1974 THE FACTS AND FIGURES

Well we’ve now reached the end of 1974, the 9^th full year of charts and the 10^th year overall in which we had charts produced as they stared halfway through 1965. So who did what with what and for how long and how many times and all that stuff. Read on…

We saw the second lowest number of hits for a full year in 1974 with 115 songs spending time in the charts. This was 12 more than 1973, the lowest to date for a full year. The 79 for 1965 (half a year of charts) was the overall lowest. 1969 still held the record for the most hits as we saw 153 that year. There were exactly 100 artists who spent time in the charts this year if one splits out duets into their component parts, however, if we count a duet as a single act, then this figure would be 98. This did give us the lowest hits per artist ratio of 1.15, beating the 1.18 of 1971 and 1973. The table below sets out the figures for these stats by years:

Year	No Of Hits	No Of acts	Hits/Act
1965	79	55	1.44
1966	136	97	1.40
1967	146	98	1.49
1968	142	97	1.46
1969	153	112	1.37
1970	141	114	1.24
1971	135	114	1.18
1972	117	97	1.20
1973	103	87	1.18
1974	115	100	1.15

Local acts accounted for 35 of the 115 songs of 1974, this was their 3^rd highest total for any year. 1971’s 41 was the record to date followed by the 38 we saw in 1973. It took 27 acts to bring us these hits.

TOP HITS

Based on a points system of 20 points for a number 1 position, 19 for number 2 etc down to 1 for position 20, the following are the top 40 chart performers for the year (Note: this does not reflect sales):

Pos	Song	Artist	Points
1	Solitaire	Andy Williams	298
2	The Peacemaker	Albert Hammond	287
=3	Loving Arms	Dobie Gray	282
=3	Rock Your Baby	George McCrae	282
5	Why Me	Kris Kristofferson	273
6	Seasons in the Sun	Terry Jacks	260
7	If You Love Me (Let Me Know)	Olivia Newton-John	258
8	The Night Chicago Died	Paper Lace	247
9	The Air That I Breathe	Hollies	226
10	Waterloo	Abba	223
11	Photograph	Ringo Starr	210
12	If You Need Me	After All	209
13	Love’s Theme	Love Unlimited	205
14	Touch too Much	Arrows	204
15	Hello Girl	Dr. Marigold’s	201
=16	Ring, Ring	Abba	189
=16	Little Jimmy	Gwynneth Ashley-Robin	189
18	Kung Fu Fighting	Carl Douglas	184
19	Let Me Roll It	Wings	182
20	Sundown	Gordon Lightfoot	178
21	Sorrow	David Bowie	175
22	Rock Me Gently	Andy Kim	167
23	Band on the Run	Wings	163
24	The Wonder of Your Love	Jody Wayne	158
25	There Won’t be Anymore	Charlie Rich	156
26	Sugar Baby Love	Rubettes	151
27	When Will I See You Again	Three Degrees	145
28	Charly	Sean Rennie	144
29	The Entertainer	Marvin Hamlisch	144
30	Kissin’ in the Back Row of the Movies	Drifters	143
31	Dark Lady	Cher	142
32	Jolene	Dolly Parton	136
33	Emma	Hot Chocolate	135
34	Ma! (He’s Making Eyes at Me)	Lena Zavaroni	130
35	Tchip Tchip	Dan Hill	129
36	Haai Casanova	Glenys Lynne	128
37	I Need a Little Love	Lionel Petersen	126
=38	Angie	Rolling Stones	125
=38	Rock the Boat	Hues Corporation	125
=38	Hasta Mañana	ABBA	125

You can compare this to the list published in Top 40 magazine in 1989 which can be found here:

Top 40 Magazine 1974 List

Andy William’s ‘Solitaire’ was the 3^rd song by an American act to be the song of the year using this points basis. The previous 2 were Roger Williams’ ‘Lara’s Theme (From Dr Zhivago)’ in 1966 and Sandy Posey’s ‘Single Girl’ in 1967. Local acts still led the way for Song of The Year as they had managed 4. Germany had seen 2 while the Brits had only managed 1 so far. ‘Solitaire’ accumulated 298 points, the 6^th highest any song had seen in a calendar year. The 417 Alan Garrity’s ‘I Need Someone’ managed in 1972 was still the best we had seen.

The cumulative points to date gave the following top 10:

Pos	Song	Artist	Points
1	I Need Someone	Alan Garrity	464
2	I Can See Clearly Now	Johnny Nash	448
3	Cry to Me	Staccatos	447
4	You	Peter Maffay	399
5	Sunday, Monday, Tuesday	Jessica Jones	391
5	We Believe in Tomorrow	Freddy Breck	376
7	Woman (Beautiful Woman)	Don Gibson	373
=8	Sylvia’s Mother	Dr. Hook	363
=8	Beautiful Sunday	Daniel Boone	363
10	Nice to be with You	Gallery	359

The top songs pointswise on the local front for 1974 were as follows:

Pos	Song	Artist	Points
1	Little Jimmy	Gwynneth Ashley-Robin	189
2	The Wonder of Your Love	Jody Wayne	158
3	Charly	Sean Rennie	144
4	Tchip Tchip	Dan Hill	129
5	Haai Casanova	Glenys Lynne	128

The previous year had seen the first local female artist top this list as Barbara Ray took the honours with ‘I Don’t Wanna Play House’. This year we saw the second woman to manage it in the form of Gwynneth Ashley-Robin’s ‘Little Jimmy’.

Cumulatively from the start of the charts in 1965, the top 5 local songs were:

Pos	Song	Artist	Points
1	I Need Someone	Alan Garrity	464
2	Cry to Me	Staccatos	447
3	Sunday, Monday, Tuesday	Jessica Jones	391
4	Mammy Blue	Charisma	347
5	I Don’t Wanna Play House	Barbara Ray	336

NUMBER OF HITS

For a second year running 3 hits was the most that any act saw spend time in the charts and 4 acts managed this. They were Lionel Petersen, Billy Forrest, Abba and Wings. 17 acts saw 2 hits chart in 1974.  So far the highest number of hits any acts had seen spend time in the charts in a year was 5 which we had seen on 6 occasions. These were Engelbert Humperdinck and The Bee Gees in 1968, The Archies, Percy Sledge and The Bee Gees (again) in 1969, Neil Diamond in 1971 and Middle Of The Road in 1972.

The alert among you will have noted that Lionel Petersen and Billy Forrest were the top local acts, both seeing 3 hits in the top 20 in the year. Tommy Oliver, Jody Wayne, Barbara Ray, Angelika Illman, Alan Garrity, Peter Vee, Gwynneth Ashley-Robin, Glenys Lynne and Dan Hill all managed 2. Four Jacks & A Jill and Dave Mills held the record to date for local acts, each managing 4 in 1968 and 1971 respectively.

Neither of the top 2 acts for cumulative total hits to date saw chart action in 1974, but they both still sat first and second with Tom Jones leading the way on 17 and Cliff Richard in second place on 15. The Hollies, who were in 3^rd place last year, did manage to see 1 hit chart in 1974 and they were now only 1 behind Cliff Richard with their total being 14.

Billy Forrest was the top local act for number of hits. His 11 put him tied 6^th on the overall list, a position he shared with 5 other acts. He had added 2 to his total in 1974. Jody Wayne added 1 to his total and was second with 9 while Four Jacks & A Jill were in 3^rd place on 8.

WEEKS ON THE CHARTS

Abba became the first act from a nation other than the UK, the US or SA who would see the most weeks in the chart in a calendar year. They managed 38. Only 1967 had seen less from the top acts for a year when 3 acts topped the list with 37. Middle Of The Road’s 59 in 1972 was still the best we had seen so far. Wings on 37 was second highest for 1974 and Albert Hammond on 30 was 3^rd.

Tom Jones was still way out in front for total cumulative weeks. His 184 put him 48 ahead of second placed The Hollies who moved past The Bee Gees with 136 to their name while the latter were on 125 and had not seen any chart action in 1974.

The Staccatos were still the top local act for weeks with 83 to their name. Billy Forrest had moved into second place with 81 while Alan Garrity was 3^rd with 79. Four Jacks & A Jill dropped from 2^nd to 4^th. They were on 78.

NUMBER 1’s

For a 3^rd year running we had no acts see more than 1 number 1 hit. We had also seen this in 1966, making 1974 the 4^th time overall where no act had more than 1 chart topper. There were a total of 15 songs that spent time at number 1 during the year which was 2 better than 1973’s effort of 13 which was the lowest total we had seen to date. The 21 chart toppers we saw in 1969 was the most we had seen so far.

Kris Kristofferson’s ‘Why Me’ spent more weeks at 1 than any other song in 1974. It was at the top spot for 8 weeks. Albert Hammond’s ‘The Peacemaker’ and Carl Douglas’ ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ were tied second with six weeks although it should be mentioned that the latter was at number 1 for the last week of the year and had the potential to increase its overall total for weeks at 1 in 1975.

There was only 1 local chart topper and that was Gwynneth Ashley-Robin’s ‘Little Jimmy’ which managed just 1 week at the top spot. This was the 3^rd year where we had only seen 1 local chart topper, the other 2 being 1965 and 1969 but this was the first time we had only seen a local chart topper for 1 week in the year as in 1965 and 1969 those single local chart toppers spent 6 and 3 weeks at 1 respectively.

Overall, the 6 chart toppers Tom Jones had managed was still the best anyone had seen to date. The

Hollies picked up another one this year (‘The Air That I Breathe’) to give them outright second place with 5, moving 1 ahead of Chris Andrews on 4 and who dropped into 3^rd place. The only other act of the 15 chart toppers this year who had seen a number 1 prior to 1974 was Olivia Newton-John who now had 2 to her name.

Tom also led the way for total weeks at 1, his 18 was still unchanged since he had last been at number 1 in June 1970. The Bee Gees and The Sweet also did not add to their total during 1974, but remained in tied second place with 14 weeks each. In terms of weeks at 1 by a song, we had already seen the all time record of 13 which Johnny Nash’s ‘I Can See Clearly Now’ had managed and the second highest of 12 weeks which Charisma’s ‘Mammy Blue’ managed.

LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE GIRLS

1974 was the 2^nd best year for woman in terms of the number of hits they had. As solo artists they saw 19 songs spend time in the charts and they had a further 7 more where they were part of a duet bringing the total to 26. The best we had seen to date was 23 in 1967 (27 including duets). The 19 songs were brought to us courtesy of 16 different acts while the 26 including duets brought that total up to 19.

There were 7 woman who saw 2 hits this year which was the best any managed. The 7 in question were Angelika Illman (both as part of a duet with Billy Forrest), Barbara Ray, Diana Ross, Dolly Parton, Glenys Lynne, Gwynneth Ashley-Robin and Olivia Newton-John. 4 of those 7 were local (Illman, Ray, Lynne & Ashley-Robin). Petula Clark’s 4 hits in 1967 was still the record to date for a woman.

The top 2 women for cumulative number of hits to date was unchanged from 1973 and they were Petula Clark at 1 with 11 hits and Nancy Sinatra at 2 with 7. Virginia Lee was unmoved in 3^rd place with 6, but she was joined by Barbara Ray who moved alongside her as her total climbed to 6. The top 2 local woman, Lee and Ray, who coincidentally both had what are usually regarded as men’s names as their surnames, were followed by Judy Page on 4 while Glenys Lynne joined Maria, Jessica Jones and Lauren Copley on 3.

Gwynneth Ashley-Robin spent more weeks in the charts than any other woman in 1974 as she managed 23. Olivia Newton-John was second with 22 while Dolly Parton came 3^rd with 19. This was the 4^th year in a row that a local woman had been the top weeks scorer for female artists. Maria’s 40 in 1973 was the best a woman had ever managed in a single year.

On a cumulative basis Petula Clark still led the way for weeks in the charts by a woman with 73 to her name and this was unchanged from the end of the previous year. She had had a 7 week lead over second placed Barbara Ray at the end of 1973, but this was slashed to just 2 as Ray added 5 weeks to her total in 1974 and sat second on 71. Vicky Leandros on 62 was in 3^rd place. The top 3 local women were Barbara Ray (71 ), Lauren Copley (54) and Maria (49).

There were only 2 songs by woman that topped the charts this year and they were Olivia Newton-John’s ‘If You Love Me (Let Me Know)’ (3 weeks) and Gwynneth Ashley-Robin’s ‘Little Jimmy’ (1 week).

Olivia Newton-John was the first woman to manage 2 solo chart toppers (her previous one being ‘If Not For You’). Nancy Sinatra had been seen at the top of our charts with 2 different hits, but one of them had been her duet with her father, Frank.

Hilary’s 8 weeks at 1 was still the most a song by a woman had managed with Barbara Ray having 6 to her name and Sandy Posey and Nancy Sinatra were in 3^rd place with 5.

The top 5 hits by woman in 1974 based on the points system were:

Pos	Song	Artist	Points
1	If You Love Me (Let Me Know)	Olivia Newton-John	258
2	Little Jimmy	Gwynneth Ashley-Robin	189
3	Dark Lady	Cher	142
4	Jolene	Dolly Parton	136
5	Ma! (He’s Making Eyes at Me)	Lena Zavaroni	130

On a cumulative basis, the top 5 read:

Pos	Song	Artist	Points
1	Sunday, Monday, Tuesday	Jessica Jones	391
2	I Don’t Wanna Play House	Barbara Ray	336
3	Come What May (aka Aprés Toi)	Vicky Leandros	321
4	It’s too Late Now	Lauren Copley	303
=5	Clap Your Hands and Stamp Your Feet	Maria	302
=5	Single Girl	Sandy Posey	302

NATIONALITIES

Aside from artists from the UK and US (who tend to dominate most charts worldwide), and local acts the following are the top hits from other nationalities:

Pos	Song	Artist	Points	Nationality
1	Seasons in the Sun	Terry Jacks	260	Canada
2	Waterloo	Abba	223	Sweden
3	If You Need Me	After All	209	Netherlands
4	Ring, Ring	Abba	189	Sweden
5	Sundown	Gordon Lightfoot	178	Canada

With Terry Jacks having the top hit for the rest of the world acts, Canada joined Australia and Germany in now having had 2 top hits in this category. The previous Canadian to top this list was Lucille Starr whose ‘The French Song’ was the best by a non SA, US or UK act back in 1967. Australia’s 2 times topping this list were both with songs by the same act (The Seekers) while Germany had been the first nation to have 2 with 2 different acts (Peter Maffay and Freddy Breck).

There were 16 songs from acts not from SA, the UK or the US which spent time in the charts this year. This equalled the second highest we had seen to date which happened in 1971. The year that held the record so far was 1970 when we had 19 ‘rest of the world’ hits on our charts. For the first 4 years of the charts (i.e. 1965 – 1968) at least 1 act from the rest of the world had seen 3 hits spend time in the charts. We had not seen this again until this year when Abba managed 3 (‘Waterloo’, ‘Hasta Mañana’ and ‘Ring, Ring’). After All had 2 ‘If You Need Me’ and ‘Help Me My Love’) while all the rest only had 1 each. The top of the overall hits count list for non-big 3 acts was unchanged from the end of 1972 with The Seekers from Australia on 7, Canada’s Lucille Starr second with 5 while Michael Holm sat 3rd on 4 but was joined by Vicky Leandros who added 1 to her total this year.

For a second year running the local acts had more hits on the charts than any other nation as they saw 35 songs spend time in the top 20. The Americans were second with 33 while the Brits managed 31. For a 4^th time Canada was the top of the rest of the world nations for number of hits as they scored 5. One of their previous 3 times they shared the top spot with the Aussies who had managed to top the list 3 times. Sweden and The Netherlands were second for 1974 with both nations seeing 4 hits in the charts. In total, acts from 9 different nations charted with the 3 aforementioned nations being joined by the usual suspects (SA, UK and US) while Greece, Germany and Italy each saw 1.

Having acts from 9 different nations chart during the year was the first time this number had not been in double figures since 1969.

The Americans held on to the lead for total number of hits throughout the whole of 1974 at worst they were just 1 ahead of the Brits and their biggest lead was when they were 11 hits ahead of the Brits on 19 April and again on 10 May. The year ended with the Americans tally on 382 and they were 6 ahead of the UK acts who were on 376. Locals sat on 236 with Canada on 23, Germany on 15 and Australia on 12 being the next 4 on the list. This was the same order of the top 6 nations as we had seen at the ned of 1973, it was just the hit count for all except Australia that changed.

The cumulative best hits for ‘rest of the world’ artists was as follows:

Pos	Song	Artist	Points	Nationality
1	You	Peter Maffay	399	Germany
2	We Believe in Tomorrow	Freddy Breck	376	Germany
3	Come What May (aka Aprés Toi)	Vicky Leandros	321	Greece
4	Butterfly	Danyel Gerard	276	France
5	The Love in Your Eyes	Vicky Leandros	275	Greece

WHAT DIDN’T CHART

1974 saw the highest number of UK and/or US number 1s not make our top 20 as there were 32 songs that topped the charts in either the UK or the US or both that didn’t make our charts. However, if one excludes 3 of those 32 which would chart in SA at a later date, then this was 1 less than the 30 (using the same criteria) we saw in 1973.

The 32 chart toppers in the US or UK or both that didn’t make our charts in 1974 were as follows:

Always Yours	Gary Glitter
Angie Babe	Helen Reddy
Bennie & The Jets	Elton John
Billy Don’t Be A Hero	Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods
Billy, Don’t Be A Hero	Paper Lace
Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe	Barry White
Cat’s In The Cradle	Harry Chapin
Devil Gate Drive	Suzi Quatro
Everything I Own	Ken Boothe
Feel Like Makin’ Love	Roberta Flack
Gonna Make You A Star	David Essex
I Can Help*	Billy Swan
Jealous Mind	Alvin Stardust
Lonely This Christmas	Mud
Love Me For A Reason	Osmonds
Merry Xmas Everybody	Slade
Nothing From Nothing	Billy Preston
Sad Sweet Dreamer*	Sweet Sensation
She	Charles Aznavour
Show And Tell	Al Wilson
Sunshine On My Shoulder	John Denver
The Joker	Steve Miller Band
The Loco-Motion	Grand Funk Railroad
The Streak	Ray Stevens
The Way We Were	Barbra Streisand
Then Came You	Dionne Warwick & The Spinners
Tiger Feet	Mud
Time In A Bottle	Jim Croce
You Haven’t Done Nothin’	Stevie Wonder
You Won’t Find Another Fool Like Me	New Seekers
You’re (Having My Baby)	Paul Anka
You’re The First, The Last, My Everything*	Barry White

I WRITE THE SONGS

It took 149 song writers to bring us the songs that saw chart action in 1974 which was the second lowest we had ever seen with only the half year of charts of 1965 seeing less (104). The most we had seen was 206 in 1967. Jody Wayne took top honours for number of compositions seeing chart action as he had 4 make the charts this year and these were his 2 hits, ‘The Wonder Of Your Love’ and ‘Heartbeat’ along with 2 Gwynneth Ashley-Robin hits, ‘Little Jimmy’ and ‘Little Soldier Blue’. Mike Hazelwood, Albert Hammond, Nicky Chinn, Mike Chapman, Stig Anderson, Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Paul McCartney all managed to see 3 of their compositions chart. These all fell way short of the record to date 9 hits in a year that Terry Dempsey managed in 1971.

Dempsey did see a song in the charts this year (David Cassidy’s ‘Daydreamer’) but that had started its chart run in 1973 so he had not added to his total of 24 hits to date, but he still led the way overall for hits by a song writer. Les Reed was also unchanged in second place with 18 while Jeff Barry was still in 3^rd place, but he had moved on from 16 at the end of 1973 to 17 at the end of 1974.

Song writing duo Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood saw their compositions spend more time in the charts than any other song writer in 1974. Their hits totalled 44 weeks in the top 20. Jody Wayne was second with 40 weeks with the Abba song writing team of Stig Anderson, Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus sharing 3^rd place with Paul McCartney on 37 weeks. The top score of 44 weeks was the lowest top score we had seen for a full year so far with only the half year of 1965 showing less where Guglielmo Brezza and Nini Rosso managed 29 weeks.

Overall Terry Dempsey led the way for weeks count for a song writer as his hits had clocked up a massive 253 (69 more than Tom Jones, the leading weeks count for an artist). Les Reed on 168 was second while Barry Gibb on 151 was 3^rd.

Apart from having the top weeks count for song writers, Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood were also the only song writers to see more than 1 chart topper as they gave us Hammond’s hit, ‘The Peacemaker’ as well as The Hollies’ ‘The Air That I Breathe’. The combined total of 8 weeks that those 2 songs spent at number 1 equalled the total for Kris Kristofferson’s self-penned ‘Why My’ putting Kristofferson equal top for weeks at 1 by a song writer. Barry and Maurice Gibb still led the way for the total weeks at 1 by a song writer as the 2 brothers had managed a total of 15. Their other brother, Robin, was still tied second with Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman who had 14. In terms of number of number 1’s Chris Andrews, Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Robin Gibb, Les Reed and Geoff Stephens had all seen 4 of their compositions hit the number 1 spot so far and this was the record to date.

THANKS

Finally, I would like to thank all those who have helped along the way through through 1973. Special thanks go to Peet van Staaden, Anton ‘Eagle-Eye’ van Staden and Ian McLean for supplying invaluable information and corrections as well as Chris Kimberly, Brian Currin, Stephen Segerman and Tertius Louw for being my go-to guys when I’m stumped.

27 December 1974

Pos	LW	Weeks	Song		Artist
1	1	12	Kung Fu Fighting	–	Carl Douglas
2	2	8	Hasta Mañana	–	ABBA
3	4	4	Longfellow Serenade	–	Neil Diamond
4	3	13	When Will I See You Again	–	Three Degrees
5	5	5	I Honestly Love You	–	Olivia Newton-John
6	9	4	To the Door of the Sun	–	Gigliola Cinquetti
7	6	7	The Way I Am	–	Lovelace Watkins
8	7	4	She’s a Woman	–	Neil Herbert
9	12	10	Mama Tembu’s Wedding	–	Margaret Singana
10	8	17	If You Love Me (Let Me Know)	–	Olivia Newton-John
11	10	19	Rock Your Baby	–	George McCrae
12	15	7	I Shot the Sheriff	–	Eric Clapton
13	13	11	Kissin’ in the Back Row of the Movies	–	Drifters
14	11	14	Rock Me Gently	–	Andy Kim
15	16	6	Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe	–	Barry White
16	17	3	Clap for the Wolfman	–	Guess Who
17	19	2	You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet	–	Bachman-Turner Overdrive
18	New	1	Another Saturday Night	–	Cat Stevens
19	18	4	Help Me My Love	–	After All
20	20	2	Whatever Gets You Thru the Night	–	John Lennon

We ended the year with Carl Douglas’ ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ still at number 1. It had been there for 6 weeks. Abba’s ‘Hasta Mañana’ spent a second week at number 2 while Neil Diamond’s ‘Longfellow Serenade’ moved into 3^rd place.

It took just a 3 place climb to get the climber of the week award and 3 songs managed this. Gigliola Cinquetti’s ‘To The Doors Of The Sun’ was up to 6, ‘Mama Tembu’s Wedding’ by Margaret Singana was up to 9 and Eric Clapton’s ‘I Shot The Sheriff’ was up to 12. This was the 2^nd time we had seen 2 woman take the biggest climber in a week. The previous time we had seen this was when hits by Dolly Parton and Maria were the climbers in the same week. As the biggest climber was 3 places, there were no star raters this week. Eric Clapton and Margaret Singana’s hits both had previously been fallers of the week. They were not the 19^th and 20^th songs to be a biggest climber after having been a biggest faller. This was the first of only 2 occasion that we would see 2 songs in the same week being biggest climbers after having been faller of the week.

Andy Kim’s ‘Rock Me Gently’ was the faller of the week with a 3 place drop from 11 to 14 to give him his 3^rd time with the award.

George McCrae’s ‘Rock Your Baby’ enjoyed a second week as the oldest in the charts. It was on 19 weeks with us.

Big John’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus’ ‘Rockin’ in the U.S.A.’ was the only song to leave the top 20 this week. It had enjoyed a run of 6 weeks and a peak of 11. This would be their only SA chart hit, however, Big John (real name John Goodison) would see further chart action, but would be listed as producer rather than artist.

In ‘Rockin’ In The U.S.A.’s place came Cat Steven’s 5^th Top 20 hit, ‘Another Saturday Night’. Stevens was the 46^th act to have 5 hits chart. In 1963 Sam Cooke took a version of ‘Another Saturday Night’ (which he had written himself) to the top of the R&B Singles charts in the US. Cat Stevens managed to get to 6th place on the main Hot 100 charts in the US and also took the song to the top in Canada, dislodging Andy Kim’s ‘Rock Me Gently’ for its first run at the top there (it fell from the number 1 spot and then regained it from First Class’ ‘Beach Baby’). In the UK it made number 10.

The Canadians celebrated having spent 200 weeks in the charts. They had 3 in the current chart and working on the principal that weeks were accumulated from the top spot down, then it was Andy Kim’s ‘Rock Me Gently’ that bagged the 200^th week for them.

Neil Diamond became the 20^th act to see their week count reach 80. Olivia Newton-John reach the 40 week land mark. She was the 10^th female to manage this.

Abba was the only act who managed to feature on the first and last chart of the year. They had seen in 1974 with ‘Ring Ring’ in the top 20 and saw the year out with ‘Hasta Mañana’ sitting at 2. This was the first time we had only seen 1 act be on the first and last top 20’s of the year although there had been 2 years (1971 and 1972) when no acts managed this.

A final point to note was that for the 7th time, the Grammy song of the year did not chart in SA and that was ‘The Way We Were’ by Barbra Streisand.

Youtube playlist:

20 December 1974

Pos	LW	Weeks	Song		Artist
1	1	11	Kung Fu Fighting	–	Carl Douglas
2	3	7	Hasta Mañana	–	ABBA
3	2	12	When Will I See You Again	–	Three Degrees
4	14	3	Longfellow Serenade	–	Neil Diamond
5	10	4	I Honestly Love You	–	Olivia Newton-John
6	4	6	The Way I Am	–	Lovelace Watkins
7	13	3	She’s a Woman	–	Neil Herbert
8	7	16	If You Love Me (Let Me Know)	–	Olivia Newton-John
9	17	3	To the Door of the Sun	–	Gigliola Cinquetti
10	5	18	Rock Your Baby	–	George McCrae
11	11	13	Rock Me Gently	–	Andy Kim
12	6	9	Mama Tembu’s Wedding	–	Margaret Singana
13	8	10	Kissin’ in the Back Row of the Movies	–	Drifters
14	12	6	Rockin’ in the U.S.A.	–	Big John’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus
15	9	6	I Shot the Sheriff	–	Eric Clapton
16	15	5	Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe	–	Barry White
17	18	2	Clap for the Wolfman	–	Guess Who
18	20	3	Help Me My Love	–	After All
19	New	1	You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet	–	Bachman-Turner Overdrive
20	New	1	Whatever Gets You Thru the Night	–	John Lennon

‘Kung Fu Fighting’ by Carl Douglas became the 31^st song to manage at least 5 weeks at the top of the charts as it saw off the challenge from The Three Degrees’ ‘When Will I See You Again’. The new pressure came from Abba’s ‘Hasta Mañana’ which climbed up 1 from 3 to 2.

Neil Diamond became the 10^th of only 20 acts who would see 8 or more biggest climbers as ‘Longfellow Serenade’ picked up the award for him with a 10 place jump from 14 to 4. This was the 55^th time a song had climbed 10 or more in a week. Donovan and Tom Jones were the only 2 acts who had managed this twice so far.

Three other songs were star raters and these were in descending order of climb size, Gigliola Cinquetti’s ‘To The Doors Of The Sun’ which climbed 8 to 9, Neil Herbert’s ‘She’s A Woman’ which moved up 6 to 7 and Olivia Newton-John’s ‘I Honestly Love You’ which jumped 5 to 5. Olivia became the 6^th woman to clock up 6 star raters.

Both Margaret Singana’s ‘Mama Tembu’s Wedding’ and Eric Clapton’s ‘I Shot The Sheriff’ dropped 6 places making them the fallers of the week with the former landing at 12 and the latter at 15. Neither act had experienced this before.

The oldest song on last week’s chart, Paper Lace’s ‘The Night Chicago Died’, fell off the charts this week. It had lasted 18 weeks in the top 20 and peaked at 3. This would not be their only hit in SA. The new oldest on the charts was George McRae’s ‘Rock Your Baby’ which sat on 18 weeks.

Also going was Kris Kristofferson’s ‘Why Me’ which had spent 8 weeks at 1 (the tied 4^th highest to date) and lasted a total of 16 weeks in the top 20.

The first of the new entries was Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’ and it was the 23^rd song by a Canadian act to enter the charts. With Andy Kim’s ‘Rock Me Gently’ and The Guess Who’s ‘Clap For The Wolfman’ also in the top 20 this week, we saw the highest concentration of Canadian acts in the charts for any week that we would ever see. There was also a connection between Bachman-Tuner Overdrive and the Guess Who as BTO members Randy Bachman (who wrote and produce the single) and Chad Allen were previous members of The Guess Who. ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’ topped the US, Canadian, Danish, German, New Zealand and Zimbabwe charts as well as getting to number 2 in the UK, 3 in Austria, 4 in Ireland and Australia, 5 in Switzerland, 6 in Belgium and 7 in Norway.

John Lennon’s ‘Whatever Gets You Thru The Night’ was the 13^th song by an ex-Beatle to chart in SA. So far Paul led the way with 5 hits (2 solo and 3 with Wings) and now John joined Ringo on 3 while George was falling behind on 2. It was the tied best year for the Fab Four’s solo careers as this was the 5th song of theirs to chart (6th if you include Ringo’s ‘Photograph’ which entered the charts in 1973, but was still there in 74). 1971 also saw 5 hits by them while 1972 only had 1 (2 if you count John’s ‘Imagine’ straddling 71 and 72) and 1973 only saw 2. ‘Whatever Gets Your Thru The Night’ featured Elton John on harmony vocals and piano.  It knocked our other new entry this week, ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’, off the top of the US charts to give John his only US number 1 during his lifetime and also meant that all 4 of the Beatles had now had solo number 1s on the Billboard Hot 100 with John being the final one to achieve this. John’s previous SA chart hit, ‘Mother’, left the charts 136 weeks previously making him the 3^rd ex-Beatle to see a gap of 100 or more weeks between hits with Paul McCartney seeing a gap of 110 weeks and Ringo Starr managing a gap of 122.

Last week saw Abba reach the 500 points milestone and this week it was Olivia Newton-John’s turn to do so. Her total moved on to 506. She was the 10^th female artist to reach this level of points.

Youtube playlist:

13 December 1974

Pos	LW	Weeks	Song		Artist
1	1	10	Kung Fu Fighting	–	Carl Douglas
2	2	11	When Will I See You Again	–	Three Degrees
3	3	6	Hasta Mañana	–	ABBA
4	7	5	The Way I Am	–	Lovelace Watkins
5	4	17	Rock Your Baby	–	George McCrae
6	9	8	Mama Tembu’s Wedding	–	Margaret Singana
7	5	15	If You Love Me (Let Me Know)	–	Olivia Newton-John
8	6	9	Kissin’ in the Back Row of the Movies	–	Drifters
9	13	5	I Shot the Sheriff	–	Eric Clapton
10	14	3	I Honestly Love You	–	Olivia Newton-John
11	8	12	Rock Me Gently	–	Andy Kim
12	11	5	Rockin’ in the U.S.A.	–	Big John’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus
13	18	2	She’s a Woman	–	Neil Herbert
14	20	2	Longfellow Serenade	–	Neil Diamond
15	12	4	Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe	–	Barry White
16	10	16	Why Me	–	Kris Kristofferson
17	19	2	To the Door of the Sun	–	Gigliola Cinquetti
18	New	1	Clap for the Wolfman	–	Guess Who
19	15	18	The Night Chicago Died	–	Paper Lace
20	RE	2	Help Me My Love	–	After All

‘Their moves were fast as lightning’. So sang Carl Douglas in ‘Kung Fu Fighting’, but the song itself was not moving. It spent a 4^th straight week at the top of the charts. The Three Degrees’ ‘When Will I See You Again’ was still breathing down ‘Kung Fu Fighting’s neck as it spent a second week at 2.

Neil Diamond’s ‘Longfellow Serenade’ was thew climber of the week. It moved up 6 from 20 to 14. This was his 8th time with the climber of the week and he was the 10th act to reach 8 biggest climbers. Three other songs managed star rater climbs and these were ‘I Shot The Sheriff’ by Eric Clapton which moved up 4 from 13 to 9, Neil Herbert’s ‘She’s A Woman’ which climbed 5 from 18 to 13 and Olivia Newton-John’s ‘I Honestly Love You’ which moved up 4 from 14 to 10. It was Neil Diamond’s 13^th time with a star rater and he joined 10 other acts that had managed this many. He was only the 4^th American of the 11 acts to reach this total with the other 7 all being British.

Kris Kristofferson may well have asked ‘Why Me’ as his hit by that name took the faller of the week award. It dropped 6 places from 10 to 16. The next biggest fall was 4 places and I guess that should answer Kris’ question.

Paper Lace’s ‘The Night Chicago Died’ moved on to 18 weeks in the charts and was enjoying its 5^th week as the oldest on the top 20.

There were 2 songs that left the chart this week, the first of which was The Hues Corporation’s ‘Rock The Boat’ which had been cruising round the charts for 13 weeks and managed to get to 5. This was their maiden voyage on our charts and, sadly for them, their only trip.

The other song to go was Billy ‘Crash’ Craddock’s ‘Rub It In’ which lasted 8 weeks and peaked at 8. This was the 34^th song to have the same weeks figure as its peak. So far 7, 8 and 9 were the most popular for songs to have as their weeks and peak although it was the 7’s that led the way with 9 of them, we had seen 8 manage a weeks and peak of 9 and ‘Rub It In’ was the 7^th to managed 8 as its weeks and peak. This would be Craddock’s only charting hit in SA.

The first new entry was The Guess Who’s 3rd top 20 hit and 22^nd hit by a Canadian act, ‘Clap For The Wolfman’. We had not seen The Guess Who on our charts since 14 November 1969 and this gap of 265 weeks was the 8^th biggest between hits that we had seen to date and the biggest for a Canadian act so far. The previous biggest gap for a Canadian act had been the 247 weeks Andy Kim Saw between ‘So Good Together’ and ‘Rock Me Gently’. The Wolfman referred to in the Guess Who song was an American DJ who called himself Wolfman Jack (real name Robert Smith – not the Robert Smith from The Cure). The Wolfman’s voice appeared on ‘Clap For The Wolfman’ and it made to 4 in the charts in their native Canada and 6 in the US.

After All’s ‘Help Me My Love’ gave us the 46^th time a song re-entered the charts, having been absent for a week. Of the 46 occasions a song had re-entered the charts, 5 had managed to re-enter twice. So far no nation other than the big 3 (UK, US, SA) had managed to see more than 1 song re-enter the charts. In total 9 non-big 3 nations had seen 1 song manage this and they were Australia, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, New Zealand, Norway and now The Netherlands.

Andy Kim celebrated his 20^th week in the charts. He was the 149^th act to manage this and the 3^rd Canadian with Lucille Starr and Stu Phillips being the other 2.

Abba became the 51^st act to see their points total reach the 500 milestone as it ticked over to 504. This put them 50^th overall for points as The Marmalade on exactly 500 was just below them.

For those really curious about these things, the letter ‘n’ was the most popular consonant in the song titles of the top 20 songs this week with it occurring 22 times. ‘H’ was the second most common, occurring 21 times. In terms of vowels, ‘e’ led with way with 38 followed by ‘o’ on 30 and then ‘a’ which shared 3^rd place overall for all letters with ‘n’. I hope this bit of trivia has satisfied your curiosity.

Youtube playlist:

6 December 1974

Pos	LW	Weeks	Song		Artist
1	1	9	Kung Fu Fighting	–	Carl Douglas
2	6	10	When Will I See You Again	–	Three Degrees
3	4	5	Hasta Mañana	–	ABBA
4	2	16	Rock Your Baby	–	George McCrae
5	5	14	If You Love Me (Let Me Know)	–	Olivia Newton-John
6	3	8	Kissin’ in the Back Row of the Movies	–	Drifters
7	10	4	The Way I Am	–	Lovelace Watkins
8	7	11	Rock Me Gently	–	Andy Kim
9	9	7	Mama Tembu’s Wedding	–	Margaret Singana
10	8	15	Why Me	–	Kris Kristofferson
11	11	4	Rockin’ in the U.S.A.	–	Big John’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus
12	16	3	Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe	–	Barry White
13	15	4	I Shot the Sheriff	–	Eric Clapton
14	19	2	I Honestly Love You	–	Olivia Newton-John
15	13	17	The Night Chicago Died	–	Paper Lace
16	12	8	Rub it In	–	Billy “Crash” Craddock
17	14	13	Rock the Boat	–	Hues Corporation
18	New	1	She’s a Woman	–	Neil Herbert
19	New	1	To the Door of the Sun	–	Gigliola Cinquetti
20	New	1	Longfellow Serenade	–	Neil Diamond

Carl Douglas’ ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ enjoyed a 3^rd week at the top of the charts but was under some pressure as The Three Degrees’ ‘When Will I See You Again’ made a star rater climb of 4 places from 6 to 2.

The climber award went to Olivia Newton-John’s ‘I Honestly Love You’ which moved up 5 places from 19 to 14. It was only her second time with the award, having picked up 1 with ‘If Not For You’. Her number 1 hit, ‘If You Love Me (Let Me Know)’ and her number 9 hit, ‘Banks Of The Ohio’ never managed to be a climber of the week.

The only other star rater this week was Barry White’s ‘Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe’ which moved up 4 from 16 to 12.

‘Rub It In’ by Billy ‘Crash’ Craddock was the faller of the week, dropping 4 from 12 to 16 in a swap of places with Barry White’s star rater mentioned above.

Paper Lace held on to the oldest song in the chart title as their hit ‘The Night Chicago Died’ moved on to 17 weeks with us.

After All’s ‘Help Me My Love’ became the 37^th song to have a run of just 1 week at number 20 as it dropped out of the charts after being a new entry at the bottom place last week. Of those 37 there had been 26 for which this would be the song’s only outing in the charts.

We also bid farewell to Stephanie de Sykes’ Born with a Smile on My Face’. It had lasted 5 weeks on the charts and peaked at 15. This would be her only SA chart hit.

Last to go was another act who would only have 1 song chart in SA and that was Cozy Powell who’s ‘Na Na Na’ had lasted 4 weeks and peaked at 11.

On the new entry front we saw the last of just 4 people with the first name Neil to chart. We had had Neil Reid, Neil Young and Neil Diamond to date and now we could add Neil Herbert to that list as his ‘She’s A Woman’ arrived on the top 20 this week. The song was written and recorded by a Namibian (South West African back then) artist called Eddy (also spelt Eddie) Storbeck. Eddy’s version was arranged by Gerry Bosman and featured McCully Workshop’s Tully McCully as the engineer. Neil Herbert was born in Pretoria and had been with the group The Attraction before his launched a solo career. He died in a plane crash in 1979.

Gigliola Cinquetti supplied us with the 5th song by an Italian artist and the first by an Italian woman as ‘To The Door Of The Sun’ entered the charts at 19. Italy moved 1 ahead of Greece and Sweden for number of hits and sat 11^th overall on the list of number of hits by acts from a nation. ‘To The Door Of The Sun’ was the English version of the Italian ‘Alle Porte Del Sole’, but it did not chart for her in Europe. Her biggest UK hit was ‘Go’ which made number 8 in the UK in 1974. She represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest on 2 occasions (neither time with ‘To The Door Of The Sun’).

Last of the new entries was by the most successful Neil to chart. Of the other 3 mentioned above, Diamond was the only one to have more than 1 hit in SA and ‘Longfellow Serenade’ was his 9th to chart. This placed him tied 13^th on the list of number of hits by an artist. It had been 115 weeks since he was last in the top 20 and this was the 62^nd time we had seen a gap of at least 100 weeks between hits by an act. ‘Longfellow Serenade’ made it to number 5 in the US but did not chart in the UK. In Europe it topped the Swiss charts, made 2 in Germany, 9 in Holland and Belgium and also made 29 in New Zealand.

The Americans took over lead for most weeks in the chart by a nation as their 3,419 moved them past the Brits’ 3,414. The local acts were 3^rd with 2,109. In percentage terms, the US had managed 34.5% of the weeks available, the Brits 34.4% and the locals 21.3%.

Youtube playlist:

29 November 1974

Pos	LW	Weeks	Song		Artist
1	1	8	Kung Fu Fighting	–	Carl Douglas
2	7	15	Rock Your Baby	–	George McCrae
3	3	7	Kissin’ in the Back Row of the Movies	–	Drifters
4	6	4	Hasta Mañana	–	ABBA
5	2	13	If You Love Me (Let Me Know)	–	Olivia Newton-John
6	8	9	When Will I See You Again	–	Three Degrees
7	4	10	Rock Me Gently	–	Andy Kim
8	5	14	Why Me	–	Kris Kristofferson
9	10	6	Mama Tembu’s Wedding	–	Margaret Singana
10	13	3	The Way I Am	–	Lovelace Watkins
11	18	3	Rockin’ in the U.S.A.	–	Big John’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus
12	9	7	Rub it In	–	Billy “Crash” Craddock
13	11	16	The Night Chicago Died	–	Paper Lace
14	14	12	Rock the Boat	–	Hues Corporation
15	16	3	I Shot the Sheriff	–	Eric Clapton
16	19	2	Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe	–	Barry White
17	12	4	Na Na Na	–	Cozy Powell
18	15	5	Born with a Smile on My Face	–	Stephanie de Sykes
19	New	1	I Honestly Love You	–	Olivia Newton-John
20	New	1	Help Me My Love	–	After All

Carl Douglas’ ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ spent a second week at the top of the charts while we had renewed interest in George McCrae’s ‘Rock Your Baby’ which bounced back up to number 2 from number 7 (a star rater climb of 5 places). The song had already spent 5 weeks at 3 in a run of 2 and then 3 weeks and dropped to 4 in between that run and had then dropped as low as 7 before climbing back to 2 this week.

The climber of the week award went to Big John’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus’ ‘Rockin’ in the U.S.A.’ which moved up 7 from 18 to 11. This along with ‘Rock You Baby’ were the only 2 star raters this week.

Cozy Powell’s ‘Na Na Na’ was the faller of the week with a 5 place drop from 12 to 17.

1965 (half year) and 1966 did not see a single song last just 1 week at 20 and with just 5 weeks to go till the end of the year, 1974 was looking like it might join them in this, but last week Dan Hill’s ‘Bubblegum’ was a new entry at 20 and this week it fell off the charts. This meant that 1974 joined 1968 and 1970 with having 1 song spend just 1 week at 20. Dan Hill’s SA chart career was now over with 2 hits to his name (the other being ‘Tchip Tchip’), a total weeks count of 12 and a best peak of 4 with his earlier hit had managed. Hill’s departure from the chart left the local act hit count at 1 (Margaret Singana’s ‘Mama Tembu’s Wedding’), the lowest it had been in 126 weeks.

There was still one more hit to come from Dan Hill, Confused, well the other Dan Hill hit would be by a Canadian chap who shared a name with our very own Dan Hill.

We also said goodbye to The Arrows’ ‘Touch Too Much’ which was one of 2 oldest songs on the chart last week. It had been with us for 15 weeks and peaked at 2. This would be their only SA chart hit although 12 years later a different group also called The Arrows (from Canada) had a number 1 hit on Radio 702 and a number 12 hit on Radio 5 with a song called ‘Talk Talk’.

The departure of ‘Touch Too Much’ from the top 20 left Paper Lace’s ‘The Night Chicago Died’ as the oldest on the charts. It was on 16 weeks.

Olivia Newton-John became the 8th female artist to have 2 hits in the charts simultaneously although 2 of those who had previously managed it did so with 1 hit being as part of a duet. For Newton-John, ‘I Honestly Love You’ joined a recent number 1, ‘If You Love Me (Let Me Know)’ on the top 20. ‘I Honestly Love You’ was written by Jeff Barry and Peter Allen. This was Barry’s first hit since the 1971 appearance on the top 20 of the Shangri La’s ‘Leader Of The Pack’ and was his 17th hit as songwriter. He was now in 3rd place for number of hits by a songwriter, pulling 1 ahead of Roger Greenaway and Geoff Stephens and being 1 behind second placed Les Reed and 7 behind leader Terry Dempsey. For Peter Allen, this was his first credit. He would also chart later on as artist. ‘I Honestly Love You’ topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Sweden and the US, knocking Andy Kim’s Rock Me Gently’ from the top spot of the US Billboard Hit 100. It made number 22 in the UK. Subsequent releases saw it make 55 in Canada and 48 in the US in 1977 and in 1983 it climbed to number 52 in the UK. A new recording of the song with Babyface on backing vocals gave the song another chart outing, making 67 in the US and 88 in Australia. This was Olivia’s 4th SA hit.

After All followed up their chart topping success of ‘If You Need Me’ with ‘Help Me My Love’. As with its predecessor, the song failed to chart in their native Holland. ‘Help Me My Love’ was written by Hank Hillman who had also penned The Shuffles’ 1970 number 2 hit, ‘Cha-La-La, I Need You’. This was the 10^th song by a Dutch act to make the charts and this put them in 7^th place for hits from acts from a nation, 1 ahead of Ireland and Jamaica.

Acts from the US had seen more weeks than those from the UK 16 weeks back, but the Brits had regained the lead and held it till this week when the 2 nations sat tied at the top of the list with 3,409 weeks each.

We had a new record 8 US chart toppers in the top 20 this week with ‘Kung Fu Fighting’, ‘Rock Your Baby’, ‘Rock Me Gently’, ‘The Night Chicago Died’, ‘Rock The Boat’, ‘I Shot The Sheriff’, ‘Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe’ and ‘I Honestly Love You’ all getting to number 1 Stateside. Of those 8, only our current number 1, ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ had not yet managed to get to number 1 in the US, but it would do so the week after this chart went out.

Youtube playlist:

22 November 1974

Pos	LW	Weeks	Song		Artist
1	5	7	Kung Fu Fighting	–	Carl Douglas
2	1	12	If You Love Me (Let Me Know)	–	Olivia Newton-John
3	6	6	Kissin’ in the Back Row of the Movies	–	Drifters
4	3	9	Rock Me Gently	–	Andy Kim
5	2	13	Why Me	–	Kris Kristofferson
6	7	3	Hasta Mañana	–	ABBA
7	4	14	Rock Your Baby	–	George McCrae
8	10	8	When Will I See You Again	–	Three Degrees
9	8	6	Rub it In	–	Billy “Crash” Craddock
10	13	5	Mama Tembu’s Wedding	–	Margaret Singana
11	9	15	The Night Chicago Died	–	Paper Lace
12	11	3	Na Na Na	–	Cozy Powell
13	19	2	The Way I Am	–	Lovelace Watkins
14	12	11	Rock the Boat	–	Hues Corporation
15	18	4	Born with a Smile on My Face	–	Stephanie de Sykes
16	16	2	I Shot the Sheriff	–	Eric Clapton
17	14	15	Touch too Much	–	Arrows
18	17	2	Rockin’ in the U.S.A.	–	Big John’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus
19	New	1	Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe	–	Barry White
20	New	1	Bubblegum	–	Dan Hill

Carl Douglas’ ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ became the 14^th song to top our charts that would also top the UK and US charts although at the time it made number 1 in SA it was still 2 weeks away from making it to the top of the US charts. 10 of the 14 songs to manage the triple were by American acts with 3 being by Brits and Terry Jacks’ ‘Seasons In The Sun’ being the solitary Canadian to manage this. ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ took over from Olivia Newton-John’s ‘If You Love Me (Let Me Know)’ on our charts after the latter had been at the top spot for 3 weeks.

‘The Way I Am’ by Lovelace Watkins was the climber of the week as it managed a 6 place jump from 19 to 13. The only other star rater this week was the new number 1 hit which moved up 4 from 5 to 1. This was the 15^th time that a song had made a star rater jump to take the top spot where 7 of those 15 times the song was also the week’s biggest climber.

The faller award went to 3 songs which all fell 3 places. The first of these was The Arrows’ ‘Touch Too Much’ which dropped to 17. George McCrae’s ‘Rock You Baby’ and Kris Kristofferson’s ‘Why Me’ were the other 2 and they fell to 7 and 5 respectively.

Paper Lace’s ‘The Night Chicago Died’ and The Arrows’ ‘Touch Too Much’ enjoyed a second week as the oldest on the charts. They were on 15 weeks.

There were 2 songs that left the chart this week and the first of these was Dennis East’s ‘A Rose Has To Die’ which lasted 13 weeks in the charts and peaked at 6. There would be more to come from East.

Also going was The Walkers’ ‘Jack O’ Diamonds’ which managed 11 weeks and a peak of 7. Unlike Dennis East, The Walkers would not be seen on our charts again and this would be their only contribution to our top 20.

The first of the new entries was Barry White’s first SA hit as an artist, ‘Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe’ which entered at 19. His backing band, The Love Unlimited Orchestra had had a recent number 1 hit in SA with ‘Love Theme’ which White had penned. ‘Can’t Get Enough Of Your love, Babe’ topped the US charts, knocking this week’s number 16 song (‘I Shot The Sheriff’ by Eric Clapton) off the top spot there. Our number 4 song this week (Andy Kim’s ‘Rock Me Gently’) would dislodge White from the top spot in the US a week later. White also made it to number 8 in the UK. In 1993 Taylor Dayne took a version to number 20 in the US and 14 in the UK. White was the 18^th person to have charted as a song writer before charting as an artist.

Dan Hill’s second hit, ‘Bubble Gum’ was the other new entry. It was written by Dennis East who had recently departed from the charts with his version of ‘A Rose Has To Die’. ‘Bubble Gum’ was the 39^th instrumental song to chart and the 6^th by a local act.

We were back up to the record to date 7 US chart toppers in the top 20. These 7 were Carl Douglas’ ‘Kung Fu Fighting’, Andy Kim’s ‘Rock Me Gently’, George McCrae’s ‘Rock Your Baby’, Paper Lace’s ‘The Night Chicago Died’, The Hues Corporation’s ‘Rock The Boat’, Eric Clapton’s ‘I Shot The Sheriff’ and Barry White’s ‘Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love, Baby’.

The male artists were back to having at least half the charts to themselves as they accounted for 10 of the top 20 hits. We also saw the first time in 25 weeks when a nation accounted for at least half of the chart as 10 of the top 20 songs were by US acts. The Americans had also been the nation involved the last time we saw at least 10 from a particular nation.

Youtube playlist:

15 November 1974

Pos	LW	Weeks	Song		Artist
1	1	11	If You Love Me (Let Me Know)	–	Olivia Newton-John
2	2	12	Why Me	–	Kris Kristofferson
3	7	8	Rock Me Gently	–	Andy Kim
4	3	13	Rock Your Baby	–	George McCrae
5	6	6	Kung Fu Fighting	–	Carl Douglas
6	4	5	Kissin’ in the Back Row of the Movies	–	Drifters
7	16	2	Hasta Mañana	–	ABBA
8	8	5	Rub it In	–	Billy “Crash” Craddock
9	5	14	The Night Chicago Died	–	Paper Lace
10	11	7	When Will I See You Again	–	Three Degrees
11	13	2	Na Na Na	–	Cozy Powell
12	9	10	Rock the Boat	–	Hues Corporation
13	17	4	Mama Tembu’s Wedding	–	Margaret Singana
14	10	14	Touch too Much	–	Arrows
15	12	11	Jack o’ Diamond	–	Walkers
16	New	1	I Shot the Sheriff	–	Eric Clapton
17	New	1	Rockin’ in the U.S.A.	–	Big John’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus
18	18	3	Born with a Smile on My Face	–	Stephanie de Sykes
19	New	1	The Way I Am	–	Lovelace Watkins
20	15	13	A Rose Has to Die	–	Dennis East

Olivia Newton-John enjoyed a 3^rd week at 1 with ‘If You Love Me (Let Me Know)’ and this was her 4^th week in total at the top spot, having picked up 1 week with ‘If Not For Me’. Kris Kristofferson’s ‘Why Me’ remained unmoved at 2 where it had sat since ‘If You Love Me (Let Me Know)’ had knocked it off the top spot.

Abba’s ‘Hasta Mañana’ picked up their second biggest climber award with a 9 place climb from 16 to 7. This was the 104^th time we had seen a climb of 9 or more places in a week and the 10^th time a song by an artist that was not from the big 3 nations (SA, UK, US). Apart from acts from the big 3 nations who had managed this, we had seen acts from Canada and The Netherlands manage it twice while acts from Australia, France, Germany, Jamaica, Spain and now Sweden had all done so twice. The 2 from The Netherlands and those from Canada had been by different acts.

Andy Kim’s ‘Rock Me Gently’ was a star rater, climbing 4 from 7 to 3 to give him his highest placing on the charts so far. His previous 2 hits had peaked at 7 and 18. Also a star rater was Margaret Singana’s ‘Mama Tembu’s Wedding’ which moved up 4 from 17 to 13. This was her first time with a star rater and she had to get 2 more in order to catch up with Letta Mbulu who was the only other solo local black woman who would chart.

‘A Rose Has To Die’ by Dennis East was the faller of the week. It dropped 5 from 15 to 20 to take the award

‘Annie’s Song’ by John Denver was the first of 3 songs to leave the top 20 this week. It had enjoyed a run of 7 weeks and peaked at 11. This had been his first SA chart hit, but would not be his last.

Gerry Grayson’s ‘Don’t Break This Heart’ spent 9 weeks on the top 20 before leaving us. It managed to get as high as 13 during this time. It would be his only solo SA chart hit, but he would return as part of a collaboration.

Last to go was the oldest song on last week’s chart, Wings’ ‘Let Me Roll It’. It lasted 15 week and in falling off the top 20 this week, it failed to become the outright leader for weeks on the charts by an ex-Beatle but did share the title with Ringo Starr’s ‘Photograph’. ‘Let Me Roll It’ peaked at 3, a place lower than their previous hit, ‘Band On The Run’.

Paper Lace’s ‘The Night Chicago Died’ and The Arrows’ ‘Touch Too Much’ were the new oldest in the charts. They were on 14 weeks.

The first of the newcomers to the chart was Eric Clapton’s version of the Bob Marley song, ‘I Shot The Sheriff’. Clapton had had success as a member of the Yardbirds, Cream and Derek & The Dominoes, but this was his first solo hit in the UK where it made it to number 9. It topped the charts in the US, Canada and New Zealand as well as making top 10 in Norway, Germany, Holland and Belgium. This was the first of only 2 Bob Marley compositions that would grace our charts.

The second new entry was Big John’s Rock N Roll Circus with their hit ‘Rockin’ In The U.S.A.’. This rather obscure British band featured John Goodison from Coventry on vocals. Goodison had been a member of an early incarnation of The Brotherhood Of Man and on a visit to South Africa he ended up producing local band Copperfield’s ‘Rock And Roll Singer’ (which was yet to chart). He had also had writing credits on Cliff Richard’s ‘Sunny Honey Girl’ and production credits on Love Affair’s ‘A Day Without Love’.

Last of the new entries was Lovelace Watkins’ cover of the Neil Sedaka song ‘The Way I Am’. Watkins toured South Africa and even got a public parade. There is an album called ‘Lovelace Watkins Live In South Africa’ which appeared around 1971/72 and features a version of ‘The Way I Am’. Despite popular appeal in the US, Europe and Liverpool in England, Lovelace was never able to convert this into sufficient sales to trouble any of the charts in those regions, in fact the only other chart action I can find for him is that ‘The Way I Am’ also made 12 in what was then Rhodesia.

Olivia Newton-John became the 93^rd act and 12 female act to reach the 30 weeks in the charts milestone.

The arrival of ‘I Shot The Sheriff’ in the charts kept the level of US number 1 hits at 6 as it replaced the departing ‘Annie’s Song’ by John Denver which had also been a US chart topper. This level had been at 6 for 4 weeks now, but was 1 less than the record to date 7 US chart toppers in the top 20.

We also saw an all-time record 4 songs in the charts that started with ‘Rock’. There were 3 that started with the word ‘Rock’ and they were ‘Rock Me Gently’, ‘Rock Your Baby’ and ‘Rock The Boat’ and they were joined by ‘Rockin’ In The U.S.A.’ which still had the same first 4 letters.

Youtube playlist:

8 November 1974

Pos	LW	Weeks	Song		Artist
1	1	10	If You Love Me (Let Me Know)	–	Olivia Newton-John
2	2	11	Why Me	–	Kris Kristofferson
3	3	12	Rock Your Baby	–	George McCrae
4	6	4	Kissin’ in the Back Row of the Movies	–	Drifters
5	4	13	The Night Chicago Died	–	Paper Lace
6	8	5	Kung Fu Fighting	–	Carl Douglas
7	7	7	Rock Me Gently	–	Andy Kim
8	16	4	Rub it In	–	Billy “Crash” Craddock
9	5	9	Rock the Boat	–	Hues Corporation
10	9	13	Touch too Much	–	Arrows
11	10	6	When Will I See You Again	–	Three Degrees
12	15	10	Jack o’ Diamond	–	Walkers
13	New	1	Na Na Na	–	Cozy Powell
14	14	15	Let Me Roll It	–	Wings
15	12	12	A Rose Has to Die	–	Dennis East
16	New	1	Hasta Mañana	–	ABBA
17	18	3	Mama Tembu’s Wedding	–	Margaret Singana
18	20	2	Born with a Smile on My Face	–	Stephanie de Sykes
19	19	9	Don’t Break This Heart	–	Gerry Grayson
20	11	7	Annie’s Song	–	John Denver

Having gained the top spot last week, Olivia Newton-John’s ‘If You Love Me (Let Me Know)’ held on to it to make it 2 weeks in a row which was double the amount of time her previous chart topper, ‘If Not For You’, had managed to spend there. The number 1 hit that Olivia had ousted, Kris Kristofferson’s ‘Why Me’ was unmoved at 2 as was George McRae’s ‘Rock Your Baby’ at 3.

Billy “Crash” Craddock’s ‘Rub It In’ was the climber of the week as it moved up 8 from 16 to 8. It would be the only star rater climb this week with the next best climb being only the 3 places that The Walkers’ ‘Jack O’Diamond’ managed.

The faller of the week award went to John Denver’s ‘Annie’s Song’ which plummeted 9 places from 11 to 20 and like the climber, the next highest faller was a little way behind and that was a 4 place drop by The Hues Corporation’s ‘Rock The Boat’ which fell to 9.

Wings’ ‘Let Me Roll It’ was still the oldest on the charts and sitting on 15 weeks it equalled the best run so far that we had seen by a song by an ex-Beatle. The only one to previously manage a 15 week run was Ringo Starr when his ‘Photograph’ did so earlier in 1974.

Tommy Oliver’s ‘Just an Ever Lovin’ Woman’ was the first of 2 songs to depart the chart. It had been with us for 10 weeks and peaked at 7. This brought the curtain down on Oliver’s SA Chart career. He had seen 2 songs chart, spent 27 weeks in the charts and his highest placing was at 3 which ‘I Wanna Live’, his other chart hit, managed.

Also leaving us was another local male artist, Lionel Petersen. His ‘Try A Little Love’ managed just 4 weeks and peaked at 13. This was the worst performance of his 3 hits so far, lasting 3 weeks less than ‘Come Back Liza’, his mid-performing hit, and peaked one place lower than the aforementioned.

The first of our new entries was ‘Na Na Na’ by Cozy Powell (born Colin Flooks on 29 December 1947). Powell, a drummer, had played with The Jeff Beck Group before trying out a solo career. He scored 5 hits in the UK included getting to number 10 with ‘Na Na Na’. The song also managed a number 19 hit in Germany. After having a few solo hits, he joined Rainbow and also worked with The Michael Schenker Group, Whitesnake, Emerson, Lake & Powell, Black Sabbath, The Brian May Band and the Peter Green Splinter Band. He died in a car crash on 5 April 1998.

Abba were cashing in on their Eurovision Song Contest win with ‘Waterloo’ which was a worldwide hit, following it up quickly in SA with ‘Hasta Mañana’. The song failed to make an impression in the UK or the US, but managed to get to 30 in Italy and topped the charts in their native Sweden. In 1976 it managed a number 9 peak in New Zealand and scraped a number 30 place in Australia. ‘Hasta Mañana’ which is Spanish for ‘see you tomorrow’ was originally going to be called ‘Who’s Gonna Love You?’. This was the 4^th song by a Swedish act to chart (3 had been by Abba, the other was by Blue Swede) and this put Sweden tied 11^th alongside Greece and Italy for number of hits from a nation.

South African acts celebrated clocking up 2,000 weeks in the charts this week. If one starts accumulating the weeks from the top of the chart down, then it was Dennis East’s ‘A Rose Has To Die’ that took the honours for the home team.

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1 November 1974

Pos	LW	Weeks	Song		Artist
1	2	9	If You Love Me (Let Me Know)	–	Olivia Newton-John
2	1	10	Why Me	–	Kris Kristofferson
3	3	11	Rock Your Baby	–	George McCrae
4	4	12	The Night Chicago Died	–	Paper Lace
5	5	8	Rock the Boat	–	Hues Corporation
6	8	3	Kissin’ in the Back Row of the Movies	–	Drifters
7	6	6	Rock Me Gently	–	Andy Kim
8	10	4	Kung Fu Fighting	–	Carl Douglas
9	7	12	Touch too Much	–	Arrows
10	14	5	When Will I See You Again	–	Three Degrees
11	11	6	Annie’s Song	–	John Denver
12	12	11	A Rose Has to Die	–	Dennis East
13	15	4	Try a Little Love	–	Lionel Petersen
14	9	14	Let Me Roll It	–	Wings
15	13	9	Jack o’ Diamond	–	Walkers
16	19	3	Rub it In	–	Billy “Crash” Craddock
17	16	10	Just an Ever Lovin’ Woman	–	Tommy Oliver
18	20	2	Mama Tembu’s Wedding	–	Margaret Singana
19	18	8	Don’t Break This Heart	–	Gerry Grayson
20	New	1	Born with a Smile on My Face	–	Stephanie de Sykes

We had a new number 1 and there were a number of landmarks attached to this. Firstly, just to let you know that the previous number 1, Kris Kristofferson’s ‘Why Me’, lasted 8 weeks at the top of the charts and now fell to 2. The new number 1 was Olivia Newton-John’s ‘If You Love Me (Let Me Know)’ and she became the first woman to manage 2 solo number 1 hits. Nancy Sinatra had seen 2 number 1s, but her second was as part of a duet with her father, so not 2 solo number 1s. ‘If You Love Me (Let Me Know)’ was the 160^th song to make the top of our charts and the 20^th by a solo woman. Olivia’s previous chart toppers, ‘If Not For You’ had been the 10^th, so keep an eye out for the 30^th. Also of note was that both her chart toppers started with the word ‘If’.

The Three Degrees brought us the climber of the week as ‘When Will I See You Again’ moved up 4 from 14 to 10. This would also be the only star rater.

Wings’ ‘Let Me Roll It’ was not to be outdone by their recent hit ‘Band On The Run’ as it also picked up a second biggest faller, dropping 5 from 9 to 14. The difference between the 2 songs was that there was a gap of 5 weeks between ‘Band On The Run’s 2 biggest faller efforts while there were only 4 weeks between ‘Let Me Roll It’s 2 times. ‘Let Me Roll It’ was still the oldest on the charts. It had been with us for 14 weeks and this was its second week as the oldest.

Badfinger’s SA chart career came to an end this week as ‘Apple Of My Eye’ left the charts. The song had seen 11 weeks in the top 20 and peaked at 11 making it the 33^rd song to have an equal weeks and peak figure. Badfinger had seen 4 songs chart, spent a total of 34 weeks in the charts and spent 1 week at 1 with ‘No Matter What’, their highest charting song.

It had been 8 weeks since we had last seen a new entry by a British act and this would be the 4^th biggest gap between new entries from acts from that nation. The drought was broken by Stephanie de Sykes’ ‘Born With A Smile On My Face’ which sneaked into the charts at 20 this week. The song was written by Simon May and Roger Holman. May was famous for writing the theme tune to the popular UK TV soap opera ‘Eastenders’. ‘Born With A Smile On My Face’ made number 2 in the UK and also gave de Sykes a number 23 hit in Belgium.

There were 9 songs on the charts by US acts, but they did not hold the top spot, so I thought I would see what the most number of songs US acts had had in the charts without having the number 1 song and was surprised to see that we had experienced 59 weeks where there were 9 or more US songs on the chart, but the number 1 was from a different country. The record to date was 14 songs by US acts in the charts without them having the number 1 spot and that was way back on 30 September 1966. We would see 14 US acts in the chart with a different nation holding the number 1 spot once more in the top 20 era.

With Olivia Newton-John at 1 and Stephanie de Sykes at 20 this was the 9^th time we had seen a top 20 with a solo female artists at the top and bottom spot.

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