Sookie Sookie Now
I usually arrange my Sunday mornings around an American Top 40 repeat from the 1970s. Whether I am writing, reading, or battling weeds in the yard, Casey Kasem and the hits from 40+ years ago keep me company. While I confess that this habit provides a nostalgic comfort, what I truly enjoy is the myriad of music styles that populate the era’s charts. Rock, soul, country, funk, disco, folk, instrumentals, standards and even spoken word all make regular appearances in this decade’s Top 40. 70s pop charts are a smorgasbord from ABBA to ZZ Top.
Today’s episode features the hits from January 16, 1971. Stop the War Now by Edwin Starr at #27 is playing at the moment. I have no memory of this song from my childhood — it did not have legs past its brief Top 40 incursion. It peaked the following week at #26 and then dropped out of the chart. It was Starr’s last Top 40 hit.
It’s a shallow reprise to the enduring classic War, which he also recorded in 1970 and hit #1. While Stop the War Now was rightfully forgotten, War embedded itself in the national consciousness and was even featured in a Seinfeld episode.
At #15, we have Lynn Anderson’s Rose Garden, which, I beg your pardon, is etched into my memory after air play that continued throughout the 70s. (Be thankful this not a podcast and you are not subject to me signing along.) This crossover hit peaked at #3 on February 13. It was Anderson’s sole Top 40 pop hit, but she was a country chart presence through the late 1980s.
The #12 song embodies the variety I treasure in the 1970s Top 40. The recording artist originally charted in 1943! How is it possible that someone who first charted in the midst of World War II is still making hit music thirty years later? It’s not, but there it is — Perry Como’s very meta It’s Impossible holds steady for the week on its way to a peak of #10 the following week. Perry Como!
Following Mr. Como, we find two songs with staying power from music icons — Your Song (Elton John) and Tears of a Clown (Smokey Robinson and the Miracles). These are followed by two songs from music legends that elicit shrugs and head scratches — Stoney End (Barbara Streisand) and Stoned Love (The Supremes).
Groove Me at its #7 peak, is instantly recognizable from its opening line “Uhh! Awww sookie sookie now!” though until moments ago I had no idea it was performed by King Floyd, and still have no idea what “sookie sookie” means despite what The Urban Dictionary asserts.
Uhh! Awww, sookie sookie now!
The Bee Gees, pre-disco iteration, slot in at #6 with Lonely Days, sounding very British Invasion. It will stall out at #4 the following week.
The next song is a former #1 still holding strong at #5 weeks after its zenith. The tune is fondly referenced in Four Weddings and a Funeral, by the smitten Charles…
“…in short, to recap it slightly in a clearer version, eh, the words of David Cassidy in fact, eh, while he was still with The Partridge Family, eh, ‘I think I love you,’…”
The opening notes signal a timeless treat at #4, with Santana’s version of Black Magic Woman, their biggest chart hit until Smooth in 1999.
Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote the #3 song, One Less Bell to Answer, performed by The 5th Dimension. Fairly sure I had not heard this song since the last century, but it was definitely part of my childhood soundtrack. One Less Bell… and It Must be Him played on the Easy Listening radio station during every trip to my great-grandparent’s house.
Knock Three Times by 70s powerhouse Dawn is at #2 on its way to three weeks at #1 starting the following week. Also burned into my early memory by constant airplay, it’s still a staple on the SiriusXM 70s station — there’s no escaping it.
George Harrison sits at #1 for the fourth and final week with the archetype of Kumbaya rock, My Sweet Lord.
OK, so this week there was no ABBA (their first Top 40 US chart appearance was Waterloo in 1974) or ZZ Top (Tush in 1975), but in addition to Lynn Anderson, Perry Como, Dawn, King Floyd, Smokey, etc. were James Brown, Chicago, Judy Collins (Amazing Grace!), Neil Diamond, Led Zeppelin, Curtis Mayfield, Jerry Reed, Diana Ross (solo version), Stephen Stills, Three Dog Night, Van Morrison, and the king himself, Elvis Presley.
That was two plus hours of musical variety that would be impossible to find today in one place (barring the magic of Top 40 re-runs). My need for nostalgic comfort sated, I look forward to next week’s smorgasbord served up by Mr. Kasem — sookie sookie now.
