The week of Nov. 3, 1964, found The Supremes atop the Billboard Hot 100 with their classic ‘Baby Love.’ I posted that song way back at Song of the Day #339, early on in a Motown Weekends series.
At #2 was J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers’s ‘Last Kiss,’ a recording of a song originally released a few years earlier by the song’s writer, Wayne Cochran. While that version stalled out on the charts, this one did quite well.
Throwing back to the week of Nov. 2, 1954, we find a familiar trio hanging on at the top three of Billboard’s singles chart: Eddie Fisher’s ‘I Need You Now‘ and two Rosemary Clooney tracks, ‘Hey There‘ and ‘This Ole House.’
At #4 that week was Perry Como’s ‘Papa Loves Mambo,’ a tune that capitalized on a nationwide interest in the Cuban dance music style.
We nearly had a Stevie Wonder two-fer this weekend, as the #1 song the week of October 27, 1984, was his ‘I Just Called to Say I Love You.’
But I featured that insipid track a week ago, so it’s just one Stevie Wonder song (a much better one) this weekend. Still, it’s impressive that Wonder was able to hold the #1 spot on the same week a decade apart.
Throwing back to the week of October 26, 1974, we find Dionne Warwick atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Then Came You,’ covered here a couple of weeks ago.
At #2 was Stevie Wonder’s political screed ‘You Haven’t Done Nothin’.’ which would reach the top spot the following week before dropping out of the top ten. Wonder was backed up on this track by the Jackson 5, whom he calls out by name after the second and third choruses.
English rock band Manfred Mann held the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 the week of October 20, 1964, with ‘Do Wah Diddy Diddy,’ a song I think I first heard when Bill Murray marches to it in Stripes.
‘Do Wah Diddy Diddy’ started its life as ‘Do-Wah-Diddy,’ a 1963 release by the vocal group The Exciters. That version peaked at #78 before the white boys claimed it and took it to the top of the charts.
