#1 at KRUX/Phoenix: “Groovin’ ” by the Young Rascals, leaping from #8 last week. This song was so big that by their next album the group would grow up and be called simply the Rascals.
Other big jumpers include:
- “Respect” (#22 to #8), Aretha Franklin’s biggest hit, written by Otis Redding, who is among this week’s KRUX Klimbers with “Shake“;
- “Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead” (#21 to #12) by the Fifth Estate, covering the popular song from The Wizard Of Oz;
- “Little Bit O’ Soul” (#35 to #20), a one-hit wonder by the Music Explosion;
- “She’d Rather Be With Me” (#36 to #22) by the Turtles, the follow-up to the biggest hit of their career, “Happy Together.”
Australia’s Easybeats climb to #13 with the original version of “Friday On My Mind.” This timeless lament was a garage band staple and later revived by David Bowie and Bruce Springsteen.
Dropping to #15 is Herman’s Hermits’ “No Milk Today,” written by future 10cc founder Graham Gouldman. It was the B-side of “There’s A Kind Of Hush,” which KRUX had stopped playing by this time.
Peaking this week at #16 is “Get Me To The World On Time,” the very cool but much overlooked follow-up to the big hit “I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)” by the psychedelic Electric Prunes. The Lovin’ Spoonful climb to #24 with one of their last hits, “Six O’Clock.” The Yardbirds, featuring Jimmy Page on lead guitar before he joined Led Zeppelin, move up to #31 with “Little Games.”
Climbing from #30 to #21 is Whistling Jack Smith’s instrumental (with whistle) titled “I Was Kaiser Bill’s Batman,” which kids thought was cool because the Batman TV series was big at the time. Then a classmate would explain that the title actually refers to Kaiser Wilhelm’s personal aide and driver, which was called a batman in World War I Germany.
Falling to #11 is Arthur Conley’s “Sweet Soul Music,” which “spotlights” a who’s who of soul royalty of the time. The first two have Arizona ties:
- Lou Rawls, who lived in Scottsdale for two years until his death in 2006, and who debuts on this week’s chart at #35 with “Dead End Street“;
- Sam & Dave, later the inspiration for the Blues Brothers, were between hits this week — Sam Moore lived in Phoenix for many years and is a member of the Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame.
Local hit alert: Moving up 6 spots to #3 is a remake of Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour” by the obscure group the Berrys, a record that never charted nationally.