Month: January 2020

John Lennon’s “Instant Karma”

How long does it take to write a song, record it and have it mixed and ready for release? In the case of John Lennon’s “Instant Karma” a day.

That day was January 27, 1970 and as John Lennon was quoted as saying, “I wrote it for breakfast, recorded it for lunch, and we’re putting it out for dinner.”

And who was in Abbey Roads Studio that day and played on the record. George Harrison on guitar, Klaus Voorman on bass, Alan White on drums, and keyboard player Billy Preston.

Ten days later the song was in the stores. It reached #3 on the US Charts and No. 5 in the UK.

Where did the title come from? Yoko Ono had heard her former husband Tony Cox wife, Melinde Kendall, use the phrase.

Top 40 – 1970

1 – “Bridge Over Troubled Water”; Simon & Garfunkel
2 – “(They Long to Be) Close to You”; The Carpenters
3 – “American Woman”; The Guess Who
4 – “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”; B.J. Thomas
5 – “War”; Edwin Starr
6 – “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”; Diana Ross
7 – “I’ll Be There”; The Jackson 5
8 – “Get Ready”; Rare Earth
9 – “Let It Be”; The Beatles
10 – “Band of Gold”; Freda Payne
11 – “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)”; Three Dog Night
12 – “Everything Is Beautiful”; Ray Stevens
13 – “Make It with You”; Bread
14 – “Hitchin’ a Ride”; Vanity Fare
15 – “ABC”; The Jackson 5
16 – “The Love You Save”; The Jackson 5
17 – “Cracklin’ Rosie”; Neil Diamond
18 – “Candida”; Dawn
19 – “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”; Sly & the Family Stone
20 – “Spill the Wine”; Eric Burdon & War
21 – “O-o-h Child”; Five Stairsteps
22 – “Spirit in the Sky”; Norman Greenbaum
23 – “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)”; Melanie
24 – “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)”; The Temptations
25 – “Love on a Two-Way Street”; The Moments
26 – “Which Way You Goin’ Billy?”; The Poppy Family
27 – “All Right Now”; Free
28 – “I Want You Back”; The Jackson 5
29 – “Julie, Do Ya Love Me”; Bobby Sherman
30 – “Green-Eyed Lady”; Sugarloaf
31 – “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours”; Stevie Wonder
32 – “Ride Captain Ride”; Blues Image
33 – “Venus”; Shocking Blue
34 – “Instant Karma!”; John Lennon
35 – “Patches”; Clarence Carter
36 – “Lookin’ out My Back Door” Creedence Clearwater Revival
37 – “Rainy Night in Georgia”; Brook Benton
38 – “Something’s Burning”; Kenny Rogers & The First Edition
39 – “Give Me Just a Little More Time”; Chairmen of the Board
40 – “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)”; Edison Lighthouse

Beginning and The End

The decade of the seventies began with us listening to these Top 10 Songs:

1 – RAINDROPS KEEP FALLIN’ ON MY HEAD –•– B.J. Thomas
2 – LEAVING ON A JET PLANE –•– Peter, Paul and Mary
3 – SOMEDAY WE’LL BE TOGETHER –•– Diana Ross and the Supremes
4 – DOWN ON THE CORNER / FORTUNATE SON –•– Creedence Clearwater Revival
5 – NA NA HEY HEY KISS HIM GOODBYE –•– Steam
6 – WHOLE LOTTA LOVE / LIVING LOVING MAID (She’s Just a Woman) –•– Led Zeppelin
7 – I WANT YOU BACK –•– Jackson 5
8 – VENUS –•– The Shocking Blue
9 – HOLLY HOLY –•– Neil Diamond
10 – LA LA LA (If I Had You) –•– Bobby Sherman

And it ended with these Top 10 Songs:

1 – ESCAPE (The Pina Colada Song) –•– Rupert Holmes
2 – PLEASE DON’T GO –•– K.C. and the Sunshine Band
3 – BABE –•– Styx
4 – SEND ONE YOUR LOVE –•– Stevie Wonder
5 – STILL –•– The Commodores
6 – DO THAT TO ME ONE MORE TIME –•– The Captain and Tennille
7 – YOU’RE ONLY LONELY –•– J.D. Souther
8 – NO MORE TEARS (Enough Is Enough) –•– Barbra Streisand / Donna Summer
9 – LADIES NIGHT –•– Kool and the Gang
10 – TAKE THE LONG WAY HOME –•– Supertramp