Rockin' Remnants
Rockin' Remnants is broadcast from WVBR-FM Ithaca. Check out our webpage, like us on Facebook, and tune in to 93.5 or stream the show every Saturday night from 6-9pm! (Or download the WVBR+ app now available for iOS and Android!)
Date: October 18, 2014
Host: John Simon
Feature: October 1968
Tonight the spotlight shines on October 1968. Curtis Mayfield and the Beatles each have charting singles on their respective new record labels. Sinatra and Aretha rub elbows with the Bee Gees and Jerry Butler. Sergio & Mendes & Brasil '66 cover McCartney, and the Supremes' new single debuts at #43 this week! Birthdays for songwriters Laura Nyro, Chuck Berry and Cynthia Weil (today alone), the 45 Corner comes to you at 6:45 and JS welcomes your requests. Dew drop inn at 93.5 or wvbr.com. Cheapest party in town!
Birthday Calendar
October 12 – Melvin Franklin (Temptations) – 1942
October 13 – Paul Simon – age 73
October 14 – Cliff Richard – age 74
October 18 – Chuck Berry – age 88
– Cynthia Weil (songwriter) – age 74
– Laura Nyro – 1947
Rock ‘n’ Roll Trivia
Two of the top records in the country on this date were on the Beatles' brand-new Apple Records label. Can you name five acts or artists who were signed to Apple Records?
(scroll down to find the answer below the playlist)
Playlist
[songs in bold are from the spotlight date of DATE; yellow song titles are YouTube links; songs with * were requests; all chart information comes from the Billboard Top 100 (for chart dates before/during July 1958) or Billboard Hot 100 (for chart dates during/after Aug 1958) unless otherwise noted]
6-7pm
OPENING THEME: Good Old Rock ‘n’ Roll – Cat Mother & the All-Night Newsboys (1969, #29, produced by Jimi Hendrix)
I've Gotta Get a Message to You – Bee Gees (peaking in its fourth consecutive week at #8 on the Billboard chart, one of many records stuck in place by the Beatles' Hey Jude, which debuted at #10 - a Billboard record - and two weeks later began a nine-week run at #1)
Midnight Confessions – Grass Roots (in its first of three weeks at #6, headed to a peak of #5, this record was a departure from the G'roots' Folk leanings - and there was no turning back for them)
Over You – Gary Puckett & Union Gap (at #9 this week, headed for two weeks at #7. Check out Turntable #1 at WVBR's Air studio!)
Fly Me to the Moon – Bobby Womack (at #58 this week, headed to #52 Pop and #16 R&B. This was his first entry on the Pop chart)
Fool for You – Impressions (at #23 this week, headed to a peak of #22 Pop and #3 R&B. This was The Impressions' first single on Curtis Mayfield's new Curtom Records label.)
* Stormy – Classics IV (bubbling under this week at #122, headed to a peak of #5 on the Pop chart)
Can't Get it Out of My Head - Electric Light Orchestra (1/75; #9; the request was for "an ELO song." DJ's choice!)
* Hello, I Love You – Doors (this one had peaked at #1in early August and had just fallen off the chart)
Here's a Mini-Spotlight on the upcoming World Series between the SF Giants and the KC Royals. Let the games begin!
I Left My Heart in San Francisco – Tony Bennett (8/62; #19 - this one earned Grammys in two categories that year: Record of the Year and Pop Male Vocal.)
Kansas City – Wilbert Harrison (5/59; #1 for two weeks )
45 Corner: Star-Spangled Banner – Jose Feliciano (On October 7, 1968, at the height of protests against the Vietnam War, Feliciano was invited by Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell to perform the national anthem at Tiger Stadium in Detroit during Game 5 pre-game ceremonies of the 1968 World Series between the Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals. His personalized, slow, Latin Jazz performance proved highly controversial. In an October 2006 NPR broadcast, he expressed pride at opening the door for later interpretations of the national anthem. His World Series rendition, which features him accompanying himself on an acoustic guitar, was released as a single which charted for five weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #50.)
Fool on the Hill – Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 (down to #24 from a peak of #6 Pop for the Latin-flavored group featuring singer Lani Hall (far left) - also known as Mrs. Herb Alpert.)
1,2,3 Red Light – 1910 Fruitgum Co. (down to #25 from a peak of #5 for this "bubblegum group" recording on Buddah Records)
* America – Simon & Garfunkel (from 1967's Bookends LP, this would eventually be released as a single in November 1972, where it would spend two weeks at #97 on the Pop chart)
School Days – Chuck Berry (4/57; #3 for three weeks Pop, #1 R&B for five weeks. The chorus "Hail, hail Rock 'n' Roll" would later become the title of a1987 concert film/documentary.)
Wee, Wee Hours – Chuck Berry (8/55; the b-side of Chuck Berry's debut single Maybelline, which reached #5 Pop and spent eleven weeks at the top of the R&B chart. This b-side also reached #10 on the R&B chart)
Spanish Harlem – Laura Nyro (from her 1971 LP "Gonna Take a Miracle," produced by Gamble & Huff and featuring Patti LaBelle's trio called LaBelle.)
Saturday in the Park – Chicago (8/72; #3 - written by keyboardist and founding group member Robert Lamm)
The Next Time – Cliff Richard & The Shadows (8/63; #1 UK - buried on the b-side of one of his low-charting US singles. Cliff had 107 Top Forty singles in the UK, including 16 Top Tens and 13 # ones. This was one of them.)
Dreaming – Cliff Richard (9/80; #10 Pop)
Hungry – Paul Revere & The Raiders, featuring Mark Lindsay (6/66; #6 - written by the team of Mann-Weil, we also play this in memory of bandleader Paul Revere, who passed away on October 4th at age 76. R.I.P.)
* San Francisco (Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair) – Scott McKenzie (5/67; #4 - written by McKenzie's old friend John Phillips and considered by many to be the signature anthem of the "Summer of Love." Requested on behalf of the World Series participants.)
Slip Away – Clarence Carter (dropping from a peak of #6)
45 Corner: High-Heel Sneakers – Jose Feliciano (debuting this week at #49 and headed to a peak of #25. This version is only available on the original RCA Records 45. All CD versions are either re-recordings or an earlier version recorded in 1964.)
Cycles – Frank Sinatra (at #80 this week, headed to #23 on the Pop chart)
The House That Jack Built – Aretha Franklin (just off the charts after peaking at #6 Pop. Its b-side - I Say a Little Prayer - now takes its place in the Top 20)
Love Child – Diana Ross & The Supremes (debuting this week at #43 and headed to #1 after Hey Jude finally gives up the top slot, this was the beginning of a string of topical songs from the Motown family. Middle America took notice when the usually-glamorous Supremes appeared not in sequined gowns and wavy hair, but barefoot and in street clothes with Afro hair-does on Ed Sullivan's Sunday night show.)
The Shape of Things to Come – Max Frost & The Troopers (at #26 this week and headed to #22. This is the mono 45 on the Tower Records label: punchy and authentic! Another Barry Mann - Cynthia Weil composition)
Western Union Man – Jerry Butler (at #18, headed to #16 Pop and #1 R&B)
Court of Love – Unifics (at #39, headed to #25 Pop and #3 R&B on the Kapp Records label)
Where Do I Go – Carla Thomas (debuting and peaking at #86 Pop, #38 R&B. This is the first of a string of singles drawn from the score of the Off-Broadway Tribal Rock Musical Hair. By the Summer of '69, Hair would be everywhere.)
Angel on My Shoulder – Shelby Flint (12/60; #22 - the first of two charting singles for the Folk-ish singer on the Valiant Records label)
Age of Love – Jimmy Charles (12/60; #47 - the record that spared the "Million to One" singer from becoming a One-Hit Wonder)
I Wish it Would Rain – Gladys Knight & the Pips (at #41 this week - for the FIFTH consecutive week! Next week it would be gone from the Pop chart, although it would continue to climb to #15 on the R&B chart.)
I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You) - Temptations (5/68; #13 Pop, #1 R&B - the final single to feature the voice of David Ruffin, who was embarking upon a solo career. The bass vocals belong to founding group member Melvin Franklin, who had a birthday earlier in the week.)
Billboard Focus: Hooked On a Feeling – BJ Thomas
(check out this circuitous path to the upper echelons of the Billboard charts:
This Scepter Records 45 was bubbling under at #123 this week. Next week it would climb to #101, where it would sit for a total of three weeks until breaking through to #97 in mid-November. It would slowly climb the Pop chart, finally peaking at #5 on January 11, 1969 for a two-week run, and it would manage to remain on the chart until March of '69.)
Pretty Lady – Lighthouse (11/73; #53 Pop - the final charting single in the US for this ten-piece Canadian band with a big horn sound)
How 'Bout Us – Champaign (2/81; #12 Pop, #4 R&B - a sultry slow-dance number from this Illinois-based interracial sextet named after their home town of Champaign, IL)
Photograph – Ringo Starr (11/73; #1 - the first of two consecutive # ones for Ringo on the Apple records label, this one featured vocal and 12-string guitar support from George Harrison and string/horn arrangements by Jack Nitzsche.)
Hey Jude – The Beatles (one of the first singles released on their new Apple imprint debuted at #10 on the Billboard Pop chart - a record that still stands. Two weeks later it would begin a nine-week run at #1, making it the most successful Beatles single of them all. Clocking in at 7:04, it was also the longest #1 of all-time. Tonight we play the mono single version - a Rockin' Remnants exclusive!)
Trivia Answer
ANSWER.
Congratulations to Jake from Ithaca, for correctly answering the question and winning a gift certificate to Angry Mom Records! His answer was: The Beatles, Mary Hopkin, Badfinger, Billy Preston and James Taylor.
Host Next Week (11/25/14): Kim Vaughan with a spotlight on Halloween and more!
Thanks for tuning in! You can listen to Rockin' Remnants every Saturday night from 6-9pm on WVBR (93.5 FM in Ithaca, NY) or at wvbr.com/listen.
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