Redartz: Good day, all; and welcome to another trip aboard the Retro Metro. You're just in time- today we head back to the early Bronze age, the Spring of 1973. Skylab is launched, Secretariat wins the Kentucky Derby, and everyone is talking about the growing Watergate scandal. But we're here to check out pop culture, and we start with the song at the peak Casy Kasem's "American Top 40" today:
Top US Billboard Pop Hit: Edgar Winter Group, "Frankenstein"
According to Fred Bronson's "Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits", writer Edgar Winter named the song for all the cuts and stitching required during the editing. The single version is a couple minutes shorter than the live.
Rounding out the top five:
2. Paul McCartney and Wings, "My Love"
3. Elton John, "Daniel"
4. Dawn featuring Tony Orlando, "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree"
5. Stevie Wonder, "You are the Sunshine of My Life"
Other notables: "Night the Lights Went out in Georgia", and Hocus Pocus: "Focus". Seems to be an abundance of story songs these days. Vicki Lawrence's "Night the Lights Went Out" just became the first 45 this preteen has purchased. Great lyrics, "...his cheatin' wife had never left town, that's one body that'll never be found"...
Hocus Pocus, "Focus"(complete with cool yodeling)
Tops in the UK: Wizzard, "See My Baby Jive"
Having checked out some tunes, now we'll tune in and check out tonight's tv offerings:
US Television Schedule:
ABC: The F.B.I., The ABC Sunday Night Movie
CBS: The New Dick Van Dyke Show, M*A*S*H, Mannix, Barnaby Jones
NBC: The Wonderful World of Disney, NBC Sunday Mystery Movie (Hec Ramsey), Night Gallery
NBC Sunday Mystery Movie opening
BBC1: Glory, Glory, Owen M.D., All Time Greats: On the Beach, Song of Summer
BBC2: The World About Us, Ballet From Europe, Away From it All, M*A*S*H, The John Denver Show
Our family still starts Sunday nights with Walt Disney, and usually follows with the New Dick Van Dyke Show and Mannix. Sometimes I'll get to catch Night Gallery, though. Occasionally my Dad will watch the Sunday Mystery Movie. That has such a memorable intro...
Alas, at this point in time, your humble host hasn't yet been bitten by the comics bug. I'm still picking up Archies (including this issue of "Riverdale High"), and the occasional Gold Key humor book. In a few years I'll be shopping for many of these books in the back issue bins. Some pretty sharp books here, that Spider-Man cover is dynamite, as is the Avengers. I noticed that first issue of "Prez" but passed on it. Looked like an unusual concept. How many of these do you remember on the stands?
And with that fond glance at the spinner rack, we turn away from 1973 and return to the present. Hope you had fun, and will be back to join us in our next trip on the Retro Metro!