My Seventies Music

Tag: Pop Charts

  • Anne Murray – “Snowbird” And “You Needed Me”

    Anne Murray album “This Is My Way”

    When Anne Murray reached No. 1 on the U.S. charts with her single “You Needed Me” in 1978, she was the first Canadian female solo singer to ever achieve that honour. Previously she had hit No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970 with “Snowbird”, which got to No. 2 on the pop charts in Canada and 1 on both the adult contemporary and country charts.

    “This Way Is My Way”, the album from which “Snowbird” was taken, charted at No. 1 on both the U.S. and Canadian album charts.
    “You Needed Me” was Number 1 on both the U.S. and Canadian pop charts, the Canadian album charts and the Canadian country charts, while reaching No. 4 on the U.S. country and 3 on the U.S. album charts.

    It made it to No. 2 in Australia and 22 in the UK.

    Here now first is Anne Murray singing “Snowbird”:

    And “You Needed me”:

    I’ve been writing this on a tiny netbook with a miniscule screen on a mobile connection, and the first draft didn’t quite look the way I was expecting so I may have to come back to this…

    Meanwhile, enjoy the music!

    Paul

  • Dolly Parton – “Jolene” And “I Will Always Love You”

    Album cover of "Jolene" by Dolly Parton (1974), also featuring "I Will Always Love You"

    Released in late 1973, “Jolene” by Dolly Parton became a No. 1 country hit for her in February 1974, reached Number 60 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 7 on the UK charts.

    Dolly Parton also wrote and released a song later made popular by Whitney Houston, namely “I Will Always Love You”.

    Dolly Parton’s own version, written and recorded in 1973, came out in 1974 and also went to the top of the country charts.

    It did so again when she re-released it eight years later, this time also doing quite well on the pop charts.

    Here is Dolly Parton singing “Jolene” live:

    This is Dolly Parton’s rendition of “I Will Always Love You”:

    I heard Whitney Houston’s version of this again recently while watching the film “The Bodyguard”, by coincidence she was in the country and in fact passed by quite closely after cancelled flights from Northern Ireland meant she had to take the ferry.

    It’s one of my favourite songs, and I hadn’t realised Dolly Parton had written and sung it back when Whitney Houston was about ten.

    Both versions have their own magic.

    Which one do you like best?

    Paul

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