Andy Williams: The Early '70s Charting Singles

The 1960s were Andy Williams's big decade, where his reassuring grin charmed TV cameras and his fail-safe croon comforted the generation gap's parental wing. His signature song "Moon River," from the 1961 Breakfast at Tiffany's film, became the theme song for his Andy Williams Show, which ran on NBC from 1962 to 1971 and helped create the template for the variety show format that dominated television throughout the following decade. Among Williams's early seventies highlights as one of easy listening radio's most reliable voices were definitive versions of the Love Story and Godfather movie themes, although his presence on the Billboard charts would fade by 1976 (not counting the now perennial Christmas reissue appearances.)

"Can't Help Falling in Love" (1970) - Andy Williams

Written by George David Weiss, Hugo Peretti, and Luigi Creatore * Produced by Dick Glasser * Arranged by Al Capps * 45: "Can't Help Falling in Love" / "Sweet Memories" * Label: Columbia * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#88); easy listening (#28) * Entered: 1970-02-28 (Hot 100/easy listening)

In the late sixties Columbia record executives determined that the way to keep their classic voices like Andy Williams and Tony Bennett commercially viable was through movie themes and contemporary hit covers. (Clive Davis, in his 1975 autobiography, reports Bennett as being none too happy about the strategy, favoring Great American Songbook standards.) Williams's first chart entry takes Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love" and straps it onto a bolting horse; the heights to which arranger Al Capps pushes Williams's vocal make him sound like a jockey trying not to lose control. This was a single-only release in the US, with a flipside called "Sweet Memories" taken from his 1969 Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head album. Written by Mickey Newbury, that song seemed to have all sorts of natural, unappreciated hit potential. It featured a melodic hook in the verses later used by John Denver in "Sunshine on My Shoulders," while the choruses allowed Williams to sing falsetto and (unlike the A-side) to glide with grace.


Side A: "Can't Help Falling in Love"


Side B: "Sweet Memories"

"One Day of Your Life" (1970) - Andy Williams

Written by Howard Greenfield and Neil Sedaka * Produced by Dick Glasser * Arranged by Al Capps * 45: "One Day of Your Life" / "Long Time Blues" * Label: Columbia * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#77); easy listening (#2) * Entered: 1970-06-06 (easy listening); 1970-06-27 (Hot 100)

The Andy Williams Show ran on NBC from 1962-1971 and had served as a convenient springboard for the popular easy listening crooner's record releases. For eight episodes during the summer of 1970, the program morphed into Andy Williams Presents Ray Stevens. This was an apparent trial run for the comedy country singer who had scored a surprise #1 earlier in the year with the earnest "Everything Is Beautiful." A June episode of the show featured a Williams guest turn where (in addition to wrangling with the show's ever-present "Cookie Bear") he performed this hyper-arranged Neil Sedaka-Howard Greenfield number, which sounded made to order for a Kodak commercial. (It also seemed poised to merge into a medley, at any moment, with Gary Puckett's "Young Girl.") Although the A-side was a single-only release, the rural B-side "Long Time Blues," written by "Classical Gas" guitarist/comedy writer Mason Williams (no relation), had shown up previously on the 1969 Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head album.

Side A: "One Day of Your Life"


Side B: "Long Time Blues"

*Non-charting bonus*

"Joanne" (1970) - Andy Williams

Written by Michael Nesmith * Produced by Mike Post * LP: The Andy Williams Show * Label: Columbia * Billboard charts: —

The Andy Williams Show LP, released in the fall of 1970, gathered up a handful of his previously recorded covers from the late sixties and added six freshly recorded ones ("Joanne," "Make It With You," "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life," "Close to You," "El Condor Pasa," and "Snowbird"), then added applause tracks and segue music. Produced by Mike Post, the album presented a more scaled-down band sound as opposed to the big, orchestral approach more typically found on an Andy Williams record, and sold respectably in the US while going top ten in the UK. "Joanne" is Williams's steel-guitar countrypolitan version of ex-Monkee Michael Nesmith's #21 hit from earlier in the year. The song's baying vocal hook is perhaps what got the dog on the cover participating. In 1971, the album appeared on one of the rare surviving playlists of Los Angeles MOR station KMPC, which justifies inclusion here.

"Joanne"

"Home Lovin' Man" (1970) - Andy Williams

Written by Roger Greenaway, Roger Cook, and Tony Macaulay * Produced by Dick Glasser * Arranged by Artie Butler * 45: "Home Lovin' Man" / "Whistling in the Dark" * LP: Alone Again (Naturally) (1972, two years later) * Label: Columbia * Billboard charts: Easy listening (#10-1970; #27-1972) * Entered: 1970-10-24 and 1972-11-04

The three British songwriters Roger Greenaway, Roger Cook, and Tony Macaulay were late-sixties/early-seventies zeitgeist-crafting VIPs, generating between them such era-defining hits as "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing," "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress," "Gimme Dat Ding," and "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)." Their evocative, seafaring "Home Lovin' Man," though, which featured a "Whiter Shade of Pale" organ intro and an uncredited pianist sounding very much like Nicky Hopkins, had all the earmarks of a big hit in Britain, where Andy Williams's recording of it peaked at #7. (According to Williams, in his Moon River and Me memoir, the song had originally been intended for actor-singer Richard Harris, who was "irate" over the interception.) In the US, though, it only managed to go top ten on the easy listening chart. The flipside contained a big, Al Capps-orchestrated version of Henry Mancini's "Whistling Away in the Dark," from the Darling Lili film (starring Julie Andrews). Both sides were non-album tracks, reflecting a possible short-term effort on Columbia's part to keep Williams's singles and albums as separate marketing entities.

In 1972, "Home Lovin' Man" would reappear on the Alone Again (Naturally) album, with a reissue of the track as a single maxing out at #27 on the Billboard easy listening chart. Although the album itself bore the title of a Gilbert O'Sullivan song, the O'Sullivan-penned flipside for the "Home Lovin' Man" single reissue did not make the cut. Entitled "Who Was It," the recording had appeared on O'Sullivan's UK chart-topping LP Back to Front and charted in the US the following year in the distinctive voice of Hurricane Smith. Williams's version, though, features an unsettling, double-tracked lead vocal.

Side A: "Home Lovin' Man"


Side B: "Who Was It"

"(Where Do I Begin) Love Story" (1971) - Andy Williams

Written by Carl Sigman and Francis Lai * Produced by Dick Glasser * Arranged by Richard P. Hazard * 45: "(Where Do I Begin) Love Story"/"Something" * LP: Love Story * Label: Columbia * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#9); easy listening (#1) * Entered: 1971-02-06 (both charts)

Although Erich Segal's Love Story was enough of a bummer to fit early seventies film trends, it also had a sentimental, tearjerker quality, rife with images of two lovers (played by Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw) frolicking in the snow, to function as an effective cultural escape. The pervasive title theme (which contained no vocalized manifestations on the soundtrack) was among the last of the big multiple-version hits, although the Godfather theme tried to keep the tradition alive the following year. Out of the five charting recordings of this song, all of which competed with each other in early 1971, the crescendo-heavy Andy Williams version climbed highest at #9. Columbia label-mate Tony Bennett would enter the charts with an equally dramatic iteration a week later, but wouldn't be able to contend with a Williams single that had already caught fire. Side B contains a comparatively soothing interpretation of George Harrison's "Something," which alternates between cheerful horns and moody strings.

Side A: "Where Do I Begin (Love Story)"


Side B: "Something"

"A Song for You" (1971) - Andy Williams

Written by Leon Russell * Produced by Dick Glasser * Arranged by Ernie Freeman * 45: "A Song for You" / "You've Got a Friend" * LP: You've Got a Friend * Label: Columbia * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#82); easy listening (#29) * Entered: 1971-08-21 (Hot 100); 1971-08-28 (easy listening)

Oklahoma songwriter/musician Leon Russell had long established himself as an in-demand LA session player and side man by the time he recorded his first solo album, A Song for You, in 1970. With its sophisticated structure and expressive melody, the title track became a favorite cover tune for big voices. Andy Williams was among the first to interpret it, adding it to his You've Got a Friend album, which rounded up eleven versions of contemporary hits. With its opening chord sequence mirroring the first two chords from "Love Story," among more general similarities in mood throughout, it sounded like a suitable follow-up. An Al Capps-arranged show band version of "You've Got a Friend" appears on the B-side, while the back cover depicts a flashy Elton John look.

Side A: "A Song for You"


Side B: "You've Got a Friend"

"Love Is All" (1971) - Andy Williams

Written by Jack Elliott and Norman Gimbel * Produced by Dick Glasser * Arranged by Dick Hazard * 45: "Love Is All" / "Help Me Make It Through the Night" * Billboard charts: Easy listening (#29) * Entered: 1971-12-04

"Love Is All" was part three in Andy Williams's early seventies run of minor-key chansons nouvelles, the idea clearly being to replicate the success of "Love Story." This was another vocalized version of an instrumental movie theme, this time for Herbert Ross's bummer film T.R. Baskin, about a newly-independent young runaway (Candice Bergen) struggling to get a footing in Chicago. The era's preoccupations with the cold muddle of modern life are on full display along with ripe thematic offerings for timely feminist cultural critique. Disadvantaged by the film's poor reviews and box office receipts, though, "Love Is All" only managed an easy listening chart appearance before vanishing, never even showing up on an album. In 1973, Engelbert Humperdinck would barely dent the Hot 100 with the song. Side B of Williams's single is a version of Kris Kristofferson's "Help Me Make It Through the Night," about a lonely one night stand, and in spite of Ernie Freeman's atmospheric string arrangement, it comes off as a cruel swipe at Bergman's sexually vulnerable film character.

Side A: "Love Is All"


Side B: "Help Me Make It Through the Night"

"Music from Across the Way" (1972)  - Andy Williams

Written by James Last and Carl Sigman * Produced by Dick Glasser * Arranged by Ernie Freeman * 45: "Music from Across the Way" / "The Last Time I Saw Her" * LP: Love Theme from "The Godfather" * Label: Columbia * Billboard charts: Easy listening (#30) * Entered: 1972-01-29

Like William's previous three singles, "Music from Across the Way" sailed the same melodramatic, minor-key waters as "Love Story." That song's Carl Sigman even provided lyrics for it, with German show band maestro James Last handling the music. Last's own version, sung by an anonymous choral group, outperformed Williams's, reaching the Hot 100 at #84 around the same time. After a brief easy listening chart appearance, the track would eventually turn up on Williams's forthcoming Love Theme from "The Godfather" album. For the opening piano line, arranger Ernie Freeman borrows from the Carpenters's "For All We Know" refrain. On side B of the single is a treatment of Gordon Lightfoot's 1968 track "The Last Time I Saw Her," which Glen Campbell had turned into a charting crossover single in 1971.

Side A: "Music from Across the Way"


Side B: "The Last Time I Saw Her"

"Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from The Godfather)" (1972) - Andy Williams

Written by Nino Rota and Larry Kusik * Produced by Dick Glasser * Arranged by Al Capps * 45: "Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from 'The Godfather')" / "Home for Thee" * LP: Love Theme from "The Godfather" * Label: Columbia * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (# 34); Easy listening (#7) * Entered: 1970-04-08 (both charts)

Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather turned Mario Puzo's best-selling mafia novel into the highest grossing film of 1972, demonstrating that the early seventies cinematic penchant for downbeat themes had blockbuster potential. Critical success accompanied it too, with many of its scenes and performances turning into cultural touchstones. Among the era's preoccupations playing out on screen were the plight of the antihero, a fascination with family and tradition at a time when both underwent unprecedented redefinition, and a "going back" instinct that reached toward ethnicity and roots.

In spite of this, Andy Williams, one of pop music's WASP-iest singers, ended up with the biggest hit version of the theme song, but he was primed and ready, having charted the previous four times with similarly sophisticated and stormy minor-key offerings. Composed for the soundtrack by the classically-oriented Nino Rota, veteran lyricist Larry Kusik then turned the theme into the vocal-friendly "Speak Softly Love." As Andrew J. Edelstein and Kevin McDonough said about the film in their The Seventies: From Hot Pants to Hot Tubs (1990), the record came off as "high art disguised as pop entertainment."

Aside from Williams, who had his final Top 40 appearance with the song, the only other singer to chart with it (#80) would be Al Martino, who had played washed up pop star Johnny Fontaine in the film. Instrumental versions by Roger Williams (#116), Carlo Savina (#66, from the soundtrack album), and Ferrante and Teicher (easy listening #28) also made chart showings.  Side B of "Speak Softly Love" contained the 45-only track "Home for Thee," written by Paul Parrish. (Final tangential tidbit: Lyricist Larry Kusik was the uncle of the musician and music writer Lenny Kaye, for whom Kusik had once written and produced a record called "Crazy Like a Fox," on which Kaye used the pseudonym "Link Cromwell.")

Side A: "Speak Softly Love (Love Theme from The Godfather)"


Side B: "Home for Thee"

"MacArthur Park" (1972) - Andy Williams

Written by Jimmy Webb * Produced by Dick Glasser * Arranged by Artie Butler * 45: "MacArthur Park" / "Amazing Grace" * LP: Love Theme from "The Godfather" * Label: Columbia * Billboard charts: Bubbling under (#102) * Entered: 1972-08-05

Its high angst levels, epic length and "cake in the rain" lyrics have always invited critics to call it overbaked, but Jimmy Webb's "MacArthur Park" nonetheless touched some sort of psychological nerve in its time. Between 1968 and 1972, the actor Richard Harris (in the voice and persona of a mad Renaissance courtier), Waylon Jennings (with Grammy-winning dourness), the Four Tops, and Andy Williams all showed up on various Billboard charts with their own personalized recipes for it. No one did as well as Harris, who'd reached #2, but of the four, Williams served up the most palatable entry.

With an intro that hints at Burt Bacharach's "Trains and Boats and Plains" or the Bee Gees' "Words," the Artie Butler arrangement for this version bumps the severe minor-key verse section to the end while allowing the major-key bridge—in which Williams shames Harris on the high notes—to take precedence. In 1978 Donna Summer would elevate "MacArthur Park" to pop heaven, with a 45 that managed to clock in under four minutes and still seem grandiose. (She'd make an eighteen-minute behemoth available for discotheques.) The flipside of Williams's single was his contribution to Jesus Rock—a version of "Amazing Grace." This had previously appeared on his Alone Again (Naturally) album with an Al Capps arrangement taking cues from Judy Collins's acapella hit from early 1971.

Side A: "MacArthur Park"


Side B: "Amazing Grace"

"Solitaire" (1973) - Andy Williams

Written by Neil Sedaka and Phil Cody * Produced by Richard Perry * 45: "Solitaire" / "My Love" * LP: Solitaire * Billboard charts: Easy listening (#23) * Entered: 1973-10-06

With his Solitaire LP, Andy Williams shook things up by getting in the studio with producer Richard Perry, who had been on a hot streak with hit albums by Carly Simon, Harry Nilsson, and Ringo Starr, among others. The song selection included deeper album tracks along with the usual hit covers, while Williams's vocal sound now popped with slapback echo. Neil Sedaka's original 1972 recording of the album's title track had included more card metaphors in the chorus, which Williams and Perry had altered to Sedaka's apparent chagrin (as reported in Williams's Moon River and Me). After the song reached #4 in the UK and then became a Top 40 hit for the Carpenters, Sedaka likely set his grievances aside. The closing section of "Solitaire" transported listeners directly to the closing section of Nilsson's "Without You," a #1 hit for Perry in 1972. The Solitaire version of Paul McCartney's "My Love," with an uncomfortable rendering of its "whoah whoahs," takes up the B side. Another song from the album—a satisfying interpretation of "Getting Over You" by the British singer-songwriter Tony Hazzard—rose to #35 in England.

Side A: "Solitaire"


Side B: "My Love"


UK chart bonus: "Getting Over You"

"Remember" (1974) - Andy Williams and Noelle

Written by Harry Nilsson * Produced by Richard Perry * 45: "Remember" / "Walk Right Back" (Andy Williams) * LP: Solitaire * Label: Columbia * Billboard charts: Easy listening (#30) * Entered: 1974-01-05

Seventies TV had a thing for variety shows, in which hosts would guide viewers through a bevy of skits and musical numbers. A standard Christmas device brought audiences into a celebrity's "home," as Andy Williams had done every year since 1962. Although his show had run its course by 1971, he was back on air in 1973 for a December 13 Christmas special, which treated viewers to songs by Andy, his own brothers, his teen idol nephews the Williams Brothers, and his then-wife Claudine Longet. In one segment, Williams sings Harry Nilsson's "Remember Christmas" to Noelle, his ten-year-old daughter. This prompted Columbia to release a 45 of the song—which had also appeared on his recently released Solitaire album—with added dialogue and a verse sung by Noelle. The album version, thankfully, is free of these intrusions. A product of the '73 Christmas season, the record made its first chart appearance in January 1974. (Neither the 45 nor the album version of the song use Nilsson's full title of "Remember Christmas.") The venerable British session man Nicky Hopkins handled the gorgeous piano part, as he had done on the original 1972 recording by Nilsson, while the ever-reliable Gene Page worked his magic on the string arrangement. An unembarrassing iteration of the Everly Brothers' "Walk Right Back" from Solitaire, with tasteful Jimmy Calvert guitar lines, appears on the flipside.

Side A: "Remember"


Side B: "Walk Right Back"

"Love's Theme" (1974) - Andy Williams 

Written by Aaron Schroeder and Barry White * Produced by Mike Curb * Arranged by Don Costa * 45: "Love's Theme" / "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me" * LP: The Way We Were * Label: Columbia * Billboard charts: Easy listening (#16) * Entered: 1974-06-08

After Andy Williams's flirtation with contemporary album artistry on Solitaire, he appeared to drift back into easy listening assembly-line mode for his follow-up, The Way We Were. Every song but one—a Mike Curb-Alan Osmond variation on "O Holy Night" (listen to the bridge) called "If I Could Only Go Back Again"—paid tribute to established hits. Even so, Williams's vocal version of the Love Unlimited Orchestra's "Love's Theme" went down like a sweet disco ambrosia. Love Unlimited, the vocal trio on whose Under the Influence of Love album Barry White's instrumental first appeared, did their own vocalized take, also using Aaron Schroeder's lyrics, for their late 1974 In Heat album.

MGM mogul Mike Curb's involvement in the Columbia album as producer is a curiosity that perhaps had to do with some inter-label tit for tat. In 1966, MGM had released the soundtrack to the Columbia film Born Free, which may well have set the table for a deal like this. Williams's side-B easy listening performance of Jim Weatherly's "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me" (with an added "You're" in the title), demonstrates the song's crossover elasticity—Gladys Knight had recently topped the soul chart with it while Ray Price did the same thing on the country chart, and both records appeared on the Hot 100 (Gladys Knight #3, Ray Price #82).

Side A: "Love's Theme"


Side B: "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me"


Bonus: "If I Could Only Go Back Again"

"Another Lonely Song" (1974) - Andy Williams

Written by Billy Sherrill, Norro Wilson, and Tammy Wynette * Produced by Billy Sherrill * 45: "Another Lonely Song" / "A Mi Esposa con Amor" * LP: You Lay So Easy on My Mind * Label: Columbia * Billboard charts: Easy listening (#29) * Entered: 1974-09-21

With country music going through such aggressive crossover experimentation in the early seventies, it wasn't any kind of stretch for Andy Williams to "go country" for one album. All he needed was some denim for the cover, a judicious steel guitarist, a Nashville producer, and a roundup of ten hits that already sounded like candidates for the easy listening charts. Tammy Wynette's 1973 chart-topping "Another Lonely Song" got the nod as the lead off single for Williams's You Lay So Easy on My Mind album, produced by countrypolitan king Billy Sherrill. An interpretation of acquired-taste vocalist Sonny James's 1973 country hit "A Mi Esposa con Amor (To My Wife with Love)" appears on side B.

Side A: "Another Lonely Song"


Side B: "A Mi Esposa con Amor"

"Love Said Goodbye" (1974) - Andy Williams

Written by Nino Rota and Larry Kusik * Produced and arranged by Marty and David Paich * 45: "Love Said Goodbye" / "One More Time" * Label: Columbia * Billboard charts: Easy listening (#24) * Entered: 1975-01-11

The December 1974 release of the second acclaimed Godfather film, complete with a new theme song by Nino Rota, called for another Andy Williams rendition. "Love Said Goodbye" was a similar-sounding but less-memorable track with lyrics again provided by Larry Kusik, and it greeted the market late in the year as a non-album one-off. The record signaled early success for future Toto member David Paich, son of veteran arranger/producer Marty, who'd already won an Emmy with his father in May 1974 for a piece the two had composed for the Ironsides TV show. Side B of the Godfather Part II single included David's song "One More Time," which was unavailable on any albums until it showed up as a bonus track on the 2002 CD reissue of the 1976 Andy album.


Side A: "Love Said Goodbye"


Side B: "One More Time"

"Cry Softly" (1974) - Andy Williams

Written by Buddy Killen, Billy Sherrill, and Glen Sutton * Produced by Billy Sherrill * 45: "Cry Softly" / "You Lay So Easy on My Mind" * LP: You Lay So Easy on My Mind * Label: Columbia * Billboard charts: Easy listening (#20) * Entered: 1975-04-12

In 1966, before the names Buddy Killen, Billy Sherrill, or Glen Sutton became such country industry fixtures, Nancy Ames crept into the Hot 100 (#95) with "Cry Softly"—a schlager welding-job the three men had done on the Franz Liszt melody "Liebestraum." Andy Williams's 1974 recording of the song gathered up enough momentum on MOR radio for it to see release as a single, which entered the Billboard easy listening chart in April 1975. Although Sherrill is listed as a songwriter on the label, he had only appeared as a co-producer on the 1966 Ames single for some reason. (The closing musical phrase in the verses drove me crazy for a long time because it reminded me of something else, which turned out to be the chorus endings of Cass Elliot's "One Way Ticket.")

One of the more memorable songs on the You Lay So Easy on My Mind album was the title track, which also served as the B-side of "Cry Softly." It took Bobby G. Rice's 1973 sexual revolution double entendre hit and traded its honky tonk gait and underwater guitar for crying lap steel and even more emphasis on the chorus's falsetto. Not released as a single in the US, it reached #32 in the UK. Only two more songs (in 1975 and 1976) would chart for Willliams in the US and UK until 1998, when TV commercials by Peugeot ("Can't Take My Eyes Off of You") and Fiat ("Music to Watch Girls By") would spark a UK revival.  [And thanks to the commenter who has pointed out the rejuvenated chart power of "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year."]

Side A: "Cry Softly"


Side B: "You Lay So Easy on My Mind"

Early '70s "Break-In" Records on the Charts

The novelty record boom of the late fifties brought forth the "break-in" single, a creation by record producer Dickie Goodman in which he'd insert snippets of current hits into a little melodrama usually set up as a newscast. "The Flying Saucer" (credited to Goodman and his partner Bill Buchanan) was his biggest one, hitting #3 in 1956, after which Goodman, the original mad sampler, went straight to court. (He prevailed after judges declared his records to be artistic statements.)

The early seventies novelty resurgence spawned more break-in records thanks to the nostalgia boom among adults and the strong preteen radio demographic who appreciated their entertainment value. Dickie Goodman resurfaced on the charts during this era, along with some imitators, but the difference between these new break-in records and those of previous years—and those after—was a darker undercurrent that reflected frustrating current events. Kids could laugh at them, but the cognizant ears of adults were crucial to their success. A glance at Goodman's rather enormous discography indicates a consistent eye for politics and current events from the fifties all the way to his tragic death of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1989. (The image above comes from a 6/2/73 Billboard ad.) Below is a roundup of all the charting break-ins by Goodman and his imitators (with the non-charting "Speaking of Ecology" included for the sake of context).

*Bonus*

"Speaking of Ecology" (1971)

Dickie Goodman and Ruthie

Written by Bill Ramal and Dickie Goodman * 45: "Speaking of Ecology" / "Dayton's Theme" * Label: Ramgo Records * Billboard charts: —

Ecology was on everyone's mind in the early seventies, including that of "break-in" king Dickie Goodman, due to his involvement in the glass bottle industry campaign discussed previously. His non-charting "Speaking of Ecology" listed "Dickie Goodman and Ruthie" as artists, with Ruthie, as revealed by his son John in The King of Novelty (2000), being Goodman's mistress at the time. After this, a non-Goodman break-in single called "Convention '72" would renew public taste in Goodman's specialty.

The samples: "Shaft" (Isaac Hayes), "Ain't No Sunshine" (Bill Withers), "Make It Funky" (James Brown), "Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves" (Cher), "Only You Know and I Know" (Delaney and Bonnie), "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (Joan Baez), "Thin Line Between Love and Hate" (Persuaders), "Yo Yo" (Osmonds), "Maggie May" (Rod Stewart), "Do You Know What I Mean" (Lee Michaels), "Never My Love" (5th Dimension), "Sweet City Woman" (Stampeders).

"Speaking of Ecology"

"Convention '72" (1972)

The Delegates

Written by Nick Cenci and Nick Koselaneos * Produced by Nik-Nik Productions * 45: "Convention '72" / "Funky Butt" * LP: The Delegates * Label: Mainstream * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#8)

Pittsburgh record men Nick Cenci and Nick Koseleanos concocted this racy spoof of the Republican and Democratic conventions, which they had gotten KQV disk jockey Bob DeCarlo to record. Its top ten success must have irked "break-in" king Dickie Goodman, who had been creating break-in records without pause since the fifties, but at least "Convention '72" created a renewed interest in his stock in trade. Most kids, though, likely had no idea who and what the record spoofed. Uncredited jazz rock fills up side B.

The samples: "Troglodyte" (Jimmy Castor Bunch), "I Gotcha" (Joe Tex), "Lean on Me" (Bill Withers), "Sealed with a Kiss" (Bobby Vinton), "Happiest Girl in the Whole USA" (Donna Fargo), "Jungle Fever" (Chakachas), "Alone Again (Naturally)" (Gilbert O'Sullivan), "Coconut" (Nilsson), "A Horse with No Name" (America), "Take It Easy (In Your Mind)" (Jerry Reed)," "If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Wanna Be Right)" (Luther Ingram), "Back Stabbers" (The O'Jays), "Liar" (Three Dog Night), "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" (Bee Gees), "Mr. Big Stuff" (Jean Knight), "Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves" (Cher), "Last Night I Couldn't Get to Sleep" (5th Dimension), "Double Barrel" (Dave and Ansell Collins), "The Candy Man" (Sammy Davis Jr.), "I Don't Know How to Love Him" (Yvonne Elliman).

Side A: "Convention '72"


Side B: "Funky Butt"

"Super Fly Meets Shaft" (1973)

John and Ernest

Written and produced by Dickie Goodman and Sal Passantino * 45: "Super Fly Meets Shaft" / "Part Two" (Rainy Wednesday) * LP: Mr. Jaws and Other Fables by Dickie Goodman (Cash, 1975) * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#31), soul (#17)

Dickie Goodman teamed up with a partner named Sal Passantino for this pseudonymous record featuring two white guys (although no one knew that) satirizing black popular culture. (Joel Whitburn cites the duo as "John Free" and "Ernest Smith," but these are likely pseudonyms he'd found somewhere for Goodman and Passantino.) It's another record that could entertain preteens who likely had little familiarity with contemporary icons of blaxploitation films such as Superfly or Shaft. The record's content propelled it to #17 on Billboard's soul chart; a John and Ernest follow-up called "Soul President Number One" would never reach the charts. The gag track on the other side ("Part Two") is a two-minute continuation of the jumbled up "Superfly" utterance that closes side A. On his 45cat profile, Passantino reports that Curtis Mayfield had sued the duo over it, but settled "for $1,000 and a withdrawal of the song."

The samples: A mystery version of Jackie Ross's "Selfish One," "I Got Ants in My Pants" (James Brown), "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" (Temptations), "Keeper of the Castle" (Four Tops), "Me and Mrs. Jones" (Billy Paul), "I'll Be Around" (Spinners), "Shaft" (Isaac Hayes), "Back Stabbers" (O'Jays), "Love Train" (O'Jays), "Freddie's Dead" (Curtis Mayfield), "Daddy's Home" (Jermaine Jackson).

Side A: "Super Fly Meets Shaft"


Side B: "Part Two"

"Watergrate" (1973)

Dickie Goodman

Written and produced by Dickie Goodman * 45: "Watergrate" / "Friends" * Label: Rainy Wednesday * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#42)

Among the fallout of the Watergate break-in scandal was this break-in record by Dickie Goodman, which came out shortly after the Senate Watergate committee hearings became a regular televised event. Side B contained soul instrumental filler music played by nameless session players, with writing credits to "P.D." (public domain). The "Watergrate" title jibed with all of the other mangled names on the record, such as "John Snitchell."

The samples: "Soul Makossa" (Manu Dibango), "Pillow Talk" (Sylvia), "Drinkin' Wine Spo-De-O-Dee" (Jerry Lee Lewis), "Stuck in the Middle with You" (Stealers Wheel), "No More Mr. Nice Guy" (Alice Cooper), "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" (Dawn Featuring Tony Orlando), "Wild Flower" (Skylark), "The Cisco Kid" (War), "Funky Worm" (Ohio Players), "Reelin' in the Years" (Steely Dan), "I Knew Jesus (Before He Was a Superstar)" (Glen Campbell), "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" (Stevie Wonder), "My Love" (Paul McCartney and Wings).

Side A: "Watergrate"


Side B: "Friends"

"Energy Crisis '74" (1974)

Dickie Goodman

Written by Dickie Goodman * Produced by Dickie Goodman and Phil Kahl * 45: "Energy Crisis '74" / "Ruthie's Theme" (Rainy Wednesday) * LP: Mr. Jaws and Other Fables by Dickie Goodman (Cash, 1975) * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#33)

This Top 40 hit perhaps took the edge off of radio listeners waiting in the early seventies' notoriously long gas lines, a direct effect of the Arab oil embargo. Helen Reddy's recurring "Leave Me Alone" voiced the precise response cynical Americans expected to hear from higher ups regarding the crisis. Side B ("Ruthie's Song") contains the kind of horn-rock filler music that also appeared on "Watergrate," and as explained earlier (see "Speaking of Ecology"), "Ruthie" was the name of Goodman's mistress—an especially good reason, perhaps, for its public domain writing credit.

The samples: "Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)" (Helen Reddy), "Smokin' in the Boys' Room" (Brownsville Station), "Livin' for the City" (Stevie Wonder), "Helen Wheels" (Paul McCartney and Wings), "Mind Games" (John Lennon), "The Joker" (Steve Miller Band), "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" (Elton John), "Hello It's Me" (Todd Rundgren), "You're Sixteen" (Ringo Starr), "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" (Charlie Rich), "Top of the World" (The Carpenters).

Side A: "Energy Crisis '74"


Side B: "Ruthie's Theme"

"Mr. President" (1974)

Dickie Goodman

Written by M. Alexander * Produced by Dickie Goodman * 45: "Mr. President" / "Popularity" * Label: Rainy Wednesday * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#73)

At this stage the Watergate hearings were all about tapes and missing conversations, as was this record. "Mr. President" would be the last of Goodman's political break-in offerings to crack the Hot 100. (M. Alexander was likely a Goodman pseudonym.) His final two charting hits, occurring in the second half of the decade, would be movie tie-ins: "Mr. Jaws" (#4 in 1975) and "Kong" (#48 in 1977).

The samples: "The Streak" (Ray Stevens), "Seasons in the Sun" (Terry Jacks), "Bennie and the Jets" (Elton John), "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing" (Stevie Wonder), "My Girl Bill" (Jim Stafford), "Dancin' Machine" (Jackson 5), "The Entertainer" (Marvin Hamlisch), "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me" (Gladys Knight and the Pips), "The Loco Motion" (Grand Funk), "Oh My My" (Ringo Starr), "Hooked on a Feeling" (Blue Swede), "I Won't Last a Day Without You" (The Carpenters).

"Mr. President"

"Evil Boll-Weevil" (1974)

Grand Canyon

Written by Jeff McKee and Ed Brown * Produced by Jeff McKee * 45: "Evil Boll-Weevil" / "Got to Find My Way Back" * Label: Bang * Billboard charts: (#72)

The stuntman Evel Knevel was a subject all age groups could fully understand, unlike the political quagmires that previous charting break-in records had been lampooning. But Jeff McKee, the co-writer and producer (with no involvement from break-in king Dickie Goodman) explains in the comments for the YouTube link that this single suffered from bad timing. It mimicked Ed Sullivan but appeared at the same time as the beloved TV personality's death in October 1974, affecting stations' willingness to air it. McKee and co-writer Ed Brown worked at Top 40 station WQXI in Atlanta, hence the "Chattahoochee," "Doraville" and "Peachtree" references. An outtake from Paul "I Go Crazy" Davis, signed to Bang at the time, appears as the single's flip, possibly the best of all "break in" B sides. Listen to the guitar hook—it's one to remember.

The samples: "Jet" (Paul McCartney and Wings), "Summer Breeze" (Seals and Crofts), "Rocket Man" (Elton John), "It's My Life" (The Animals), "Evil Ways" (Santana), "Dialogue (Part I & II)" (Chicago), "Sweet Home Alabama" (Lynyrd Skynyrd), "Help Me" (Joni Mitchell), "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" (Elton John), "Baby You're a Rich Man" (Beatles), "Clap for the Wolfman" (The Guess Who), "Here, There and Everywhere" (Beatles), "Rock and Roll Heaven" (Righteous Brothers), "Feel Like Makin' Love" (Roberta Flack), "Billion Dollar Babies" (Alice Cooper), "Do It Again" (Steely Dan), "Doraville" (Atlanta Rhythm Section), "Please Come to Boston" (Dave Loggins), "La Grange" (ZZ Top).

Side A: "Evil Boll-Weevil"


Side B: "Got to Find My Way Back"

Wolfman Jack's "Jesus Crusade"

This headline appeared in the Nov. 27, 1971 issue of Billboard (p. 20), and Nat Freedland's article included the following:

"Wolfman Jack, the raspy-voiced veteran of 16 years in Mexican border super-transmitter radio, is shipping a public service Jesus Rock half-hour show free to any radio station that requests it. Wolfman Jack's 'Jesus Crusade' is already set for 50 major markets and begins broadcasting in December.

" 'The show features music like George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" and Ocean doing "Put Your Hand in the Hand," ' notes Wolfman, 'all the religious-oriented rock songs that have made the charts.' Interspersed with the music will be Jack telling Bible stories in his own inimitable manner. In addition, Wolfman will answer mailed-in questions from his listeners as part of regular conversations with non-denominational Protestant Minister Joe Racculia.

"The show's audience will be encouraged to think of itself as members of a Jesus Christ Fan Club. 'I know this sounds hokey,' says Jack. 'But I feel that the traditional organized religious approach is obviously not reaching the kids and all I want to do is pass on the message in a way they can relate to. Like, when I'm asked if the Bible says it's forbidden to smoke grass, I'll say it's not forbidden, but the Bible says, 'Do not endanger the House of God,' which means the human body.

" 'In recent months I have been brought closer to the Lord and what I want most to do now is bring young people to Jesus. I've certainly made enough money from the other things I do so that I don't have to do this for the money...'

"...A Wolfman Jack Bible Stories album has been completed with back-up music by jazz pianist Victor Feldman and will probably be offered via the Jesus Rock show in a few months, at a lower price than if it was released through a major label."

Nothing is mentioned about any of this in Wolfman Jack's Have Mercy autobiography. I also haven't had any luck finding any other evidence about the show's existence (or the album's), save for another brief mention of it on page 21 of the April 15, 1972 Billboard. Strange.

Four Charting Versions of "Rings": Who's on the Stereo?

"Rings" was a #17 hit for Cymarron, a soft rock trio who'd later team up with Bread's Jimmy Griffin in the '90s as the Remingtons. Written by pro songwriters Eddie Reeves and Alex Harvey (not the British cult rocker), the song's lyrics toyed with telephones, doorbells, and wedding bands, and suggested that success in romantic relationships correlated with the comfort level of one's living room. Four versions of this song charted in Billboard in the early seventies, each of which altered the original line, "I've got James Taylor on the stereo," with a different artist in JT's place.

Cymarron - "Rings" (Billboard #17, entered 6/12/71). Written by Eddie Reeves and Alex Harvey. Produced by Chips Moman. 45: "Rings"/"Like Children" (Entrance 1971). LP: Rings (Entrance 1971).

Who's on the stereo? James Taylor.

Tompall and the Glaser Brothers - "Rings" (Billboard country #7, entered 9/18/1971). Written by Eddie Reeves and Alex Harvey. Produced by Jim Glaser. 45: "Rings"/"That's When I Love You the Most" (MGM 1971). LP: Rings and Things. 

Who's on the stereo? Merle Haggard.

Lobo - "Rings" (Billboard #43, entered 7/20/74). Written by Eddie Reeves and Alex Harvey. Produced by Phil Gernhard. 45: "Rings"/"I'm Only Sleeping" (Big Tree 1974). LP: Just a Singer (Big Tree 1974).

Who's on the stereo? The Allman Brothers. The B-side is a sleepy cover of the 1966 Beatles tune.

Reuben Howell - "Rings" (1974, Billboard #86). Written by Eddie Reeves and Alex Harvey. Produced by Clayton Ivey and Terry Woodford. 45: "Rings"/"I'll Be Your Brother" (Motown 1974). LP: Rings (Motown 1974).

Who's on the stereo? Jim Croce.

Reuben Howell (a Motown label Caucasian) and Lobo, by the way, both entered Billboard's Hot 100 on the same day - July 20, 1974. Both of their versions also bypassed the poignant flat-VII (coinciding with "laugh and sing") that appeared in the choruses of Cymarron's version. Why did they both surface with similar renditions exactly three years after the song's first flurry of success?

Other non-charting versions: Leo Kottke did a version of the song in 1983, expertly inserting Mel Blanc as the "on the stereo" artist but also bypassing the flat-VII. In a 1982 version by Dr. Hook, they're listening to "sweet music."  And commenter James Porter has clued me in on a 1971 version by Lonnie Mack, who sticks with James Taylor on the stereo.

Wolfman Jack on the Charts

Wolfman Jack (born Bob Smith) created such a perfect radio persona that it's hard to imagine him not being around before he started howling from XERF, a 250,000 watt "border blaster" in Ciudad Acuña (near Del Rio, Texas) in 1963. Later in the sixties, the Wolfman's moon-bark and growling jive talk filled American midnight skies thanks to two additional airwave monsters, the Tijuana stations XERB and XEG. He was the hallucinating night driver's companion, the insomniac's blessing and curse, and the juvie's secret accomplice. (He remembers the '50s DJs he cut his fangs on as being "a lot cooler than even the toughest hood in the toughest street gang around.") It all sounds a bit mythical, but George Lucas was one listener who experienced the Wolfman's radio hoodoo and made it quasi mythical by featuring it as a crucial aspect of American Graffiti (1973), the ultimate manifestation of the early seventies nostalgia boom.

For me, what makes Wolfman Jack special among radio legends is that he was a true "personality DJ" fueled by music. Usually the personality jocks are inconvenienced by music while the music wonks tend not to sweat the manner of delivery. It was Wolfman Jack's passion for R&B 45's he discovered in the '50s, most of them oldies by the time he became a household name, that fueled his character and made him so addictive to listeners. This passion is all over his 1995 memoir Have Mercy: Confessions of the Original Rock 'n' Roll Animal (written with Byron Laursen), and it's one reason why the book, published only a single month before his death, is such a pleasurable showbiz memoir. Other reasons are its voice, which anyone familiar with him would recognize as his (hats off to Laursen, who transcribed personal interviews), along with remarkable stories like the one where he explains how he joined forces with XERF. That's a tale of shadowy border intrigue, greenbacks in burlap sacks, and gun slinging bandidos worthy of a rock 'n' roll corrido or two.

The post-American Graffiti Wolfman Jack, of course, was a multimedia experience. In addition to ongoing radio work, he was the Midnight Special host from 1973 to 1981, a regular presence on TV commercials ("Clearasil's the triple threat!"), and the guest star/host of many a sitcom, drama, and variety show. All of this activity makes me think about the stuff the Wolfman didn't do. How would his involvement in Happy Days have reshaped the show had his staff not turned down the show's invitation? Or how might his ambitious road show I Saw Radio - featuring tributes to vintage rock 'n' roll, archived clips from classic DJs, and an elaborate set including a massive radio dial - have flourished had it not literally gone up in flames, thanks to some Union thugs? (His recounting of a confrontation between said thugs, the show's road crew, and some Detroit theater security who turned out to be "three of the wimpiest rent-a-cops this side of a Don Knotts film festival" is another story that sticks in my head.)  To his credit, whatever the media situation Wolfman Jack did find himself prowling through, his rock 'n' roll pedigree was always the clear reason why.

Here are a handful of Wolfman Jack-oriented singles that got airplay in the early to mid-'70s and charted in Billboard:

Wolfman Jack - "I Ain't Never Seen a White Man" (Billboard #106, entered 9/23/72). Written by Dick Monda. Produced by Don Sciarrotta and Dick Monda. 45: "I Ain't Never Seen a White Man"/"Gallop" (Wooden Nickel 1972). LP: Wolfman Jack (Wooden Nickel 1972).

This racial equality offering appeared on Wolfman Jack's self-titled solo album, which was his first proper one (pictured above). It featured compositions by Richard Monda, who had already been writing songs for another wolfman and his monster friends on the Groovie Goolies cartoon. As Daddy Dewdrop, Monda took his song "Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It)", with its Wolfman Jack-influenced lead vocal, to #6 in 1971.

The Guess Who - "Clap for the Wolfman" (Billboard #6, entered 7/20/74). Written by Burton Cummings, Bill Wallace, and Kurt Winter. Produced by Jack Richardson. 45: "Clap for the Wolfman"/"Road Food" (RCA Victor 1974). LP: Road Food (RCA Victor 1974).

Canada got a real case of Wolfman fever in the mid-'70s and this might have had to do with his 1973 stints on WNEW and WNBC in New York City. In his Have Mercy book, he claims that this single's success and a subsequent tour with the Guess Who saved him from a self-destructive situation in the Big Apple. Must have been pretty bad if a rock 'n' roll tour felt like rehab.

Ray Stevens - "Moonlight Special" (Billboard #73, entered 7/27/74). Written and produced by Ray Stevens. 45: "Moonlight Special"/"Just So Proud to Be Here" (Barnaby 1974). LP: Boogity Boogity (Barnaby 1974).

A pretty funny parody featuring "The Sheepdog" introducing acts like "Mildred Queen and the Dips" (Gladys Knight and the Pips), "Agnes Stupor" (Alice Cooper), and "J. Joe Harry Lee Jimmy Bimmy" (Jerry Lee Lewis). This was Stevens' followup single for his chart-topping "The Streak."

Sugarloaf/Jerry Corbetta - "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" (Billboard #9, entered 12/7/74). Written by Jerry Corbetta and John Carter. Produced by Frank Slay. 45: "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You"/"Texas Two-Lane" (Claridge (1975). LP: Don't Call Us - We'll Call You (Claridge 1975).

This Denver group was simply called "Sugarloaf" when they hit #3 with "Green Eyed Lady" in 1970. With this single, they were officially "Sugarloaf/Jerry Corbetta," since Corbetta had been working as a solo artist for another label before getting back together with the old gang. "Don't Call Us" razzes on CBS Records, who had recently rejected the band, and includes the dialtones to the label's private number. Also featured: winks to the Beatles and Stevie Wonder along with an imitation of the Wolfman. (Love that B-side!)

Todd Rundgren - "Wolfman Jack" (Billboard #105  entered 1/18/75). Written and produced by Todd Rundgren. 45: "Wolfman Jack"/"Breathless" (Bearsville 1974). LP: (The version with Wolfman's participation appeared on no album).

On Rundgren's 1972 Something/Anything? album, this song (which doubles up as a thumping Motown tribute) appears without the Wolfman's voice anywhere. The 1974 single release of "Wolfman Jack," though, rectified the situation.

Wings - "Listen to What the Man Said" (Billboard #1, entered 5/31/75). Written by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney. Produced by Paul McCartney. 45: "Listen to What the Man Said"/"Love in Song" (Capitol 1975). LP: Venus and Mars (Capitol 1975).

Although the radio version of this Paul McCartney smash often didn't include it, the Venus and Mars album version starts out with a spoken Wolfman Jack intro: "Heh, heh, very good to see you down in New Orleans, heh, heh, yeah, yeah..."

The Stampeders - "Hit the Road Jack" (Billboard #40, entered 2/28/76). Written by Percy Mayfield. Produced by Mel Shaw. 45: "Hit the Road Jack"/"Hard Lovin Woman" (Quality 1975). LP: Steamin (Music World Creations 1976).

More Canadian love for the Wolfman, this time from the Calgary trio who scored a #8 hit in 1971 with "Sweet City Woman." Lacking in Ray Charles buoyancy, the single's still fun with contributions from Wolfman Jack himself. In 1976 and 1977 he would host a TV variety series called The Wolfman Jack Show, which was filmed in Vancouver and syndicated to the US.

Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids - "Did You Boogie (With Your Baby)" (Billboard #29, entered 8/26/76). Written by Rod McQueen. Produced by Joe Renzetti and David Chackler. 45: "Did You Boogie (With Your Baby)"/"Maybe It's All in My Mind" (Private Stock 1976). LP: Sons of the Beaches (Private Stock 1976).

This Sha Na Na-style '50s tribute band (also from Colorado, like Sugarloaf) appeared in American Graffiti as the prom combo and contributed the only freshly-recorded material to the movie's soundtrack album. An eventual team up with Wolfman Jack, then, seemed natural, even if it ended up sounding more like something from Happy Days' shark-jumping era. (Certain pressings of this single, for some reason, omitted his spoken interludes.)

Late '70s Bonus:

Tammy Wynette - "(I'd Like to See Jesus) On the Midnight Special" (1978, country #26): Written by Dorvell Smith and Robert Seay. Produced by Billy Sherrill. 45: "(I'd Like to See Jesus) On the Midnight Special"/"Love Doesn't Always Come (On the Night You Need It)" (Epic 1978). LP: Womanhood (Epic 1978).

The chorus goes, "I'd like to Jesus on the Midnight Special, I'd like to see the Wolfman bring him on." Wolfman Jack's response: "...To my knowledge, the Son of God never made a personal appearance for us [on the Midnight Special]. But practically everybody else in show business eventually did" (Have Mercy, p. 263).

Memories of Elephant's Memory

Elephant's Memory is best known as the New York City band that backed up John Lennon and Yoko Ono between 1971 and 1973, including their 1972 Sometime in New York City album.  The 45 for that album's regrettably titled "Woman Is the Nigger of the World" is credited to "John Lennon/Yoko Ono with Elephant's Memory and Invisible Strings." (I talk about the single's soft rock aspects in my "Pillow Talk" chapter, along with its role as a manifestation of the feminized left.)

Before its alliance with Lennon, the group had roused the faith of Buddah Records chief Neil Bogart, much to the chagrin of future mega-manager and recent memoirist Ron Weisner:

"Like every A&R person in history, Neil's ears and heart sometimes led him astray, the most notable instance being a sloppy rock band called Elephant's Memory... How and why they managed to make a name for themselves was beyond me, because they were terrible, a true train wreck of a group...I knew that Elephant's Memory had no chance of succeeding beyond their core fan base of Lower East Side drug heads, because they themselves were Lower East Side drug heads..." (Listen Out Loud, pp. 20-21).

A fuller assessment of Elephant's Memory and the street cred that brought them to the attention of John and Yoko is available in James A. Mitchell's The Walrus and the Elephants: John Lennon's Years of Revolution (2013). A bonus factoid: Carly Simon briefly sang in the group. Here's what Mitchell says: "One story among many in Elephant mythology was that Carly left after members of the band threw her boyfriend down the stairs; they were that kind of group, born in strip bars and befriended by motorcycle gangs."

Their chart appearances:

Elephant's Memory - "Crossroads of the Stepping Stones" (Billboard #120, entered 6/7/69). Written by Michal Shapiro and Stan Bronstein. Produced by Wes Farrell. 45: "Crossroads of the Stepping Stones"/"Jungle Gym at the Zoo" (Buddah 1969). LPs: Elephant's Memory (Buddah 1969).

The surprisingly Harper's Bizarre-like A-side barely "bubbled under." The B-side, sounding more like a Jefferson Airplane/Mamas and the Papas team up, appeared on the 1969 Midnight Cowboy soundtrack.

Elephant's Memory - "Mongoose" (Billboard #50, entered 8/8/70). Written by David Cohen, Rick Frank and Stan Bronstein. Produced by Ted Cooper. 45: "Mongoose"/"I Couldn't Dream" (Metromedia 1970). LP: Take It to the Streets (Metromedia 1970).

This high-octane groove-rocker from their Take It to the Streets album, as I've pointed out earlier, charted alongside a mongoose single by Donovan in 1970.

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band with Elephant's Memory and Invisible Strings - "Woman Is the Nigger of the World" (Billboard #57, entered 5/20/72). Written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Produced by John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Phil Spector. 45: "Woman Is the Nigger of the World"/"Sisters O Sisters" (Apple 1972). LP: Sometime in New York City (Apple 1972).

The picture sleeve shows the cover of the issue of Nova magazine in which Yoko Ono had coined the phrase that became the title of this single's A-side. Ono's track on side B keeps the woman theme afloat but starts out expressing ecological concern: "We lost our green land, we lost our clean air."

The "My Sweet Lord" Chronicles

George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" is perhaps the most notorious plagiarism case in record biz history dues to its decades-long slog through courts concerning its similarities to the Chiffons' "He's So Fine." Most fascinating to me, though, are the possible effects the lawsuit had on the creativity of such an inventive songwriter. The "My Sweet Lord" saga likely informs everything Harrison wrote from 1971 onward.

A timeline:

The Chiffons - "He's So Fine" (Billboard #4, entered 2/23/63). Written by Ronnie Mack. Produced by Bright Tunes Productions. 45: "He's So Fine"/"Oh My Lover" (Laurie 1963). LP: He's So Fine (Laurie 1963).

The song Harrison was sued for plagiarizing when his "My Sweet Lord" became a hit had entered the US charts in 1963 and reached #12 in the UK that same year.

Edwin Hawkins Singers - "Oh Happy Day" (Billboard #4, entered 4/26/69). Written by Edwin R. Hawkins. Produced by La Mont Bench. 45: "Oh Happy Day"/"Jesus, Lover of My Soul" (Pavilion 1968). LP: Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord (Pavilion 1968).

This popular gospel recording by the Edwin Hawkins Singers, featuring the lead vocals of Dorothy Morrison, updated an eighteenth century hymn. It reached #4 in the US and #2 in the UK and most certainly influenced Harrison while creating "My Sweet Lord," but never came up in court. Hawkins claimed writer's credit for arranging the public domain piece (and also its B-side, Charles Wesley's "Jesus, Lover of My Soul").

Billy Preston - "My Sweet Lord" (Billboard #90, entered 2/13/71). Written by George Harrison. Produced by George Harrison and Billy Preston. 45: "My Sweet Lord"/"Little Girl" (Apple 1970). LP: Encouraging Words (Apple 1970).

Billy Preston's chugging interpretation of "My Sweet Lord," co-produced by Harrison, appeared on his Encouraging Words album two months before Harrison released his own version. The single entered Billboard's Hot 100, though, in early 1971.

George Harrison - "My Sweet Lord" (Billboard #1, entered 11/28/70). Written by George Harrison. Produced by George Harrison and Phil Spector. 45: "My Sweet Lord"/"Isn't It a Pity" (Billboard #1 [flip], entered 11/28/70) (Apple 1970). LP: All Things Must Pass (Apple 1970).

Harrison's glorious lead off single from his All Things Must Pass album.  It still stands as a distinct entity, no matter how much it may have borrowed from both "He's So Fine" and "Oh Happy Day." Harrison's - and co-producer Phil Spector's - awareness of its similarities with the recent public domain hit "Oh Happy Day" likely deflected notice that the song also shared marked similarities with "He's So Fine." How else to explain it? Spector had major girl group credentials, and it shouldn't have been lost on him. John Lennon in 1980: "He [Harrison] must have known, you know. He's smarter than that... Maybe he thought God would just sort of let him off."

The single's flipside, "Isn't It a Pity," clocked in at 7:10 and charted in tandem with "My Sweet Lord" as a double A-side, as per Billboard policy at the time. Its lyrics about heartbreak - then and now - sound like symbolic commentary on the dissolution of the Beatles and their era.

George Harrison - "Bangla Desh" (Billboard #23, entered 8/14/71). Written and produced by George Harrison. 45: "Bangla Desh"/"Deep Blue" (Billboard #23 [flip], entered 9/11/71) (Apple 1971). LP: The Best of George Harrison (Capitol 1976).

In February 1971, Bright Tunes Music, the company that owned "He's So Fine" at the time, filed suit against Harrison for plagiarism. It's unclear whether the suit was common knowledge before 1976, when stories about it finally appeared in Billboard, Rolling Stone, and the New York Times.

Harrison's "Bangla Desh" single, which featured complicated, non-intuitive chord changes and low memorability alongside a dour, uninviting demeanor, perhaps responded to the lawsuit as much as it did to the devastating famine in Bangla Desh. Harrison's post-1971 catalog would repeatedly tend toward unconventional, busy chord changes and elusive melodic turns in this way, as if to ensure ownership.

The flipside was called "Deep Blue," which earned charting status a month after "Bangla Desh" did. It made up for the A-side's severity with easy, major-to-minor acoustic guitar contentment. Oddly enough, the song hung in limbo as a non-album offering until just recently.

(The US picture sleeve used a "straight from the headlines" look that could have inspired the newspaper parody art for the sleeve of John Lennon's topical 1972 Some Time in New York City LP.)

Jody Miller - "He's So Fine" (Billboard #53, entered 6/26/71; country #5). Written by Ronnie Mack. Produced by Billy Sherrill. 45: "He's So Fine"/"You Number Two" (Epic 1971). LP: He's So Fine (Epic 1971).

The American country singer Jody Miller's version of "He's So Fine" verged on mockery, with an arrangement that borrowed blatant motifs from "My Sweet Lord."

The Chiffons - "My Sweet Lord" (did not chart). Written by George Harrison. Produced by Bill Frenz, Jr. 45: "My Sweet Lord"/"Main Nerve" (Laurie 1975). LP: (no album appearance).

One wonders whether Harrison viewed the Chiffons' sunny, pot-stirring 1975 cover of "My Sweet Lord" as a cheer or a jeer (or if he even knew of its existence).

George Harrison - "My Sweet Lord 2000" (did not chart): Harrison's 2000 revisitation of the song self-consciously alters the memorable melodic aspects that initially got him in trouble.

In the years following the "Bangla Desh"/"Deep Blue" 45, Harrison would release Living in the Material World (1973), Dark Horse (1974), Extra Texture (1975), and Thirty-Three and 1/3 (1976), albums that each include one or two memorable tracks among a majority of (deliberately?) unmemorable ones. In 1976, Harrison would be found guilty of "subconscious plagiarism" by the U.S. District Court with damages of $1.6 million. Harrison would later admit to having become "paranoid" about writing anything new.

In 1978, Allen Klein, who was Harrison's diabolical former business advisor, bought Bright Tunes and offered it to Harrison for exactly $1.6 million. In 1981, judges would decide that Klein had been duplicitous, ordering him to transfer ownership of Bright Tunes to Harrison for half a million. Although this ensured "He's So Fine" as Harrison's property, legal dickering regarding administrative fees and the like carried over into the 1990s.

In 2001, Harrison released an updated version of "My Sweet Lord" as a bonus track on the All Things Must Pass CD reissue, with his new lead vocal dancing purposefully around the original melody in a way that likely would not have attracted a lawsuit back in 1971.