My apologies to daily commenter Dana, who thought he dodged a bullet when this song’s Throwback Weekend feature was passed up for a special 6,000th Song of the Day post a couple of weeks ago.
But no, Duran Duran’s ‘The Wild Boys’ was still at #2 on the Hot 100 the week of December 22, 1984. It sat behind Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin,’ which has already been covered on the blog.
Throwing back to the week of December 21, 1974, we find Harry Chapin atop the Billboard Hot 100 with his father-son saga ‘Cat’s in the Cradle.’
This was the only #1 of Chapin’s career, and in fact his only appearance in the top 20. It spent one week in the top spot just before Christmas.
This song started out as a poem written by Chapin’s wife, Sandy. She based it on the estranged relationship between her former husband and father-in-law.
The week of December 15, 1964, saw The Supremes atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Come See About Me.’ This was the third of five consecutive #1 hits the trio released between 1964 and 1965.
The song would lose its top position to The Beatles’ ‘I Feel Fine’ the following week, then win it back from the Fab Four in January of 1965.
Throwing back to the week of December 14, 1954, we find The Chordettes’ ‘Mister Sandman’ still dominating the charts. But in second place, on its way to a four-week stint at #1, was Joan Weber’s ‘Let Me Go, Lover.’
The song became popular after it was featured on a television show called Studio One, in an episode about a murder mystery involving a disc jockey. The producers took advantage of the show’s reach to push the song into stores and radio stations, one of the earliest examples of that sort of cross-promotion.
Throwing back to the week of December 7, 1974, we find Jamaican/British singer Carl Douglas atop the Billboard Hot 100 with a classic one-hit wonder, ‘Kung Fu Fighting.’
This disco ditty topped the charts in multiple countries and sold more than 11 million copies worldwide, tapping into growing fandom for both disco music and karate movies.
I guess it’s appropriate that today’s post follows one that mentioned offensive Asian caricatures in Disney movies, because, as The Big Lebowski‘s Walter Sobchak will tell you, “Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature.”
Meet Me In Montauk 