Tuesday, September 03, 2019

The week the UK top three were all about death

I saw this on Twitter, checked and discovered something remarkable.

On the day I turned 14 the top three records in the UK singles chart were all about death:
  1. Seasons in the Sun - Terry Jacks
  2. Billy, Don't be a Hero - Paper Lace
  3. Emma - Hot Chocolate
I remember there was an item at the time remarking on the phenomenon and discussing its significance on the BBC Radio 4 arts programme Kaleidoscope - no doubt introduced by Paul Vaughan.

For what it's worth, I hated the Terry Jacks record in 1974, though in later life I was to fall in love with Scott Walker's renderings of Jacques Brel.

Paper Lace were meh, as we didn't say in those days, and I suspect Hot Chocolate are undervalued.

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