Redartz: Hello fellow time travellers! Off we go again, back to the very early Bronze age. Early July 1971, to be exact. The U.S. continues to pull troops out of Viet Nam amidst protest marches, preparations are underway for the launch of Apollo 15 to the moon, and the world is shocked by the death of Doors singer Jim Morrison. Much is going on in the world, but for the kids among us, the focus is on pop culture. And it has much to offer today:
Tops on the Billboard U.S. Pop Chart: Carole King, "It's Too Late"
Rounding out the top five:
2. The Raiders, "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)"
3. Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose, "Treat Her Like a Lady"
4. Carpenters, "Rainy Days and Mondays"
5. Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds, "Don't Pull Your Love "
The Osmonds have a couple songs in the top 40, which really appeals to my sister. Not to me so much. I'm really liking the new John Denver song, "Take Me Home Country Roads". Heard it on the radio during our very recent family vacation trip. And many of the other songs listed here I'm hearing on the radio in our cabin: I'm at summer camp, and "Indian Reservation" is everywhere.
Tops in the UK: Middle of the Road, "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep"
Now let's see what tv has to offer us tonight (of course there's no tv here at summer camp, but for the folks at home, here it is:
U.S. Television Schedule:
ABC: The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Room 222, The Smith Family, Love on a Rooftop, The Immortal, NFL Action
CBS: Adventure, To Rome With Love, Medical Center, Hawaii Five-0
NBC: The Men from Shiloh, Kraft Music Hall, Four-in-One (McCloud, San Francisco International Airport, Night Gallery, The Psychiatrist)
BBC1: Mission:Impossible, Paul Temple, The Fifties, News, Frost Over America, 24 Hours
BBC2: Newsroom, Man Alive, One in Ten (Gordon Lightfoot), Stage 2: Trelawny of the 'Wells'
The Courtship of Eddie's Father is regular viewing at our house; a warm, engaging show with young Brandon Cruz and Bill Bixby as his father. And it has Harry Nilsson singing the theme.
My father likes watching Medical Center with Chad Everett, and Hawaii Five-0 with Jack Lord, and so do I. Both have cool theme songs (these theme songs seem so important to a kid , don't know why). Then there's the Smith Family. A family drama starring Henry Fonda, also with Ron Howard (seems he was just on Andy Griffith). It seems many film actors are getting tv series these days, such as Fonda, Doris Day, Dean Martin and Debbie Reynolds...
One thing we do have at camp is comic books! Many of us have them under our bunks or in our duffel bags. Looking around we might find some of these:
There's some pretty heavy hitters there. Amazing Spider-Man 100, with it's classic cover and shock ending. Green Lantern/Green Arrow tackling drugs. Jack Kirby's New Gods. Those books are still a few years off for me, but that John Stanley "Little Lulu" book accompanied me all summer. Probably the "Scooby Doo" as well.
An interesting time to visit: the 60's still influencing much of pop culture, but elements of the 70's are standing out already. It was a great time to be a kid. Of course now the present calls us back from our retro reveries. But fear not, it won't be long until we again climb aboard the Metro and head baaaaack...
22 comments:
Not that I'm shallow but the only thing on TV that day that grabs me is BBC One's, "The Woodentops," a 1950s marionette show about a family with a spotty dog. One of my earliest memories is of watching it in the 1960s, before I was even old enough to start school, and being fascinated by that dog. I think I had the idea in my head that it was being held captive and possibly mind-controlled by the family. To me, there was always something vaguely creepy and sinister about the whole show.
The UK charts were noticeably short on things I liked that week. The songs on it that I did approve of are:
#26 - "Oh You Pretty Things," by Peter Noone.
#40 - "My Brother Jake," by Free.
#41 - "Won't Get Fooled Again," by the Who.
I don't like anything in the UK Top Five. The American Top Five is better, thanks to Carole King and The Raiders.
I didn't have any of the comics listed above but my sister had the Lois Lane issue. Every time she went to town, she seemed to come back with a Lois Lane comic.
"Indian Reservation" wasn't a hit in the UK (in fact, I'm not sure it was even released here) and I only heard it for the first time about 5 years ago courtesy of Paul Gambaccini's American hits show (Paul Gambaccini is American but he lives here and he has been a DJ on BBC radio since 1973). Anyway, Indian Reservation is a fantastic song !!
And maybe one day when they've learned,
Cherokee nation will return,
Will return,
Will return...
In July 1971 I was only 5 years old and "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" by Middle Of The Road was the first pop song I was ever aware of - it was a massive #1 hit and stayed at #1 for weeks and weeks.
Steve knows a lot more about music than me so he can say whether "Indian Reservation" was released in the UK or not :)
Dear Steve and all members of our Distinguished British Delegation-
In regard to Middle of the Road and "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" (which I just listened entirely through-- waiting for some elusive good-part to kick in--):
What.
The.
Literal Hell?
I know, I know-- I'm not one to resort to strong language, but dash it all, Jeeves, there ARE standards to be adhered to, are there not? I should bally-well hope so-!
It's. . . it's like an in-your-face Saturday Night Live send-up (Lorraine Newman having a noticeable resemblance to that lead singer!) of the most inane bubble-gum pop group imaginable-! In fact, one of the dancing-crowd guys could be Belushi doing his Joe Cocker schtick (if you can bear to watch it again). . . heh. It's very much like a Partridge Family tune that didn't even make that show's low-bar cut. The kid-show matching outfits. The ear-worm musical hook that's so short you're sick of it long before the song ends (and you still get TWO "everybody, now!" wrap-up repetitions!). The poor lip-synch and bad editing.
This was an excellent Retro Metro post this morning- with many observations to be made-- but for the moment at least, I remain stunned and motionless in my tracks by this never-before-seen pop music artifact.
"Middle of the Road" indeed. More like Over the Shoulder and Stuck in the Irrigation Ditch. . . (Hooooo---!)
HB
Oh dear-- Colin Jones, I hope I didn't just stomp ruthlessly all over a cherished childhood memory of yours. . . ! That is the danger of going with the ol' knee-jerk response. . .
HB (possibly chagrined)
Colin, I don't know if the Raiders' version of Indian Reservation was released in Britain but it definitely wasn't a hit. Don Fardon had had a big hit with it a couple of years earlier in the UK, so that might explain the lack of impact of the Raiders' version. As a song, it's certainly low profile in Britain. Up until 999 released a cover of it in the early 1980s, I'd never even heard the song before.
HB, there is no explanation for the success of, "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep." It's just one of a zillion excruciatingly awful songs that have made Number One in Britain over the years. I'm sure I read somewhere that it was the first single Bono ever bought. So, without it, who knows, maybe we would never have had U2.
HB, I'm crushed - but I'll forgive you :) I still love "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep"...you should listen to the follow-up "Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum" which peaked at #2.
And let's not forget, "Soley Soley," another Top Five smash for the band.
Actually, I quite like, "Soley Soley," but, then again, I like, "Japanese Boy," by Aneka, so my musical taste may be questionable.
Holy Moley!
I had just turned 10 years old on July 4, 71.
This was sort of my "coming of age" where I had some money from chores, some liberty with the bicycle... Meaning I could go to the local grocery store and hit the spinner rack and buy 6 comics and a package of Odd Rods for a $1 (plus tax). Then they raised the price to $.20 which led me to try and shoplift a package of $.10 baseball cards. (NOT my fault, LOL!)
I could go on and on and indulge myself... But here is my odd remark that may be more generally interesting.
My 4th grade teacher (an african-american female which was unusual for that time period in a mostly white area) would rail on and on about the Asian house maid in the TV show "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" b/c the maid would address Bill Bixby (Eddie's Dad) as "Mr. Eddie's Father." "What is the matter with that stupid woman... LOL! She can't remember Bixby's last name???"
Self indulgent memory: I bought ASM 100 while walking to the beach with my dad and brother and still have it.
And I did go out and pop $1.00 for Paul Revere's record "Indian Reservation" at a department store.
And it skipped even with a penny on the record-player's arm.
And my mom kindly, though not 100% kindly with 3 younger siblings to consider, drove me back to get another record!
Summer of '71 is really when I started collecting comics seriously. Before that, my mom or dad would just pick one up off the rack that they thought I would like. I remember buying the JLA/JSA team-up that summer....reading the first part with Solomon Grundy about to kick serious butt in the cliffhanger and anxiously awaiting the arrival of Part 2 a whole month later. I also picked up my first issue of the new, improved Batman removed from the campy TV series and fighting crime in his "creature of the night" mode. Also started getting into Green Lantern/Green Arrow, too. My Marvel experiences wouldn't begin in earnest for another couple of years, but I got into DC in a big way.
When I saw your picture of The Smith Family, their theme song popped into my head....some sort of Sinatra-esque swinging thing about Primrose Lane. I'll have to check YouTube. I agree though about how cool it is that those theme songs stay with you, even 40-something years later. When I played the Medical Center video, I got goose bumps. Ditto with Hawaii Five O.
I wasn't much into music at the time, I do remember most of the songs because my mom played the radio constantly. She had an old radio that she bought with S&H Green Stamps in the late 60's and that radio actually functioned well until about ten years ago. Lots of great tunes ran through that one over thirty-plus years.
I'd forgotten that Conan's run started this far back. One could make a case that this date is actually at the tail, tail end of the Silver Age, couldn't one? Comics are at 15-cents, we still have Marvel cover corner-boxes, DC is having its 60's-inspired burst of social relevancy. Kirby's just getting his foot-hold at DC.
And I think social historians tend to look at the decade we identify as the 60's spanning from Kennedy's assassination (11/63) to the Watergate scandal era (mid-1972-ish)-- give or take a year or so, I imagine. Looking at the offerings here, my mind definitely says "Sixties". Hunh-- we even have the one lost TV series that Ron Howard was in, between the utterly 60's Andy Griffith Show and the utterly 70's (by way of the 50's) Happy Days. . .
This is a fascinating time capsule you've presented us with, here.
Did anyone else ever wonder why Bill Bixby didn't just marry their marvelous, sweet housekeeper? ("Mrs. Livingstone", I believe?)
HB
Thanks for riding along everyone, great comments!
Steve Does Comics- yes, that "Woodentops" show you describe sounds creepy. Marionettes just make me cringe...
And to Colin and as well- once I saw that clip of "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep", I HAD to include it. Apparently it also made the US Billboard chart, peaking at 92. Once I heard it, I couldn't get it out of my head.
Charlie- I envy you that ASM 100; great book to have picked up as a kid, even better to have kept it! And yes, that era was a turning point. I too was then allowed to make the drug store trek unaccompanied. Oh, I trust your second copy of "Indian Reservation" played...
Graham- kudos for your powers of recall! Smith Family did use "Primrose Lane" for its theme. And cool story about your Mom's radio. There's something special about listening to classic tunes on classic equipment!
HB- great point about the Silver/Bronze border here. This date particularly appealed to me for that reason. A remarkable blend of 60'sand 70's. Again, it was a blast to be a kid...
Before my time, but it's great to see that Amazing Spider-Man hit its centennial mark back in July of '71. It seems incredible to conceive that a mere nickel and dime is all one needed to indulge the ole comic habit back in this grand era.
Um. .. you are forgetting THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO HAPPEN IN JULY 1971! (at least from my perspective).
I was born. ;)
Hmmm, I don't remember any of this, since I wasn't born yet. I have read some of those comics ... Spidey, DD, FF, Conan, Detective.
We totally had a little downtown parade for ya in Cassopolis, Michigan, Dr O---! (you may have been too young to remember. . .)
Heh-heh (and HAPPY BIRTHDAY/MONTH!)
HB
HB, re: "Did anyone else ever wonder why Bill Bixby didn't just marry their marvelous, sweet housekeeper?" Yes, I did. Quite often.
Ha ha. I thought "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" was going to be the children's song from the Wiggles, an Australian kiddy show that my boys watched when they were very young. I couldn't get that song or a song about fruit salad out of my head for weeks, so I was afraid to listen. This was different but equally grating/mesmerizing.
Red - it is funny you mentioned hearing the music in the car; I think going on vacation or fishing trips with my dad is where I picked up on most of the 70s tunes - riding in the back of a station wagon facing out the back.
Graham, you brought back a lot of memories with the mention of S&H green stamps.
"Courtship of Eddie's Father" had a memorable theme song. I recall the show in syndication repeats; seemingly always followed by "Please Don't Eat the Daisies". Was it popular in its first run?
And I don't remember the Smith Family at all. Totally new to me here today.
Thomas F.- indeed hard to believe that 15 cents once held such value. And it's good to hear from all you 'youngsters' who weren't born yet ;)
Dr. O- wow, that is a major debut! Or rather, you were! And best wishes for your birthday month!
Edo- yes, I too wondered. Boy, there were a lot of widows and widower on TV back then. Something in the water?
Marti- oh man, back seat car music could be a whole topic in itself. I remember hearing John Denver singing ""Take Me Home Country Roads" from the back seat while driving through the hills of West Virginia. It was PERFECT.
This was a couple of years before I started reading comics but I guarantee I was watching reruns of Batman and the Spider-Man cartoon, those shows really primed me for what laid ahead.
I do remember watching The Courtship of Eddie's Father during it's initial run ,I think mainly because it had a young boy like me in it. I also distinctly remember watching The Flip Wilson Show as it was one of my Dad's favorites.
The only music I can place from back then was country music from my Dad's 8 track in his truck, I can't listen to Country now if I tried.
Our grocery store then was Chatham's, they're looong gone now.
That's some pretty bad music, IMHO. Luckily, the comics selection makes up for it.
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