Sunday, March 6, 2011

New Orleans - 2, Baton Rouge - 1, Thibodaux - 1

I found a great site this evening called Walt Bailey's Old Radio Shows. Among other things, it has something I have been seeking for a couple of years - a listing of all the songs played on episodes of AMERICAN TOP 40. Happiness! Now, I can explain some of my stories about the rebroadcasts better!

Like, for examples, take the episode from February 27, 1971. I noticed as I was listening that three consecutive songs (10, 9, 8) all mentioned real cities in Louisiana. What's more, they're all classic tunes!

10 - "Me and Bobby McGee" - Janis Joplin

9 - "Mr. Bojangles" - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

8- "Amos Moses" - Jerry Reed

Such good stuff, and sort of fascinating to put them in the context of their era. One thing though, and this is definitely a personal quirk of mine. As much as I love "Mr. Bojangles", it bothers me inordinately that it refers to New Orleans as having a "county jail". Jerry Jeff Walker, you should have known better.

EDIT: Speaking of knowing better, I checked my notes and have reached the conclusion that Walt's date for the above show is wrong. It's not Feb. 20, 1971 as listed on his site (and in this entry originally), but rather Feb. 27, 1971. This latter date is corroborated by the rebroadcast's announcement and the chart debut of the Bloodrock song "D.O.A.". How that affects other dates is an open question.

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