DLT told a whopper about Gill from Legs & Co in that clip above. She was neither 17 nor 43 the day before. She was 20, and therefore it's her 55th birthday tomorrow.
Interesting! I don't recall seeing the programme at the time but I do remember people saying that "Brass In Pocket" had been helped up the charts.
Maybe a couple of years later I'm sure there was a similar programme looking at inducements to sales such as giving away freebies with singles like posters, badges etc. in order to boost sales.
Record pluggers also used to aggressively badger radio stations to get their records played on air. Music journalists came under similar fire (or inducements like a free lunch and free-flowing booze) to give certain artists favourable reviews.
Re the YouTube link to the World In Action programme on chart 'hyping',
At around 20 mins, they're asking the woman for examples of records which she knows have been hyped, and she briefly mentions 'Bang Bang' by B A Robertson. Then at 21 mins, we hear that "John Fruin is managing director of WEA records..." - and immediately, I think of the line in Bang Bang that goes, "life was in a ruin, she loved Johnny Fruin"! ...and Aha! One of pop's great lyrical mysteries is finally solved! (well, I think so, maybe, perhaps?)
There is no quick way of transferring tapes to digital unfortunately. It all has to be done in real time, which means a lot of time.
Oh I have the time (I say that. I am the world's worst procrastinator so probably have more important things I should be getting on with instead), just not sure of the right technical bits and bobs I need.
Dipstick! The 19th April the poster Bodegg is referring to is this weeks missed out edition of TOTP!
I have Record Store Day on the brain at the moment as it's tomorrow (19th April) and it's been mentioned a lot on 6Music this week. I took the word 'edition' to mean the special re-releases on vinyl for the day. This is what happens when your mind is on current events.
I'm afraid I wouldn't be so au fait with original TOTP air dates in April 1979 as it was before I born.
Something that is confusing me - I thought TOTP was 30 mins long. Am I wrong? Was it always longer? Did it change at some point? Was it ever an hour long (not the specials)? This is just the sort of childhood memory which could be totally mistook.
Something that is confusing me - I thought TOTP was 30 mins long. Am I wrong? Was it always longer? Did it change at some point? Was it ever an hour long (not the specials)? This is just the sort of childhood memory which could be totally mistook.
I'm not sure about 1979, but in the early 80s I always thought it was
Whether you liked their cover version or not (I don't think they were great at covers, myself, although I do have a copy of their version of Merry Xmas Everyone) it stands that the Gallagher brothers talked about other bands besides the Beatles in interviews when they started out.
Slade's influence can certainly be heard on 'Rock 'n' Roll Star' and 'Up In The Sky' on their first album, 'Definitely Maybe'.
Something that is confusing me - I thought TOTP was 30 mins long. Am I wrong? Was it always longer? Did it change at some point? Was it ever an hour long (not the specials)? This is just the sort of childhood memory which could be totally mistook.
I asked about this last year and the answer I got back was that the TV schedule was a bit more flexible in the mid to late 70s. Depending on what was on afterwards, Top Of The Pops would be on for anything between 30-40 minutes. Being a pre-recorded music show, it was particularly malleable in terms of editing to fit the programme line up.
In the early 80s it switched to being aired live and stuck to 30 minutes there after.
I'm not sure about 1979, but in the early 80s I always thought it was
7pm-7:30pm Tomorrow's World
7:30pm-8pm TOTP
The timings would vary from week to week depending on what programmes were scheduled that particular evening, but a typical Thursday line-up in the late 70s/early 80s would be:
6.55-7.20 Tomorrow's World
7.20-8.00 Top of the Pops
Most of the programmes we are seeing at the moment are 35 minutes long because Blankety Blank started at 7.55 rather than 8.00. I do rather miss those days when programmes didn't always start and finish on nice neat hour and half hours!
TOTP eventually became a fixed 30 minutes in September 1985, when a certain East End soap opera was permanently nailed into the 7.30-8.00 slot, forcing TOTP into the 7.00-7.30 slot.
The timings would vary from week to week depending on what programmes were scheduled that particular evening, but a typical Thursday line-up in the late 70s/early 80s would be:
6.55-7.20 Tomorrow's World
7.20-8.00 Top of the Pops
Most of the programmes we are seeing at the moment are 35 minutes long because Blankety Blank started at 7.55 rather than 8.00. I do rather miss those days when programmes didn't always start and finish on nice neat hour and half hours!
TOTP eventually became a fixed 30 minutes in September 1985, when a certain East End soap opera was permanently nailed into the 7.30-8.00 slot, forcing TOTP into the 7.00-7.30 slot.
I thought the 6:55 start of evening programmes only started with 'The One Show'?
Or when the BBC decided to clash with Emmerdale because of Eastenders?
The timings would vary from week to week depending on what programmes were scheduled that particular evening, but a typical Thursday line-up in the late 70s/early 80s would be:
6.55-7.20 Tomorrow's World
7.20-8.00 Top of the Pops
Most of the programmes we are seeing at the moment are 35 minutes long because Blankety Blank started at 7.55 rather than 8.00. I do rather miss those days when programmes didn't always start and finish on nice neat hour and half hours!
TOTP eventually became a fixed 30 minutes in September 1985, when a certain East End soap opera was permanently nailed into the 7.30-8.00 slot, forcing TOTP into the 7.00-7.30 slot.
This really annoyed me at the time. I never thought a 30 minute TOTP, and it was likely 28 minutes in truth, was anywhere near enough to do justice to a weekly Top 40 of hits, and I recall they began snipping bits off the end of tracks and videos too. For me it was the beginning of sowing the seeds of its eternally long demise.
I thought the 6:55 start of evening programmes only started with 'The One Show'?
Or when the BBC decided to clash with Emmerdale because of Eastenders?
I always recall shows back in the early 80's beginning at 6.55pm on BBC1, such as the nurses drama Angels which I liked when about 12 or 13. I also think the ferry drama Triangle went out at that time too. Plus another quiz that was a must watch but seems incredibly crusty nowadays, Ask The Family with Robert Robinson. All went out at 6.55pm. When Eastenders began in 1985, the long running Wogan chat show began the same week and from that point it began at 7pm. February 1985 was a bit of a watershed, plus they also got rid of the old weather charts with sticky magnets and went computerised the very same week too.
I thought the 6:55 start of evening programmes only started with 'The One Show'?
Or when the BBC decided to clash with Emmerdale because of Eastenders?
Between 1969 and 1983, the preceding programme, Nationwide, had a flexible running time, and could finish any time between 6.45 and 7.00, depending on what programmes were scheduled afterwards.
When Eastenders began in 1985, the long running Wogan chat show began the same week and from that point it began at 7pm. February 1985 was a bit of a watershed, plus they also got rid of the old weather charts with sticky magnets and went computerised the very same week too.
Yes, this was when that the fixed point of 7.00 for the start of the evening's programmes was introduced - the doing of Michael Grade I think, who believed that one reason BBC1 was losing out to ITV at the time was due to its slanted schedules, whereas ITV programmes always started on the hour and half hour.
Before that evening programmes had been starting at 6.55 since Sep 1984, 6.40 during the Sixty Minutes era of 1983-84, and variable during the Nationwide era.
Very amused to hear the guy at 12:00 stating that, whereas in the past record companies would give artists 3-4 albums to have a hit, record companies now wanted immediate success-exactly the same allegation made today when comparing to how patient record companies were in the 1980s! Just shows how history can be viewed through rose-tinted glasses.
Very amused to hear the guy at 12:00 stating that, whereas in the past record companies would give artists 3-4 albums to have a hit, record companies now wanted immediate success-exactly the same allegation made today when comparing to how patient record companies were in the 1980s! Just shows how history can be viewed through rose-tinted glasses.
I remember watching that World In Action programme at the time. WEA were the main focus of the programme but it wasn't just WEA who were hyping, all the labels were at it. After that programme BMRB, the compilers of the chart, began to be more strict and started removing more records from the chart if there was a dodgy sales pattern - even Kids In America by Kim Wilde was removed from the chart for a week in February 1981 though it was allowed to chart the following week and went on to become a massive hit - but little changed. I had a Christmas job working in a record shop in December 1981 and because we were a chart return shop the amount of freebies we got was unbelievable.
I managed to increase my record collection massively due to the amount of free stock we got in just the three weeks I worked there... half of the freebies we got didn't sell much but they all went on to chart. I wonder why!
Ah yes I've seen a documentary where the members of Slade talk about how Skinhead culture had an influence on their sound and dress, it was really interesting.
I recall a fellow pupil walking round school with the 'Skinhead Moonstomp' album (released in 1970) tucked under his arm back in 1972 and clearly recall the packaging which you can see if you click on the link below - when I heard the title track many years later it seemed pretty clear where late 70s mod/ska revival acts like the Specials and Selecter got their musical inspiration (while their haircuts and dress code closely resembled those on the sleeve). The opening lines of 'Skinhead Moonstomp' sound similar to those of the 1966 Little Richard single 'Get Down With It' which Slade reworked and later released as 'Get Down And Get With It' adding fresh lines like 'Everybody get your boots on!' - presumably to create an alternative anthem for their target audience of skinheads who favoured rock and roll over Jamaican reggae.
It's a bit redundant me saying so because you will know well enough that that was 'true' skinhead culture unlike the <insert swear word here> that came later in the late 70s/80s.
The racism synonymous with the Oi! movement may well have been anathema to original late sixties skinheads, but I vividly recall watching an episode of the early evening crime drama series 'Softly Softly - Task Force' about racial prejudice soon after my ninth birthday in 1970 in which an Asian male was ambushed at night by a gang of approximately twenty skinheads, forced to hand over his wallet, knocked to the ground and subjected to a violent group kicking which put him in hospital.
I remember Oasis used to count the Sex Pistols and Slade as big influences of theirs around the time of Definitely Maybe which accounts for why that record had a spark the others lacked. There is definitely a link between Slade and Sex Pistols in the way they sounded if nothing else.
Noel Gallagher contributed to the 'It's Slade' documentary in 1999 which has been repeated several times on BBC Four over the past sixteen months. Noddy Holder claimed that when the then unfashionable Slade played a few London gigs in the summer of 1977 two of the Sex Pistols (Paul Cook and Steve Jones) attended one of their shows and came backstage later to meet and socialise with the band.
I recently discovered this rather enjoyable (IMO) clip on YouTube from 'David Frost's End Of The Year Show' in which Slade perform their family-friendly single 'My Oh My' on New Year's Eve 1983. Dave Hill claimed in a TV interview that Jim Lea wrote it hoping to create a singalong that transcended the generational divide a bit like Rod Stewart's version of 'Sailing' and it is noticeable that most of the flailing arms in the auditorium apparently belong to people in their 50s, 60s and 70s. I assume the audible sniggers when 44 year old Frost uses the quaint term 'Hit Parade' as he introduces the song are from younger audience members:
Not strictly TOTP I know, but one of my all time favourite songs is from The Marmalade, Reflections of My Life. I just watched it for the first time on Youtube. It has a montage of the Vietnam war accompanying the song on one of the choices of videos.
I've not seen it before and it is extremely moving, it's quite upset me and I'm wishing I hadn't watched it..........the power of the song in relation to the images is immense.
Lyrically - I think Reflections of my Life is one of the saddest songs ever recorded. I must check out this video. The song is a classic:)
For some reason there were a number of old songs entering the charts of this week in 1979 in the lower end. The Drifters at No69 with Save The Last Dance For Me, also a record that my mum has and bought when it topped the chart in January 1961 from Johnny Tillotson, Poetry In Motion was at No67, another she bought in the late 50's from Teddy Bears, To Know Him Is To Love Him was at No66, A double A sided single from Bobby Darin of his two 1959 chart toppers Dream Lover & Mack The Knife was at No64, and Chris Montez was at No53 with Let's Dance.
Why?
None of them got too much higher, unlike the re-releases of old tracks did in the mid to late 80's.
I don't think it topped the chart Richie. Number 2 or 3 unless I am mistaken. However.... my parents also bought this single and as a toddler/ pre-school dude I recall playing the B-side of the record as I thought it was the A-side because it was so good. It was called Nobody but me. Thoroughly recommend a listen if you can find it anywhere.
Lyrically - I think Reflections of my Life is one of the saddest songs ever recorded. I must check out this video. The song is a classic:)
Totally agree. I think that because it was recorded by Marmalade, who had done the quirky Ob La De Ob La Da, it has never got the full recognition it deserves.
The only performance not on youtube is the Gordon Giltrap band. The rest was just repeats and videos.
Just watched the Legs and Co routine to the Jacksons' classic and as per usual the Legs are cut off well before the end of the song ( why do they always do this ! ) and this is particularly annoying as the last 30 seconds of Shake your body is the best part of the song!
Ramraider, thanks for replying to my earlier post re The Marmalade.
There are several videos----the one that got to me though was a specific one about the Vietnam war.
If you type in 'Reflections of My Life lyrics HD' it should be the one I mean.
Very moving, and it really got to me.
Ramraider, thanks for replying to my earlier post re The Marmalade.
There are several videos----the one that got to me though was a specific one about the Vietnam war.
If you type in 'Reflections of My Life lyrics HD' it should be the one I mean.
Very moving, and it really got to me.
China Girl - thank you for this link. Last night I watched a piece of film footage with a Vietnam theme which accompanied Reflections of my life but it was a different film to the one which you had seen. I have now watched the piece of film footage which moved you and I can understand why. It enhances what is already a very poignant piece of music. I have Reflections of my life on vinyl single and an MP3 version on my pod. The song never fails to stop me in my tracks and I simply have to sit and listen to the sad words and haunting melody for 4 minutes.
I have played Reflections of my life 5 times in less than 24 hours.
Ramraider, thanks for replying to my earlier post re The Marmalade.
There are several videos----the one that got to me though was a specific one about the Vietnam war.
If you type in 'Reflections of My Life lyrics HD' it should be the one I mean.
Very moving, and it really got to me.
This is an amazing find. Deeply moving. A great song. Written by Junior Campbell I think.:)
And a huge hit in the US, which was involved in the Vietnam War obviously.
I don't think it topped the chart Richie. Number 2 or 3 unless I am mistaken. However.... my parents also bought this single and as a toddler/ pre-school dude I recall playing the B-side of the record as I thought it was the A-side because it was so good. It was called Nobody but me. Thoroughly recommend a listen if you can find it anywhere.
You misread the post Ramraider. You needed to highlight all the way to Johnny Tillotson which was the track I was referring to, which did indeed top the UK singles chart for 2 weeks in January 1961. The Drifters one made No2 in the same period.
Listened to Sounds Of The 70's on Easter Sunday afternoon for the first time in a few weeks and Johnnie Walker played the current TOTP 1979 hit by Cars, Just What I Needed, plus The Jam's recently shown hit from late '78 David Watts, & also Motors Forget About You, and then played an upcoming David Bowie hit Boys Keep Swinging that will appear on TOTP very shortly I imagine. Also played was an original vinyl copy of Lost In Music by Sister Sledge, which is also coming along this summer.
Talking sad tracks he played Dawn's Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree which I always find rather sad and melancholy. Another played that I've earmarked for iPod inclusion was New York City's I'm Doing Fine Now. Funnily enough I've actually got the Radio 1 Top 20 on iPod from 2nd September 1973 presented by Johnnie Walker which kicks off with that track at No20.
You misread the post Ramraider. You needed to highlight all the way to Johnny Tillotson which was the track I was referring to, which did indeed top the UK singles chart for 2 weeks in January 1961. The Drifters one made No2 in the same period.
Listened to Sounds Of The 70's on Easter Sunday afternoon for the first time in a few weeks and Johnnie Walker played the current TOTP 1979 hit by Cars, Just What I Needed, plus The Jam's recently shown hit from late '78 David Watts, & also Motors Forget About You, and then played an upcoming David Bowie hit Boys Keep Swinging that will appear on TOTP very shortly I imagine. Also played was an original vinyl copy of Lost In Music by Sister Sledge, which is also coming along this summer.
Talking sad tracks he played Dawn's Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree which I always find rather sad and melancholy. Another played that I've earmarked for iPod inclusion was New York City's I'm Doing Fine Now. Funnily enough I've actually got the Radio 1 Top 20 on iPod from 2nd September 1973 presented by Johnnie Walker which kicks off with that track at No20.
Apologies Richie. The highlighting confused me.
I love I'm doing fine now. I even bought the Pasadenas version of the song which includes a very passable swing-style mix of the song on the 12 inch copy. I never understood why the New York City version of the song did so poorly in the charts.
Ironically the song which up on random play first on my pod this morning was Lost In Music.
It was later followed by Money - Flying Lizzards ( which I am sure is a 1979 tune) which also must be coming up later in the year as it was a top 5 hit if I recall correctly.
Apologies Richie. The highlighting confused me.
I love I'm doing fine now. I even bought the Pasadenas version of the song which includes a very passable swing-style mix of the song on the 12 inch copy. I never understood why the New York City version of the song did so poorly in the charts.
Ironically the song which up on random play first on my pod this morning was Lost In Music.
It was later followed by Money - Flying Lizzards ( which I am sure is a 1979 tune) which also must be coming up later in the year as it was a top 5 hit if I recall correctly.
I have a very strong recollection of Money by Flying Lizards popping up on the revamped Juke Box Jury presented by Noel Edmonds which must have therefore been some point in summer 1979, and laughing at the track while one or maybe both of my parents derided the awfulness of it! Whether it was voted a hit or miss I simply have no idea. But yes, a top five single it was.
For some reason there were a number of old songs entering the charts of this week in 1979 in the lower end. The Drifters at No69 with Save The Last Dance For Me, also a record that my mum has and bought when it topped the chart in January 1961 from Johnny Tillotson, Poetry In Motion was at No67, another she bought in the late 50's from Teddy Bears, To Know Him Is To Love Him was at No66, A double A sided single from Bobby Darin of his two 1959 chart toppers Dream Lover & Mack The Knife was at No64, and Chris Montez was at No53 with Let's Dance.
Why?
None of them got too much higher, unlike the re-releases of old tracks did in the mid to late 80's.
The singles were all released on limited edition picture discs on the same day on the same label (Lightning) in early April 1979 which accounts for why they all charted in the same week.
Apologies if someone else has already answered this, I've fallen behind on reading the TOTP 1979 thread and have about 5 or so pages to catch up on!
Comments
Happy birthday Gill
Interesting! I don't recall seeing the programme at the time but I do remember people saying that "Brass In Pocket" had been helped up the charts.
Maybe a couple of years later I'm sure there was a similar programme looking at inducements to sales such as giving away freebies with singles like posters, badges etc. in order to boost sales.
Record pluggers also used to aggressively badger radio stations to get their records played on air. Music journalists came under similar fire (or inducements like a free lunch and free-flowing booze) to give certain artists favourable reviews.
At around 20 mins, they're asking the woman for examples of records which she knows have been hyped, and she briefly mentions 'Bang Bang' by B A Robertson. Then at 21 mins, we hear that "John Fruin is managing director of WEA records..." - and immediately, I think of the line in Bang Bang that goes, "life was in a ruin, she loved Johnny Fruin"! ...and Aha! One of pop's great lyrical mysteries is finally solved! (well, I think so, maybe, perhaps?)
Oh I have the time (I say that. I am the world's worst procrastinator so probably have more important things I should be getting on with instead), just not sure of the right technical bits and bobs I need.
I have Record Store Day on the brain at the moment as it's tomorrow (19th April) and it's been mentioned a lot on 6Music this week. I took the word 'edition' to mean the special re-releases on vinyl for the day. This is what happens when your mind is on current events.
I'm afraid I wouldn't be so au fait with original TOTP air dates in April 1979 as it was before I born.
I'm not sure about 1979, but in the early 80s I always thought it was
7pm-7:30pm Tomorrow's World
7:30pm-8pm TOTP
Slade's influence can certainly be heard on 'Rock 'n' Roll Star' and 'Up In The Sky' on their first album, 'Definitely Maybe'.
I asked about this last year and the answer I got back was that the TV schedule was a bit more flexible in the mid to late 70s. Depending on what was on afterwards, Top Of The Pops would be on for anything between 30-40 minutes. Being a pre-recorded music show, it was particularly malleable in terms of editing to fit the programme line up.
In the early 80s it switched to being aired live and stuck to 30 minutes there after.
6.55-7.20 Tomorrow's World
7.20-8.00 Top of the Pops
Most of the programmes we are seeing at the moment are 35 minutes long because Blankety Blank started at 7.55 rather than 8.00. I do rather miss those days when programmes didn't always start and finish on nice neat hour and half hours!
TOTP eventually became a fixed 30 minutes in September 1985, when a certain East End soap opera was permanently nailed into the 7.30-8.00 slot, forcing TOTP into the 7.00-7.30 slot.
I thought the 6:55 start of evening programmes only started with 'The One Show'?
Or when the BBC decided to clash with Emmerdale because of Eastenders?
This really annoyed me at the time. I never thought a 30 minute TOTP, and it was likely 28 minutes in truth, was anywhere near enough to do justice to a weekly Top 40 of hits, and I recall they began snipping bits off the end of tracks and videos too. For me it was the beginning of sowing the seeds of its eternally long demise.
I always recall shows back in the early 80's beginning at 6.55pm on BBC1, such as the nurses drama Angels which I liked when about 12 or 13. I also think the ferry drama Triangle went out at that time too. Plus another quiz that was a must watch but seems incredibly crusty nowadays, Ask The Family with Robert Robinson. All went out at 6.55pm. When Eastenders began in 1985, the long running Wogan chat show began the same week and from that point it began at 7pm. February 1985 was a bit of a watershed, plus they also got rid of the old weather charts with sticky magnets and went computerised the very same week too.
Yes, this was when that the fixed point of 7.00 for the start of the evening's programmes was introduced - the doing of Michael Grade I think, who believed that one reason BBC1 was losing out to ITV at the time was due to its slanted schedules, whereas ITV programmes always started on the hour and half hour.
Before that evening programmes had been starting at 6.55 since Sep 1984, 6.40 during the Sixty Minutes era of 1983-84, and variable during the Nationwide era.
Very amused to hear the guy at 12:00 stating that, whereas in the past record companies would give artists 3-4 albums to have a hit, record companies now wanted immediate success-exactly the same allegation made today when comparing to how patient record companies were in the 1980s! Just shows how history can be viewed through rose-tinted glasses.
I managed to increase my record collection massively due to the amount of free stock we got in just the three weeks I worked there... half of the freebies we got didn't sell much but they all went on to chart. I wonder why!
I recall a fellow pupil walking round school with the 'Skinhead Moonstomp' album (released in 1970) tucked under his arm back in 1972 and clearly recall the packaging which you can see if you click on the link below - when I heard the title track many years later it seemed pretty clear where late 70s mod/ska revival acts like the Specials and Selecter got their musical inspiration (while their haircuts and dress code closely resembled those on the sleeve). The opening lines of 'Skinhead Moonstomp' sound similar to those of the 1966 Little Richard single 'Get Down With It' which Slade reworked and later released as 'Get Down And Get With It' adding fresh lines like 'Everybody get your boots on!' - presumably to create an alternative anthem for their target audience of skinheads who favoured rock and roll over Jamaican reggae.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsfMUZTkNsE
The racism synonymous with the Oi! movement may well have been anathema to original late sixties skinheads, but I vividly recall watching an episode of the early evening crime drama series 'Softly Softly - Task Force' about racial prejudice soon after my ninth birthday in 1970 in which an Asian male was ambushed at night by a gang of approximately twenty skinheads, forced to hand over his wallet, knocked to the ground and subjected to a violent group kicking which put him in hospital.
Noel Gallagher contributed to the 'It's Slade' documentary in 1999 which has been repeated several times on BBC Four over the past sixteen months. Noddy Holder claimed that when the then unfashionable Slade played a few London gigs in the summer of 1977 two of the Sex Pistols (Paul Cook and Steve Jones) attended one of their shows and came backstage later to meet and socialise with the band.
I recently discovered this rather enjoyable (IMO) clip on YouTube from 'David Frost's End Of The Year Show' in which Slade perform their family-friendly single 'My Oh My' on New Year's Eve 1983. Dave Hill claimed in a TV interview that Jim Lea wrote it hoping to create a singalong that transcended the generational divide a bit like Rod Stewart's version of 'Sailing' and it is noticeable that most of the flailing arms in the auditorium apparently belong to people in their 50s, 60s and 70s. I assume the audible sniggers when 44 year old Frost uses the quaint term 'Hit Parade' as he introduces the song are from younger audience members:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIupI2g8hqg
Lyrically - I think Reflections of my Life is one of the saddest songs ever recorded. I must check out this video. The song is a classic:)
I don't think it topped the chart Richie. Number 2 or 3 unless I am mistaken. However.... my parents also bought this single and as a toddler/ pre-school dude I recall playing the B-side of the record as I thought it was the A-side because it was so good. It was called Nobody but me. Thoroughly recommend a listen if you can find it anywhere.
Totally agree. I think that because it was recorded by Marmalade, who had done the quirky Ob La De Ob La Da, it has never got the full recognition it deserves.
Just watched the Legs and Co routine to the Jacksons' classic and as per usual the Legs are cut off well before the end of the song ( why do they always do this ! ) and this is particularly annoying as the last 30 seconds of Shake your body is the best part of the song!
There are several videos----the one that got to me though was a specific one about the Vietnam war.
If you type in 'Reflections of My Life lyrics HD' it should be the one I mean.
Very moving, and it really got to me.
China Girl - thank you for this link. Last night I watched a piece of film footage with a Vietnam theme which accompanied Reflections of my life but it was a different film to the one which you had seen. I have now watched the piece of film footage which moved you and I can understand why. It enhances what is already a very poignant piece of music. I have Reflections of my life on vinyl single and an MP3 version on my pod. The song never fails to stop me in my tracks and I simply have to sit and listen to the sad words and haunting melody for 4 minutes.
I have played Reflections of my life 5 times in less than 24 hours.
This is an amazing find. Deeply moving. A great song. Written by Junior Campbell I think.:)
And a huge hit in the US, which was involved in the Vietnam War obviously.
You misread the post Ramraider. You needed to highlight all the way to Johnny Tillotson which was the track I was referring to, which did indeed top the UK singles chart for 2 weeks in January 1961. The Drifters one made No2 in the same period.
Listened to Sounds Of The 70's on Easter Sunday afternoon for the first time in a few weeks and Johnnie Walker played the current TOTP 1979 hit by Cars, Just What I Needed, plus The Jam's recently shown hit from late '78 David Watts, & also Motors Forget About You, and then played an upcoming David Bowie hit Boys Keep Swinging that will appear on TOTP very shortly I imagine. Also played was an original vinyl copy of Lost In Music by Sister Sledge, which is also coming along this summer.
Talking sad tracks he played Dawn's Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree which I always find rather sad and melancholy. Another played that I've earmarked for iPod inclusion was New York City's I'm Doing Fine Now. Funnily enough I've actually got the Radio 1 Top 20 on iPod from 2nd September 1973 presented by Johnnie Walker which kicks off with that track at No20.
Apologies Richie. The highlighting confused me.
I love I'm doing fine now. I even bought the Pasadenas version of the song which includes a very passable swing-style mix of the song on the 12 inch copy. I never understood why the New York City version of the song did so poorly in the charts.
Ironically the song which up on random play first on my pod this morning was Lost In Music.
It was later followed by Money - Flying Lizzards ( which I am sure is a 1979 tune) which also must be coming up later in the year as it was a top 5 hit if I recall correctly.
Apologies if someone else has already answered this, I've fallen behind on reading the TOTP 1979 thread and have about 5 or so pages to catch up on!