A Montreal-based group that was active from 1964-74 and had a couple big hits in 1971. “Fly Little White Dove Fly” was top 10 in Canada and managed a #95 on the Hot 100.
“Stay Awhile” was a different story it went to #1 in Canada and #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as charting in Australia and New Zealand.
Interestingly the renowned pianist Floyd Cramer covered this song as an instrumental and it appears on his album Class of ’71.
Most will know this was a cover of The Everly Brothers tune from 1960, written by Phil Everly, it peaked at #8 the week ending July 24th.
Linda Ronstadt was stopped at #2 as she ran up against “Love Will Keep Us Together” by Captain & Tennille; which was a #1 song for four weeks. Coincidentally it was also a cover song, this time from Neil Sedaka (1973).
The same year (1975) there was another notable song to peak at #2; “I’m Not In Love” from 10cc.
It entered the Billboard chart the week ending June 2, 1973 and was stopped at #2 by “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” by Jim Croce for the week ending July 28th. The song also peaked at #2 in the UK.
“Yesterday Once More” was written by Richard Carpenter with his frequent collaborator, the lyrist and songwriter John Bettis. There are currently 145 versions including many instrumentals.
Here is an excellent cover and might I say slightly more lively than most by Redd Kross whose debut album came out way back in 1980. This version was recorded for the tribute album If I Were a Carpenter from 1994.
In 1973 the song peaked at #2 on The Hot 100 behind the Carpenters “Top of the World” for one week and then the following week by “The Most Beautiful Girl” from Charlie Rich.
This was not the only song that stalled at #2 in 1973 for Elton John, “Daniel” was stopped by Paul McCartney with “My Love”. In 1988 “I Don’t Want to Go On with You Like That” also stopped at #2.
There are 135 versions and I am not aware of anyone that charted the song.
These two songs placed #1 on the *Best Selling Soul Singles (R&B) weekly charts and stood out for me (on the #2’s list) because I bet I’m not alone in still listening to them: “Mr. Big Stuff” by Jean Knight and “Spanish Harlem” by Aretha Franklin, both from 1971.
“Spanish Harlem” was a cover of Ben E King’s original hit song, and Aretha peaked at #2 with her version and was #49 at year-end on Billboard’s Hot 100. Her song was stopped by “Go Away Little Girl” from Donny Osmond, (you just can’t make this stuff up!).
“Mr. Big Stuff” finished the year (1971) at #1 on the Best Selling Soul Singles (R&B) year-end charts but peaked at #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 weekly charts and ended the year at #18. It was held back by the Bee Gees first American #1 song “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart”.
“Mr. Big Stuff” was released by Stax Records and written by Joseph Broussard, Carrol Washington and Tony Clarke. There are only 23 versions of this song, perhaps because it’s just too distinctive to attempt. However enough of the song was used by Heavy D. & The Boyz (1986) to be classified as a ‘Cover’ as it used too much of the song to be called a ‘Sample’. The video has a long lead in but it’s pretty entertaining.
“Spanish Harlem” was written by Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector. Aretha had changed the “red rose” lyrics to “There’s a rose in Black ‘n Spanish Harlem. A rose in Black ‘n Spanish Harlem.” There were over twenty versions between the original and Aretha’s and the song now has 196 recordings, which includes many dozen’s of instrumentals.
Cliff Richard covered this song in 1962 and also recorded it German “Das Ist Die Frage Aller Fragen”.
*From August 23, 1969, the Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart was renamed to Best Selling Soul Singles. It was changed to Hot Black Singles in late June of 1982. Typically we say R&B charts and I think most people understand the reference as there have been a dozen changes over the years. The next name was Hot R&B Singles, then Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and now it’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
Personally I think if we have the Hot 100, why they did not go with the Hip 100 is a mystery to me. Yes I know the think-tanks will be lining up to ask my advice – not.
More to read about at Music Mondays by Leon.
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