James Callaghan

467. The Police – Don’t Stand So Close to Me (1980)

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The Intro

The bestselling single of 1980 had a controversial subject matter and was The Police’s third number 1. Don’t Stand So Close to Me – the tale of a teacher’s Lolita-like relationship with a pupil – was made all the more eyebrow-raising due to the fact that singer Sting was a teacher before he was a pop star.

Before

Following their second number 1, Walking on the Moon, re-released their fourth single So Lonely, originally issued in 1978. As a pre-fame record it had failed to chart, but this time it peaked at six. A month after its release in February 1980, The Police embarked on their first world tour, performing in countries not used to western pop stars including India and Egypt. To capitalise on their global popularity, UK label A&M released Six Pack, a package featuring their previous five singles (including their first chart-topper, Message in a Bottle), plus an alternate take of album track The Bed’s Too Big Without You.

A&M seemingly couldn’t be satisfied by their biggest group of the moment, however, because they started pressuring The Police for a third album. Recorded in four weeks that July-August, the trio later said Zenyatta Mondatta was too rushed. Nonetheless, it was scheduled for an October release, to be preceded by lead single Don’t Stand So Close to Me on 19 September.

Before he was Sting, Gordon Sumner had taught English at St Paul’s First School in Cramlington, Northumberland. Sting has always understandably stated that Don’t Stand So Close to Me was not about him, but whether it came from experience of a scandal of a colleague, or was just inspired by his teaching career, we don’t know. Anyone who might think a handsome man like Sting may have had no shortage of schoolgirl fans might be right, but nobody has ever claimed the singer has also walked on the moon or been stranded on a desert island.

Review

Opening with a dark and brooding synth, Don’t Stand So Close to Me starts very strong. Sting’s lyrics are compelling and not the subject matter of your average pop song. The first verse is purely focused on the schoolgirl’s desire for the teacher. So far, so very good. But when it gets to the chorus, Don’t Stand So Close to Me goes downhill. While the verses are atmospheric, tense and foreboding, the workmanlike reggae of the chorus is perhaps a sign of the lack of time spent making this album. It’s like a demo recording – as is the instrumental section, featuring some more synth work that screams ‘this will do until we work out what goes here’, but they never went back to it.

Apparently however, The Police and producer Nigel Gray did work on this track for some time, with it initially tried out as a Hammond organ-based soul track. Several complex arrangements were tried, but, perhaps with the ticking of the clock in mind, they were abandoned and the band reverted to an earlier sound.

The second and third verses are strong, detailing the teacher’s lack of torment. However, you could say Sting tries harder to make the listener gain sympathy for the man here, mentioning ‘Temptation, frustration, so bad it makes him cry’. And the definite low point is:

‘It’s no use, he sees her, he starts to shake and cough,
Just like the old man in that book by Nabokov’.

You guessed it! The book in question is Lolita! Terrible, yet Sting later claimed to think it was ‘hilarious’ that he was given so much flak for it.

So the song ends with both student and teacher as the subject of gossip in the classroom and staffroom, and Sting pleading with his pupil to keep away, possibly partly to keep his temptation at bay, but also the rumours. The ending is overlong and if you’re not a fan of Sting’s attempt at reggae singing, Don’t Stand So Close to Me is not going to rank as their best number 1. In a year of so many chart-toppers, with the average duration at the top of the hit parade being only a fortnight, this doesn’t really deserve it’s lofty bestseller status.

The video is a typical Police promo. Sting does a decent job playing the stressed-out teacher, with a young girl hovering around him, while Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland probably revelled in the chance to wind him up by throwing paper aeroplanes and smoking in the classroom. This is intercut with the trio skanking around a schoolroom, with Copeland looking particularly silly holding his drumsticks. Mind you, Summers gives him a run for his money by dropping to his knees for a guitar solo that isn’t actually there. Sting’s adoring fans will have particularly enjoyed their hero getting his top off at one point (bit harsh him telling the girl to keep away when he’s behaving like that).

Don’t Stand So Close to Me has aged better than other similar Lolita-style songs, such as 1968 chart-topper Young Girl, but any sensitivity in which Sting broaches the subject matter quickly evaporates with that terrible rhyme, and nothing is resolved.

After

The melody to Don’t Stand So Close to Me found its way on to another huge 80s hit, when Dire Straits asked Sting to sing on the epic intro to Money for Nothing. Sting sang ‘I want my MTV’ to the tune, and after the release of the LP Money for Nothing, he received a co-writing credit.

The Outro

In 1984 The Police went on hiatus. Two years they reconvened, but the chance of a new album was doomed when Copeland broke his collarbone before they’d had chance to jam. Their final single was Don’t Stand So Close to Me ’86. Copeland and Sting fell out over what to use as drums, the former won out with his Fairlight CMI over the latter’s Synclavier. Unfortunately, while the idea of a reworked version showed a desire to breathe new life into an underworked song, this version is actually inferior. The production is too 80s, and the chorus less catchy. The video, directed by 10cc’s Godley and Creme, is one of the most comically mid-80s things you’ll ever see. The single made it to 24 after the group disbanded.

The Info

Written by

Sting

Producers

The Police & Andy Gray

Weeks at number 1

4 (27 September-24 October) *BEST-SELLING SINGLE OF THE YEAR*

Trivia

Births

5 October: Motorcycle racer James Toseland
13 October: Football player Scott Parker
14 October: Actor Ben Wishaw

Deaths

27 September: Banker Sir Michael Turner
28 September: Pianist Horace Finch
29 September: Labour Party MP Peter Mahon
30 September: Botanist James Wyllie Gregor/Conservationist George Waterston
6 October: Actress Hattie Jacques
7 October: Designer Sir Gordon Russell
10 October: Conservative MP Evelyn Emmet, Baroness Emmet of Amberley/Cricketer Wilfred Hill-Wood
11 October: Singer Cassie Walmer
12 October: Actress Ambrosine Phillpotts
14 October: Labour Party MP Arthur Pearson
15 October: Writer Katharine Mary Briggs
19 October: Radio producer DG Bridson
20 October: TV personality Isobel, Lady Barnett/Tennis player Phoebe Holcroft Watson
24 October: Conservative MP Sir Richard Glyn, 9th Baronet

Meanwhile…

3 October: The 1980 Housing Act came into effect, which gave council house tenants of three years or more in England and Wales the right to buy their home from their local council, at a discount.  

6 October: Express coach services were deregulated.

8 October: British Leyland launched the Austin Metro.

10 October: Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher made her infamous ‘The lady’s not for turning’ speech at conference, after being warned her economic policy was to blame for the recession and record-breaking rising unemployment.

15 October: Former Prime Minister James Callaghan resigned as Labour Party leader after four and a half years in the job.
Also this day, former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and union leaders criticised Thatcher’s economic policies.

17 October: Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to make a state visit to the Vatican.

22 October: Lord Thomson announced The Times and Sunday Times would close within five months unless a buyer was found.

24 October: MG car production ended.

425. Commodores – Three Times a Lady (1978)

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The Intro

Alabama funk outfit Commodores developed a softer soul sound thanks largely to chief songwriter Lionel Richie, who eventually left to become one of the biggest pop stars of the 80s. This was their most famous hit and sole chart-topper.

Before

The seven-piece formed from the ashes of two former student groups at Tuskegee Institute in 1968. From the Mystics came vocalist, keyboardist and saxophonist Richie, lead guitarist James McClary and William ‘WAK’ King on trumpet, rhythm guitar, keyboards and vocals. They were joined by three members of the Jays – Andre Callahan on vocals, drums and keyboards, Michael Gilbert on bass and trumpet and Milan Williams on keyboards and rhythm guitar. Another keyboardist, Eugene Ward, also joined them.

Legend has it they chose their new band name when King opened a dictionary and picked a random word. He pointed out later that they were lucky they didn’t become known as The Commodes.

The Commodores won a talent contest at their university and began performing at frat parties. Two years later the line-up changed when Callahan, Gilbert and Ward left. Ronald LaPread took up bass duties and James Ingram (not the famous singer with that name) became lead vocalist and drummer. At this point they were still performing covers but original material was creeping into setlists.

After performing in parking lots, fortune smiled on the Commodores when they landed a support slot on a tour with none other than The Jackson 5. This led to Motown Records signing them up.

Their recorded output got off to a blistering start with that fine instrumental funk classic Machine Gun, the title track of their 1974 LP, which peaked at 20 in the UK. Nothing like their latter career, this features Williams hammering away on the clavinet to great effect. Ingram had left two years previous to head to Vietnam, with his role replaced by Walter Orange, who also took up songwriting duties along with Richie.

Over the next few years they released several hard funk albums to mixed success. Their singles didn’t dent the UK charts, however. Things began to pick up when third album Movin’ On (1976) spawned Sweet Love, a softer track that hit five in the US and 32 in the UK. Success on these shores picked up in 1977 with their eponymous fifth album (renamed Zoom here), which contained the classic break-up anthem Easy. It reached four in the US and nine in the UK. Orange sang the funky follow-up Brick House (32 in Blighty).

A live album was released to bridge the gap while the band worked on their next album. The first song to be released from this was Three Times a Lady.

Richie was at a party to celebrate his parents’ 37th wedding anniversary. When his father toasted his mother and said ‘She’s a great lady, she’s a great mother, and she’s a great friend’, his son was inspired. Putting pen to paper, he came up with a gentle waltz that he dedicated to his wife Brenda, who he saw as once, twice, three times a lady.

However, he considered it too soft for his band. When they presented producer James Carmichael with ideas for the LP Natural High, Richie played Three Times a Lady on the piano but told everyone present it wasn’t for them. He had Frank Sinatra in mind. Carmichael thought it was too good to let go and insisted they record it.

https://youtu.be/VzIs3nKF98Y

Review

As we all know, Three Times a Lady became a massive hit, one of Richie’s most loved songs and a staple at wedding receptions. It’s not among my favourites though – it doesn’t hold a candle to Machine Gun, Easy or some of Richie’s solo love ballads. It’s just too gentle for me and doesn’t go anywhere to keep me interested. Richie sings it beautifully though. Some of the lyrics (and there’s not many) leave me slightly puzzled as the first verse is in past tense and suggests a relationship that’s ended for some reason:

‘Thanks for the times that you’ve given me,
The memories are all in my mind,
And now that we’ve come to the end of our rainbow,
There’s something I must say out loud’

Sounds like a goodbye doesn’t it? Not exactly what you want to sing to your new husband/wife for your first dance on your wedding night really but it’s far from the only misunderstood wedding song. All in all, it’s not bad, but I don’t consider it the classic so many others do.

After

Three Times a Lady topped the charts all over the world and moved Commodores up into a whole new level of fame. It was nominated for two Grammys and won several other awards. A similar and superior tune, Sail On from the album Midnight Magic, reached eight in the UK in 1979 and Still followed hot on its heels, peaking at four here but earning them their second US chart-topper.

Their next album Heroes in 1980 saw a drop in their sales and the single Wonderland only reached 40 here. It was their last top 40 hit for five years. Despite this they were doing well again in the US before long but Richie threw a spanner in the works in 1982 by announcing he was going it alone. Skyler Jett replaced him as lead singer. Then in 1983 McClary left to also go solo and he was replaced by guitarist-vocalist Sheldon Reynolds. Jett was gone by 1984 and his role was taken by former Heatwave frontman James Dean ‘JD’ Nicholas.

Just as the Commodores were coming to the end of the road with Motown, the title track of their 1985 album Nightshift saw them unexpectedly return to the charts. This touching tribute to soul stars Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson, who had both died the year previous, soared to three here and in the US.

The Outro

This return to fame proved short-lived, however. LaPread departed in 1986 and Reynolds a year later. His role was taken by David Battelene. While Richie continued to release hits on his own, Commodores were forgotten. A few more albums were released but made no mark. The last album to date was New Tricks in 1993 but Orange, Nicholas and King still tour the world as Commodores.

The Info

Written by

Lionel Richie

Producers

James Carmichael & Commodores

Weeks at number 1

5 (19 August-22 September)

Trivia

Births

19 August: Actor Callum Blue
27 August: Actress Suranne Jones

Deaths

28 August: Actor Robert Shaw
4 September: Suffragette Leonora Cohen
7 September: The Who drummer Keith Moon
9 September: Scottish poet Hugh MacDiarmid
15 September: Composer Edmund Crispin

Meanwhile…

20 August: Gunmen opened fire on an Israeli El Al airline bus in London.

25 August: With the aid of homemade water shoes, US Army Sergeant Walter Robinson ‘walked’ across the English Channel in 11 hours 30 minutes.

7 September: The Who’s wild drummer Keith Moon’s self-destructive ways resulted in his death. His body was found in in a flat owned by Harry Nilsson, who didn’t want to let Moon stay there as he believed it was cursed after Mama Cass died there. Moon died from a drug overdose aged 32.
Also that day, Prime Minister James Callaghan announced he would not call a general election for the autumn. Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher and Liberal leader David Steel accused Callaghan of ‘running scared’, in spite of many opinion polls showing that the minority government could win an election at that time with a majority.
And Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was stabbed with a poison-tipped umbrella while he walked across Waterloo Bridge in London. He died four days later.

15 September: German terrorist Astrid Proll was arrested in London.

19 September: British Police launched a murder hunt following the discovery of the dead body of 13-year-old newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater at a farmhouse near Kingswinford in the West Midlands. 

424. John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John – You’re the One That I Want (1978)

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The Intro

1978 was the year of Grease. Romantic leads John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John remained at number 1 for most of the summer with a song that was never in the original stage musical.

Before

The stage show had been created by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey and premiered in a Chicago, Illinois nightclub in 1971. It was set specifically in Chicago and based on Jacobs’s time at high-school there. Noticeably grittier than the later productions and film it spawned, there were a number of other differences. Most of the characters were Polish-American, Doug Stevenson played Danny Zuko and Leslie Goto was Sandy Dumbrowski. The T-Birds were known as the Burger Palace Boys. The only person from the cast of the original Grease to become famous was Marilu Henner, who played Marty. It had a much shorter running time, was shocking and had an almost entirely different soundtrack.

The team behind the musical made a deal to take the show to Off-Broadway in 1972. It became very popular and received seven Tony nominations. By the summer it was on Broadway itself, where it ran until 1980. Barry Bostwick played Danny and Carole Demas was Sandy. During the course of its run, several actors and actresses came and went, becoming famous and/or starring in the movie. Among the Dannys were Jeff Conaway (before becoming Kenickie) and Patrick Swayze. Richard Gere was Sonny and John Travolta was Doody. In 1973 Grease also started a UK run until 1974, featuring Gere, promoted to be Danny, and Stacey Gregg as Sandy. Paul Nicholas and Elaine Paige took over.

It was only a matter of time before someone decided to turn this musical into a movie. Robert Stigwood, manager of The Bee Gees and producer of Saturday Night Fever (1977), produced with Allan Carr, who had worked on Tommy (1975) and Saturday Night Fever. Randall Kleiser made his movie directing debut after being recommended by Travolta, one of the hottest talents of the era.

John Joseph Travolta was born 18 February 1954 in Englewood, New Jersey. His father was a Sicilian-American tire salesman and his mother an actress and singer. The Travolta children all wanted to follow in their mother’s footsteps. He dropped out of high school in 1971, aged 17 and moved to New York, where he landed the role of Doody. His first major role came in the horror Carrie in 1976 and that same year he had a Billboard top 10 hit with Let Her In. Landing the roll of Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever turned him into a superstar and so he was a natural choice to star as Danny in Stigwood’s latest project (although apparently Happy Days star Henry Winkler had turned it down). As well as suggesting Kleiser as director, Travolta reckoned pop and country singer Olivia Newton-John would make a great Sandy.

Newton-John was born in Cambridge on 26 September 1948. Her Welsh father had been an MI5 officer and worked on the Enigma project in the Second World War. Her maternal grandmother was Jewish Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Born and her third cousin is comedian Ben Elton. In 1954, when she was six, the family emigrated to Melbourne, Australia.

Newton-John’s singing career began at the age of 14 when she formed all-girl group Sol Four. She entered and won a talent contest on TV show Sing, Sing, Sing and won a trip to the UK. Although reluctant to go, her mother encouraged her and while here she recorded debut single Till You Say You’ll Be Mine in 1966. When friend and fellow singer Pat Carroll moved to the UK, they formed a duo but she turned solo once more when he returned to Australia.

Music mogul Don Kirshner briefly hired Newton-John to feature in short-lived girl group Toomorrow. From there she released her first solo album, If Not for You in 1971. The title track, written by Bob Dylan and recorded by George Harrison the year previous, was a big hit, peaking at seven in the UK. Follow-up Banks of the Ohio did one better and a cover of Harrison’s What Is Life climbed to 16 a year later. Newton-John’s version of Take Me Home, Country Roads went to 15 a year later.

In 1974 Newton-John entered the Eurovision Song Contest for the UK. She finished fourth with Long Live Love but it did respectably enough chart-wise, reaching 11. Later that year she scored her first US chart-topper with I Honestly Love You and her second with Have You Never Been Mellow in 1975. Despite this and scoring several Grammys too, there was a backlash in the States over a foreigner recording country music. Nonetheless, Newton-John left the UK to live over there. She returned to the UK singles chart in 1977 with the ballad Sam, peaking at six.

Following a dinner party at Helen Reddy’s home in which she met Carr, Newton-John was offered the role of female lead, renamed Sandy Ollson and was told they would make the character Australian to accommodate her accent. However she was initially reticent, fearing she was too old at 28 to be playing a high-school senior. It’s fair to say she probably doesn’t regret changing her mind in the end.

The scene in which Danny and Sandy are finally reconciled had until the film been soundtracked by a song called All Choked Up. It was in similar in theme to You’re the One That I Want but as the name suggests, much closer musically to an Elvis Presley pastiche. It was decided that one of Newton-John’s top songwriters and producers, John Farrar, who was a fellow Australian and had featured in The Shadows from 1973-76 would write two brand new songs for the movie. One was Hopelessly Devoted to You and the other, You’re the One That I Want.

Neither really fitted with the rest of the soundtrack which mostly evoked the spirit of 50s pop and rock’n’roll. The former was a country-tinged love song in more in keeping with Newton-John’s usual output. Kleiser was not fond of the latter. Fortunately, the rest of the world didn’t really agree with the film’s director.

Review

Me neither. I’m a self-professed hater of musicals. And yet, there are a few exceptions and this is probably the biggest one. It’s certainly the most famous. Like many of my age, I was first shown Grease as a child in the early 80s. I remember being enthralled from the opening bars of The Bee Gees-written theme tune sung by Frankie Valli when a friend down my street loaded his VHS copy (the Gibbs really were on fire back then). I also remember being really disappointed when the animation ended and an actual film began. The disappointment soon dissipated though.

I loved everything about Grease. I didn’t understand all the risqué jokes and sexual stuff going on but I was bowled over by the characters and music, like most people. And I also think I was chuffed that Danny and Sandy got together and even then, knew that there was something very exciting about Newton-John wearing the tightest clothes I’d probably seen at that point while purring ‘Feel your way’. Not thrilled with the perm, though.

The pure pop brilliance of You’re the One That I Want never dims despite decades of overexposure. It’s unlikely I’d ever put it on by choice but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it every time I hear it. Pure cheese of course, but the strutting verses are cool and the chorus ultra-catchy. It’s always hilarious to watch Travolta miming to those legendary opening lines sung by him like a cat in pain and ‘It’s electrifying’ will never not be funny. Unfortunately I can’t hear it without singing ‘Those new yoghurts you’re supplying, they’re electrifying!’ due to a 90s advert for St Ivel Shape. Weird how these things stick.

After

I’d assumed until now that You’re the One That I Want reigned supreme for almost the whole of the summer of 1978 because Grease was a box office smash and this marks the happy ending of the movie. Amazingly, Grease hadn’t even been released in the UK at this point. The US release came on 16 June, the day before it topped the chart in the UK. The British premiere came on 14 September. So for many, the clip from the film used to promote this single was their introduction to Grease. Which means you can take that mammoth nine-week run, the longest of the decade (equalled by Bohemian Rhapsody and Mull of Kintyre/Girls School) mostly as a sign of sheer love of the song.

However by this point the term ‘new wave’ was being coined to describe the alternative music scene that had risen from the ashes of punk. To the young music fans of acts like Blondie and The Police, the sight and sound of You’re the One That I Want on Top of the Pops throughout that summer must have become a huge annoyance. The Boomtown Rats proved the point to great effect later that year.

Travolta and Newton-John went number 1 across the globe with this first release from what was to become the highest-grossing musical of all time up to that point. It soon became prone to spoofs, from the likes of The Goodies and sadly Hylda Baker & Arthur Mullard. This ageing duo, both comic actors (the latter a horrible bastard), dressed up as Sandy and Danny and performed a truly dire version on Top of the Pops, which took them to 22 in the chart later in 1978.

The Outro

As I write this, You’re the One That I Want is ranked the fifth biggest-selling single of all time. It’s unlikely this will change. In 1990 it saw chart action once more thanks to The Grease Megamix. This amateurishly edited medley of You’re the One That I Want along with Greased Lightnin’ and Summer Nights peaked at three. It remained popular for years though – it was still getting played in my student union in the late-90s. To mark the 20th anniversary of the Grease film phenomenon, a dance version called You’re the One That I Want (Martian Remix) climbed to four in 1998. I have no recollection of this whatsoever. Nor do I remember the London cast recording by Craig McLachlan and Debbie Gibson which reached 13 in 1993.

The Info

Written & produced by

John Farrar

Weeks at number 1

9 (17 June-18 August)

Trivia

Births

20 June: Footballer Frank Lampard
22 June: Race car driver Dan Wheldon
30 June: Comedian Romesh Ranganathan
2 July: Actor Paul Danan
23 July: Footballer Stuart Elliott
31 July: Coldplay drummer Will Champion/Racing driver Justin Wilson

Deaths

23 July: Footballer Tommy McLaren
30 July: Scottish Labour MP John Mackintosh
31 July: Actor Carleton Hobbs
14 August: Writer Nicolas Bentley/Nuclear physicist Norman Feather

Meanwhile…

17 June: Media reports suggest a general election is on the cards in the autumn as the Labour minority government led by James Callaghan appears to be coming to an end. Only four months previous the Conservatives were 11 points ahead but it now looked like Labour would return with a majority.

19 June: Ian Botham becomes the first cricketer to score a century and take eight wickets in one innings of a Test match.

21 June: An outbreak of shooting at a Post Office depot in Belfast between Provisional IRA members and the British Army results in the deaths of one civilian and three IRA men.
Also on this day, the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical Evita opens at the Prince Edward Theatre in London. 

6 July: 11 people are killed when fire breaks out in a sleeping car train in Taunton, Somerset.

7 July: The Solomon Islands are annexed to the Crown and made independent from the UK. 

25 July: Louise Brown becomes the world’s first human to be born from in vitro fertilisation in Oldham, Greater Manchester.

405. Rod Stewart – First Cut Is the Deepest/I Don’t Want to Talk About It (1977)

/ robbarker1979

The Intro

‘There is no future in England’s dreaming’

Sorry, but it’s very difficult to talk about the 405th number 1 single and not mention the rumours of a fix preventing what would have been the 406th…

Before

Rod Stewart’s 1975 LP Atlantic Crossing, his first for Warner Bros. was a huge global success. And Sailing, the first single from it, his biggest-selling song ever. The next single it spawned, a cover of The Isley Brothers’ This Old Heart of Mine, went to four. His next album, also considered among his finest, was A Night on the Town in 1976. Once more produced by Tom Dowd at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama, its first single, Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright) was huge in the US. Reigning at the top of the Billboard chart for eight weeks, it was the longest-running number 1 there since Hey Jude in 1968. And this was in spite of its risky lyrics in which Stewart is basically deflowering a ‘virgin child’. Perhaps because of that it only climbed to five in the UK.

The next release ranks among his finest. The Killing of Georgie (Part II and II) is a beautiful true story about a gay friend of his former band Faces, who was murdered in 1974. The lyrics are Stewart at his best. The second part is basically Don’t Let Me Down by The Beatles, but that’s no bad thing either. Far removed from his laddish image, the US didn’t take to it, but it reached two in the UK. Good old UK.

Another Beatles connection came next when Rod the Mod covered Get Back for the music documentary All This and World War II. This took him to 11. On the back of The Best of Rod Stewart and its use as the theme to BBC documentary series Sailor, Sailing was re-released and went to 31. OK, it’s a low position, but bear in mind it was number 1 only two years previous.

While Stewart was selling millions globally, a new movement was growing. The Sex Pistols became notorious in December 1976 for their sweary appearance on Bill Grundy’s Today. Goaded by a drunken Grundy, the host was sacked. EMI ended their record deal with the punk pioneers after one single, Anarchy in the U.K. But they grew ever more infamous while they recorded their album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols. They signed with A&M and announced they were to release God Save the Queen in Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee year. Following a riotous press conference and fight with a label executive a few days later, A&M sacked them and virtually all the singles were destroyed.

You may well know why I’m talking about Sex Pistols so much, but if not, it’s fascinating and one of pop’s greatest controversies. Johnny Rotten and co (including new member Sid Vicious) soon signed with Virgin Records, who were more than happy to release God Save the Queen to tie in with the height of the Jubilee celebrations. Punk was quickly gaining traction with a disaffected youth, bored of progressive rock albums and dull light entertainment pop. Malcolm McLaren’s group may have been hated, but any publicity was good publicity for a band that thrived on being loathed.

Allegedly, a panicked music industry may face decided the Sex Pistols needed to be stopped from embarrassing the nation by taking the number 1 spot in Jubilee week. So Warner Bros. released a budget double A-side by a much safer UK pop star.

Reviews

The First Cut Is the Deepest had been the second track on A Night on the Town. Originally one of Cat Stevens’ earliest songs, the most famous version was recorded by US soul singer PP Arnold in 1967. He had sold it to her for £30. Stewart’s version is a decent retread. Not up there with his greatest work, but I prefer it to some of his more famous number 1s like Sailing. It showcases the sensitive side of Stewart, in the role of wounded ex-lover. Dowd’s production is, as always, very slick, and Stewart’s gravelly voice suits it well.

I Don’t Want to Talk About It dates back to Atlantic Crossing. Unusual to pick a song from an earlier album as a double A-side, but it complements the flip very well. The original version by Danny Whitten featured on his band Crazy Horse’s eponymous debut LP in 1971. Best known as Neil Young’s backing band, Whitten was sacked from Crazy Horse soon after and died of an alcohol/diazepam overdose a year later. This is a great song and I prefer it to the better known flip side. Once again Stewart is all broken up over a relationship. It’s another tender, heartfelt performance, and he captures Whitten’s anguish very well. Very similar to First Cut Is the Deepest, you could be forgiven for thinking they were recorded at the same time.

After

First Cut Is the Deepest/I Don’t Want to Talk About It became Stewart’s fourth number 1 on 21 May. The following week, God Save the Queen was released. On the Jubilee holiday of 7 June the Sex Pistols tried to play their song from a boat named Queen Elizabeth on the River Thames. Following a scuffle between Jah Wobble and a cameraman, 11 of the entourage including McLaren and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood were arrested when the boat docked.

The official chart for Jubilee week was to be released a few days later, and the Daily Mirror were predicting a number 1 for God Save the Queen, despite its ban by the BBC. On 15 June it became number 1 on the NME chart, but peaked at two in the BBC and Record Retailer ‘official’ chart.

So, conspiracy theory or not? Nothing has ever been officially proven either way, but there is compelling evidence to suggest it may be the case. According to a 2011 article by The Independent, the British Phonographic Institute decreed that for one week only – Jubilee week, sales from record-company operated shops were excluded from sales figures. Of course, that would have meant excluding Virgin. Pretty bad behaviour, if true. McLaren also claimed that someone at CBS Records, which was distributing both singles, told him the Sex Pistols were outselling Stewart two to one that week. But McLaren was an expert bullshitter, so don’t assume this to be the truth.

The Outro

We’ll never know for sure, it seems. But if it’s true, it’s shocking, and a crying shame. God Save the Queen, a vibrant, angry anti-establishment song, urging the working class to wake up and consider their lot, would have been an incredible number 1, and the only punk song to get there. To achieve it in Jubilee week would have been such a statement. Instead, it was two (admittedly decent) Stewart ballad covers.

‘Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?’

The Info

Written by

First Cut Is the Deepest: Cat Stevens/I Don’t Want to Talk About It: Danny Whitten

Producer

Tom Dowd

Weeks at number 1

4 (21 May-17 June)

Trivia

Births

30 May: Actress Rachael Stirling
6 June: Welsh chef Bryn Williams

Deaths

2 June: Actor Stephen Boyd
3June: Physiologist Archibald Vivian Hill

Meanwhile…

21 May: Manchester United won the FA Cup for the fourth time, beating Liverpool 2-1 at Wembley Stadium. 

25 May: Liverpool made up for the loss by winning the UEFA European Cup. They defeated West German league champions Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 in Rome.

27 May: Prime Minister James Callaghan officially opened the M5 motorway, 15 years after the first stretch near Birmingham was opened. 

6-9 June: Silver Jubilee celebrations were held to celebrate 25 years of the Queen’s reign, with a public holiday on 7 June.

402. Manhattan Transfer – Chanson D’Amour (1977)

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The Intro

Manhattan Transfer were, like many chart-toppers of the 70s, in thrall to the past. But they went further back then the rock’n’roll retro bands like Showaddywaddy. They paid tribute to swing, jazz and acapella music. Surprisingly, the second incarnation of the group found themselves at number 1 in the UK for three weeks in the early spring of 1977.

Before

Founder member of both versions of the group was Tim Hauser. He had dabbled in doo-wop in his youth but moved into a career in advertising. Then in 1969 he formed The Manhattan Transfer. Named after a novel by John Dos Passos, set in New York City at the dawn of the Jazz Age. The original line-up also featured Erin Dickins, Marty Nelson, Pat Rosalita and Gene Pistilli. Signing to Capitol Records, they released one album, Jukin’ in 1971. Unlike the later incarnation, the quintet also covered rock and country genres. Capitol declined to release another LP and The Manhattan Transfer split up.

In 1972 Hauser was working as a taxi driver in New York when waitress Laurel Massé got into his cab. They got talking about music and it transpired she had ambitions to make it big. Hauser clearly hadn’t given up on his dream either. Soon after he met jazz singer Janis Siegel at a party. She had recorded a single as a member of Young Generation (not Engelbert Humperdinck’s mates) and had been a member of folk trio The Loved Ones. An idea began to form and Hauser decided to invite Massé and Siegel to be members of a new Manhattan Transfer and they recorded some demos before starting live performances.

Among the crowd at one of the early shows was session drummer Roy Markowitz, who had played with Don McLean. Markowitz was part of the band in the Broadway version of a hit musical called Grease and he suggested one of the cast members could be a good fit for The Manhattan Transfer. Alan Paul, who played both Johnny Casino and the Teen Angel, agreed to join their ranks. Markowitz produced a demo and sent it to Ahmet Ertegun at Atlantic Records and he agreed to sign them. Their eponymous LP was released in 1975, featuring bona fide jazz musicians including trumpeter Randy Brecker. They were an instant success in the US, with debut single Operator reaching 22. That same year they hosted a four-week series on CBS. A cover of 30s jazz tune Tuxedo Junction was their first taste of UK fame – it peaked at 24 in 1976. That summer they released the album Coming Out, which featured Chanson D’Amour, which has a connection to one of the very first UK number 1s. The LP featured a certain Ringo Starr, Jim Keltner and Dr John.

Chanson D’Amour, French for ‘Love Song’, had been written by US songwriter and producer Wayne Shanklin, who gave it to Art and Dotty Todd in 1958. The husband-and-wife duo had charted in the UK in 1953 with the original version of Broken Wings. It went to six, but a cover by vocal group The Stargazers became the first UK number 1 by a British group later that year. The older generation, somewhat frightened and unsure about rock’n’roll, loved this taste of more gentle times and it was a big hit.

Acclaimed producer Richard Perry worked with Manhattan Transfer on Coming Out, and he liked their demo of Chanson D’Amour. They recorded their number 1 version in one take, featuring Siegel on lead. Backing the group were John Barnes on piano (not that John Barnes), Steve Paietta on accordion, Ira Newborn and Ben Benay on guitar, Andy Muson on bass and Jim Gordon on drums.

Review

I have never enjoyed this track. And that’s for not one, but two reasons. Siegel’s vocal is so over-the-top it’s painful. She’s trying to sound like Edith Piaf but comes across more like Edith Artois in sitcom ‘Allo! ‘Allo!. Every syllable is stretched out interminably. And then there’s the ‘rat-a-tat-a-tat’. My god, it’s irritating. It’s not even amusing to me as a ‘so bad it’s good’-style novelty number 1. Not a lot else to say, really. The most interesting aspect is the fact it’s produced by Perry, making it his second UK number 1 in a row, as it toppled his first, When I Need You by Leo Sayer.

After

Despite its success in the UK and in many other countries, Chanson D’Amour was only a moderate hit in the States. Further UK hits followed in Blighty, including Walk In Love (number 12) and On a Little Street in Singapore (number 20), both in 1978. The following year Massé was involved in a car accident and left the group, to be replaced by Cheryl Bentyne. The single Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone went to 25 in 1980. Also on its accompanying album, Extensions, was Birdland, an instrumental by Weather Report, which now had lyrics and earned Siegel a Grammy for Best Jazz Fusion Performance. In 1981 their version of The Boy from New York City was a big hit Stateside, climbing to seven, and they won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. A version of A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square won the Grammy for Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices. And there were more. Until I Met You (Corner Pocket) saw them pick up the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. And then in 1982 – Route 66 won them the Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo or Group. Impressive stuff.

Manhattan Transfer’s last charting single was Spice of Life, written by former Heatwave member and Michael Jackson collaborator Rod Temperton. It peaked at 19 in the UK. Yet more Grammy nominations and wins were to come, though. 1985 album Vocalese had 12 nominations – at the time second only to Thriller for most nominated single album ever. It won two – Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo or Group, and Best Arrangement for Voices. In 1987 their album Brasil won Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. No more albums released until 1991’s The Offbeat of Avenues. Its track Sassy won a Grammy in 1992 for Best Contemporary Jazz Performance, Instrumental. It was their 10th.

The Outro

The rest of the 90s saw the acclaim slide but Manhattan Transfer diversify, with The Christmas Album in 1992 and children’s album The Manhattan Transfer Meets Tubby the Tuba in 1995. They continued through the 00s with material like The Symphony Sessions, a collection of orchestral reworkings of previous material and The Chick Corea Songbook in 2009. This was their last album for nine years, as health problems crept up on the members. Original member Rosalia died in 2011. Bentyne left several times to battle Hodgkin’s lymphoma, replaced first by Margaret Dorn in 2011, then Katie Campbell in 2014. Hauser, the founder member and only person to bridge both incarnations, passed away in 2014 of cardiac arrest. He was replaced by Trist Curless. Pistilli died in 2017. The following year Manhattan Transfer’s last album to date, The Junction, was released.

The Info

Written by

Wayne Shanklin

Producer

Richard Perry

Weeks at number 1

3 (12 March-1 April)

Trivia

Deaths

26 March: Composer Madeleine Doing
1 April: Partitioner of India Cyril Radcliffe, 1st Viscount Radcliffe

Meanwhile…

14 March: The government reveals inflation has pushed prices up by nearly 70% within three years.

15 March: Car manufacturers British Leyland announce their intention to dismiss 40,000 toolmakers who have gone on strike at the company’s plant in Birmingham. 

23 March: The government wins a vote of no confidence after Prime Minister James Callaghan strikes a deal with David Steel, the leader of the Liberal Party.

401. Leo Sayer – When I Need You (1977)

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The Intro

Diminutive singer-songwriter Leo Sayer may be short in stature, but he was a big star in the 70s. From 1973 onwards he was a regular in the top 10 but it took four years to finally reach the pinnacle of the charts with the soft rock ballad When I Need You.

Before

Gerard Hugh Sayer was born on 21 May 1948 in Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, where he attended St Peter’s Catholic Primary School. Then he moved on to Blessed Robert Southwell in Goring-by-Sea and then West Sussex College of Art and Design, where he studied commercial art and graphic design. When he was 18, Sayer was working as a hall porter at the King’s Hotel in Hove. He became a hero when a serious fire broke out on the first floor and he assisted with saving elderly guests. Sayer ended up in danger himself but was rescued by builders working on nearby flats.

By the late-60s he was frontman in Terraplane Blues Band, before forming the group Patches in 1971 with drummer David Courtney, who had previously played with former number 1 singer Adam Faith. Patches were hoping the connection would pay dividends as Faith was moving into music management. Although Faith wasn’t that impressed with the group, he did think Sayer had potential and agreed to work with him.

Sayer began recording songs he co-wrote with Courtney at the studio of Roger Daltrey. The Who’s lead singer was impressed with what he heard, and was trying to kickstart a solo career. His debut, Giving It All Away, was written by Sayer and Courtney and produced by Faith. Peaking at five in the charts, Daltrey never surpassed this achievement again. Sayer’s debut single followed that same year but Why Is Everybody Going Home failed to chart. It became the closing track on his first LP, Silverbird.

Sayer’s second single, however, made him a star. The Show Must Go On was a music-hall-style song about making the wrong choices in life. He memorably promoted the single appearing on TV dressed and made-up as a pierrot clown. It took him all the way to number two. Second album Just a Boy (1974) spawned One Man Band, which reached six and Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance), which climbed to four. The latter became his first US hit when it went all the way to four. With a canny knack in catchy pop, a lot of charisma and energy and that unmistakable 70s afro, Sayer became a frequent presence on Top of the Pops.

His third album Another Year continued his winning ways in 1975 with Moonlighting stalling at two. He and Courtney had gone their separate ways and Sayer wrote this LP with Supertramp bassist Frank Farrell. He and Faith also stopped working together after this album and he went to the US to record Endless Flight. With a bigger production budget and Richard Perry at the helm, it was his most commercial work yet and the first single from it, the ultra-catchy disco pop tune You Make Me Feel Like Dancing gave him a number 1 in the US, Canada and New Zealand. Despite being his signature song, it was his third single to not make it past the runner-up spot. Finally, Sayer cracked it with When I Need You.

This love song was penned by Albert Hammond and Carole Bayer Sager. Hammond, father of Albert Hammond Jr from The Strokes, was a singer and has been very successful for decades in writing hits for Glenn Campbell, Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, Ace of Base and Westlife, to name a few. Singer-songwriter Bayer Sager has an Academy Award, a Grammy and two Golden Globes to her name and later married and worked with Burt Bacharach. Together, these pedigree songsmiths were bound to strike gold. This track actually first appeared as the title track to Hammond’s 1976 LP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVmBXm9OfDo

Review

I’m not sure what to make of Sayer to be honest. I used to think he seemed a nice unassuming guy, happy to play the fool (literally in the case of The Show Must Go On). I formed this opinion after seeing him fall off a running machine on the Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer ill-fated game show Families at War. You can see the clip here. It starts with him sat on someone’s back performing this very number 1. So surely he has a good sense of humour. But then my opinion fell rapidly after seeing him take part in Celebrity Big Brother in 2007. He came across as a childish prima donna, eventually storming out because he couldn’t be provided with clean underwear. And during one of his hissy fits, he accidentally gave a thumbs up to the camera rather than the finger. Look. Silly sod.

But let’s give him the benefit of the doubt as that series did strange things to people and let’s get back to 1977. And I think When I Need You is a decent single if you like 70s torch songs. Perry’s production is slick and top-notch, capturing that soft rock FM sound so well. Sayer portrays the sensitive pop star separated from his loved one well. Though they’re miles apart, it’s OK as he can picture her when he closes his eyes. Sounds cliched now (and the video above in which he wanders forlornly along a beach is definitely cheesy) but it captures the mood better than other songs of this type.

I prefer the falsetto-sung happy-go-lucky You Make Me Feel Like Dancing personally but When I Need You is better than, say If You Leave Me Now or Don’t Give Up on Us. The song works because you could imagine it as a love letter not to just one person, but all Sayer’s fans. And ‘It’s cold out, but hold out, and do like I do’ is a nice little punching-the-air moment.

It’s a class line-up performing the track, featuring award-winning composer James Newton Howard on synth, occasional Rolling Stones saxophonist Bobby Keys, Michael Omartian on electric piano, session guitarist Dean Parks on electric guitar, Jeff Porcaro (soon to join Toto) on drums and legendary session bassist Willie Weeks.

After

When I Need You finally got Sayer the number 1 he craved, and became his second US chart-topper too. It was a worldwide hit and also the first of two Perry-produced number 1s in a row. It’s somewhat of a standard, having been covered by Perry Como, Rod Stewart, Celine Dion, Cliff Richard and, erm, Will Mellor. But Sayer’s is the one everyone remembers.

The Outro

Normally at this point I’d run through the rest of Sayer’s career, but as he unexpectedly featured on a number 29 years later, you’ll have to wait. It’s cold out, but hold out.

The Info

Written by

Albert Hammond & Carole Bayer Sager

Producer

Richard Perry

Weeks at number 1

3 (19 February-11 March)

Trivia

Births

2 March: Coldplay singer Chris Martin
9 March: Actress Rita Simons
10 March: Radio DJ Colin Murray

Deaths

19 February: Anthony Crosland

Meanwhile…

22 February: Labour MP David Owen replaces Anthony Crosland as Foreign Secretary after his death three days earlier.

1 March: Prime Minister James Callaghan threatens to withdraw state assistance to British Leyland, insisting they put an end to strike action.

387. Brotherhood of Man – Save Your Kisses for Me (1976)

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The Intro

My, my – 70s record buyers really were partial to cheese, weren’t they? In the week a new band called the Sex Pistols performed at the 100 Club for the first time, family-friendly pop quartet Brotherhood of Man started a six-week stint at number 1 with Save Your Kisses for Me, which not only became the biggest seller of the year, it also won the Eurovision Song Contest.

Before

Brotherhood of Man originally sprung from the mind of songwriter and producer Tony Hiller. Formed in 1969, he intended on a revolving door of session singers and the first line-up featured Tony Burrows (later the singer on Edison Lighthouse’s Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)), John Goodison (who also wrote early material for Brotherhood of Man), Roger Greenaway (later the co-writer of The New Seekers’ I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)) and Sue Glover and Sunny Lee. As Sue and Sunny they were backing singers on Joe Cocker’s version of With a Little Help from My Friends.

Debut single Love One Another didn’t dent the charts but United We Stand (written by Goodison and Hiller) was a number 10 smash in 1970. Burrows left soon after and Where Are You Going to My Love, which peaked at 22, was their last hit in six years. Goodison left in early 1971 and was replaced by US singer Hal Atkinson, then Greenaway followed soon after and was replaced by Russell Stone. They split when their record label Deram dropped them in 1972.

Undeterred, Hiller decided to install another line-up. He opted for singers Martin Lee, Nicky Stevens and Lee Sheriden. Lee and Sheriden were already writers for Hiller but displayed singing abilities, and Stevens was a session singer and had been searching for solo stardom. Their first single was scheduled for the end of the year but when they found out David Cassidy was releasing his version, it was pulled. First two singles Happy Ever After and Our World of Love bombed in 1973. Soon after Sandra Stevens joined Brotherhood of Man. She had been a big-band singer and performed with Eve Graham of The New Seekers in the group The Nocturnes.

They signed to Pye offshoot Dawn and their first single for them, When Love Catches Up on You in 1974, didn’t chart. Bar some European success with Lady the same year and Kiss Me Kiss Your Baby in 1975, this incarnation of the group looked to be going the same way as the first. Hiller wanted to harness and maintain that success abroad and bring it on home, so entering the Eurovision Song Contest was the perfect solution.

Save Your Kisses for Me had been written by Sheriden back in 1974 originally. When presented to the others, they found the title a little clumsy and it was changed to Oceans of Love. Sheriden wasn’t best pleased and it was shelved but when it came to recording the album Love and Kisses from Brotherhood of Man, they needed one more track. Come recording day it was decided it would work better if Lee sang lead instead.

Review

Save Your Kisses for Me draws up immediate comparisons with Dawn’s Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree. Lightweight, slushy and catchy as hell. I prefer Brotherhood of Man, if I had to pick, because the chorus really gets under my skin. It’s impossible to hear without the image of the foursome standing in line doing that ridiculous dance, hands on waists, raising their feet. It’s certainly no Tiger Feet.

And then of course there’s the twist in the lyric, which makes any enjoyment of this song even more of a guilty pleasure. Throughout you’re given the impression Lee is splitting up with someone, and seemingly couldn’t give a fuck as he’s happy as can be. But then at the end, the killer blow, right after the final chorus: ‘Won’t you save them for me/Even though you’re only three.’

What?! Wait, don’t panic. Though it’s easy, considering the decade, to take a cheap shot and imagine Lee is yet another 70s pop star paedophile, he’s talking about his child! Very sweet – but way too sickly. The way it wraps up is horrible, and reminds me of Gilbert O’Sullivan’s Clair. Seeing it at number 1 week after week on repeats of Top of the Pops was bad enough, so I consider myself lucky I wasn’t around at the time.

After

Save Your Kisses for Me went to number 1 a fortnight before Eurovision. Brotherhood of Man were first up on that fateful night, 3 April at The Hague in the Netherlands. I was going to make a jokey link about the fact it’s where war crimes are judged so it seems appropriate but it doesn’t quite work.

To say it went well is an understatement. According to John Kennedy O’Connor’s The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History, it is the biggest selling single for a winning entry in the contest’s history. It also holds the record for the highest relative score under the voting system introduced in 1975 (which has been used in every contest since), with an average of 9.65 points per jury. Mindboggling.

The Outro

Brotherhood of Man would return to number 1 a year later with, ironically, a complete rip-off of the song that would finally topple Save Your Kisses For Me.

The Info

Written by

Tony Hiller, Lee Sheriden & Martin Lee

Producer

Tony Hiller

Weeks at number 1

6 (27 March-7 May) *BEST-SELLING SINGLE OF THE YEAR*

Trivia

Births

10 April: Actress Clare Buckfield
15 April: Olympic rower Steve Williams
18 April: Actor Sean Maguire

Deaths

22 April: Novelist Colin MacInnnes/Comedian Sid James (see below)
28 April: Novelist Richard Hughes
7 May: Writer Alison Uttley

Meanwhile…

5 April: Labour MPs voted Foreign Secretary James Callaghan as their new leader and the Prime Minister. He defeated Roy Jenkins and Michael Foot in the leadership contest. Callaghan had been endorsed by outgoing leader Harold Wilson.

9 April: Young Liberals president Peter Hain is cleared of stealing £490 from a branch of Barclays Bank.

26 April: Much-loved comedy actor and Carry On actor Sid James dies of a heart attack on stage at the Sunderland Empire Theatre while performing in The Mating Season. Many in the audience initially mistake it as being part of the show.

1 May: Second division team Southampton FC win their first major trophy in their 91-year history when a goal from Bobby Stokes gives them a surprise 1–0 win over Manchester United in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium.

4 May: Liverpool FC win the Football League title for the ninth time with a 3–1 away win over relegated Wolverhampton Wanderers.

6 May: Local council elections produce disappointing results for the Labour Party, who win 15 seats and lose 829, compared to the Conservatives who win 1,044 new seats and lose 22. This setback comes despite the party enjoying a narrow lead in the opinion polls under new leader Callaghan.