Category Archives: throwback weekends

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Song of the Day #6,552: ‘Barefootin” – Robert Parker

The week of June 14, 1966, found so many repeats atop the Billboard Hot 100 that I have to go all the way to #7 to find a song I haven’t already featured.

Let me first take a deep breath and run down the top six: ‘Paint it Black‘ by The Rolling Stones, ‘Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind‘ by The Lovin’ Spoonful, ‘I Am a Rock‘ by Simon and Garfunkel, ‘When a Man Loves a Woman‘ by Percy Sledge, ‘Strangers in the Night‘ by Frank Sinatra, a ‘A Groovy Kind of Love‘ by The Mindbenders.

Hell of a lineup.

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Song of the Day #6,551: ‘Standing On the Corner’ – The Four Lads

Throwing back to the week of June 13, 1956, we find Gogi Grant’s ‘The Wayward Wind‘ at #1 and Morris Stoloff’s ‘Moonglow and Theme from Picnic‘ right behind it. This was the week ‘The Wayward Wind’ bounced Elvis Presley’s ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ from its seven-week run in the top spot.

‘Heartbreak Hotel’ dropped all the way to #4, falling behind The Four Lads’ recording of ‘Standing On the Corner,’ a tune from the Broadway musical The Most Happy Fella.

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Song of the Day #6,545: ‘I Can’t Wait’ – Nu Shooz

A trio of holdovers topped the Billboard Hot 100 the week of June 7, 1986. They were, in order, Madonna’s ‘Live To Tell,’ Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald’s ‘On My Own,’ and Whitney Houston’s ‘Greatest Love of All.’

In the #4 slot is the first (and likely last) appearance on this blog by Nu Shooz, a husband-wife pop duo that had one big U.S. hit: ‘I Can’t Wait.’ This song is actually a synth-pop remix of the duo’s original R&B recording.

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Song of the Day #6,544: ‘Silly Love Songs’ – Wings

Throwing back to the week of June 6, 1976, we find Wings atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Silly Love Songs,’ the band’s third #1 song in the U.S. This was Paul McCartney’s 27th #1 hit in America as a songwriter, setting a record that he holds to this day (the number is now 32).

Written as a response to critics (and his old pal John Lennon) who called his music sappy, ‘Silly Love Songs’ leans unapologetically into the corn. And it paid off, spending five weeks atop the chart and becoming the #1 overall song of 1976. That made McCartney the first artist to have the #1 overall song with two different bands.

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Song of the Day #6,538: ‘Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?’ – The Lovin’ Spoonful

A trio of repeats topped the Billboard Hot 100 the week of May 31, 1966: Percy Sledge’s ‘When a Man Loves a Woman,’ The Mindbenders’ ‘A Groovy Kind of Love,’ and The Rolling Stones’ ‘Paint It Black.’

At #4, on its way to a peak at #2, was The Lovin’ Spoonful’s ‘Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?’ This gentle rocker was the band’s fourth of seven straight singles to reach the top 10 of the chart (only these guys and Gary Lewis and the Playboys had that many consecutive top ten hits to start their career).

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