Well would you look at that…we’ve been at this for 25-sped up years! Happy quarter century 4xlife!
Songs of the month
- [new] “”#9 Dream”” – John Lennon
- “Angie Baby” – Helen Reddy
- [new] “Best Of My Love” – Eagles
- [new] “Black Water” – Doobie Brothers
- “Boogie On Reggae Woman” – Stevie Wonder
- “Bungle In The Jungle” – Jethro Tull
- “Cats In The Cradle” – Harry Chapin
- “Dancin’ Fool” – Guess Who
- “Dark Horse” – George Harrison
- “Doctor’s Orders” – Carol Douglas
- “Fire” – Ohio Players
- [new] “Free Bird” – Lynyrd Skynyrd
- [new] “From His Woman To You” – Barbara Mason
- [new] “Get Dancin’” – Disco Tex & The Sex-O-Lettes
- [new] “I Feel A Song” – Gladys Knight & The Pips
- [new] “Junior’s Farm” – Paul Mccartney & Wings
- “Kung Fu Fighting” – Carl Douglas
- “Laughter In The Rain” – Neil Sedaka
- [new] “Lonely People” – America
- [new] “Look In My Eyes Pretty Woman” – Tony Orlando & Dawn
- “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” – Elton John
- “Mandy” – Barry Manilow
- [new] “Morning Side Of The Mountain” – Donny & Marie Osmond
- [new] “Must Have Got Lost” – J. Geils Band
- “Never Can Say Goodbye” – Gloria Gaynor
- [new] “Nightingale” – Carole King
- “One Man Woman One Woman Man” – Paul Anka & Odia Coates
- “Only You” – Ringo Starr
- “Pick Up The Pieces” – Average White Band
- “Please Mr. Postman” – Carpenters
- [new] “Ready” – Cat Stevens
- “Ride ’em Cowboy” – Paul Davis
- [new] “Rock N Roll” – Mac Davis
- “Sha-La-La” – Al Green
- “Some Kind Of Wonderful” – Grand Funk
- [new] “Struttin’” – Billy Preston
- [new] “Sweet Surrender” – John Denver
- “When Will I See You Again” – Three Degrees
- “You Got The Love” – Rufus Ft Chaka Khan
- [new] “You’re No Good / I Can’t Help It” – Linda Ronstadt
- [new] “You’re The First The Last My Everything” – Barry White
- [new] “Your Bulldog Drinks Chanpagne” – Jim Stafford
[new] = New to the chart this week.
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.
This month in history
On January 6, 1975, television history was made when daytime audiences were introduced to Wheel of Fortune on NBC in the USA. Created by media mogul Merv Griffin and inspired by the classic children’s game Hangman, the original daytime version was hosted by Chuck Woolery with Susan Stafford turning the letters.The unique blend of word puzzles and a giant roulette wheel instantly captivated viewers, kicking off a television dynasty that remains an iconic staple of global media culture.
On January 20, Bob Dylan released his 15th studio album, Blood on the Tracks, which is widely celebrated as one of his absolute masterpieces. Marking a creative rebirth, the album traded his political anthems for a cycle of deeply personal, raw, and narrative-driven tracks like “Tangled Up in Blue” and “Simple Twist of Fate.” Heavily tied by critics to the unraveling of his marriage, the record’s cynical yet vulnerable examination of love and heartbreak became the definitive sonic blueprint for mid-70s confessional singer-songwriters.
Broadway underwent a vibrant, high-energy transformation on January 5, 1975, when The Wiz officially opened at the Majestic Theatre. A groundbreaking, soul-and-funk musical adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the production featured an all-Black cast and a powerhouse soundtrack boasting numbers like “Ease on Down the Road.” This vibrant re-imagining blew critics and theatergoers away, eventually taking home seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and establishing a lasting legacy that deeply influenced urban fashion, theater representation, and 70s dance music.
What’d Sadie think?
It’s two weeks at the top for Elton John’s “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” , then Barry Manilow’s “Mandy” gets a week before “Please Mr. Postman” by the Carpenters does likewise.
So, now we’ve been at this for 25-accelerated years, rather than breaking down all the new songs by our reaction to them every week, we’re going to move to focus on some specific observations, or interesting facts, about a few of the stand-outs, whether they’re new or have been charting for a while.
“Please Mr. Postman” is a fun one to have reappear in the charts as a cover. We first heard it in 1961 when the Marvelettes did the original. This was also the version that Sadie’s Ballet class used for their 2025 end-of-year performance. Now we have a Carpenters cover charting, which will often have Sadie race to us to do some of the choreography, very cute!
I’ve got a soft-spot for the Eagles myself, my dad had a couple of their albums that played on repeat during my youth. An interesting story on that…
“Best of My Love” was recorded at Olympic Studios in London. The Eagles had begun working on On the Border with producer Glyn Johns who had helmed their Eagles debut album and the follow-up Desperado album. Despite the success of their debut album the Eagles were unhappy over Johns’ preference for country rock and toning down their own rock aspirations, and their dissatisfaction with Johns was reinforced by the similarly honed Desperado album which was a comparative failure and Johns’ no-drug policy during the recording.
“Cats In The Cradle” by Harry Chapin caught both Emily and I by surprise…in the sense that we had both thought it was a Cat Stevens song. Of course, he’s on the charts also right now and has a similarly themed song, “Father and Son” but this one isn’t him. I was sort of relieved to find it may be a fairly common “mandela effect” (shared cultural delusion) as documented on Reddit and various other forums.
Also of interest this week is Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” which I knew more from its memetic status than the song itself. As a forum poster explains, “Decades before the internet, it became an inside joke for concertgoers to shout ‘Play Free Bird!’ to musicians, even at shows where it made absolutely no sense (like a jazz, classical, or hip-hop gig). This was immortalized as the ultimate trope of an annoying or persistent audience member”. It’s a better meme than song in my opinion, but that’s what defines pop culture!
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.