Tom Jones: The Early '70s Charting Singles

So many of the sub-chapters in early '70s pop music history involve artists whose radio strategies from the '60s ran into complications. Sir Tom Jones, the Welsh emblem of libido in a tuxedo with the mastodon voice, whose Vegas persona found solid appeal with the youth market's mothers, was no exception. He shared manager Gordon Mills with Engelbert Humperdinck, a singer who perhaps embraced that unhip, bread-and-butter demographic more hungrily than did the more soulful Jones. His early '70s singles—which included a hit even bigger than "It's Not Usual," "What's New Pussycat," or "Green Green Grass of Home"—plot a course to mid-'70s pop chart oblivion, which forced a late '70s re-route to country radio, followed by a dance re-branding in 1988. Such is the very bigness of Tom Jones, though. Space has gotta be made somewhere for it.

"Without Love (There Is Nothing)" (1969) - Tom Jones

Written by Danny Small * Produced by Peter Sullivan * 45: "Without Love (There Is Nothing)" / "The Man Who Knows Too Much" * LP: Tom * Label: Parrot * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#5); easy listening (#1) * Entered: 1969-12-27 (Hot 100); 1970-01-03 (easy listening)

In his Over the Top and Back (2015), a regretful Tom Jones reveals that his excitement to record a version of "Without Love (There Is Nothing)" by his idol Clyde McPhatter caused him to reject a song called "The Long and Winding Road" that Paul McCartney had offered exclusively to him. His first choice paid off nicely, though, going Top 5 and giving him the chance to further demonstrate the R&B roots that differentiated him from his rival Engelbert Humperdinck. It featured a unique, out-of-fashion spoken intro he was eager to include against the wishes of in-house Decca producer Peter Sullivan, which Jones believed someone could only "pull off if there's belief in what you're saying." (The 1957 McPhatter track included no such intro.) James Luck and John Szego's "The Man Who Knows Too Much" sounded like a lost James Bond theme and leapt out as a 45-only B side.

Side A: "Without Love (There Is Nothing)"


Side B: "The Man Who Knows Too Much"

"Daughter of Darkness" (1970) - Tom Jones

Written by Geoff Stephens and Les Reed * Produced by Peter Sullivan * 45: "Daughter of Darkness" / "Tupelo Mississippi Flash" * LP: I (Who Have Nothing) *Label: Parrot * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#13); easy listening (#1) * Entered: 1970-05-02 (both charts)

The disembodied female voice in the intro hinted at impending doom, which might be understood now as Jones's forthcoming loss of chart momentum. (An accompanying steel guitar is chosen over theremin.) The darkness soon scatters, though, because Jones can't help but ham it up (climaxing at 2:58, when he yells "why did you feel so good!"—or something). His version of Jerry Reed's 1967 country hit "Tupelo Mississippi Flash" on side B showcased Jones's stylistic versatility, which made his recording gameplan as much of a challenge as it made his stage show so dynamic. The Welshman Jones did a good US southerner, although his enunciation of the "e" in Tupelo gave him away.

Side A: "Daughter of Darkness"


Side B: "Tupelo Mississippi Flash"

"I (Who Have Nothing)" (1970) - Tom Jones

Written by Jeff Leiber and Mike Stoller * Produced by Peter Sullivan * 45: "I (Who Have Nothing)" / "Stop Breaking My Heart" * LP: I (Who Have Nothing) * Label: Parrot * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#14); easy listening (#2) * Entered: 1970-08-22 (both charts)

Tom Jones released his 45 of "I (Who Have Nothing)" (covering former Drifter Ben E. King) within a year of releasing "Without Love (There Is Nothing)" (covering former Drifter Clyde McPhatter). The two "nothing" songs were quite something though, reaching #14 and #5, respectively. "I (Who Have Nothing)" had first been an Italian hit in 1961 for Joe Sentieri called "Uno Dei Tanti" as composed by Carlo Donida and Giulio "Mogol" Rapetti. Its lovelorn angst evokes the male-vocal Neopolitan song tradition that also brought forth such familiar melodies as "O Sole Mio" and "Santa Lucia." The English lyrics Jones used for his version—the highest charting one in the US—had been concocted by the rock 'n' roll songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for the Ben E. King record.

Side B sported a fine track called "Stop Breaking My Heart," written by Jones manager Gordon Mills along with his arranger and perpetual-motion band conductor Johnny Harris. With its Motown vibe, it came from an underappreciated single Jones had put out in 1966. The album's "Wales: The Land of Song" image on the back could be the front cover for a theme album Jones might still conceivably record.

Side A: "I (Who Have Nothing)"


Side B: "Stop Breaking My Heart"

"Can't Stop Loving You" (1970) - Tom Jones

Written by Tony Waddington and Wayne Bickerton * Produced by Gordon Mills * 45: "Can't Stop Loving You" / "Never Give Away Love" * LPs: Tom; I (Who Have Nothing) * Label: Parrot * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#25); easy listening (#3) * Entered: 1970-11-21 (Hot 100); 1970-11-28 (easy listening)

This is not to be confused with "I Can't Stop Loving You," the Don Gibson-penned Ray Charles weeper that Jones had included on his essential Live at the Talk of the Town LP. It's an altogether different song written by Waddington-Bickerton, the team that would soon provide star-making hits for the UK's Rubettes. Originally included on the April 1970 Tom album, the track found an encore spot on the US edition of the November 1970 I (Who Have Nothing) album thanks to airplay action. "Never Give Away Love," one of Jones's buried treasures (written by manager Gordon Mills), hailed from the same forgotten 1966 single as "Stop Breaking My Heart" on the flipside of his previous one.

Side A: "Can't Stop Loving You"


Side B: "Never Give Away Love"

"Puppet Man" (1971) - Tom Jones

Written by Howard Greenfield and Neil Sedaka * Produced by Gordon Mills * 45: "Puppet Man" / "Resurrection Shuffle" * LP: Tom Jones Sings She's a Lady * Label: Parrot * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#26) *  Entered: 1971-05-22

"Resurrection Shuffle" (1971) - Tom Jones

Written by Tony Ashton * Produced by Gordon Mills * 45: "Puppet Man" / "Resurrection Shuffle" * LP: Tom Jones Sings She's a Lady * Label: Parrot * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#38) * Entered: 1971-07-03

For its first six weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, "Puppet Man" appeared as a single with the emotive Ben Peters song "Every Mile" on the B side. A reissue with "Resurrection Shuffle" as the new B side, though, possibly to consolidate conflicting radio attention, took its place and enjoyed a run as a double A side. Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield's "Puppet Man," which attempted to muscle in on James and Bobby Purify's metaphorical turf, came off badly from any angle, with its payoff line being "If you want to see me do my thing, pull my string." It hadn't worked any better as a female-perspective 5th Dimension single. "Resurrection Shuffle," though, was a cheeky wink at the Jesus-rock craze that the British trio Ashton, Gardner and Dyke had a minor hit with in 1970, and it's one of Jones's best recordings from this era.



Side A: "Puppet Man"


Side B: "Resurrection Shuffle"

"She's a Lady" (1971) - Tom Jones

Written by Paul Anka * Produced by Gordon Mills * 45: "She's a Lady" / "My Way" (Parrot) * LP: Tom Jones Sings She's a Lady (Parrot) * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#2); easy listening (#4) * Entered: 1971-02-06 (both charts)

Tom Jones's biggest hit of the early seventies distinguished itself by serving up the phrases "she always knows her place" and "she's never in the way" during an era otherwise known for heightened feminist awareness. Even so, its high ranking on the easy listening charts indicated that the minor-key sizzler had a sizable female listenership. Or did that ranking reflect older generation values?

Composer Paul Anka apparently regretted it. Jones says the following in his Over the Top and Back: The Autobiography (2015), p. 298: "Paul Anka wrote ['She's a Lady'] especially for me, scribbling the lyrics on the back of a TWA menu, somewhere between New York and London, and adding the tune in an hour and a half at a piano later. Afterwards he'll declare that he hates the song—will claim that it's his least favorite number of any that he wrote and that he thinks it's chauvinistic. Maybe he's right. Actually, definitely he's right. But it was a hit for me—a dance floor number in the earliest days of disco and the last significant hit I would have in America for a number of years."

In his My Way: An Autobiography (2014), Anka expressed his view this way: "I dislike 'She's a Lady' more than anything else I've written. I'm not saying I don't have a chauvinistic side, but not like that. Still, I wanted to make it as realistic as possible, and Tom Jones is swaggering and brash as a Welsh coal miner in a pub on Saturday night."

The 2013 Paul Anka Duets album includes a version of the song with Jones, featuring a remodeled first verse sung by Anka. Instead of

Well, she's all you'd ever want
She's the kind I like to flaunt and take to dinner
But she always knows her place
She's got style, she's got grace, she's a winner

he sings

Oh she knows what love's about
She turns me inside out, that's not easy
She loves me through and through
She knows what to do and how to tease me.
                          
Verse two, though, about never being "in the way" gets a faithful, unaltered delivery by Jones. The original single's otherwise context-vacant cover of "My Way" on the B-side frames the product as a Paul Anka tribute. (Lyrics by Paul Anka ©1971 and ©2013, Chrysalis Standards, Inc.)

Side A: "She's a Lady"


Side B: "My Way"

"Till" (1971) - Tom Jones

Written by Carl Sigman, Carla Gaiano, and Charles Danvers * Produced by Gordon Mills * 45: "Till" / "The Sun Died" * Label: Parrot * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#41); easy listening (#4) * Entered: 1971-10-30 (both charts)

For his follow up to "She's a Lady," Jones abandoned the discotheque for the ballroom, changing into his tuxedo as he ran. "Till" had been a 1956 hit in France (as "Prière Sans Espoir") for the operatic singer Lucien Lupi. Other famous renditions were done by Percy Faith (as a 1957 instrumental), Jane Morgan (who sung the Carl Sigman English lyrics for the first time in 1958), and Caterina Valente (as a 1960 hit sung in Italian except for the refrain and title). Many versions down the road, Tom Jones gave it the brash ballad treatment (true to its original European incarnation) and reached #2 on the UK singles chart. For the flipside, Jones reached again into the variété française pantry and chose the dramatic "Il est Mort le Soleil," a 1967 hit for Nicoletta written by Pierre Delanoe and Hubert Giraud, given new English words (as "The Sun Died") by Ann Gregory and Ray Charles, who unveiled it on his 1968 Portrait of Ray album. Neither side of this 45 appeared on any album.

Side A: "Till"


Side B: "The Sun Died"

"The Young New Mexican Puppeteer" (1972) - Tom Jones

Written by Earl Schuman and Leon Carr * Produced by Gordon Mills * 45: "The Young New Mexican Puppeteer" / "All That I Need Is Some Time" * LP: Close Up * Label: Parrot * Billboard charts: Easy listening (#14); Hot 100 (#80) * Entered: 1972-04-22 (easy listening); 1972-04-29 (Hot 100)

Something in Tom Jones's subconscious (or conscious) mind gave him the urge to express puppet metaphors. "The Young New Mexican Puppeteer" was either heavily symbolic or merely detailed, telling of a boy in Albuquerque who found a means of generating "peace and joy." The Wikipedia entry for this song reports, with no sources, that the chorus melody comes from Pinocchio. This is not invalid: If you listen to the Tom Jones chorus at :51, then listen to the segment at :05 - :11 of "When You Wish Upon a Star" from the soundtrack, you'll hear a similarity. A non-album Carpenters-style ballad by Jones's arranger Johnnie Spence appears as the B side. Notice on the album cover for Close Up how the ring wear looks as if the wind is blowing a crater into young Sir Tom's coif.


Side A: "The Young New Mexican Puppeteer"


Side B: "All That I Need Is Some Time"

"Letter to Lucille" (1973) - Tom Jones

Written by Tony Macaulay * Produced by Gordon Mills * 45: "Letter to Lucille" / "Thank the Lord" * LP: The Body and Soul of Tom Jones * Label: Parrot * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#60); easy listening (#11) * Entered: 1973-05-12 (both charts)

You detect a familiar early '70s bubblegum sound in "Letter to Lucille" because it comes from Tony Macaulay, who wrote such era pop quintessentials as "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" and "Smile a Little Smile for Me." A complementary song called "Thank the Lord" by Australian songwriter Tony Cole appeared on the flipside but not on the album, all of which otherwise stays true to the "She's a Lady" sound. Shel Starkman, who did the cover art for The Body and Soul of Tom Jones, also did one apiece for each of manager Gordon Mills's other star clients: Engelbert Humperdinck (In Time) and Gilbert O'Sullivan (I'm a Writer Not a Fighter).

Side A: "Letter to Lucille"


Side B: "Thank You Lord"

"Somethin' 'Bout You Baby I Like" (1974) - Tom Jones

Written by Tony Macaulay * Produced by Gordon Mills * 45: "Somethin' 'Bout You Baby I Like" / "Keep A-Talkin' 'Bout Love" * LP: Somethin' 'Bout You Baby I Like * Label: Parrot* Billboard charts: Easy listening (#23) * Entered: 1974-10-05 (easy listening)

After "Letter to Lucille," Tom Jones went through a Hot 100 cold spell, breaking through only one more time (with 1977's "Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow") until 1988 (the year he covered Prince's "Kiss"). Two more of his early '70s singles did make it to the easy listening charts, though, the first one being a song by Richard Supa (formerly of the group Man) called "Somethin' 'Bout You Baby I Like." This was a bouncy number that would have fit easily in the Leo Sayer catalog; curiously enough, British hard rock institution Status Quo would rework it as a Top Ten UK in 1980.

Jones kept the non-album B side tradition alive with another " 'Bout" song called "Keep A-Talking 'Bout Love," a welcome contribution to the early '70s Jesus-and-brotherhood spirit by US songwriter Ben Peters, who would soon be enjoying massive success with Freddy Fender's "Before the Next Teardrop Falls."

Side A: "Somethin' 'Bout You Baby I Like"


Side B: "Keep A-Talkin' 'Bout Love"

"Pledging My Love" (1974) - Tom Jones

Written by Don Robey and Ferdinand Washington * Produced by Gordon Mills * 45: "Pledging My Love" / "Too Far Gone (To Turn Around)" * LP: Somethin' 'Bout You Baby I Like * Label: Parrot * Billboard charts: Easy listening (#23) * Entered: 1974-10-05 (easy listening)

The non-album "Pledging My Love," a countrypolitan interpretation of Johnny Ace a la Charlie Rich, indicated which direction Jones would take from the late '70s to the late '80s. The versatile singer never was and never would be a one-genre guy, but the newly built format structures in the demographic-smitten radio and music industries demanded compliance. By 1977, then—the year his first U.S. country chart entry ("Say You'll Stay Until Tomorrow") went #1—Jones the Voice would call country home until 1986.

Side B of "Pledging My Love" contained another hidden non-album nugget, a pared-down, rocked-up rip-through of J.R. Bailey's "I'm Too Far Gone (To Turn Around)," a song that Bailey, Bobby Bland, Joe Simon, and Freddie Scott had all done before him with downcast demeanor.

Side A: "Pledging My Love"


Side B: "I'm Too Far Gone (To Turn Around)"

WQXI (Atlanta): Top 40

With its nickname "the Quixie in Dixie," 790 WQXI launched itself as a Top 40 vehicle sometime in 1960, then shape-shifted according to subsequent eras' conceptions of the format until the mid-80s. In 1974, the station's FM signal became its mothership, billing itself as "94 QXI-FM," then becoming "94 Q" by 1977.

The rare Southern Gold promo LP images shown here (thanks to radio station vinyl resource Radio Use Only) come from 1973, during the station's final glory days as a classic AM entity that loomed large in reputation (if not wattage) throughout the Southern US. A typical umbrella format hodgepodge, the album does showcase a "New South" attitude with Charlie Daniels' "Uneasy Rider" and leads off with "Brother Louie," one of the era's quintessential black/white issue hits.

Among the disk jockeys who spun records for WQXI during the early seventies were longtime morning man Gary McKee, Dr. Don Rose (who left in 1972 and became a San Francisco institution), Scott Shannon, John Leader, and J.J. Jackson (who was neither the MTV personality nor the singer included on side 2 of the Southern Gold album). The station's long time general manager Jerry Blum became an inspiration for the character of Arthur Carlson on WKRP in Cincinnati, having once pulled, in real life, the turkey stunt that inspired the show's most famous episode.

I'm hoping that a clearer album image [see update below] of the jocks in front of the Peachtree Street sign eventually turns up. Clockwise from the top: Dave Smith, Dave Weiss, Ron Parker, Tomm Rivers, John Leader, Lee Logan, Barry Chaser, and Gary McKee. (You can hear a full Gary McKee morning show from 1972 at Airchexx.)

Update 8/21/18: My hopes for a clearer image were fulfilled by none other than Ron Parker (top right), the weekend man during WQXI's heyday, who currently does the afternoon show for WLS-FM in Chicago. I asked Ron about his radio adventures and I'm posting it here to energize radio hopefuls, radio vets, and radio historians alike:

"I started at WQXI when I was 20 years old and worked there for over 3 years while attending The University Of Georgia. WQXI was the WABC of the South!... Just one of those stations you wanted to work at while in High School. I was hired by Program Director John Leader [front row, second to rar right] and Corporate Program Director Bill Sherard. Yes, I picked a career in radio majoring in journalism - radio - TV.

"After programming changes at WQXI,  I moved over for awhile to Z 93 FM Atlanta which became the huge TOP 40 winner.  Upon graduation from college I landed afternoons at the legendary WLCY Tampa Bay. My career has taken me to great places: Miami, Houston, Phoenix, Dallas, San Francisco, New York City at WCBS FM, and currently I hold down the afternoon show at WLS FM Chicago.  I also have done work for SIRIUS XM for the past 10 years.

"Yep, I wanted to do radio and have done everything from Program Director, Mornings, Afternoons, and whatever with successful ratings.

"Trust me, this is something I've always wanted to do and would have never changed anything!"

Side 1:
Stories - "Brother Louie"
Climax - "Precious and Few"
Isley Brothers - "It's Your Thing"
Gallery - "Nice to Be with You"
Charlie Daniels Band - "Uneasy Rider"
Lobo - "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo"
Sylvia - "Pillow Talk"

Side 2:
Curtis Mayfield - "Superfly"
Melanie - "Brand New Key"
Freda Payne - "Band of Gold"
Focus - "Hocus Pocus"
J.J. Jackson - "But It's Alright"
Five Man Electrical Band - "Signs"
Sugarloaf - "Green Eyed Lady"

Chart Song Cinema: Norwood (1970)

Like True Grit, Norwood featured Glen Campbell (on screen and in the soundtrack) with Kim Darby and used a Glen Portis novel as source material. Unlike True Grit, an esteemed classic, Norwood comes off as a trifle. It tells the story of hayseed guitar picker Campbell who's come back home to Ralph, Texas, from the Marine Corps, and is fixated on getting a spot on the Louisiana Hayride radio show (which had actually stopped airing by 1969.)

A post-Midnight Cowboy rube-in-New York subplot plays itself out (Portis's novel, by the way, predated Midnight Cowboy by three years), while quirky characters come and go. Campbell, along the way, carries around a fancy Ovation with no case (Campbell was one of the carbon fiber guitar model's first endorsers) and serenades his co-stars to fully orchestrated soundtracks. Joe Namath, the Pennsylvania native who took his New York Jets to a 1969 Super Bowl victory, plays a marine buddy of Campbell who throws a football around at a fish fry and imitates the southern accents he heard as a college player at Alabama.

Of most interest here is the transitional bigger-picture awkwardness of the sixties turning into the seventies and of the old, isolated South morphing into a newer, mainstream version. Glen Campbell was a poster child for this process, hosting his Goodtime Hour on TV from 1969 to 1972, playing with the Beach Boys and the Wrecking Crew in the sixties, popularizing a more sophisticated brand of country song ("Gentle on My Mind," "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," and "Wichita Lineman"), wearing a peace symbol on his album with Bobbie Gentry, covering the black gospel song "Oh Happy Day," and endorsing non-standard acoustic guitars.

Equally awkward, but typical of 1970, are the real world complexities that—in a film that attempts to come off as a Disney live action film for adults—serve as glaring sexual revolution signifiers. Campbell's sister has shacked up with the effeminate moocher Dom DeLuise, Campbell racks up a shameless one night stand with his Big Apple host, and his eventual "right girl" Kim Darby, who dresses like the Flying Nun, is pregnant with another marine's child—a non-issue compared to Campbell getting to the Hayride.

Director Jack Haley, Jr. was the son of the same Jack Haley who played the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz (and who appears in Norwood, in his final role, as Joe Namath's dad). Haley Jr.'s best loved movie moment came in 1974 when he put together the Hollywood musical retrospective That's Entertainment. (The other Wizard of Oz connection: he was married to Liza Minneli, daughter of Judy Garland, from 1974 to 1979.)

Two songs from Norwood made the charts thanks to their appearance in the film:

"Everything a Man Could Ever Need" (1970) - Glen Campbell

Written by Mac Davis * 45: "Everything a Man Could Ever Need" / "Norwood (Me and My Guitar)" * LP: Norwood * Produced by Neely Plumb * Label: Capitol * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#54); country (#5) * Entered: 1970-07-04 (Hot 100)

Written by future country-pop crossover star Mac Davis, Glen Campbell's "Everything a Man Could Ever Need," from the Norwood soundtrack, runs on "Gentle on My Mind" fumes, using that song's opening root to root-major7 sequence, which borrowed from Bob Lind's "Elusive Butterfly" (1966). Bobby Goldsboro's "Honey" also used it in 1968, as did Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin' " in 1969, giving Norwood another small connection to Midnight Cowboy (see above). That chord sequence became a familiar late sixties/early seventies sound on the radio, usually accompanying itinerant male self-analysis. "Everything a Man Could Ever Need" included Campbell's fellow Wrecking Crew alumnus Al DeLory as a co-arranger, who helped make the already too-crafty song sound even less likely to have stood a chance on the real Louisiana Hayride. Another Mac Davis composition from the soundtrack appears on the B-side.


Side A: "Everything a Man Could Ever Need"


Side B: "Norwood (Me and My Guitar)"

"I'll Paint You a Song" (1970) - Mac Davis

Written by Mac Davis * 45: "I'll Paint You a Song" / "Closest I Ever Came" (Columbia) * Produced by Jimmy Bowen * Arranged by Artie Butler * LP: Song Painter (Columbia) * Billboard charts: Bubbling under (#110); country (#68) * Entered: 1970-07-18 (Bubbling under)

Mac Davis's second charting single as a vocalist was his own version of a song he'd written for Glen Campbell to sing on Norwood in a train car scene in the middle of the night—fully orchestrated but somehow waking no one. "I'll Paint You a Song," with its rainbows and bluebirds, featured a comparable easy listening backdrop arranged by Artie Butler that laid the groundwork for Davis's forthcoming stream of crossover MOR-country hits. By 1972, his "Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me" would turn him into a multi-media figure in the mold of Campbell. The Song Painter album was Mac Davis's debut and presented itself as a full-fledged "Meet Mac Davis-the-artist" affair, with numerous musical interludes. His "Babies' Butts" series might have inspired Tom T. Hall to write "I Love." It's not implausible. (A 1974 reissue of this album had an alternate cover.)

Side A: "I'll Paint You a Song"


Side B: "Closest I Ever Came"

Jack Jones - "Get Together" (1970)

"Get Together" (1970) - Jack Jones

Written by Chet Powers * Produced by Ernie Altschuler * LP: Jack Jones in Person at the Sands, Las Vegas * Label: RCA Victor * Billboard charts: —

Jack Jones, with his silky-bourbon voice, was born to sing in Vegas, so it's surprising that this is the first live album he'd ever record. He'd gotten his start as a kid, in fact, singing with his dad, the actor Allan Jones, at the Thunderbird Hotel and Casino. In Person at the Sands, which appeared on a 1970 playlist of the high-powered Los Angeles MOR station KMPC, contains renditions of Jones signature songs like "Wives and Lovers" and "Lollipops and Moonbeams," but it also includes 1970 "brotherhood" songs like the Youngbloods' "Get Together," John Sebastian's "I Had a Dream," and Joe South's "Games People Play." (In spite of these well-meaning motions, Jones takes a few minutes at the beginning of side two to ridicule Cubans and gays.) Joe Kloess directs the orchestra and would do the same for many of Jones's future seventies LPs.

Although Jones never charted in Billboard's Hot 100 after 1968, he'd appear with regularity on the easy listening/adult contemporary charts all the way up until 1980, the year his "Love Boat Theme" barged into our collective consciousness.

"Get Together"

See also: A KMPC Playlist circa 1971

Chart Song Cinema: Claudine (1974)

"On and On" (1974) - Gladys Knight and the Pips

Written and produced by Curtis Mayfield * 45: "On and On" / "The Makings of You" * LP: Claudine * Label: Buddah * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#5); soul (#2) * Entered: 1974-05-25 (Hot 100)

Directed by John Berry, Claudine infiltrated the early seventies blaxploitation film market with something different: a sympathetic look at a single mother, played by Diahann Carroll, who struggles to raise a large family in the deep city. James Earl Jones plays her love interest, a strong garbage collector whose laudable sensitivity threatens to function as a fatal flaw.

Although the film posters billed Claudine as "a heart and soul comedy," early seventies cinema trends ensured that the sobering food-for-thought factors overshadowed any laughs. (The American Welfare System turns in an especially fine performance as the villain.) Giving the film added edge are the Harlem visuals and the music written and produced by blaxploitation VIP Curtis Mayfield.

Gladys Knight and the Pips perform all the music on Claudine, with the hit single "On and On" exploding in the opening credits as the big-screen urban scenes unfold. Here's a rare situation, though, where a film made a song seem better than it actually was. (It's usually the other way around.) No one who experiences "On and On" away from the film would rank it with Knight's or Mayfield's best work.

Side A: "On and On"


Side B: "The Makings of You"

Baltimore/Washington D.C. Regional Breakout Hits

The following two singles are the only ones to be listed in Billboard between 1970-1974 as regional breakout hits in the Washington D.C./Baltimore area and never to have moved any higher.

"Cracker Jack" (1970) - Mickey and His Mice

Written by Mickey Fields, Eddie Drennon, and Martin Cantine * Produced by Martin Cantine * 45: "Cracker Jack"/"Abraham, Martin and John" (Marti) * Billboard charts: Regional breakout—Washington D.C. * Entered: 1970-06-27

Question: Hey baby, what is this cracker jack thing? Answer: Ain't nothin' but the popcorn with some sweet jive on it.

The "popcorn" was a James Brown concoction—a dance he'd started doing onstage in 1968, according to some accounts, to the song "Bringing Up the Guitar." He then recorded a stack of popcorn-oriented records, including "Mother Popcorn" (1969), an unassailable highlight in the James Brown hall of finest funk. But "popcorn" might have had more to do with the Godfather of Soul's personal lexicon of booty synonyms than with any specific dance moves.

"Popcorn music" has also become a term adopted by soul music aficionados in Europe to describe a sweeter strain of the obscure vintage sixties dance cuts you see categorized as "Northern soul" (so named for their popularity in certain Manchester clubs). It's safe to assume, though, that Mickey Fields, the Charm City tenor sax man and bandleader answering the lady's question at the beginning of "Cracker Jack," is referring to the James Brown popcorn sound.

The single showed up on Billboard as a regional breakout hit in Washington D.C., having likely racked up some airplay on WPGC or WEAM. It might have gotten more traction if Fields wouldn't have refused to ever leave the Baltimore area.


"Cracker Jack"

"Hey Romeo" (1970) - The Sequins

Written by O. Denise Jones * Produced by Crajon Entertainment * Arranged by Willie Mitchell * 45: "Hey Romeo" / "I've Got to Overcome" (Gold Star) * Billboard charts: Regional breakout—Baltimore/Washington D.C.

Between 1964 and 1975, at least three different vocal groups called the Sequins, each of which included a trio of African-American females, released records that found local popularity oblivious to the others' existence. Such was the regionality of pop music in that era. One of these hailed from Los Angeles and recorded for Renfro. Another one, from Detroit, recorded for Detroit Sound, while a third one, from Chicago, recorded for Crajon/Gold Star and saw their "Hey Romeo" get enough airplay in Washington D.C. to appear on Billboard's regional breakout list in 1970. The record is notable for the involvement of Denise LaSalle as songwriter (credited as O. Denise Jones, her legal name as the wife of label head Bill Jones) a few years before she'd get a much bigger hit of her own with "Trapped by a Thing Called Love." Recorded in Memphis, it also benefited from an arrangement by Willie Mitchell, who was in the meantime keeping busy getting Al Green ready for the big time. "Hey Romeo" would be the Sequins' final release. Lead vocalist Lyn Jackson, now based in Phoenix, remains musically active. Side B included another tune written by LaSalle, with husband Bill as co-writer.


Side A: "Hey Romeo"


Side B: "I've Got to Overcome"

The 5th Dimension - "One Less Bell to Answer" (1970)

"One Less Bell to Answer" (1970) - The 5th Dimension

Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David * Produced by Bones Howe * 45: "One Less Bell to Answer"/"Feelin' Alright" (Bell) * LP: Portrait (Bell) * Billboard charts: Hot 100 (#2), easy listening (#1) * Entered: 1970-10-24

The plush "One Less Bell to Answer" is the sound of an abandoned housewife reclining on her personal crushed velvet chaise lounge; she'll miss her man and his company but she won't be going anywhere and won't be losing anything other than him. It's definitely a more complicated economic iteration of the breakup songs that were otherwise populating the soul and country charts in those days. The other four members of the 5th Dimension are virtually absent on "One Less Bell to Answer," which was the group's first hit on the Bell label after switching over from Soul City. Marilyn McCoo contributed the lead vocal as she would do on all of their biggest subsequent hits. A classic entry in the Burt Bacharach-Hal David catalog, the song originally appeared as a 1967 Keely Smith vehicle, employing an opening doorbell gimmick and projecting an aura of despair. McCoo's version, in contrast, featured her cool composure and an elegant arrangement that gave the song a more sophisticated range of interpretive possibilities. The Portrait album's version of Dave Mason's  "Feelin' Alright"—a late sixties FM rock hit for Traffic later popularized even more by Joe Cocker and Grand Funk Railroad—appeared on Side B of the single.


Side A: "One Less Bell to Anwer"


Side B: "Feelin' Alright" 


See also: A KMPC Playlist circa 1971