Music In My Shoes
Come be entertained as the host talks about music, bands, and connected stories.
"It's a really great podcast" - Kevn Kinney of Drivin N Cryin
"I appreciate talking to you guys and the good questions" - Mitch Easter of Let's Active and R.E.M. producer
Learn Something New or
Remember Something Old!!!
Please like and follow the Music In My Shoes Facebook page.
Contact us at
musicinmyshoes@gmail.com
Music In My Shoes
Billboard Hits of July 4, 1976: Skyrockets in Flight, Afternoon Delight E138
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Fireworks are loud, but the real Fourth of July time machine is a song you haven’t heard in years. We kick off our holiday special by talking Atlanta traditions like the Peachtree Road Race, then dive straight into the United States Bicentennial vibe that made 1976 feel bigger than life. Along the way, we share the tiny details that still stick: Bicentennial quarters, the two-dollar bill comeback and Operation Sail in New York.
From there, we rebuild the day through music by revisiting the Billboard Hot 100 for July 4, 1976. It’s a perfect snapshot of classic rock, disco, soul, and pop all fighting for your transistor radio at the same time. We hit tracks and stories tied to Fleetwood Mac, the Bee Gees, Wild Cherry, Cliff Richard, Lou Rawls, ABBA, Queen, the Doobie Brothers, and more, plus the surprising top-of-chart moments that remind you how wild a single week of radio could be.
Then Jimmy drops a punk rock history grenade in Minute with Jimmy: the Ramones play their first show in England on July 4, 1976, while The Clash play their first-ever gig across town. It’s the kind of behind-the-scenes music story that explains how scenes ignite overnight.
If you love music history, the Bicentennial era, or just digging up the soundtrack of your own life, hit play. Subscribe to Music in My Shoes, share this with a friend who lived through 1976, and leave a review with the one song that instantly takes you back.
Learn Something New or
Remember Something Old
Please like and follow the Music in My Shoes Facebook and Instagram pages
Reach out to us at musicinmyshoes@gmail.com
Fourth Of July Kickoff
SPEAKER_00Hey everybody, this is Jim Boge, and you're listening to Music in My Shoes, podcasting worldwide. That was Vic Thrill kicking off episode 138. I'm thrilled to be here with you. Let's learn something new or remember something old. Jimmy, this is the 4th of July edition of Music in My Shoes. Excellent, Jimmy. I love it.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. I lit it off the fireworks just for you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, please be careful.
SPEAKER_01I arranged this marching band behind me.
SPEAKER_00I know. How did you get them here so quickly?
SPEAKER_01Um, they're in the military, and it's a little known law that they have to show up if you ask for them.
SPEAKER_00I wasn't aware of that. It must really be a little known law.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It's like getting three wishes when you find a bottle. It can be any bottle. They don't tell you that. I didn't mean to magic lamp, a bottle, anything like I dream of genie.
SPEAKER_00You know, Jimmy, you're on fire like the fireworks today. I know. Wow. Snap, crackle, and pop.
Atlanta Peachtree Road Race Memories
SPEAKER_00So, Jimmy, one of the things about Fourth of July in Atlanta is the Peachtree Road Race. Been happening since 1970, takes place on July 4th. Initially, I think it was like maybe 30 people or so, and then it kept growing to like 50,000. Have you ever run it?
SPEAKER_01I've never run it. Really? Not a huge runner.
SPEAKER_00You know, and I'm glad you say that, because I'm not a huge runner, but I've done it many times. And I've done it because it's just fun. It's kind of cool to be part of this thing. And I don't run the whole thing. You know, I walk a good bit. The older that I would get, I would walk.
SPEAKER_01So what is the peach tree? A 10K?
SPEAKER_00It is a 10K, actually. It's really cool. The first time I ran it was in 1996 because the Olympics were here in Atlanta and they had the Peachtree Road Race and the Olympic Marathon. Part of it was the same thing. Oh, great. And they made the line. You know how they paint a line for the marathon so people know where to run and kind of what's the shortest, you know, way to run it? They had that for the Peachtree Road Race. I was like, I need to run this so I can say I've run part of the marathon route with this painted line. And I thought it was super cool. And I did it a bunch of times after that. And then when my kids were like high school age, or maybe right after, we started doing it again. And it's just fun. And there's bands playing. There's people running and drinking at the same time. Really? There's people in fireman outfits that are uh fully in gear with American flags and they're running. It's just a fun time. It's a a big party atmosphere. It ends at Piedmont Park, a lot of free um foods and different types of drinks and bands playing, and it's great. It's a great time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, it's amazing. I've never even been down there for it. Wow. It happens in the morning. I like to on the 4th of July, you know, take it easy. It's my son's birthday, so we kind of have stuff going on. And usually we're out of town.
SPEAKER_00Gotcha. Makes sense. I get it. If you ever are in town not doing anything, and if your son decides to have his birthday on a different day, try it. All right. Try it.
SPEAKER_01Deal.
Bicentennial Builds And A Kid Story
SPEAKER_00So let's go back to July 3rd, 1976. The bicentennial. We've kind of talked about it recently, about how it seemed that, you know, in 1975, a year earlier, that everything started with the bicentennial. It was this big thing, you know, working your way up towards it. So it was the 200th year of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And do you remember they had the bicentennial quarters? So a normal quarter had an eagle on the back. An eagle on the back, but they changed it to a drummer boy with like a torch. That torch actually looks like the torch from the 1996 Olympics, by the way. It's very similar. Very similar. The $2 bill had been out from 1862 to 1966, and then they stopped. But they brought it back in 1976. And that is with um Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson, and it's got the uh signing of the Declaration of Independence. It's like a painting, I believe, on the back side. Very uh detailed. It's probably one of the most detailed bills in American currency, the back of the $2 bill. But I lived in New York at the time, and they had Operation Sale, and they had over 200 ships. I shouldn't say ships, over 200 boats. Some of them were ships, some of them were fire department and police department boats, some of them were just, you know, this boat, that boat, but it was over 200. And you know, it was a bunch of you know, tall masted ships from around the world, and it was exciting. I watched it on TV, it was a lot of fun, you know, like a lot of buildup to it, definitely a good time. And with all of these different things, the bicentennial quarters, the two dollar bill, operation sale, you know, so many other things going on. My morning, and this is a story I've never even told anyone, okay? Really? True story. July 4th, 1976.
SPEAKER_01I'm the first to hear it.
SPEAKER_00Yes, July 4th, 1976. I thought, like, this is the bicentennial. I have to do something. I have to be part of it. I'm nine years old, and I've been hearing about this for a year, that this is like gonna be the greatest day ever. And I didn't know what to do. So I came up with the idea of I was going to take, not I was going to, I actually did, I took a Halloween mask, and back then it was just plastic with the little like stringy thing on the back that you would just put over the front of your face.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and they broke like crazy.
SPEAKER_00It was a clown with a fireman hat on it.
SPEAKER_01Okay. And I would hide very patriotic, very patriotic.
SPEAKER_00I would hide behind this big tree in front of my mother's, no longer there, and there was a church across the street, and I would s like sneak to the sides of the tree and wave to the people at the church as they were pulling out. And I thought that that was my big moment for July 4th, 1976.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I mean, the founding fathers only dreamed of that.
SPEAKER_00I I bet. You know, it's probably why I haven't told the story.
SPEAKER_01But did you get any reactions?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, people were waving at me, and the they just kept waving, and I just was like, hey.
SPEAKER_01Did you have red, white, and blue on at least?
SPEAKER_00I don't remember. I I I don't. I just remember that clown mask with the fire department hat on it.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00And I felt like I was making people happy by waving and stuff. And you know, as I got older, I'm like, did anyone think I was like John Wayne Gacy or or someone crazy? But I guess because I was a kid, they figured it was all innocent fun.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because you were what, like eight or something like that. I was nine.
SPEAKER_00I was nine years old, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you gotta pass.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
Billboard Hot 100 Time Capsule
SPEAKER_00So because of all that, I thought it would be really cool if we revisited the Billboard Top 100, July 3rd, 1976. We'll go back 50 years ago, the bicentennial, what was happening in music, what were people listening to? All right. You want to do it?
SPEAKER_01Let's do it.
SPEAKER_00Let's do it. Boogie Fever got to Boogie Down, Boogie Fever, I think it's going around. Number 99, Boogie Fever by the Silvers. Number one song on May 15th, 1976. This band was around from 1958 to 1985. Ten children in the family, nine of them were in the Silvers at one time or another. The youngest never was in the band. The guitar in the beginning of the song sounds very similar to the Beatles Day Tripper. And, you know, I I listened to all the songs on the countdown. So I've been listening, I'm like, wow, that's like a takeoff of Day Tripper. It it came in as the number 20 song of 1976.
SPEAKER_01All right.
SPEAKER_00You know?
SPEAKER_01It was on the that front edge of disco, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. 76 was really the woo, you know, for disco. Number 98, and Jimmy, just so you know, I'm not going through every single. I I saw the look on your face there. Yeah. I you quickly looked at the clock. So I wanted to let you know, I'm not going through each one. But number 98, Rihann, Fleetwood Mac, written and sung by Stevie Nicks. Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night. And wouldn't you love to love her? She rules her life like a bird in flight, and who will be her lover? A really cool, full sounding song, even back in the day when you know you're listening to it on a transistor radio or or whatever in 76. It's just a full-sounding song that that drew me into it to listen to the song, just because it just it has so much to it. Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it it's a really well-produced song.
SPEAKER_00It's number 488 on Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
SPEAKER_01All right. I mean, it's good to be listed, but 488.
SPEAKER_00You know, you're right. It probably should have been 489. Ooh, you're on fire. And speaking of 89, number 89, play that funky music, Wild Cherry. Jimmy featured this on A Minute with Jimmy on an earlier episode. And basically, while playing at a club in Pittsburgh, you know, they're a rock band, and someone yells out, play that funky music, white boy. The rest is history. Number one on September 18th, 1976. Number 87. I really like this song, and I kind of forgot about it until I was listening to it. Devil Woman by Cliff Richard. Do you remember that song? Yeah. It peaked at number six on September 25th, 1976. She's just a devil woman with evil on her mind. Beware the devil woman, she's gonna get you. So Black Sabbath gives a nod to the song in its own Lady Evil at the end of the guitar solo. It does the Devil Woman guitar.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And this is when Ronnie James Dio joined the band. So this is on uh the Heaven and Hell album. And it's a really good song, also. I know that Black Sabbath, Lady Evil has nothing to do with 1976, but if you're not familiar with that Ronnie James Dio sung song for Black Sabbath, definitely check it out.
SPEAKER_01So Cliff Richard is one of those guys that most Americans haven't even heard of, you know, especially these days. He is one of the best selling artists in the history in in England. Yeah. He's he's like, it's I I'm not positive about this, but I think it's like the Beatles, Elvis, and Cliff Richard are one, two, and three.
SPEAKER_00It's crazy, isn't it? Really crazy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, I just looked it up. He is the third top-selling artist in UK singles chart history.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_01Behind Elvis and the Beatles.
SPEAKER_00And you're right. I bet most people are gonna say, Cliff Who? Right. Well, anyway, we're gonna move to number 83, Shower the People, James Taylor, peaked at number 32 on September 18th, 1976. Number 82, Low Down by Boz Skaggs, number three song on October 9th, 1976. Boz Skaggs was in the Steve Miller band for a a number of years. And I don't think I don't think many people know that. But he was the harmonies in the Steve Miller band. Oh. So he went out on his own. Lowdown is kind of a slower, funky song. Leto is kind of a, you know, rocking poppy song.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Continuing on our look back at the top songs from 50 years ago on July 3rd, 1976, number 74, Say You Love Me, Fleetwood Mac, second time showing up on the countdown, penned and sung by Christine McVee, peaked at number 11, September 18th, 1976. She was still married to Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVee, and the song is about a lover that she had. Because when the lovin' starts and the lights go down and there's not another living soul around, you woo me until the sun comes up and you say that you love me. When you know that and you read the words, it all makes sense. The whole song 100% makes sense.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they've they really had a lot of uh lover's turmoil in that band and they got a lot of good songs out of it.
SPEAKER_00They sure did. I think that's why they stayed together for so many years. They're like, hey, we can we can make millions of dollars. Number 73, Roots Rock Reggae, Bob Marley and the Wailers. Hey, Mr. Music, sure sound good to me. I can't refuse it. What to be got to be. Feel like dancing, dance because we all free. Feel like dancing, come dance with me. Roots Rock Reggae, this uh, reggae music. Only Bob Marley song to hit the top one hundred. Wow. That's hard to believe. It really is. I like this song, okay? But this is the song that hit the top 100 out of all the Bob Marley songs? 2024 Rolling Stone magazine named it the third best Bob Marley song. I disagree on that. I totally disagree. I like the song, I really do, but it's not the third best Bob Marley song.
SPEAKER_01Well, I think that uh Legend came out maybe mid-80s, something like that. That was his first greatest hits collection. And that is are the songs that most of us know really well. And I don't believe that song was on Legend, was it?
SPEAKER_00Uh you know, I don't remember. Yeah. That was one of the first CDs I got, actually, was Legend.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was on that early CD era. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Number 70, Crazy on You by Heart, a song we spoke about four episodes ago, peaked at number 35, June 5th, 1976. Number 67, You Should Be Dancing, Bee Gees, debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 July 3rd, 1976, reached number one, September 4th, 1976. I think the only words I understood was you should be dancing, yeah. I had no idea what was being sung in that song. That falsetto the whole time. I I didn't understand it whatsoever. Me either. What you're doing on your back, hey. What you're doing on your back, hey, you should be dancing, yeah. Dancing, yeah. I I want to dance now, Jimmy. Do it.
SPEAKER_01Woo!
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there you go. Number sixty-six, don't go breaking my heart, Elton John and Kiki D. Reached number one a month later on August 7th, 1976, for four weeks. It was the number two song, year end 1976. We spoke about it on episode 87 when Elton and Kiki performed it at Live Aid in July 85. Ooh who, nobody knows it. But when I was down, I was your clown. Don't go breaking my heart. Great song. Number sixty-five, Happy Days, Pratt and McLean. Another song we've spoken about before back on episode 52. After Bill Halley and the Comets Rock Around the Clock was used as the opening theme for the first two seasons, the song Happy Days became the new opening theme and was used seasons three to ten, and then an updated version was used for the final season in season 11. It was a number five song during the spring of 1976. Number 59, let him in. Paul McCartney and Wings, debuting on the top 100 July 3rd, 1976, peaked at number three on August 14th, 1976. Starts off with like a doorbell sound, dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum, and then boom.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so you know what that is. That's that's the tune that Big Ben plays in England.
SPEAKER_00Oh, really? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's what that tune is. Doorbells use it too.
SPEAKER_00I've been there.
SPEAKER_01Grandfather clocks use it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like yeah, chimba. Doorbells use it too.
SPEAKER_01That's the Big Ben song.
SPEAKER_00Oh, wow. I and I've been to Big Ben, and I don't know if I realized that. Or maybe two and two didn't equal four in my head.
SPEAKER_01Maybe.
SPEAKER_00But that's funny. I call it the doorbell song. You're like, hey, uh yeah, doorbells use it, but it's really for Big Ben. So someone's knocking at the door, somebody's ringing the bell. Do me a favor, open the door, and let him in. It then goes on to name who could be at the door. A bunch of relatives, Phil and Don, who were the Everly brothers, Uncle Ernie, and that was in reference to Ringo Starr playing Uncle Ernie in the London Symphony Orchestra version of the Who's Tommy? Really? Yes. All right. It's just crazy sometimes when you look up some things and you find out things that you just didn't know. Learn something new.
SPEAKER_01So uh my friend Ernie Ward was in the Violets with me, and he our friend Bill Daly that puts out the Violets Records and other records, uh, owns a record store up in the DC area. Anyway, he is always called Ernie Uncle Ernie, and I never quite got the reference, but it's from that song, I'm sure. There you go. And and from Ringo Starr, in a way.
SPEAKER_00There you go. Makes sense, it does. Number 56, Baby I Love Your Way, Peter Frampton. This is the live version from the Frampton Comes Alive album, peaked at number 12, August 28th, 1976. Not one of my favorites off the album. I do like Frampton Comes Alive. I think it's a great album. A little bit slow for me. It's a little bit fluffy for me, too. I gotta be honest. Like I don't expect I love a lot of fluffy songs, but I don't expect Peter Frampton to be fluffy. Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I like the song. Yeah, that's okay. You can.
SPEAKER_00You know, music is not a competition. There you go. It's been too long. Hey, so we're gonna talk about another song that's not one of my favorites. Number 53, Hot Stuff, uh Double A Side with Fool to Cry, The Rolling Stones. I just don't really like it that much. Yet it's one of those songs that seems to make their greatest hits and made it to, you know, number 53 on this week. Number 50 on our look back at the Billboard's top 100 of July 3rd, 1976. I'd really love to see you again. England Dan and John Ford Coley. I'm not talking about moving in, and I don't want to change your life, but there's a warm wind blowing the stars around, and I'd really love to see you tonight. It made it to number two in September 1976. So England Dan's real name? Dan Seals. And he was the younger brother of Jim Seals from the band Seals and Crofts. What? Yes, and Seals and Crofts, they had uh Summer Breeze, they had Diamond Girl. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Very similar stuff.
SPEAKER_00Very, very similar.
Minute With Jimmy Punk History
SPEAKER_00Yes. But I'll tell you what's not similar, Jimmy. Tick, tick, tick. It's Minute with Jimmy.
SPEAKER_01Oh wow, right here in the middle.
SPEAKER_00It's time for a minute with Jimmy, Minute with Jimmy, Minute with Jimmy. It's time for a minute with Jimmy, Minute with Jimmy, Minute with Jimmy.
SPEAKER_01All right, I've been looking forward to this one. So on July 4th, 1976, we sent somebody back to England. Their names were the Ramones. They played their first show in England on July 4th, 1976, supporting the Flamin' Groovies with the Stranglers opening the show. They sold out the venue of 1800 capacity, gave away miniature baseball bats, and on Of their beat on the brat with a baseball bat song, and legend T-Rex Mark Bolin got on stage with them. There were a lot of punk bands there, future punk bands, but the Clash and the Sex Pistols were not there. Do you know why? The Sex Pistols were playing just across town, and their opening band was their first gig ever, The Clash. So on July 4th, 1976, the Clash played their first show, and the Ramones played their first show in England.
SPEAKER_00Is that the show that like members of Joy Division and maybe Suzy Sue?
SPEAKER_01There were all kinds of people like that there. The Damned, Adam and the Ants, Chrissy Hind. Yeah, there were everybody went back and started a band after they saw the Ramones.
SPEAKER_00And all I could do was put on a clown mask with a fireman hat and wave to people.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, what's your well you were nine though. So so they did play the following night another show, and the Clash and the Sex Pistols were able to go and see them. And there's a great story to that, too, that they the Ramones were back in their dressing room and they wouldn't let the Clash and Sex Pistols back. So they said, Well, we know this club. We can go around the back in the alley and we can climb through the window. But the thing was, they were kind of afraid of the Ramones because they thought that they were kind of like a motorcycle gang because they wore motorcycle jackets.
SPEAKER_00Oh man.
SPEAKER_01And so they start throwing little rocks and stuff up at the window and get their attention. And they say, Hey, we're with the clash and the pistols. Can we come up? And they they literally, the the Ramones like pulled them up, you know, through the window, and they that was their their introduction. So great little punk rock story.
SPEAKER_00That is July 4th, 1976. Who knew? Yeah. This is great. I don't, Jimmy. I like that minute with Jimmy. Thank you.
Disco Rock And Deep Cuts
SPEAKER_00So, Jimmy, continuing, number 45, Fool for the City, Fog Hat. This is the highest position it reached. A song about living in the country and missing the city. Breathing all the clean air, sitting in the sun. When I get my train fare, I'll get up and run. I'm ready for the city. Air pollution, here I come, cause I'm a fool for the city. I love that song. I'm a fool for that song. I gotta be honest with you. Number 44, Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel to Varys. A disco song made it as high as number 15 on the top 100. Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel. Missing one angel, child, because you're here with me right now. Man, what what words? Knew how to pen a song right there. There was a scene in the movie, Charlie's Angels, where Cameron Diaz is dreaming that she's at 2001 Odyssey Disco, that's the the club in Saturday Night Fever with the lights and everything, and she's dreaming that she's actually dancing there to this song. That floor in Saturday Night Fever cost $15,000 in 1977, whenever they filmed the movie.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Think about that. To do that floor. And it was something that was seen in Alabama, and they brought it to New York to be in this movie for people to be like, whoa, this is crazy.
SPEAKER_01$15,000 is a lot of money?
SPEAKER_00In 1977?
SPEAKER_01I guess. I mean they're making a movie out of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but I just think that's a lot of money. But you know what? Number 42, you'll never find another love like mine. Lou Rawls. You'll never find another love like mine. Someone who needs you like I do. You'll never see what you found in me. You'll keep searching and searching your whole life through. A song that peaked at number two two months later, on September 4th, 1976. What a smooth voice Lou Rawls had. I just love this song. Oh, yeah. It's just such a great song.
SPEAKER_01And it shows what the charts were like and what music was like in 1976, that you still had things like Lou Rawls that he really appealed to an older crowd, had a very smooth, sophisticated sound at the same time that you had hard rock and disco, you know, on the charts. They were all sharing the same charts.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I I agree with you 100%. It was a lot better, in my opinion, back in the day than I guess what it is now. I couldn't tell you a single song on the charts today. I'm not saying that's good. I'm not saying it's bad, but I can tell you what number 40 was on July 3rd, 1976. All right, tell me. A fifth of Beethoven, Walter Murphy, and the Big Apple Band, based on Beethoven's symphony number five. This instrumental was on the radio all summer and fall of 1976. It didn't matter what station you put on, all of a sudden it was like, dun dun dun dun, dun dun, dun, dun, you know, like it was always there. Reach number one, October 9th, 1976, number 10 song for 76.
SPEAKER_01Do you remember, speaking of doorbells, you remember the commercial where you could get the doorbell that would play funny things, and one of them was Nobody's Home, Nobody's Home. It would play the Beethoven song, 50.
SPEAKER_00I don't remember that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It was a funny commercial.
SPEAKER_00Uh it sounds like it was a hoot.
SPEAKER_01It was a hoot.
SPEAKER_00Uh I like it. I'm gonna have to look it up, Jimmy. That was good. I like that. You did very good Beethoven there.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. He was Deaf.
SPEAKER_00Like isn't Def Leopard? Yeah. Okay. Number 32, Mamma Mia, ABBA. It's highest position in the top 100. And this is the movie and musical, you know, that they made out of one of their songs for a song that didn't really do well by ABBA standards. Isn't that kind of crazy?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it is. Because they had m much bigger heads, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, very strange. Number 31, speaking of rock, Last Child, Arosmith, peaking at number 21, August 7, 1976. Take me back to a South Tallahassee, don't cross the bridge to my sweet sassafrassi. Can't stand up on my feet in the city, get to get back to the real nitty-gritty. That was a rocker for sure. I love that song. Number 28, Save Your Kisses for Me, Brotherhood of Man, only reaching number 27 the following week. With your cute little way, will you promise that you'll save your kisses for me, save your kisses for me, bye-bye, baby, bye-bye. Do you remember this song? Vaguely. So this song was the UK's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1976. So, really quick, every year there's this Eurovision contest where different countries they have a band that will put a song in and they play it and they have judges and this whole big thing. Every year it's in like a different place.
SPEAKER_01I think ABBA won it.
SPEAKER_00ABBA did for Waterloo. They did win it. Um John Lynn Public Image Limited put a song in a few years ago, but they did not win. So it's a cool kind of thing. The song is kind of um uh it's kind of fluffy, but it's not Peter Frampton, so it's okay, you know? Number 27, tear the roof off the sucker, give up the funk, Parliament. Ow, we want the funk. Give up the funk. Ow, we want the funk. We gotta have that funk. Peaked at number 15 on the last day of July 1976. Number 26, turn the beat around, Vicky Sue Robinson. Turn the beat around, love to hear percussion, turn it upside down, love to hear percussion, love to hear it. Doesn't that make you want to get up and move, Jimmy? Oh yeah. And the song was just filled with percussion when you listen to it. So she was singing a song about loving the percussion, and they actually had the whole song filled with percussion, and you know, the rat-tat-tat-tat on the drum, you know, like everything. It was great. Uh that's one of my favorite disco songs.
SPEAKER_01Did that song make a comeback in the 80s? Was it in something flash dance or something?
SPEAKER_00It was in a a couple of movies. I don't remember off the top of my head.
SPEAKER_01But it seems a bit ahead of its time in that way.
SPEAKER_00Yes, without a doubt. Out of doubt. Number 23 on the top songs of July 3rd, 1976. Taking it to the streets, the Doobie Brothers. First single with Michael McDonald on vocals, peaked at number 13 a week earlier on June 26, 1976. Michael McDonald definitely took the Doobie Brothers in like a whole different direction, kind of that raspy, soulful voice, I guess it would be.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But I like the song. I think it's a pretty good song. You know? Number 21, you're my best friend, Queen, peaked at number 16, July 31st, 1976. Bassist John Deacon plays electronic piano, and I absolutely love it. I think it fits perfectly with this song. All right. A lot of times people think that you have to play like the grand piano and stuff. When you listen to this song, this song is not as good if you put in the regular grand piano, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, it's that electric piano sound is great, in it.
SPEAKER_00Oh, it's fantastic. Oh, you know what? You make me live. Whatever this world can give to me, it's you, you're all I see. Oh, you're my best friend. Number eighteen. Oh, you're welcome, Jimmy. I just thought, you know, on this special edition here that I would let you know that. Appreciate it. Number 18, Love Hangover, Diana Ross. Diana Ross is so sultry in this song. It doesn't when you think of Diana Ross, you don't think of this song, but when you hear it, you're like, oh yeah, I remember Diana Ross saying this. If there's a cure for this, I don't want it, I don't want it. I think about it all the time. Thinking only makes me smile. And then a full-on disco song breaks out on a song that peaked at number one, May 29, 1976. Number 17, The Boys Are Back in Town, Thin Lizzie. Guess who just got back today? Them wild-eyed boys that have been away. The boys are back in town. The boys are back in town.
SPEAKER_01That was one of the 45s that I had that my my brother had bought. It had Jailbreak on the flip side. Yeah, great record.
SPEAKER_00It did. Um song peaked at number 12 for the Irish band, July 24th, 1976. And it's ranked at number 272 in the 2021 version of Rolling Stones' 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The Top 15 That Still Hits
SPEAKER_00Number 15, Take the Money and Run, Steve Miller. This year's a story about Billy Joe and Bobby Sue. Go on, Take the Money and Run. A song about a couple of hooligans, young hooligans, I would say, and their adventures peaked at number 11, July 24th, 1976.
SPEAKER_01Do we think Boz Skaggs did the harmonies on that?
SPEAKER_00I don't know if he was in the band still at that point. He I know he was in the band in 1968 when they did Livin' in the USA. Okay. So I I know for sure. And I don't know when Boz was out. I'm going to say he was out because he's on the countdown doing his own stuff. Makes sense. That's what I'm going to go with. Number 12, Got to Get You Into My Life, The Beatles, originally released in 66 on the Revolver album. It was re-released as a single to promote the rock and roll music double album peaking at number seven on July 24th, 1976. And I think the album was out for like a month. I got it. My neighbor, eight-track Johnny, he got it, and I think he sold it to me. But like you never saw it that long, even though it had all these, you know, great Beatles songs. It just wasn't a compilation that did very well.
SPEAKER_01Huh.
SPEAKER_00So this is one of the songs where Paul McCartney comes out and says, This song is about pot. This is about his love for it. And there's no guessing what it's about, even though it sounds like a love song for a woman. It was not. Number 11, Never Gonna Fall in Love Again, Eric Carmen. Number 10, on the top 100 songs of 1976, July 3rd, Love is Alive by Gary Wright. Number 9, Kiss and Say Goodbye, The Manhattans. We've been meeting here so long. I guess what we'd done, oh, was wrong. Please, darling, don't you cry. Let's just kiss and say goodbye. Reach number one on July 24th, 1976. It's a great song. It's a song about two cheating people, and you know, they're gonna end it and blah, blah, blah, blah. I I love it. I've loved it since I was nine years old. It's a great song. Number eight, I'll be good to you, The Brothers Johnson. I know nothing about the song. I listened to it, I don't remember ever hearing it, but yet it was number eight. Wow. Number seven, Get Up and Boogie, Silver Convention. It had been as high as number two. The German group are the same people who had the hit 1975 song, Fly Robin, Fly.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00So I think there's like maybe six words in each song, and yet one was number two and one was number one. So it goes to show that if you can make a disco danceable song, you know, you can have something that people like. Simple as get up and boogie. That's right. Wow. That's right, Jimmy. Wow. Number six, more, more, more. Andrea True Connection, peaking at number four on July 17th, 1976. More, more, more. How do you like it? How do you like it? Back on episode 120, we spoke about the band Len sampling the end of the instrumental break, and they created the song Steal My Sunshine. So they stole and they made their own song. Number five, Shop Around, Captain and Tennil. Peaked at number four the following week. Tony Taneil says, Don't fall for the first guy. Before you take a man and say I do now, make sure he's in love with you now. My mama told me you better shop around. It was a number two hit in 1960 for the miracles, written by Smokey Robinson and Barry Gordy. Probably only written by Smokey Robinson, but if you were on Barry Gordy's uh label, he always put him there so that he got some money for it. Number four, Sarah Smile, Haulin' Oats. It's peak position. An RB song all the way. This is a great song. This is, you know, before their catchy tune phase that me and you both love. Right. But this was it's you and me forever, Sarah Smile. Won't you smile a while from me, Sarah? Number three, Misty Blue, Dorothy Moore. Again, another song I listened to, never heard it before.
SPEAKER_01This top 10 is shocking.
SPEAKER_00Is it?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I don't, I mean, I wouldn't expect these songs to be in the top ten.
SPEAKER_00Well, here you go for number two, Jimmy. Starland Vocal Band.
SPEAKER_01Ah, Scott Afternoon.
SPEAKER_00Afternoon Delight. Reach number one on July 10th, 1976. Gonna find my baby, gonna hold her tight, gonna grab some afternoon delight. My motto's always been when it's right, it's right. Why wait until the middle of a dark, cold night? And that was almost too much for my young ears, and I was singing along to the song I was nine. It was it was crazy.
SPEAKER_01But I thought it was just about fireworks, which was perfect tie-in with the bicentennial.
SPEAKER_00There you go, absolutely perfect. And for the number one song of the top 100 songs from 50 years ago, July 3, 1976, Silly Love Songs, Paul McCartney and Wings, with their second song in the countdown. We spoke about the song on episode 134. But recently, KJ Butch of Righteous Karaoke told me about a social media post his cousin Chico had made. So Butch is the guy who lent us the equipment to do our interview with Kevin Kinney and Johnny Hickman in Athens back in March. So this is kind of a shortened version of Chico's post.
McCartney Memories And Music As Freedom
SPEAKER_00Fifty years ago in Atlanta, at Peach's Record Store, Paul McCartney and Wings made impressions in wet cement. Fifty years ago at the Omni in Atlanta, I saw my first Paul McCartney show. I can't remember how many biscuits I had for breakfast this morning, but I remember all the songs that night. I've seen Paul and his band play more than my share of times, from Memphis to Berkeley to Chicago, but nothing was quite like that night 50 years ago. My folks drove me all the way from Tupelo, Mississippi to Atlanta. At Mom's Wake, I thought about this McCartney show. In the 50s and 70s, she put a lot of effort into seeing Elvis Presley live. She understood that I had to see Paul McCartney. If she was still with us, I would call and say, fifty years ago, dot dot dot. What a great story, Jimmy. I believe music connects us. I believe music is freedom. And here on our 4th of July edition of Music in My Shoes, I think that music for me, it frees me from everyday things that go on. And I can put music on and I can get into my world where it relaxes me and it frees me from it all. And I love that. And it's been that way my entire life. Music is not a competition, all right? Music should be something that connects us. Yeah. And we heard some songs here that you liked, some songs that I like, some songs none of us knew. But you know what? At the end of the day, what does it matter as long as we can enjoy it? As long as it's something that's positive and it's fun. Right. And it becomes something that 50 years later, or 10 years later, or a week later, you can listen to it and enjoy it. And there's nothing better than looking back 50 years ago and saying, oh man, that's what I was listening to. And hopefully other people will be like, I remember that song. And say, I don't remember that song either, Jim.
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
SPEAKER_00So on that note, that's it for this episode of Music in My Shoes.
Credits And Stay Connected
SPEAKER_00I'd like to thank Jimmy Guthrie, show producer and owner of Arcade 160 Studios, located right here in Atlanta GA. Vic Thrill for our podcast music. You can reach us at music in my shoes at gmail.com. Please like and follow the Music in My Shoes Facebook and Instagram pages. This is Jim Boge, and I hope you learned something new or remembered something old. We'll meet again on our next episode. Until then, live life and keep the music playing. Skyrockets in Flight, Afternoon Delight.
