to #17 on its 10th week), Tom Jones had the
week's highest entry at #19 courtesy of Love Me Tonight, and Des O'Connor was
in at #28 with the bizarrely-titled Dick-A-Dum-Dum.
(DVDfever.co.uk Dom adds: "How come all the people
reviewing Des' album (right) are talking about Oasis?!")
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Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
