UK Top 20: November 11, 1972 Ft. Chuck Berry

Big Mover: Chuck Berry climbs to Number 6

Presenting the UK Top 20 music chart for the week ending 11 November, 1972

A new week and a new Number 1 as Gilbert O'Sullivan climbs one place to the top of the UK charts with his sentimental ode to his manager's daughter, Clair.

Elsewhere, there were some big movers climbing into the Top 20 as songs from Elton John, Archie Bell and the Drells, Chuck Berry and The Stylistics replaced hits by Bread, The Sweet, David Bowie and David Cassidy.

Read on...

Gilbert O'Sullivan at Number 1

The Chart: 

• 01 (02) Gilbert O'Sullivan - Clair 
• 02 (01) Lieutenant Pigeon - Mouldy Old Dough 
• 03 (03) 10cc - Donna 
• 04 (05) Alice Cooper - Elected 
• 05 (07) Shag - Loop Di Love 
• 06 (23) Chuck Berry - My Ding-A-Ling 
• 07 (04) Python Lee Jackson - In A Broken Dream 
• 08 (06) The Shangri-Las - Leader of the Pack 
• 09 (11) The Carpenters - Goodbye to Love 
• 10 (13) Junior Campbell - Hallelujah Freedom 
• 11 (24) Archie Bell and the Drells - Here I Go Again 
• 12 (10) Johnny Nash - There Are More Questions Than Answers 
• 13 (14) Family - Burlesque 
• 14 (09) Elvis Presley - Burning Love 
• 15 (19) Chris Montez - Let's Dance 
• 16 (08) Peter Skellern - You're A Lady 
• 17 (12) Gary Glitter - I Didn't Know I Loved You (Till I Saw You Rock 'n' Roll) 
• 18 (15) Judge Dread - Big Six 
• 19 (31) The Stylistics - I'm Stone in Love With You 
• 20 (42) Elton John - Crocodile Rock

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

Stream This Week's New Hits:



06: Chuck Berry: My Ding-A-Ling

More than seven years after his last British hit, rock'n'roll pioneer Chuck Berry returned to the UK charts in 1972 with an entirely different sound.

Originally recorded in the early 1950s by Dave Bartholomew, Berry recorded a version of My Ding-A-Ling in 1968 called My Tambourine. However, it was a live recording of the song which would eventually top the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

The innuendo laden lyrics caused some (American) radio stations to refuse to play it and even the UK's clean-up campaigner Mary Whitehouse tried to (unsuccessfully) ban it.

Nevertheless, the single sold by the shed load, hitting Number 1 in the UK for four weeks and for two weeks in the USA.

11: Archie Bell and the Drells: Here I Go Again

Having missed out on a British chart placing for their American Number 1 Tighten Up four years earlier, US RandB vocal group Archie Bell and the Drells eventually hit the UK listing with the re-release of a 1969 recording, Here I Go Again.

Fuelled by its popularity on the Northern Soul scene, the single peaked at its highest placing of Number 11 this week during a run of ten weeks on the chart.

Its surprise UK success led to the re-release of the 1968 track (There's Gonna Be A) Showdown, but this US Top 30 hit could not repeat its predecessor's climb up the British chart, eventually peaking at Number 36.

This would not be the last time we would see Archie Bell and the Drells in the British Top 20, though. They would return on one more occasion in the Spring of 1976 with the song Soul City Walk.

19: The Stylistics: I'm Stone in Love With You

Taken from their album Round 2, I'm Stone in Love With You became The Stylistics' second UK chart entry and their first to enter the British Top 10 (No.9).

Written by Linda Creed together with Thom and Tony Bell, it was among the many tracks which helped define the soulful "Philly Sound" of the early 1970s.

Although recorded by a number of acts during the Seventies, only Johnny Mathis was able to bring the song back onto the British charts when it hit Number 10 in 1975.

20: Elton John: Crocodile Rock

After the relative failure of his previous single, Honky Cat (No.31) in the UK, it would be Crocodile Rock which returned Elton John to the British Top 20 (No.5).

Released as the lead single from his sixth studio album, Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player, Crocodile Rock would go on to become the singer's first US Number 1 - and the first to be released on the newly formed MCA label.

It also helped the album to top the charts on both sides of the Atlantic - his first to do so in the UK.




The UK Number 1 album this week:

• Various Artists: 20 All Time Greats of the 50s

The American Top 10 (Click to play tracks)



The song at Number 9 in the USA this week was by The Delegates and called Convention '72, a parody record about the American Presidential contenders.

UK Top 20: July 22, 1972 Ft. Alice Cooper

New Entry: Number 17: Alice Cooper

Presenting the Top 20 music chart in the United Kingdom for the week ending 22 July 1972

The top of this week's singles chart remained unchanged as Donny Osmond racked up his third week at Number 1 with his revamp of Paul Anka's Puppy Love.

The song making the biggest leap within the Top 20 was courtesy of another teen heartthrob: David Cassidy, as lead with The Partridge Family, climbing six places to Number 7 with their own remake. This cover of Neil Sedaka's Breaking Up is Hard to Do was on its way to a peak of Number 3.

Five new discs made their first appearances in the Twenty as records by Roberta Flack, The Move, Wings, Free and B. Bumble and the Stingers made way for the latest releases from Hawkwind, Alice Cooper, The Stylistics, Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs and Bruce Ruffin.

Donny Osmond at Number 1

The Chart: 

• 01 (01) - Donny Osmond - Puppy Love 
• 02 (02) - Gary Glitter - Rock and Roll Parts 1 and 2 
• 03 (04) - Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show - Sylvia's Mother 
• 04 (05) - The New Seekers - Circles 
• 05 (07) - Johnny Nash - I Can See Clearly Now 
• 06 (06) - The Sweet - Little Willy 
• 07 (13) - The Partridge Family - Breaking Up is Hard to Do 
• 08 (03) - Slade - Take Me Bak 'Ome 
• 09 (12) - The Who - Join Together 
• 10 (09) - Elvis Presley - American Trilogy 
• 11 (11) - Gilbert O'Sullivan - Ooh-Wakka-Doo-Wakka-Day 
• 12 (29) - Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs - Seaside Shuffle 
• 13 (25) - The Stylistics - Betcha By Golly Wow 
• 14 (23) - Bruce Ruffin - Mad About You 
• 15 (10) - Michael Jackson - Rockin' Robin 
• 16 (16) - Love Unlimited - Walkin' in the Rain With The One I Love 
• 17 (44) - Alice Cooper - School's Out 
• 18 (20) - David Bowie - Starman 
• 19 (08) - Don McLean - Vincent 
• 20 (37) - Hawkwind - Silver Machine

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

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12: Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs: Seaside Shuffle

In 1980, Jona Lewie was the vocalist behind the British hits Stop the Cavalry and You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties, but back in the summer of 1972 his voice graced this (eventual) UK No. 2 hit by Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs.

Seaside Shuffle had been released the previous year to little acclaim, but with the marketing clout of Jonathan King behind it, the disc soon climbed the chart upon re-release.

The group only ever appeared in the Top 20 with this song, as subsequent releases were largely ignored by record buyers. The follow-up, On A Saturday Night, managed a Top 50 showing but the next single, She Left; I Died, tanked and the band split not long after.

13: The Stylistics: Betcha By Golly, Wow

The much-covered Betcha By Golly, Wow was the first hit for The Stylistics in the UK - although even their version was not the first release of the song as a single.

Two years earlier, the actress and singer Connie Stevens had recorded the Thom Bell/Linda Creed composition under the title Keep Growing Strong, but it had failed to chart.

With Bell producing The Stylistics' eponymous début album, the vocal group recorded the song for the long player under its original title. When released as a single it hit No. 3 in the US and peaked at No. 13 in the UK, selling over a million copies in the process.

14: Bruce Ruffin: Mad About You

Ruffin was a member of the Jamaican rocksteady group The Techniques for a short period before branching out as a more successful solo artist.

He had already enjoyed some action in the UK Top 20 during 1971 with his cover of the Jose Feliciano song Rain, but it was the reggae-pop of Mad About You which gave Ruffin his biggest commercial achievement in the UK.

A self-penned composition with some quirky instrumentation and backing vocals, it was also Ruffin's final appearance on the UK chart, but his highest at No. 9.

17: Alice Cooper: School's Out

Destined for the No. 1 spot in the UK, School's Out was the début hit for Alice Cooper on the British Top 20 -  although the band had already enjoyed some success in the US, particularly with the single I'm Eighteen.

The group's arrival on this side of the Atlantic coincided nicely with the popularity of British glam rock; their make-up, glitter and theatrics dovetailing into the movement with some panache.

Of course, the look and the lyrics won over (or created) many a rebellious teenager who sent School's Out rocketing up the charts.

It finally settled at Number 1 in the UK for three weeks over the summer holidays until reality set in for most school kids upon their return to the classroom.

20: Hawkwind: Silver Machine

With vocals (eventually) by the late, great Lemmie, this was the only appearance in the UK Top 20 by the-then leading purveyors of space rock, Hawkwind.

Originally recorded live at The Roundhouse in London, the final product was mixed in the studio with band member Robert Calvert's inferior vocals overdubbed by those of Lemmie.

It worked. Silver Machine sped up the charts to a peak of No. 3 where it stayed for two weeks. It completed a fifteen week chart run in 1972, but was re-released on three further occasions (in 1976, 1978 and 1982) when it again managed to climb into the Top 75.

The UK Number 1 album this week:

• Various Artists: 20 Dynamic Hits

The American Top 10 (Click to play tracks)