UK Top 20: May 6, 1972 Ft. Elton John

We have reached the UK Top 20 of May 6, 1972 featuring Rocket Man, a standard from Elton John's songbook and the highest new entry of the week.

Now rightly considered as one of John's classic tracks, it not only climbed into the British Top 10 but also the Top 10s in Ireland, Italy and the United States.

Further down the chart, three other discs also made their débuts - all representing the soul and funk genre of the day.

Chart veterans The Temptations returned, but this time with a revamped line-up, while soul peers The Drifters were back on the UK chart for the first time since Baby What I Mean hit Number 49 in 1967.

Funk soul brothers Sly and the Family Stone completed the collection of new entries with the wonderful Runnin' Away motoring into the Number 19 position.

None of them, however, could dislodge The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards from the top of the chart as the military band celebrated a fourth week at Number 1 with Amazing Grace.

The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards at Number 1

The Chart: 

• 01 (01) The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards - Amazing Grace 
• 02 (02) Ringo Starr - Back Off Boogaloo 
• 03 (05) Vicky Leandros - Come What May 
• 04 (11) David Cassidy - Could It Be Forever 
• 05 (04) The Chiffons - Sweet Talking Guy 
• 06 (08) Jo Jo Gunne - Run Run Run 
• 07 (14) Johnny Cash and the Evangel Temple Choir - A Thing Called Love 
• 08 (07) Tyrannosaurus Rex - Debora / One Inch Rock 
• 09 (09) Marmalade - Radancer 
• 10 (03) Nilsson - Without You 
• 11 (06) Tom Jones - The Young New Mexican Puppeteer 
• 12 (22) Elton John - Rocket Man 
• 13 (10) Elvis Presley - Until It's Time For You to Go 
• 14 (18) The Rolling Stones - Tumbling Dice 
• 15 (13) Johnny Nash - Stir It Up 
• 16 (23) The Temptations - Take A Look Around 
• 17 (16) Argent - Hold Your Head Up 
• 18 (15) Labi Siffre - Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying 
• 19 (29) Sly and the Family Stone - Runnin' Away 
• 20 (28) The Drifters - At the Club / Saturday Night at the Movies

*Previous week in brackets; Climbers denoted in red; New entries in bold

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12: Elton John: Rocket Man

Although Elton John had appeared in the US Billboard Hot 100 three times since the huge success of Your Song, it was the now-classic Rocket Man which eventually brought him back into the British Top 20.

Climbing ten places to Number 12, it soon became his highest-placed solo single of the decade when it peaked at Number 2 in early June.

Aside from his 1976 duet with Kiki Dee, he would have to wait until mid-1990 before one of his singles placed higher when Sacrifice/Healing Hands gave him his first UK Number 1.

16: The Temptations: Take A Look Around

The Temptations were in a state of flux at this point with another key member, Eddie Kendricks, having left the group for a well-publicised solo career.

In the UK, their last major hit was Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me) on which Kendricks had taken co-lead vocal. Now, Richard Street and Damon Harris joined Dennis Edwards and Otis Williams to bring us Take A Look Around - another Norman Whitfield/Barrett Strong composition, written in their now familiar psychedelic styling.

Taken from their album Solid Rock, it would eventually stall at Number 13 in the UK, but fared less well at home where it peaked at Number 30.

19: Sly & the Family Stone: Runnin' Away

Taken from Sly and the Family Stone's landmark album There's A Riot Goin' On, Runnin' Away was one of only three of the band's singles to register in the UK Top 20.

The previous single, Family Affair, could not match the its huge American success, peaking at Number 15 on this side of the Atlantic, but the excellent Runnin' Away managed to better its US placing by eventually peaking at Number 17.





20: The Drifters: At the Club/Saturday Night at the Movies

1972 was the year of the re-release in the UK, with many 1960s hits reappearing in the singles chart - often climbing much higher the second time around.

The Drifters were a major beneficiary of this phenomenon when their 1964 tracks At the Club and Saturday Night at the Movies were once again combined as a double A-Side.

A new generation of record buyers enjoyed what they heard and sent the disc up the UK chart much further than it had achieved in the Spring of 1965 - a peak of Number 3 and twenty weeks on the listing.

This unexpected hit launched The Drifters on a second wave of success in the UK, leading to a decision to move there following their recent departure from the Atlantic record label. Although this caused the group to fall off America's radar, it turned out to be a wise decision: eight British Top 20 hits followed up until the end of 1976.

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The UK Number 1 album this week:

• Tyrannosaurus Rex: Prophets, Seers & Sages: The Angels of the Ages / My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair...But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows

The American Top 10 (Click to play tracks)