4-1-79: Presenter: Mike Read
(24) PAUL EVANS – Hello, This Is Joanie (The Telephone Answering Machine Song) (and charts)
(NEW) GENERATION X – King Rocker
(5) ELTON JOHN – Song For Guy ®
(18) EARTH, WIND & FIRE – September (danced to by Legs & Co)
(6) IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS – Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick (video)
(21) OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN – A Little More Love (video)
(3) RACEY – Lay Your Love On Me ®
(29) BARRY WHITE – Just The Way You Are (video)
(NEW) BROTHERHOOD OF MAN – Goodbye Goodbye
(1) VILLAGE PEOPLE – Y.M.C.A. (video)
(16) HOT CHOCOLATE – I’ll Put You Together Again (and credits)
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Paul Evans ~ plays over the chart rundown. This was his first hit in 20 years, his earlier ones being Seven Little Girls (Sitting In The Back Seat) and Happy-Go-Lucky Me.
Generation X ~ King Rocker became their biggest hit, peaking at number 11. The song is apparently about the Beatles and Elvis having a fight over who is the king of rock n roll!
Elton John ~ a fine live performance featuring just Elton and his piano. At the time I thought this was about Guy the Gorilla, who had recently died at London Zoo, but in fact it is dedicated to Guy Burchett, a 17 year old messenger for Elton's label, who had been killed in a motorbike accident.
Legs and Co ~ dancing to Earth Wind and Fire's September - a strange time to release a song with such a title! Co-writer Allee Willis went on to write the theme from Friends.
Ian Dury and the Blockheads ~ the video this week, the legendary studio performance is yet to come. Ian had this song in rough on a piece of paper for about three years before it was finally completed!
Olivia Newton John ~ this song was written by John Farrar, who also wrote You're the One that I Want and Hopelessly Devoted to You. Not a bad 12 months for him!
Racey ~ were originally called Alive ‘n’ Kicking. They picked the new name from a list by producer Mickie Most for its easiness to say. This song was written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who wrote a production line of hits in the 70's for the likes of Sweet, Mud, Smokie and Suzi Quatro.
Barry White ~ almost a year after Billy Joel had taken the original to 19 in the charts, Barry's cover made it to number 12.
Brotherhood of Man ~ a rather aptly titled song for them, as this marked the end of their chart career. Not a bad song though really, I guess its just the times they were a changing.
Village People ~ replacing Boney M at the top of the charts. A song that was no doubt played at just about every New Year party in 1979, it was still being played at those parties I'm sure in 2014. The song was inspired by the YMCA branch at 215 W 23rd St, as seen in the video.
Hot Chocolate ~ play almost their entire song over the end credits - well why not, it is such a good one :-)
Next week, it's the 11th January 1979 hosted by David Jensen.
