Nine of the ten acts on Billboard's Bubbling Under chart from 46 years ago had already tasted Top 40 success. Six of those nine would never return to Casey-land. I have no idea how typical (or atypical) either of those statistics are, and I'm not likely to take up that research anytime soon. I'm reviewing six of the tunes, all from the R&B/disco side of things. For the record, the other four artists were Marty Robbins (!, in his final chart appearance), ZZ Top, Tom Jones, and Engelbert Humperdinck.
110. Jennifer, "Do It for Me"
We start with the one who never hit the Top 40. It's lyrically slight, in the grand tradition of folks singing in something other than their native tongue. Née Chantal Benoist, she adopted her mononymic stage name (or nom de scène, as they say in her native France--I may have to spend more time on French Wikipedia) when she began recording, if I'm understanding things correctly. This is the second of a two-week run in this position, her only U.S. chart appearance.
109. Salsoul Orchestra, "Short Shorts"
Having hit with "Tangerine" and "Nice 'n Naasty" in 1976, Vince Montana tried to snag a third Top 40 tune with his merry band of crack Philly musicians via another cover, this one having recently been brought back in the public's ear in commercials for Nair. No dice, however--"Short Shorts" would only climb to #106.
I did not know until this week that future Four Season Bob Gaudio co-wrote this as a member of the Royal Teens in 1958.
107. Silver Convention, "Telegram"
Another thing I didn't realize until somewhat recently was that established acts could be selected to represent their country in the annual Eurovision competition. Case in point: this song was Germany's entry in the 1977 contest. "Telegram," which has many more words than Silver Convention's previous two big hits combined, had topped out at #103 the week before. The Eurovision judges didn't find great favor with the tune either, awarding it 8th place out of 18. (The winning song that year came from France, and no, it wasn't by Jennifer.)
106. Walter Murphy, "Rhapsody in Blue"
In which we learn that folks were less ready for disco-fied Gershwin than they had been Beethoven. This was the ninth and final week a-bubbling for Murphy, having climbed as high as #102.
I must confess that I half-expected to hear drum machine-induced clapping, a la "Hooked on Classics," right before things get going at the 40 second mark.
102. Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, "After You Love Me, Why Do You Leave Me?"
Teddy Pendergrass was gone, replaced by David Ebo, and Melvin had moved to ABC from Philadelphia International. Ebo's partner here is Sharon Paige. This is some amazing stuff; it's a real shame it wouldn't climb higher.
101. Enchantment, "Sunshine"
Unlike the others in this post, Enchantment had another Top 40 hit in them--"It's You That I Need" would reach there the following spring. Also different is that "Sunshine" would eventually break out of Bubbling Under and climb as high as #45, toward the end of September. For my money, it's better than either "Gloria" or "It's You That I Need."
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