Throwing back to the week of November 1, 1955, we have a quintet of repeat offenders atop the Billboard chart. At #6, jumping up from #12 the previous week and on its way to a peak at #2, is Gale Storm’s recording of ‘I Hear You Knocking.’
Storm was an actress and singer who had success performing on film, television, and radio in addition to her music career. She is one of 30 artists with three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (hers are for television, radio, and music).
Before getting to this week’s featured Throwback Weekend selection, I have to note that I missed by one week my chance to highlight what is perhaps my all-time favorite song: A-Ha’s ‘Take On Me.’ That track enjoyed its one and only week atop the Billboard Hot 100 on the week ending October 19, 1985.
Of course, ‘Take On Me’ has already shown up on the blog in many different forms, so I would have ended up writing about the #2 song anyway. And that happens to be the song that replaced ‘Take On Me’ at #1 the following week — Whitney Houston’s ‘Saving All My Love For You.’
Throwing back to the week of October 25, 1975, we find Neil Sedaka and John Denver holding on to the top two spots of the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Bad Blood‘ and ‘I’m Sorry,’ respectively.
At #3, where it peaked, was Jefferson Starship’s ‘Miracles,’ a soft rock song inspired by the teachings of an Indian guru. The album version of the song ran nearly seven minutes and was trimmed to half that length for radio play (conveniently omitting the lyric “I had a taste of the real world when I went down on you, girl”).
The Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’ still claimed the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 the week of October 19, 1965. Just behind it was ‘Treat Her Right,’ the debut single by Roy Head and the Traits.
Written by Head and bassist Gene Kurtz, this two-minute blast of blue-eyed soul was an instant hit, missing out on #1 only because it was up against The Beatles’ classic. ‘Treat Her Right’ went on to be covered by a laundry list of performers, including Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Otis Redding, Jimmy Page, and Mae West.
Throwing back to the week of October 18, 1955, we find the usual batch of repeats in the top four (including The Four Aces and The Four Lads in the #1 and #2 spots, respectively). And at #5 is one of the strangest hits I’ve covered yet.
‘The Shifting Whispering Sands’ is a Western song that combines spoken-word poetry and choral singing. Over the years it has been recorded by many artists, including Johnny Cash and Lorne Greene, but the most popular was this version by Billy Vaughn and His Orchestra.
Meet Me In Montauk 