january 1974 -- Even Casey thought it was Odd

The early 70's brought lots of interesting records as Top 40 radio wasn't nearly as homogeneous as it became.  Spoken word records, blatant political or religious records, comedy records, and multiple versions of the same song.  And sometimes combinations of those!

The main body of the charts is to be expected -- adult contemporary, singer-songwriters, various beatles, Elton John, and a strong presence of post-motown R&B....and the biggest chart performance yet for Barbra Striesand...if only casey knew!

In between are a couple songs by huge artists that I've never heard...Diana Ross and Paul McCartney, regulars for this feature.

Cheech and Chong had a comedy, spoken-word record at #26.  But most interesting was that moving up into the top 10 was another spoken word record defending the U.S. called "Americans"...yet debuting at #28 was another version of the same spoken song!

Favorites:  no 4- or 5-star songs, so I'll go with last week's #1, the R&B classic "Show and Tell"

1 5 YOU’RE SIXTEEN –•– Ringo Starr (Apple)-7 (1 week at #1) (1)
2 1 SHOW AND TELL –•– Al Wilson (Rocky Road)-15 (1)
3 7 THE WAY WE WERE –•– Barbra Streisand (Columbia)-10 (3)
4 4 I’VE GOT TO USE MY IMAGINATION –•– Gladys Knight and the Pips (Buddah)-10 (4)
5 2 THE JOKER –•– The Steve Miller Band (Capitol)-15 (1)
6 10 LOVE’S THEME –•– The Love Unlimited Orchestra (20th Century)-9 (6)
7 3 SMOKIN’ IN THE BOY’S ROOM –•– Brownsville Station (Big Tree)-14 (3)
8 9 LET ME BE THERE –•– Olivia Newton-John (MCA)-11 (8)
9 6 TIME IN A BOTTLE –•– Jim Croce (ABC)-11 (1)
10 17 AMERICANS –•– Byron MacGregor (Westbound)-4 (10)

11 13 UNTIL YOU COME BACK TO ME (That’s What I’m Gonna Do) –•– Aretha Franklin (Atlantic)-10 (11)
12 8 LIVING FOR THE CITY –•– Stevie Wonder (Tamla)-12 (8)
13 11 NEVER, NEVER GONNA GIVE YA UP –•– Barry White (20th Century)-14 (7)
14 18 SPIDERS & SNAKES –•– Jim Stafford (MGM)-12 (14)
15 15 ME AND BABY BROTHER –•– War (United Artists)-12 (15)
16 14 ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT / WHEN I FALL IN LOVE –•– Donny Osmond (MGM)-10 (14)
17 12 HELEN WHEELS –•– Paul McCartney and Wings (Apple)-10 (10)
18 22 JUNGLE BOOGIE –•– Kool and the Gang (De-Lite)-8 (18)
19 20 WALK LIKE A MAN –•– Grand Funk (Capitol)-10 (19)
20 16 THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL –•– Charlie Rich (Epic)-18 (1)

21 19 LIVIN’ FOR YOU –•– Al Green (Hi)-8 (19)
22 29 PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER –•– The O’Jays (Philadelphia International)-6 (22)
23 21 LEAVE ME ALONE (Ruby Red Dress) –•– Helen Reddy (Capitol)-13 (3)
24 32 ROCK ON –•– David Essex (Columbia)-12 (24)
25 23 GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD –•– Elton John (MCA)-14 (2)
26 24 SISTER MARY ELEPHANT (Shudd-Up) –•– Cheech and Chong (Ode)-10 (24)
27 30 LET YOUR HAIR DOWN –•– The Temptations (Gordy)-6 (27)
28 62 THE AMERICANS (A Canadian’s Opinion) –•– Gordon Sinclair (Avco)-3 (28)
29 25 TOP OF THE WORLD –•– The Carpenters (A&M)-17 (1)
30 38 I LOVE –•– Tom T. Hall (Mercury)-8 (30)

31 33 JOY (Part 1) –•– Isaac Hayes (Enterprise)-6 (31)
32 36 MIDNIGHT RIDER –•– Gregg Allman (Capricorn)-6 (32)
33 41 LAST TIME I SAW HIM –•– Diana Ross (Motown)-4 (33)
34 42 JIM DANDY –•– Black Oak Arkansas (Atco)-7 (34)
35 40 LOVE SONG –•– Anne Murray (Capitol)-7 (35)
36 46 BOOGIE DOWN –•– Eddie Kendricks (Tamla)-4 (36)
37 39 BABY COME CLOSE –•– Smokey Robinson (Tamla)-11 (37)
38 26 HELLO IT’S ME –•– Todd Rundgren (Bearsville)-17 (5)
39 31 ROCKIN’ ROLL BABY –•– The Stylistics (Avco)-15 (14)
40 49 ABRA-CA-DABRA –•– The DeFranco Family Featuring Tony DeFranco (20th Century)-5 (40)