RIP Helen Reddy

Sammy Johns, "Chevy Van"

I gave a girl
A ride in my wagon
She crawled in and took control
She was tired
As her mind was a-draggin'
I said get some sleep and dream of rock and roll

[Chorus]
'Cause like a princess she was laying there
Moonlight dancing off her hair
She woke up and took me by the hand
She's gonna love me in my Chevy van
And that's all right with me

[Verse 2]
Her young face
Was like that of an angel
Her long legs were tanned and brown
Better keep
Your eyes on the road, son
Better slow this vehicle down

[Chorus]
'Cause like a princess she was laying there
Moonlight dancing off her hair
She woke up and took me by the hand
She's gonna love me in my Chevy van
And that's all right with me

This goes over worse than Kung Fu Fighting now; of course I enjoy the song still.

 

That song sold a lot of crappy product for Chevrolet, amazingly. "Don't bother knockin' if this van's a-rockin'."

 

Count me as another fan of the Sunday reruns of AT40. Aside from the oddities, it’s fun to hear some of the hits from established acts that never made Greatest Hits albums or still get radio play.

 

AT40, particularly 1970-1974, is a fascinating time capsule of songs I've either forgotten or never heard in the first place. That particularly pertains to songs that barely bubbled up into the low 30s. Did I ever know of Honey-Cone's "Stick-Up" followup to "Want Ads?" Not that I remember. I assumed they were just a one-hit wonder.

In some cases, the program director wherever you lived might not have bothered to add it. And there were more regional hits in those days that charted locally but didn't make it nationally.

Last week was 1971 and I was shocked that "Go Away Little Girl" was No. 1 over stuff like "Maggie May" and "Ain't No Sunshine." When was the last time you heard the Osmonds on a commercial radio station?

Even today's "oldies" stations (F-ing program consultants in SUITS!) probably have fewer than 600 songs in rotation. Even if you lowballed the number needed to compile a list of all the songs that hit the top 40 in any decade, you're talking well over 10,000-15,000 songs.

There's so much forgotten stuff out there -- mostly for good reason -- but it's awesome to hear the rarities every once in a while.

Here's a great website that has all the charts posted by year:

All US Top 40 Singles for 1971 - Top40Weekly.com

 

From that particular chart, what a tremendous song.

And I just heard again this last week. How it did not chart better than outside the top 40 in the US?

 

This song actually was not all that bad, and especially if you remember the wretched wails of "I've Never Been to Me."

 

The top 10 of worst songs from the 1970s would have to be about 200 songs deep. And that still wouldn't get them all.

How bad were things back then? Imagine people wanting to buy and hear "Seasons In The Sun" by Terry Jacks. He's DYING, for Chrissakes!

 

It’s fun too to hear Casey talk about bands that became huge but we’re just hitting the charts.

“Debuting at number 32 this week is a band from San Francisco named Journey with ‘Don’t Stop Believing.”

 

We moved around a lot and it middle school it was hard to make friends. In 1976 and 1977, wed listen to AT 40 and type out the top 10 every week.

 

One of the benefits of the Canadian content rule was hearing Lighthouse and other Canadian bands besides Guess Who on The Big 8 CKLW
27 states and four provinces

 

Blue Swede’s Hooked on a Feeling (ooga chukka)
Worst cover EVER

 

Speaking of which, the facts are these:
Burton Cummings is a God of Rock, and the Guess Who kicked ass.

These are the facts of the case, and they are undisputed.