Dancing Machine by The Jackson Five

Dancing Machine

1974

The Jackson Five

If you were a living, breathing teenager in 1974, you may remember a dance craze known as 'The Robot', and while the Jackson Five didn't invent it, they're definitely the ones who made it, using this very tune to accomplish  that task.

Everyone remembers hearing 'Dancing, Dancing, Dancinnnnng!!!' bursting from their stereo speakers to kick this one off, and at first a lot of people didn't realize it was the J-5. Motown's The Corporation had parted ways with each other two years earlier, leaving the J-5 to rely on other songwriters. Now, a change of song-writers for a single tune here and there had served them well a couple of times in the past...most notably with 'I'll Be There'...but this time around they seemed to have lost some of their momentum.

 Oh, they were still around through '72 and '73, but while they'd been churning out minor hits, several of which made it into the Top 20, their absence in the Top 10 had been pretty notable. 'Dancing Machine' would snap that streak for them one last time. 

Hal Davis, Don Fletcher, and Dean Park took on the task of getting them back into 'Big Hit' territory, and in the process wrote what's remembered as one of the catchiest dance-tunes of The Seventies, which is saying something as The Awesome Music Decade produced some pretty stellar dance tunes.. Dancing Machine was nothing but a straight out, classic dance tune, with a melody, beat, and rhythm that dared you to try not to start head-bopping, hair-swaying, and hip swinging. The tune's lyrics even payed homage to the very much admired dance moves of an equally well admired, if fictional and very possibly robotic lady.

The writing trio pitched it right over the plate, and The Jackson Five knocked it out of the park, making it into the top 10 for the first time since 'Sugar Daddy ' in 1972, and the Top 5 for the first time since 'Never Can Say Good-bye' snagged the runner-up position earlier that same year. 'Dancing Machine' debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 16th, 1974 at #79 and began a steady climb as us Seventies Kids discovered it, cracking the top 20 just shy of a month after it's debut, and the Top 10, at #8, two weeks later, on April 27th. It snagged the Hot 100's runner up spot on May 18th...10 weeks in...and hung on to it for two weeks before starting down. "Dancing Machine' would spend a not at all shabby 21 weeks on the Hot 100, nine of them in the Top 10. The tune went one better on the Billboard R&B charts, where it snagged the top spot, and while it was at it, earned a Grammy nomination for best R&B Performance By A Duo or Group With Vocals. Rufas and Chaka-Khan beat them out with Tell Me Something Good. Sadly, Dancing Machine would be the last hit they scored as a Motown act, as well as their last hit as 'The Jackson Five'.

As noted above, the song popularized the 'Robot Dance'. Michael Jackson personally raised the dance to a new level by pretty much becoming the master of the dance, then making it his own and performing it often and with legendary perfection through-out his career.

'Dancing Machine' was simple and pure fun, both to listen to and to dance to, and it was all over the radio during the spring and the Summer of '74'. And, if you were in high school during the mid Seventies, not only would you hear this one on the radio, it's almost a sure bet you'd hear it at least once or twice during any school dance. It was a fast-dance, and us Seventies Kids would flood the dance floor and add our own personal touches to "The Robot Dance' when that familiar thrice-repeated intro would burst from the speakers and bounce around the gym or community center where the dance was taking place. 

 It's still just as danceable and fun to listen to now as it was when that iconic 'Dancing, Dancing, Dancinnnnng!!! was first heard forty-one years ago.  Like most of the J-5's hits, it'll still show up on Oldies stations occasionally, and it wouldn't surprise me if, every once in a while, a DJ will dust it off and spin it during a dance club's theme night.  Wonder if anyone still knows how to dance 'The Robot?

So enjoy!  Dancing Machine by The Jackson Five! 


And as a bonus vid, The Jackson Five performs Dancing Machine and a very smooth rendition of 'The Robot Dance' during a TV appearance. The Date and show/event wasn't listed so that'll have to remain a mystery...but their dance partner was pretty cool! Check out the robot dancing 'The Robot'

 

Got To Be There by Michael Jackson

Got To Be There

Michael Jackson

1971

By the time the J-5's forth consecutive chart-topper snagged that coveted One-Spot it was pretty obvious who the group's stand-out star was. Berry Gordy had been grooming Michael for a solo career since the group signed with Motown, and almost exactly a year after 'I'll Be There' took off, he decided that the iron was hot. 
 

Sometime during the late summer or early fall of  '71 Motown's whip called in Michael, song-writer Elliott Willensky, and prolific music producer Hal Davis, along with David Blumberg, who arranged the music, and Willie Hutch, who took on production tasks for the vocals, for a history making meeting, and possibly said something to the effect of 'Michael, we're going to write you a hit all your own', then to his writing/producing team 'Guys, write the kid a hit!'

Ok, I actually have no idea if those words were spoken at said meeting, but something sure transpired at Motown's Hitsville West studio in L.A. 'cause they did indeed 'Write The Kid A Hit'. This is another one that everyone who was a kid in the early Seventies recognizes pretty much the instant they hear that short, sweet piano intro leading into Michaels already tight vocals. The team of Willensky, Davis, Blumberg, and Hutch went in the same direction that Davis and Hutch had chosen for 'I'll Be There' a year earlier, even choosing a similar title. Deciding that there was no need to fix something that wasn't broke, they again penned a simple, gentle ballad that showcased Michael Jackson's voice perfectly, then they had him also record his own back-up vocals, a very likely multiple take effort that payed off in spades.

'Got To Be There' was released thirteen months and change after 'I'll Be There', debuting just inside the Billboard Hot 100, at #89, on Oct 39, 1971, cracking the Top 20 two weeks later at #13, and just making the Top 10, at #9, on it's forth week in. It peaked at #4 on the Hot 100 on December 11th and stayed there for a single week before starting down, then dropping off of the chart on Jan. 29th of  '72, enjoying a very respectable fourteen week chart run, with nine of those weeks spent in the Top 10. The tune did even better on both the R&B and Cashbox charts, snagging the top spot on both. Got To Be There was also the title track for Michael Jackson's first solo album,  which was also a hit, selling just under a million copies in the US, and just over three million world wide

This was another tune that had by-then thirteen year old Michael Jackson singing of subjects that were likely a bit beyond his experience in the ways of love and such...the song told of a young dude talking about being with his beloved when she woke up in the morning so he could tell her how much he loved her and 'welcome her into the world'...but I really don't think anyone noticed or particularly cared about that discrepancy this time around. They were too busy loving the tune. It was a sweet love song that had the girls hoping their guys felt exactly that way about them, and it was perfect for Michael's vocals. MJ threw himself into the music, too...one of the many traits that would drive his music success over the next nearly 40 years. When you listened to him sing, you could truly believe he was talking about his love for his girl.

The song really took off on the radio as the Holiday season kicked off, and, as noted above, millions of starry eyed young girls listened to it, hoping that their guy felt that way about them (Or that he would feel that way when they finally got a boyfriend...remember, the J-5's and Michael's music was aimed primarily at the age- group we call 'Tweens' today. 

Like pretty much all of Michael Jackson's solo efforts, 'Got To Be There has enjoyed some tremendous staying power, and you're pretty sure to hear it once in a while if you listen to your favorite Oldies station long enough. It's pretty, soulful, and it kicked off a solo career that became a legend.  

So Enjoy! 'Got To Be There by Michael Jackson

Rockin' Robin by Michael JAckson

Rockin' Robin

1972

Michael Jackson

Fifty-eight or so years ago a dude named Leon Rene' AKA Jimmie Thomas knocked out a fun, uber-high-energy little tune about a very hyper, very talented robin entertaining the other birds in his neighborhood, then handed it off to another guy named Bobbie Day, who'd make it his one and only hit single when he recorded it and snagged the runner-up spot on the singles chart of the era (Remember that was before The Billboard Hot 100)

It was well received, fun, and danceable...the kids of the Fifties gave it a solid '8' or so. Fourteen years later, in 1972, you'd still hear it pretty regularly, and Motown's legendary head honcho Berry Gordy heard it, nodded meaningfully, and said 'I know exactly which budding solo artist that'd be perfect for!'. So he bought the rights, had it tweaked a very tiny bit, and gave it to Michael Jackson as his second single. MJ then preceded to match Bobbie Day's chart performance when he snagged the Hot 100's runner-up spot, in the process making his second solo effort the favorite version of this high energy classic by far. Oh, and if you polled us crazy Seventies Kids on which Michael Jackson/Jackson Five song is our favorite today, this one would probably give 'I'll Be There' a run for the money.

'Rockin' Robin' debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on 3-11-72 at #68, then cracked the Top 20 two weeks later, landing at #14. It'd slip into the Top 10 (#9) the very next week, then snag the runner-up spot on 4-22-1972, staying there for a pair of weeks before heading down, and falling off of the charts on 6-3-72, for a 13 week chart run...it'd also be one of the relatively few covers that MJ did, as well as his most successful cover.

Michael Jackson's version of Rockin' Robin stayed pretty true to the original, hanging on to both the original lyrics and melody...including the tune's distinctive intro...with the addition, of course, of Michael Jackson's youthful vocals. MJ's vocals in combo with Rockin' Robin's already very distinctive intro produced what's probably one of the most instantly recognizable hits of all time, so recognizable, in fact, that I'd almost be willing to bet that anyone who was a teen or 'Tween', back in 1972 will recognize it instantly from just the first three notes, and will probably join right in as soon as they hear it. MJ pretty much knocked it out of the park.

While The Jackson Five's success was built on Bubble Gum Rock, and while the lyrics to Rockin' Robin are a bit nonsensical, it is not a Bubblegum Pop song by any means... it's a dance tune. And it's definitely loads of fun to dance to...it has one of those, frenetic, high energy, happily busy beats that just drags you out to the dance floor, but be warned...ya gotta  be in good shape to dance to it, cause it's sure as hell not a slow dance. It'll give you a work-out, and leave you smiling when you finish!

 The song was absolute pure, unadulterated, fun to listen to and was one of Spring 1972's Feel Good songs...you know, the breed of tune that that just hearing the intro to would put a smile on your face. You absolutely would...and likely still will...head sway, foot tap, finger tap, and and dance-in-place to it...you just can't help it. We heard it all Spring and into the Summer of '72, and you can still hear it now, and not only on the Oldies Stations(Where you will hear it.). A couple of years back, on Dancing With The Stars Season 16's finale, the lovely and uber-talented Zendaya Coleman and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy burned up the dance floor to it on their 'Instand Jive'. ( Zenday shoulda won it...Just Sayin! )

It's been covered extensively, as well as used on several TV shows (And it's always the MJ version that you hear) and has been used a couple of times by contestants on shows such as American Idle...it's pretty much become part of  the Music Landscape, maybe even more so that 'I'll Be There'.

I have a feeling that, many years hence, it'll not only still show up on Oldies Stations playlists, it'll show up on, say, Dancing With The Stars Season 80...but when it does so, it'll have to be performed by someone young enough to handle the moves!

So Enjoy!  Rockin' Robin' By Michael Jackson.


A trio of bonus vids with this one gang...first up, a trio of icons all in one fell swoop...Dick Clark  introducing a very young Michael Jackson, who performs his then brand new hit, Rockin' Robin on American Bandstand. Too bad the quality's so bad on this one, because it's a gem.



Bonus Numero Dos...As proof that Seventies Music will never ever die, Zedaya Coleman and Val tear up the dance floor to Rockin' Robin on the final dance of the Dancing With The Stars Season 16 Finale. They knocked it slam outa the park! Zendaya shoulda won it...just sayin'!

Bonus Numero Tres...The original, by Bobby Day...the video features some scenes, stills, and behind the scenes pics from yet another American Classic...American Graffiti...as well as some pics of some of the classic rides from the movie. As for the tune...MJ stayed pretty true to the original, but added his own flair to it, making it the favorite of the two versions by miles.

A couple of little factoids, notes and such!

While I'm at it here, I'm going to give a shout-out to a crew who's often kind of overlooked on both Jackson Five and early Michael Jackson tunes. MJ's vocals were spot-on, but it takes more than vocals to make a hit. Rockin' Robin was helped along...as were all of the J-5's and MJ's Motown hits...by the uber-tight, absolutely on-point instrumentals provided by Motown's house band. Just listen to the drums...they have some seriously some seriously tight percussion goin' on! If you really want to hear the house band roll, just take a listen to Rockin' Robin's instrumental bridge.

Interestingly enough, the House Band that provided the sound for Rockin' Robin (And indeed, all of Motown's L.A. recordings) was not the legendary Funk Brothers, who provided the instrumentals for a slew of legendary artists on the great majority of Motown's Detroit-recorded hits but were collections of different session musicians put together for each particular song.

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While...as noted above...The Jackson Five were considered Ambassadors of Bubblegum Pop, none of Michael Jackson's first three solo hits were bubblegum...two of them were ballads, and the third...this one, sandwiched between them...was a dance tune.

Ben by Michael JAckson

Ben

1972

Michael Jackson

Afore we get started on this one we need to school ourselves on a couple of interesting little facts about Michael Jackson's very first solo chart-topper. First off...'Ben' wasn't originally written for Michael Jackson. And second...and this one's a biggie...in this very moving, heart-felt ballad about friendship, MJ was singing to...wait for it...a rat.

Yep, you read that right. The titular Ben was a rat...literally, the four-legged giant-mouse-critter kinda rat. Back in the early Seventies a horror movie, named Willard, was made about a social outcast...the titular Willard...who befriended and trained several rats, one of whom was named Ben. Ultimately the rat horde, led by Ben, turns on Willard,  killing and eating him. Movie ends, credits roll, untold thousands of children are never ever allowed to have a pet rat, hamster, or any rodent-like critter. The movie, BTW, was a hit and inspired other Horror movies about both renegade wild animals and psychologically crazed killers. Think 'Jaws' and both the novel and movie versions of 'Carrie'

A year or so later, a sequel, named 'Ben' is filmed, staring the titular rat. Ben, still the leader of his horde of super intelligent, uber-aggressive rodents, is befriended by a lonely young boy named Danny. This being a horror movie, Ben's rat-horde goes renegade and starts tearing up the town and devouring the townspeople, only to be decimated by flame-thrower wielding police officers. Ben escapes a fiery demise and makes his way back to Danny. That heartfelt ballad? It's being sung to an injured Ben as the movie's final credits roll.

Again, the song was not written for Michael Jackson...it was written specifically for the movie by James Bond Theme songwriter Don Black, composed by prolific TV Theme/movie music composer Walter Scharf and was originally offered to MJ's good friend, contemporary rival, and fellow young recording mega-star, Donny Osmond. Donny, however, was on tour and would have had to wait until the tour wound down to record the song. The movie, on the other hand, was on a tight shooting schedule, and they really really wanted this song in the movie...so they offered it to Michael Jackson, who recorded it, and sang it over the closing credits of the movie (Lee Montgomery, the child actor who played Danny, sang it to Ben in the movie itself.)

The movie premiered to mixed reviews in June of '72, and the song debuted two months later to become MJ's first #1, but, unlike several of his and the J-5's hits, it didn't shoot up the charts like the proverbial moon-rocket...this one kinda took it's time getting there. 'Ben' was released a month after the movie, on July 12^th, but didn't debut on The Billboard Hot 100 until August 5^th at a lukewarm #85. It then took it's time climbing the chart, not breaking into the Top 20 until it clocked in at #13 on September 16th, then took another week to slide into the Top 10, at #6. It snagged the Top Spot three weeks later, on October 14^th , making MJ the youngest singer to score a #1 song as both a lead singer in a group and a solo artist while it was at it, and hung on for a single week before starting back down, dropping off the chart on November 18^th of '72. 'Ben' also found favor in other lands... the tune also snagged the Top Spot on the Australian Music Charts and scored the #7 spot across The Pond, on the British charts.

The song grabbed far more positive reviews than the film did, being so well respected, in fact, that in 1973 it snagged a Golden Globe for Best Song as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song, losing to 'The Morning After', from 'The Poseidon Adventure'. Michael Jackson also got to perform it live at the ceremony, giving several million people who wouldn't normally be listening to a Michael Jackson tune a small taste of the star he was to become.

Even at the tender age of almost 14 young  Michael Jackson's vocals were loaded down with emotion and feelings...what the kids today call 'feels'... and that's what drove it into the Hot 100's top spot. Back than I was actually more of a Donny Osmond fan than I was a Michael Jackson fan, but I'll have to say that 'MJ's vocals were far more suited to 'Ben' than Donny's. While Donny had (And has) a killer voice, he just couldn't inject emotion into it at 14 or so years old the way MJ could. Donny knocked a couple of truly lovely ballads slam outa the park in his early career, but MJ's voice just had a certain soulful quality that just worked far better on a song as laden with deep emotion as Ben...Of course if Donnie had sung it, it would have been the only Osmond Brothers/Donnie Osmond tune that wasn't a cover.

Though the song was indeed about a rat, it never mentioned anything rodent-centric, and loads of people were truly moved and touched by it's soulful sound and deep, emotion. It was pretty, touching, and spoke eloquently of friendship. I remember hearing it pretty constantly on Richmond's AM Top 40 powerhouse, WLEE, during the Summer of '72, and, despite the fact that you seldom if ever hear it on the Oldies stations anymore, it would enjoy some pretty decent staying power.

It even became a Top-Ten hit in the UK a second time, reaching #5 in 1985, when Marti Webb covered it as a tribute to a tiny liver transplant patient named Ben Hardwick, whose parents set up a memorial fund in his name to assist the parents of young transplant patients after he died shortly after his third birthday...all of the royalties off of the song were donated to the memorial fund, BTW.

Ben was also one of MJ's favorite hits, and is one of the most re-released song among his huge library of hit tunes, being re-released on no fewer than ten different albums. So it's still out there. You just have to really strain your ears to hear it, because as I noted above, you hardly ever hear it on the Oldies stations.
If you are lucky enough to hear it, give it a nod, and remember the little guy who scored his first solo #1 hit with it. He didn't know it yet, but he was well on his way to becoming a legend.

So Enjoy!  'Ben' by Michael Jackson!


As a bonus, Michael Jackson singing 'Ben' live at the 1973 Academy Awards.

 

How Long (Has This Been Goin' On)

1974

Ace

This is another one of those songs that anyone with 'Teen' suffixed to their age back in '75 recognizes from the first note of the intro. You hear that bass guitar start up, then the drums join in, and finally the piano kicks in, and at thirty two second in you join in with 'Howwww Loooooonnnnngg...

And as recognizable and well known as this one is the song is not about what everyone thinks it's about. I'll repeat here...it's not about a guy who busts his cheating girlfriend. It was written about Ace's Bass player Tony Comer, who left the group for awhile to perform with The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver before returning to Ace. Oh...he didn't tell his band mates about the other bands and they felt, well, cheated. And thus this tune was born. This is also very likely why the song kicks off with a Bass solo. It also makes the lyric 'Break up our scene that way' a bit more relevant.

It was one of the first songs penned by Ace's lead singer, Paul Carrack, and remains his and the bands biggest hit, and, in fact, Aces only hit. Of course, if you're only going to have a single hit, ya might as well make it a good one! Ace was a British band, so it debuted across the Pond in late '74 before being released in the U.S. at the head end of 1975. It debuted on The Billboard Hot 100 on March 8^th, 75, and began a steady climb as it gained airplay and fans. It cracked the Top 20 at # 19 on April 26^th, and peaked well into the Top 10, at # 3, on May 31^st,, hanging on to the 3-spot for two weeks before dropping off the charts only two weeks later for a total chart run of 16 weeks.

It may not have been about what all of us Seventies Kids thought it was about, but we still liked it enough to take it to #3. It was all over the radio that Spring and I can recall silently lip-syncing to it as I attempted to decipher Physics...I passed the final by the skin of my teeth as I recall.

'How Long?' Is one of those songs that pretty much permanently embedded itself in the memory of all of us Seventies Kids to the point that, as I noted above, all of us know what it is as soon as we hear that first deep bass guitar strum. And happily, we don't have to dredge it up from memory to hear it...it's still a staple on Oldies stations like Richmond's Classic Oldies 107.3 and Hampton Roads' Oldies powerhouse, 106.9.

This one'll be around forever, more than likely. Our grandkids'll be hearing that base guitar leading into the drum and piano intro long after we're gone...and they'll probably think it's about a guy who caught his girl cheating, too!

So Enjoy! How Long (Has This Been Going On) by Ace. Crank the volume on this one!

As a bonus, Ace performing 'How Long' live on NBC's The Midnight Special on June 27^th, 1975.

'How Long' was covered pretty extensively, including a cover by Rod Stewart, which he executed with his distinctive style and flair and included on his 1981 album 'Tonight I'm Yours'. It was also released as a single, which made it to the Billboard Hot 100's Top 50. As a second bonus, here's Rod's version...compare 'em and see which one ya like best!

Sky High

1975

Jigsaw

Back during the late summer and early fall of 1975 a frenetic, high energy instrumental intro that brought a musical whirlwind to mind started blasting from stereos throughout the land. It was peppy, energetic, and you couldn't not head bop to it and, yes, sing along with it when you heard it. It was also one of those not uncommon tunes whose upbeat beat, rhythm and sound was in pretty stark contrast to the song's context

Sky High was about a dude who has just discovered that his beloved was lying to him, and who's telling the gal just what lying did to their relationship. Hey, all of us have been there. Most of us just didn't turn it into a monster hit that managed to sell 13 million records worldwide.

What a lot of people didn't know about Sky High is that it was very much a surprise hit for the group, and was the main title sequence for a James Bondesque action movie that also combined Bruce-Lee-style Martial Arts. The Movie...The Man From Hong Kong...made a profit, but it's title song was a far far bigger hit than the movie.

Sky High debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #88 on August 30^th, 1975, but didn't crack the Top 20 until two months and small change later, at #19 on Nov 1^st, 1975. It cracked the Top 10 at #9 three weeks later and peaked at #3 on December 6^th. It'd hang on to #3 for two weeks before heading back down, and stay on the charts seventeen days into 1976, for a chart run of 21 weeks. It'd also score well on the Adult Contemporary chart (What was called 'Easy Listening' back then), snagging the #2 spot on that chart.

This was another song that was just plain long fun to listen to, and you heard that musical whirlwind twirl from speakers regularly during the Fall of '75...with it peaking three days after Thanksgiving that year, I can just about bet I heard it at least three times during the hour and a half trip to Boykins, Va for Thanksgiving dinner. (The ride I had by then had an AM-FM radio, so I was probably listening to it on WRVQ...Q-94).

Sky High's still just as much fun to listen to now as it was 39 years ago, and happily it'll still pop up on Oldies stations once in awhile, sending the intro's musical cyclone spinning out of stereos that cost almost as much as a car did back when it debuted. And we still can't sit still when we listen to it!

So Enjoy...Jigsaw's musical whirlwind...Sky High!

Chevy Van

1973

Sammy Johns

I do believe it's time for some more One Hit Wonders. We're heading back to 1975. The year 'The Jeffersons', 'Barney Miller', and, most importantly, 'Saturday Night Live' premiered on TV. The year that the very first predecessor to the PC, the Altair 8800 microcomputer was released, boasting about 1/10^th of the processing power of a $3.00 supermarket check-out counter pocket calculator. The year that it was decreed from on high that Daylight Saving Time would kick off two months early because of the energy crisis, causing some real, real dark, real, real cold mornings at school bus stops. The year that The Boston Red Sox beat the Cincinnati Reds with a 12^th inning homer in what was, arguably, the best World Series game ever played.

And the year that saw fewer 'One Hit Wonders' hit the charts than any other year of 'The Awesome Music Decade' that was The Seventies. (Yep...I counted). There were, by my count 26 of 'em. Of that quarter century and small change worth, sixteen of 'em cracked the Top 20 and of that sixteen, nine made the Top 10, two of 'em snagging the coveted 1-spot.

I'm posting 'em slightly out of order...there's a method to my madness here...so the second of those nine Top-10 one Hit Wonders was a tune that just about everybody who was a teen in 1975 knows by heart, has sung along with, and very well may have even utilized the classic hairbrush/ comb/ what-have-you microphone while singing along with it. It's been called 'The Song of The Seventies', and was a surprise crossover hit that was written as a country song. Dirt road main streets and bare feet were involved. Know what song it was?? Give up??

Here's a hint:

I Gaaaaave a giiiiiiirrl...A ride in my waaaagon...She crawled iiiiiin and took contro-ol.

That's right...North Carolina native Sammy John's beloved hit about a lovely young lady who hitched a ride with the owner of the titular Chevy Van, seduced him along the way, then got out in a tiny, unnamed 'Town that was soooo small...You could throw a rock from end to ennnd '

Of course, it was actually conceived as a country song. That was the genre that Sammy Johns, who had been singing since he got a guitar for Christmas at the tender age of nine, was most comfortable with, and the genre that the majority of his songs called home. It was the genre that The Develles...the garage band that he fronted in high school... covered as they performed across the region, doing a good enough job while they were at it for Dixie Records to take a serious look at them. And it was the genre that he wanted to embrace when he moved from his native Charlotte to Atlanta and signed with General Recording. It was also the genre he was thinking of when he penned 'Chevy Van'...back in 1973.

And once the song was written it just...sat. I couldn't find out just why it just sat...trust me, I tried...but I'm thinking that the label wasn't real sure just what to do with it. True, country songs that crossed over to Pop., becoming hits when they did so, weren't exactly a new thing (I'm lookin' at you Olivia Newton John!) but the powers that be might not have thought it sounded like a country song. If that is the case it turned out, of course, they were right. It wasn't a a Country song...it barely cracked the Top 100 on the Country charts when it was released.

When Chevy Van finally showed up on The Billboard Hot 100 on the first day of February, 1975 it debuted at #81. By the next week, though, it jumped a solid 13 places, well on it's way to cracking the Top 20 eight weeks in, at #20. By then it was a several-plays-a-day staple on the AM Top 40 powerhouses of the era, and three weeks later it cracked the Top 10 at #8, peaking at #5 on May 3^rd, 14 weeks into it's 18 week chart run...eight of those weeks in the Top 20, and four of them in the Top 10. It'd stay at #5 for a single week before dropping off the charts three weeks later.

Of course, by then it had been permanently and pleasantly etched into the minds of all of us Seventies Kids, and what wasn't to like...It was a simple, high-energy, feel-good tune, and you absolutely couldn't stay in a bad mood when you heard that short guitar intro start up and segue into Sammy Johns crooning that iconic first line. 'Chevy Van' was kind of a three minute and change portrait of being young in The Seventies. That was an era the likes of which we'll never see again, and to be honest I feel sorry for the kids of today...they really have no clue what they missed out on.

Bet when you heard the intro, you got a smile on your face...and I bet you sang along with the whole thing.

Sammy Johns lived in his native, and beloved,Tarheel State for most of his life, and like many of the good ones, we lost him too young...he passed away at 66 on January 4^th, 2013, secure in the knowledge that his biggest hit had become one of the most beloved songs out of the decade with the most awesome music that was ever recorded..