Chris Wood

1. Equals – Baby Come Back
2. OC Smith – Son of Hickory Holler’s Tramp
3. Des O’Connor – I Pretend
4. Cupid’s Inspiration – Yesterday Has Gone
5. The Rolling Stones – Jumpin’ Jack Flash
6. Donovan – Hurdy Gurdy Man
7. Marmalade – Lovin’ Things
8. Manfred Mann – My Name is Jack
9. Ohio Express – Yummy Yummy Yummy
10. Don Partridge – Blue Eyes
11. Tommy James and The Shondells – Mony Mony
12. Richard Harris – MacArthur Park
13. Union Gap – Young Girl
14. John Rowles – Hush.. Not A Word To Mary
15. Esther And Abi Ofarim – One More Dance
16. Julie Driscoll and The Brian Auger Trinity – This Wheel’s On Fire
17. The Monkees – D.W. Washburn
18. The Crazy World of Arthur Brown – Fire
19. Dionne Warwick – Do You Know the Way to San Jose?
20. Bobby Goldsboro – Honey

1. Two Little Boys – Rolf Harris
2. Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town - Kenny Rogers and The First Edition
3. Sugar, Sugar – The Archies
4. Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley
5. Melting Pot - Blue Mink
6. Yester-me, Yester-you, Yesterday - Stevie Wonder
7. All I Have To Do Is Dream - Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell
8. Winter World of Love – Engelbert Humperdinck
9. Tracy – Cufflinks
10. Without Love (There is Nothing) – Tom Jones
11. The Onion Song – Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
12. Good Old Rock ‘N’ Roll – The Dave Clark Five
13. Durham Town (The Leavin’) – Roger Whittaker
14. (Call Me) Number One – The Tremeloes
15. Love Is All – Malcolm Roberts
16. The Liquidator – Harry J All-Stars
17. But You Love Me, Daddy – Jim Reeves
18. Loneliness – Des O’Connor
19. Green River – Creedence Clearwater Revivial
20. Nobody’s Child – Karen Young

[retuneThoughts]

For me this chart is incredibly enjoyable because of its diversity, but it starts and ends with me wanting to murder small children. And to be fair, there’s a fair bit of it in the middle too.

Let’s get the child-murdering songs out of the way first.

Nobody’s Child is just overly saccharin for me. And I really don’t understand why a blind kid is so worked up about not having a dad smile at him. He’s blind, he wouldn’t know. I do have a vague recollection of seeing an interview with Ringo Starr where he said he used to sing that song to his mum to make her cry.

But You Love Me, Daddy. Well, what can I say? I just want to find that kid from America’s South and accidentally run him over with a steamroller. Repeatedly. He can’t even sing – and no, that’s not endearing!

Two Little Boys I can just about forgive on two counts. Firstly,  Rolf’s from Perth in Western Australia, as is my wife, so there’s a bit of pride in him being a son of WA. But secondly I can’t listen to this song without laughing about a skit I once heard on my dad’s old cassettes of the radio comedy I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again. If you want re-enact it yourself, just beep out the words “boys”, “toys”, “horse” and “played” and the song takes on a whole new meaning!

Moving on to some of the gems, Without Love confirms to me that Tom Jones should be considered right up there with Elvis. That’s probably something controversial for somebody of my age to say when he was a bit of a joke for most of the 80s,  but boy can he sing. You got to love a song with a talkover as the lead-in though. “The wisdom of a fooooooooool..”

The Liquidator is one of those songs I’ve known forever, but never known what it was called or who it was by! Nice to get that fixed.

Durham Town is a song I really, really tried hard not to like. My mum used to listen to a Roger Whittaker tape in her car and I always found it the most dull thing I’d ever heard. And so much bloody whistling! Despite all that, this was the song I couldn’t shake out of my brain for days!

Another artist that’s completely underrated by people of my generation is Stevie Wonder. I guess people find it just too hard to get past I Just Called to Say ‘I Love You’. But his pre-80s stuff is just golden, and Yester-me, Yester-you, Yeterday definitely fits into that category.

Elvis. ‘Nuff said.

[retuneNews]

1 January
ICY DIP FOR NEW YEAR REVELLERS
Thousands of London’s New Year revellers thronged Trafalgar Square last night to welcome in the 1970s. It was colder than usual in the fountains but dozens of teenagers danced in the spray. At midnight hundreds of balloons soared into the air together with the odd rocket and fancy hats and the bewildered pigeons.

1 January
FLU SHOWING SIGNS OF EASING
Although the National Health Service executive council for east Suffolk said doctors were working under the heaviest pressure for 40 years and the situation was pretty grim there were a few general indications yesterday of the beginning of an improvement in the influenza position.

2 January
JENKINS SCRAPS THE £50 RESTRICTION ON FOREIGN TRAVEL
The Treasury last night abolished the £50 yearly limit for travel abroad. Travellers are allowed £300 in foreign exchange and £25 in sterling, with no limit on the number of journeys.

2 January
LONDON TRANSPORT PLANS THIRD NEW TUBE LINE
A third new Tube line across London, provisionally known as the Wimbledon Line, is being planned by London Transport to follow the Victoria and Fleet lines in the late 1970s.

3 January
FRENCH WEAPONS FOR IRAQ
France is understood to be pursuing arms trade with Iraq while at the same time attempting to tighten the embargo on deliveries to Israel. The trade with Iraq, on which documentary evidence became available today, appeared to be based on France’s rather elastic definition of who is a belligerent in the Middle East.

3 January
AVERAGE HOLIDAY COST £20
A profile of the British on holiday – how much they spend, where they go, and why – has been published by the British Tourist Authority. Coincidentally with Thursday’s announcement from the Treasury, the survey predicts a rise in holidays abroad “when the current restrictions are relaxed” and states that the curb on travel spending has not prevented many people from taking foreign holidays.

1. Poor Me – Adam Faith
2. Running Bear – Johnny Preston
3. Slow Boat to China – Emile Ford and the Checkmates
4. Why - Anthony Newley
5. Summer Set – Mr Acker Bilk and his Paramount Jazz Band
6. Pretty Blue Eyes – Craig Douglas
7. You Got What It Takes – Marv Johnson
8. Delaware - Perry Como
9. La Mer (Beyond the Sea) – Bobby Darin
10. Voice in the Wilderness – Cliff Richard and The Shadows
11. Be Mine (Alle Machden Wollen Kussen) - Lance Fortune
12. Way Down in New Orleans – Freddy Cannon
13. Bonnie Come Back – Duane Eddy
14. Starry Eyed – Michael Holliday
15. Royal Event – Russ Conway
16. Theme from “A Summer’s Place” – Percy Faith
17. Who Could Be Bluer – Jerry Lordan
18. Harbour Lights – Platters
19. Let It Be Me – Everly Brothers
20. What in the World’s Come Over You – Jack Scott

[retuneThoughts]
What’s cool about this set of songs is that you can immediately pretend you’re in the middle of an episode of Mad Men. It also a perfect example of why I love listening to this kind of stuff: the songs are simple but impress. No gimmicks.

I’ve got to admit to being instantly grabbed by the harmonies of the Everly Brothers and Let It Be Me has been kicking around my head for the last few days. You can really hear how they influenced Simon and Garfunkel’s vocal style. Reading around, the Everly Brothers recorded an album of songs written by the Hollies in 1966 called Two Yanks in England which I’ll certainly be checking out on Spotify!

As for Delaware, I know should probably be cringing, but the word-play is kind of clever for its time.

And count the number of instrumentals in this chart! I can’t remember the last time I heard one instrumental in a more modern chart!

[retuneNews]
5 March
100 HOURS OF U.S. FILIBUSTER
The Senate has now broken two records in its civil rights “talkathon” as the filibuster is now called. By this afternoon it had been in session for more than 100 hours except for one 15-minute recess, and no end or compromise seemed to be in sight.

7 March
UNITY ON BERLIN
For the first time for years Soviet representatives attended the Social Democratic Party conference in west Berlin yesterday together with observers of the western Powers. Party officials interpreted this as proof of how interested the Kremlin was in the policy of the Opposition.

8 March
STEP TOWARDS BETTER HOSPITAL ACCIDENT SERVICES
A major advance towards the thorough overhaul of Britain’s hospital accident services was announced yesterday. With the formation of a standing committee representative of surgeons, physicians and general practitioners, the medical profession have taken the first really practical step towards the call first made by the British Medical Association in 1935 to streamline the accident service.

9 March
NO HANDSHAKES WITH AFRICANS
Cape Town – White officials of the Department of African Education have been instructed not to greet Africans in European fashion by shaking hands, but according to the relevant African custom of raising the right hand.

10 March
ROYAL MARRIAGE ON MAY 6
It is announced from Clarence House that the marriage of Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret and Mr. Antony Armstrong-Jones will be solemnized at Westminster Abbey on the morning of Friday, 6th May, at 11.30 o’clock. The Duke of Edinburgh will give Princess Margaret away. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Fisher, will officiate at the service.