UK Music Chart: March 7, 1970

Number 18 : Elvis Presley : Don't Cry Daddy

• 01 (02) Lee Marvin - Wand'rin' Star 
• 02 (04) Jackson Five - I Want You Back 
• 03 (03) Canned Heat - Let's Work Together 
• 04 (01) Edison Lighthouse - Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) 
• 05 (05) John Lennon/Yoko Ono/The Plastic Ono Band - Instant Karma! 
• 06 (06) Peter, Paul And Mary - Leavin' On A Jet Plane 
• 07 (13) Simon And Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water 
• 08 (11) Herman's Hermits - Years May Come, Years May Go 
• 09 (09) White Plains - My Baby Loves Lovin' 
• 10 (07) Mary Hopkin - Temma Harbour 
• 11 (10) Brotherhood Of Man - United We Stand 
• 12 (08) Shocking Blue - Venus 
• 13 (21) Steam - Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye 
• 14 (23) Boris Gardiner - Elizabethan Reggae 
• 15 (16) Sacha Distel - Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head 
• 16 (28) Kenny Rogers And The First Edition - Something's Burning 
• 17 (14) Judy Collins - Both Sides Now 
• 18 (30) Elvis Presley - Don't Cry Daddy 
• 19 (27) Pickettywitch - That Same Old Feeling 
• 20 (15) Rolf Harris - Two Little Boys

*Previous week in brackets; Climbers denoted in red

Edison Lighthouse made way for the new Number 1 this week in 1970: the One Hit Wonder from Lee Marvin, Wand'rin' Star. While the actor was celebrating this surprising feat, five other acts also had reason to celebrate as their songs climbed into the Top 20 - some big names among them.

The highest new entry of the week was another One Hit Wonder from a band that really did not exist: Steam. The song was originally intended as a B-Side to one of several other tracks written by three of those who would eventually become Steam. Instead of playing the intended A-Side, DJs flipped the disc and began playing Na Na... The song caught on with listeners and became a huge hit in the US where it reached Number 1 in December, 1969. Although it did not quite replicate that chart success in the UK, it nevertheless is a well-remembered song from the era:

Jamaican Boris Gardiner was the latest in a long line of reggae artists that found themselves on the British music charts of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Skinhead movement of the time was in full bloom and its music of choice was ska and reggae, often released by the renowned label Trojan Records. Elizabethan Reggae was a cover of a light orchestral piece called Elizabethan Serenade, but Boris Gardiner would see even greater success in 1986 when the song I Want to Wake Up With You went to Number 1 for three weeks:

No sooner had Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town dropped out of the Top 20 than Kenny Rogers and the First Edition's latest song, Something's Burning, had replaced it. However, this would be the last we would see of Kenny on the British charts for seven years, when as a solo act he would return and torment us with the song Lucille:

More country styling as Elvis enters the chart at Number 18. Don't Cry Daddy was written by Mac Davis (of Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me fame) and would become his first Top 10 hit of the 1970s in the UK:

Pickettywitch was about to enjoy its first and only Top 10 song ever. Fronted by the beautiful and soulful Polly Brown(e), the group had three hits in 1970 and That Same Old Feeling was the most successful of them all. The band split up around two years later and Polly would go on to pursue both a solo career and become one half of the duo Sweet Dreams. In the US, she had a hit with Up In A Puff of Smoke, while in the UK Sweet Dreams was to have a Top 10 cover hit of ABBA's Honey, Honey in 1974. In the meantime, she's getting that same old feeling...:

Enjoy more songs by Polly Brown and Pickettywitch here 

Until next time...