Top 100 Singles Of The 70's - 30-26
#30-26and we are back for some more fun and games as we look even further into those hot hits from the decade that was the 70's - and so let's take a look at today's entries shall we?
#30 – X Offender – Blondie(Deborah Harry/ Gary Valentine)
Private Stock single #45,097
Released December 1976 – Not Charted
Our third venture into the blonde world of Debbie and her boys, “X Offender” is the very first single ever released by the band that helped shape my life. Originally singed to Frankie Vali’s little Private Stock label, the single was released right as the album was coming out. An ode to 60’s girl groups with a whole message of 70’s sex, the song was originally called “Sex Offender” but they couldn’t get it past the powers that be, so they dropped the S-E which I always thought were dirty letters anyway. Beginning with a little chant straight out of a Shangri La’s opus Debbie coos, “I saw you on the corner/ you looked so big and fine/ I really wanted to go out with you/ so when you smiled I laid my heart on the line…” We get a little drum roll and all of the Blondies pump in with guitars and Jimmy Destri’s always driving keyboard before we get to the bust, “You read me my rights/ then you said ‘let’s go’ and nothing more/ I thought of my nights and how they were/ they were filled with/ I know you wouldn’t go/ you’d watch my heart burst then/ you’d step in/ I had to know so I asked/ you just had to laugh.” That’s right, Debbie isn’t the one being pursued in this gem, instead our girl is the actual sex offender trying to proposition the cop. The song changes melody a number of times from the chorus to the verses, to a great little bridge and onto my favorite lyric, “My vision in blue/ I call you from insiiiiide my cell/ and in the trial you were there with your badge and rubber boots/ I think of the time how I’m going to/ perpetrate love with you/ and when I get out/ there’s no doubt/ I’ll be sex offender to you/ oooooh….” And a brilliant fade out of a brilliant single that did absolutely nothing on the charts but remains one of the band’s most interesting and beloved songs.
#29 – Alison – Elvis Costello(Elvis Costello)
Columbia/Stiff single #10641 US/ Stiff single BUY14
Released May 1977 UK/ June 1977 US
Not charted
I am simply appalled that “Alison” never hit the chart either here or in the UK. What’s even more appalling is the fact that Linda Ronstadt who I love and who can usually do no wrong recorded a version of this song and actually had a hit in the UK. She’s done several Elvis songs and in almost all those cases they’ve worked just as brilliantly as anything else she ever covered but either I love this original so much or she just sucked it because I hate her version of it. But we’re not here to talk about cover versions anyway, we’re here to talk about the brilliance that was 1970’s Elvis Costello. He released a number of great singles through out his tenure as the unflappable bespectacled new wave kid of the late 70’s including another of my favs, “Oliver’s Army” and “Radio Radio” but his signature song would have to be “Alison.” A little ode to a former love who has the habit of driving everyone around her crazy, “I wish I could stop you from talking/ when I hear the crazy things that you say…” and what’s more apparently the chick is doing his pal, “I hear you let that little friend of mine/ pull off your party dress…” Oh Elvis, nothing like being bitter. But that’s what makes him so great – his bitterness, his slyness, his ultimately cool quirkiness. Alas, even Elvis can’t get over Ms. Al as he tells her over and over again, “Alison/ I know the world is killing you/ oh Alison/ my aim is true/ my aim is true…”
#28 – Would You Lay With Me (In A Field Of Stone) – Tanya Tucker(David Allen Coe)
Columbia/CBS single #45991 US / CBS single #2285 UK
Chart Debut: US Pop 02/16/1974 #46 / Country 02/02/1974 #1
Tanya Tucker was a little spitfire even at the age of 15 when she recorded this rather racy little ditty. After a successful run on the country charts with two albums and four singles, Tanya opted to up her image even further by recording David Allen Coe’s sexual opus, “Would you lay with me in a field of stone/ if my needs were strong would you lay with me?/ would you go away to another land/ walk a thousand miles in the burnin’ sand/ wipe the blood away from my dyin’ hand/ if I give myself to you?” That’s right, she’s all about knowing what the man will go through should she you know spread ‘em if you will; and I think she will. A tad racy for country and pop radio in the early 70’s and even more controversial when you realize Tanya was about 15 years old. Of course without the knowledge of her age you would never guess it by the vocal. Tanya from the very first line she ever sang came off at least 20 years older than she actually was, which is why she was able to pull off more mature songs than some of the women twice her age. The single was a huge hit in both country and pop radio making Tanya one of the very first cross over artists and the whole thing landed her on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine – the very first country artist ever to do that – with the neat tag line, “Hi, I’m Tanya Tucker, I’m 15, You’re gonna hear from me.” And so we have.
#27 – Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen(Freddie Mercury)
Elektra single #46579 US / #5001 UK
Chart Debut: US Pop 12/22/1979 #1 / UK #2
“Crazy Little Thing Called Love” was such a throw back to the 50’s rockabilly movement many people believed it to be a cover song but it’s a full on original written by the incredible Freddie Mercury. It’s one of those songs that you can’t help but bopping to from the minute that first chord hits, you’re on a trip through fun. “Well this thing called love/ I just can’t handle it/ this thing/ called love/ I must get round to it/ I ain’t ready/ crazy little thing called love..” It’s a karaoke staple from me and though I’m not Freddie Mercury I’m not half bad at it. By the time of the release of this single many new wavers and punks felt Queen were ultimate rock dinosaurs but the boys proved everyone wrong with the 1979 album The Game which included not only this rockabilly single but the bass pulsed dance rock of “Another One Bites The Dust” (which made our top 100 of the 80’s) giving them two huge hits in a new medium no one thought they’d be in.
#26 – Brass In Pocket (I’m Special) – The Pretenders(Chrissie Hynde/ Honeymoon-Scott)
Sire single #49181 US / Real single #11 UK
Chart Debut: US Pop 02/16/1980 #14 / UK 11/17/1979 #1
One more strange little chart anomolie, The Pretenders’ incredible single was a huge hit in the UK months before ever making it over to the US which lucky for us makes it into the top 100 of the 70’s. Pissy Chrissie is one of the greatest achievements in rock history, her no holds barred approach to everything from music to her personal convictions leaves admiration in her wake. Of course it’s all about the music and nowhere has she proved herself than on this somewhat sad little love song. How many times have I told people that they need to love me because umm hello I’m special and there isn’t anyone like me. Luckily, Chrissie made this song and it just gave me the vindication that I needed to present my case. It’s also one of the first videos I ever remember seeing on the then fledging little channel known as MTV.
and there we have numbers 30 through 26; a few classics from a few classics and next time we venutre even further down the list as we make our way to the very best singles of the 70's...
Labels: 70s, Blondie, Bradley, Elvis Costello, Pretenders, Queen, Retro songs, Tanya Tucker
posted by swivek @ 10:32 PM
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