(patience wearing thin, will pick it up soon)
#321
Lieutenant Pigeon, 'Mouldy Old Dough'
1972
Of all songs that have gone to #1 I would like to wager that this is the song that is most unlikely to ever do so again. Of course, it is more-or-less a novelty song, and novelty songs are very much attached to their era in which they are considered a novelty. The 40 years that have elapsed since this song ascended the charts to now have stripped whatever comic corona was attached to this hit, leaving very much a wave of bafflement as to what exactly the joke was and at whom it was aimed.
The track begins innocuously enough with a military fife (or reedy instrument with similar soldiering qualities) and snare imitating a parade ground march, before a sidelong collapse into a long and slow boogie section that calls to mind Chas and Dave without the vocals, musicianship, or wit. The song just lurches aimlessly, its lyrics half-hearted ('take it away, dirty old man, moldy old dough'), plodding anemically back to the start and around again. The more it is heard, the more maddening it becomes because whatever the joke was has now been lost in time, leaving only a really weird and ramshackle piano-jam that would barely pass muster opening up for Status Quo. And yet in this amateurishness and half-arsedness, there is hope that this somehow represents a multi-faced universe chart wherein any old toss can climb above the scrapheap and plant its flag in the ground.
(2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy32skBSHs0
#805
Spacedust, 'Gym & Tonic'
1998
More Ibiza toss, we've covered what that means. Not worth dissection, the song just does not stand up at all.
(2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6RQbhNQ6ko
#766
Gary Barlow, 'Love Won't Wait'
1997
Gary Barlow gets lauded in these terms by the majority of critics: he might be a Tory and a bit of a dick but he can really write a song. Largely I have agreed with this analysis. However, reapproaching some of the early Take That numbers alongside this particularly cruddy number has granted the realisation that Barlow really does not (or at least did not) have any ear for sounds that are 'timeless'. His chords and melodies are often at worst perfunctory and at best enlivening. Even his lyrics scan from time to time. However, the production, a key element of how a song sounds (certainly the most underrated) is quite far from the mark: ugly muzak synths, scratchy thin funk guitar that even wine-bar bands would reject as being 'too Eurovision', and cold MIDI elements that tie this song squarely to 1998 forever.
(3)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7kHpSTs0uo
#359
Ken Boothe, 'Everything I Own'
1974
A pleasant and unshowy rocksteady reggae song with melodies that clearly foreshadow the likes of Aswad and UB40. The instrumental break in the middle is notable and funny for building expectation toward a solo and then deciding against it.
(6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5nzZy2LFE0
#25
Rosemary Clooney, 'This Ole House'
1954
A jaunty and thankfully upbeat number from the decade that slumbered longest.
OK, I wrote that sentence four days ago. Since then I have had a few things to do, but I honestly couldn't find much of interest to write. An analogy: I like to do a bit of running. Recently I decided to run from where I live in Wigan to a friend's house about 21 miles away in Manchester. I knew that beforehand it would be difficult but running is about long-term benefit and well-being, and I knew that afterward I would not regret it. During the run, after around only 6 miles, not only was I doubting the benefit of the run, but the whole pathway of life that had brought me to these kinds of decisions and actions. It was difficult and the rewards were not immediately apparent and I was tired and running out of motivational tactics, yet somehow I felt an invisible hand pushing me along, forcing me to finish.
So forgive me if I coast the next couple of miles and stop into the shops to get a drink because the next few songs are boring and I need to gather up my strength for a push. Did I mention that chart music isn't my thing yet?
(4)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nstn4Wscl1w
#545
Elaine Paige & Barbara Dickson, 'I Knew Him So Well'
1985
Sappy power-ballad with Vangelis synths and hideous over-singing. Is this from musical theatre? It sounds like the song a leading lady would sing as the leading man goes off to sail or something.
(2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeMk7B46xg8
#385
Four Seasons, 'December '63'
1976
Fucking hell I always thought this song was called 'Oh What A Night', putrid bilious arse-end of disco's rotting cocaine corpse. Every corpuscle and strand of DNA is screaming to turn this off.
(2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8QFNrTq9oo
#782
Usher, 'You Make Me Wanna'
1998
Usher is at his best when he sings R&B that is edged with melancholy, rather than attempting to work up a sex-lather on the dancefloor. This, his first hit, is one of the good kind of tracks, a tasteful sample of a minor-key acoustic guitar fluttering ambivalently, cutting through a mix of slightly over-sung backing vocals and generic beats. Hindsight does not scream 'a star is born' given better first efforts by many contemporaries, but heck, he's done it.
(5)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQRzrnH6_HY
#406
Kenny Rogers, 'Lucille'
1977
Aside from being surprised when country songs get to #1, this song just provides a big mental blank like this: _____________________ _________________________________ _______________________________ _________________ ______________________ ________________ ______. Rogers' longevity is baffling. An unremarkable voice and an everyman charm have been the preserve of many a journeyman, so why the massive fame and the chicken restaurants?
(3)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLKDFKRTdlo
#475
Joe Dolce Music Theatre, 'Shaddup You Face'
1981
Weird novelty hit from this Australian-based, American-born, Italian-acting guy - the music is all corny Sicilian restaurant and the lyrics are a bit silly and it's just a bit of fun, nothing to see here.
What's more interesting is that Dolce had a legitimate career as protest singer in Australia - singing a song called 'Boat People' about the treatement of Vietnamese migrants in Australia. I can't imagine he did it in this Dolmio-style waiter-voice, otherwise that would have been a mite insensitive. What journey set him sail on this path?
(4)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFacWGBJ_cs
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