WLS Top 30 for Week of November 9, 1971-- Part 3: 'Rock Steady'

*  Means the song is climbing the charts.  The number after the artist is how high the song got on the Billboard Hot 100 National chart.

20.  *ROCK STEADY--  Aretha Franklin     #9      The Queen of Soul gives us some Funk.  Follow up to "Spanish Harlem."

19.  *TWO DIVIDED BY LOVE--  Grass Roots       #16     Creed Bratton (("The Office") had already left the group by this time.  One comment says they still have this on 8-track.  Group formed in San Francisco with Rob Grill on vocals and bass.

18.  *I DON'T WANT TO LIVE INSIDE MYSELF--  Bee Gees       #53       At first, I really thought this group was the Beatles in disguise.

17.  DO YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN--  Lee Michaels      #6     He found out about her and who?  From Los Angeles.

16.  *EVERYBODY'S EVERYTHING--  Santana      #12     That's the Tower of Power on horns.  Gregg Rolie on Hammond organ and vocals.  Is that a party way to start this song?

Name That Tune (from the above songs):  "Every Night Your Tears Come Down."  Answer below.  --RoadDog

"Two Divided By Love"

WLS Top 30 for Week of August 9, 1971-- Part 2: 'I Just Want to Celebrate'

* means it is climbing the charts.

25.  DON'T PULL YOUR LOVE--  Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds       #4    Classic early 70s rock.  Still don't know why Joe Frank got his names in the group name and the other two just their last names.

24.  MOON SHADOW--  Cat Stevens      #30   Too bad he gave up singing.  Follow up to "Wild World."  I especially remember listening to his "Tea for the Tillerman" album when I lived at Ski's trailer at the University of Georgia.  Takes me right back.

23.  YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND--  James Taylor     #1     Everybody needs a real good friend like James.  His only #1 hit.

22.  *I JUST WANT TO CELEBRATE--  Rare Earth       #7    The drummer does the lead singing.  Who says white guys can't sing soul?  From Detroit.  One of the first white groups signed by Motown.

21.  SOONER OR LATER--  Grass Roots    #9     As far as I am concerned, this is a very underrated group.  One of the members was Creed Bratton, one of the stars of the TV show "The Office."  From San Francisco.

Name That Tune (from the above songs):  "And If I Ever Lose My hands, Lose My Plow, Lose My Land."  Answer below.  --RoadDog

"Moon Shadow"

My Ten at Ten for the Week of July 19, 1971: 'Funky Nassau'

Every Monday-Friday Bob Stroud or whoever is filling in for him on one of his many vacations, has a Ten at ten on Chicago's Classic Rock station, WDRV, 97.1 FM, the Drive.  It is a favorite show of mine and it plays at 10 AM and 10 PM.

I think I have a great ten songs from this week fifty years ago.  Every one of these were on WLS' Music Survey at the time.

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RESURRECTION SHUFFLE--  Ashton, Gardner & Dyke

SIGNS--  Five Man Electric Band

SWEET HITCH HIKER--  Creedence Clearwater Revival

MIGHTY CLOUDS OF JOY--  B.J. Thomas

HERE COMES THAT RAINY DAY FEELING--  Fortunes

RINGS--  Cymarron

NEVER ENDING SONG OF LOVE--  Delaney and Bonnie & Friends

FUNKY NASSAU--  Beginning of the End

SOONER OR LATER--  Grass Roots

GET IT ON-- Chase

Well, Bob.  What do you think?

Name That Tune (from the above songs):  "Was Ridin' Along Side The Highway Rollin'Up The Countryside."  Answer below.  --RoadDog

"Sweet Hitch Hiker"

WLS Top 30 for Week of July 12, 1971-- Part 5: 'Sooner Or Later'

With the Top Ten songs, I only give its highest Billboard Hot 100 position and whether or not it was climbing the charts.  Since this usually takes awhile for the song to reach the Top Ten, I more than likely made comments about it the month before.

10.  HERE COMES THAT RAINY DAY FEELING AGAIN--  Fortunes     #15

9.  *HOW CAN YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART--  Bee Gees     #1

8.  HIGH TIME WE WENT--  Joe Cocker     #22

7.  *SOONER OR LATER--  Grass Roots    #9

6.  *GET IT ON--  Chase

5.  *DRAGGIN' THE LINE--  Tommy James (But no Shondells this time)

4.  *MR. BIG STUFF--  Jean Knight   #2

3.  DON'T PULL YOUR LOVE--  Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds   #4

2.  YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND--  James Taylor

1.  IT'S TOO LATE--  Carole King (4th week at #1)    #1

Name That Tune (from the above songs):  "I Can Think Of Younger Days When Living For My Life."  Answer below.  --RoadDog

"How Can You Mend A Broken Heart"

JSIS: Rob Grill Dies-- Beware the Lionfish-- No More Writing Test

JSIS-- Just Some Interesting Stuff.


1. ROB GRILL DIES-- Sorry to see Rob Grill, lead singer with the 60s-70s group Grass Roots died last Monday. I sure liked their songs like "Live for Today" and "Midnight Confessions." We were able to see him perform several years ago at Springfield, Illinois' Route 66 Festival.

More in my history blog: http://cootershistorything.blogspot.com.


2. BEWARE THE LIONFISH-- The pretty-but-voracious favorite in aquariums has made its way to the sea and is eating up reef fish in the Caribbean, along the Florida coast and into the Gulf of Mexico.

They eat just about anything that will fit into their mouth and have few, if any, natural predators.


3. NO MORE WRITING TEST--To save money, the state of Illinois has eliminated the writing skills test for juniors in high school on the state standardized tests. saving about $2.4 million from the debt. Writing tests for middle school and elementary have already been dropped.

Too bad, because this is one of the more important skills students need to master.

When I was teaching, almost every test I gave had one part where the students had to write. i sure hated grading them, but it was an important skill for them to master.

Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy. Let's Write About It. --RoadDog


FUNNY THINGS TO SAY TO YOUR DOC DURING YOUR COLONOSCOPY..."You know in Arkansas, we're now legally married."