Throwing back to the week of June 21, 1975, we find the husband and wife duo Captain & Tennille atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Love Will Keep Us Together,’ their debut single.
The track is a faithful cover of a Neil Sedaka song released a couple of years earlier. Toni Tennille gives a nod to Sedaka in the final seconds, singing “Sedaka is back” over the fade-out.
The week of June 15, 1965, found The Four Tops at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch).’ It was the first of two #1s for the group, followed by ‘Reach Out I’ll Be There’ a year later.
In the #2 spot that week was The Byrds’ recording of Bob Dylan’s ‘Mr. Tambourine Man,’ the first single from the band’s album of the same name. The Byrds were so keen to tackle the song that their version was recorded before Dylan’s was even released (they had heard an early take).
Throwing back to the week of May 14, 1955, we find the country in the throes of Davy Crockett mania. That week, not one but two versions of ‘The Ballad of Davy Crockett’ made it to the top five.
Slots one through three were taken by songs familiar by now to anyone reading this blog: Perez Pablo’s ‘Cherry Pink & Apple Blossom White,‘ Georgia Gibbs’ ‘Dance With Me Henry (Wallflower),’ and Les Baxter’s ‘Unchained Melody.’ And in the fourth spot was the most popular version of ‘The Ballad of Davy Crocket,’ recorded by Bill Hayes.
A trio of songs I mentioned a couple of weeks ago were still crowding the top of the Hot 100 the week of June 8, 1985: Tears For Fears’ ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World,’ Wham!’s ‘Everything She Wants,’ and Harold Faltermeyer’s ‘Axel F.’
At #4 that week was Billy Ocean’s ‘Suddenly,’ the title track of his fifth — and most successful — album.
Throwing back to the week of June 7, 1975, we find John Denver atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Thank God I’m a Country Boy.’ The song hit #1 on the country chart the week before, making it one of six songs to top both charts that year (I covered another of them, Freddy Fender’s ‘Before the Next Teardrop Falls,’ just a couple of weeks ago).
This was Denver’s third #1 hit of four total in his career. All four came between 1973 and 1975. It also reached #1 in Canada and, go figure, Yugoslavia.
