Finals week is wrapping up at my institution tomorrow. Forty-one years ago, exams at the end of my third semester of college were just about to start. I'd been taking Calculus III, College Physics I, Assembler Language Programming, and Cultural Anthropology (in which I'd done a project on the Maori of New Zealand--it was a real treat to see a Maori meeting house at the Field Museum in Chicago a few weeks ago). The big news in Transyland at the time, though, was the opening of new Student Center one week earlier. My classmates and I had been watching it go up since our first days on campus.
There were around ten songs I considered for inclusion in this post, generally ones that I at least knew of in the moment. I'm writing this portion last, so it's only now I get to see I'd unknowingly focused mainly on acts that had been much bigger a few-to-many years earlier.
92. Rodney Dangerfield, "Rappin' Rodney"
The fact that Dangerfield doesn't have sole writing credit on this makes me wonder what percentage of his comedy routines he got from other writers. Part of the reason for that is that the schtick in "Rappin' Rodney" certainly seems of a piece with what you'd hear from him otherwise. Would reach #83 in mid-January.
88. Anne Murray, "A Little Good News"
There was a guy I knew in college, a pre-med two years older, who'd talk up "A Little Good News" around me and some of my WTLX friends--I think maybe he was lobbying for us to add it to our rotation at the station. Murray's pop chart days were essentially over by the time this heartfelt piece was released; she'd have just one more Hot 100 appearance, a little more than two years later. This is a song I knew by reputation long before I ever heard it, as the country scene held little appeal at that time. In its last week on the chart, at its peak.
80. The Doors, "Gloria"
The release of Alive, She Cried was one more stop on the road to the mythologizing of Jim Morrison, an effort that perhaps peaked eight years later with the release of the Oliver Stone film The Doors. The small talk that Jimbo inserts here, followed up by his lasciviously growled, "Well, now that we know each other a little bit BETTER!" no doubt garnered "Gloria" plenty of airplay that fall. It didn't help it climb past #71, however.
68. Kiss, "Lick It Up"
The makeup went the way of the dinosaur (for thirteen years, anyway) in a bid to return to relevance by Gene and Paul (Ace and Peter having moved on for the time being). Overall however, their day in the sun had passed, even if I heard/saw a single or two on AOR radio or MTV over the next few years. This would climb just two spots higher.
61. Paul Simon, "Allergies"
It seemed in the moment that Simon's heyday was also over, as Hearts and Bones didn't have much commercial or critical impact. Graceland, and to a lesser extent The Rhythm of the Saints, would put such thoughts to bed.
I recall "Allergies," already falling from a #44 peak, received a few weeks of play on the Lexington Top 40 station. These days, it's "Train in the Distance" and "Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War" that I consider to be the true highlights from this album.
58. Linda Ronstadt & the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, "What's New"
Continuing on a theme, Ronstadt's grip on the pop charts had slipped some with Get Closer. The pivot to standards arranged by Nelson Riddle didn't exactly reverse that trend (in terms of Hot 100 success, anyway) but it did show a path that any number of others (Barry Manilow, Rod Stewart, etc.) would ultimately follow in some form. "What's New," a hit for both Bing and Bob Crosby way back when, eventually topped out at #53 in this incarnation.
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