1973 In Music - November's Almost Made the Charts

 Continuing my look at songs that dropped off the charts during the month, but never made the Top 40.  And for November, I counted 26, just a couple fewer than typical.

Here they are, with peak position noted:

• Raised On Rock - Elvis Presley - 41
• Let Me Be Your Lovemaker - Betty Wright - 55
• Such A Night - Dr. John - 42
• Sister James - Nino Tempo And 5th Ave. Sax - 53
• You're In Good Hands - Jermaine Jackson - 79
• If I Were Only A Child Again - Curtis Mayfield - 71
• Life Ain't Easy - Dr. Hook And The Medicine Show - 68
• In The Midnight Hour - Cross Country - 30
• (I Don't Want To Love You But) You Got Me Anyway - Sutherland Brothers And Quiver - 48
• To Know You Is To Love You - B.B. King - 38
• Gotta Find A Way - Moments - 68
• Outlaw Man - Eagles - 59
• You'd Better Believe It - The Manhattans - 77
• Rubber Bullets - 10cc - 73
• Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms - Hank Wilson 78
• I Won't Last A Day Without You - Maureen McGovern - 89
• Hey, Little Girl - Foster Sylvers - 92
• Ashes To Ashes - The 5th Dimension - 52
• Ridin' My Thumb To Mexico - Johnny Rodriguez - 70
• West Coast Woman - Painter - 79
• Take A Closer Look At The Woman You're With - Wilson Pickett - 90
• Mr. Skin - Spirit - 92

BP-POTD - Upper Falls

 So, last week I received a Picture-Of-The_Day recognition from BetterPhoto.com.  Pretty cool, I've only gotten a couple of those through the years.  This is a photo from September, when our travels took us to upstate New York.  This is the upper falls at Letchworth State Park, western NY.

Upper Falls

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Black Friday - No Shopping

 I don't know if Black Friday is as big a deal as it used to be, with the rise of internet shopping and the expansion from a day to a week, etc.  But I do know that I've tried to avoid shopping on the day after Thanksgiving since my cousins dragged my brother and I to their local mall in 1970 and overwhelmed me.

Anyway, last Thursday, I went hiking with my daughters, their spouses and the 2 grandkids.  We went to Valley View Glades, in Hillsboro, MO.  A bit over an hour from us, but a really nice spot.

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Walk On

From a recent walk at Watershed Nature Center, late fall, looking towards winter.  Actually 2 weeks ago, doesn't seem that long ago.  Regardless, we're in that stage of year, most of the leaves are down, more gray skies, cooler temperatures.  Winter will be here soon.

This is actually from the MCT Bike Trail, looking down and across.  I did a little zig-zag this daybetween the bike trail and the trails along the SW side of the area.  Trying to get a bit more time and distance in.

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I'm still doing the Hiker's 365 Challemge, though I've completed the 365 mile distance.  We'll set a full-year benchmark to try and exceed in 2024.  I also started the Winter 100 challenge 11/1/2023, the goal for that is 100 miles over Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb.

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I rather like the more "rustic" trails that meander along the W side of the Watershed.  This is coming down from the (somewhat hidden) Bluff View, down to the trail that mostly parallels the main (Paved) but meets up with the bake trail at the Amphitheater

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The gravel part of the trail, I believe this is just east of the Observation Tower

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Looks like beavers are around.  They do a lot of damage to these small-ish trees.

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Late sun, not too long before sunset.

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On The Charts - November 1973

Continuing the review of songs that were on the Top 40 (US) charts 50 years ago (1973).  We're on to November; the penultimate month of 1973.  

All of the 1973 music posts can be seen HERE, btw.

Following the normal format, here's the Top 10 songs for November1973, based on the average chart position (US charts) over the 4 weeks in the month:

• Keep On Truckin' (Part 1) - Eddie Kendricks - 1.75
• Midnight Train To Georgia - Gladys Knight And The Pips - 2.75
• Heartbeat It's A Lovebeat - The DeFranco Family - 4.5
• Photograph - Ringo Starr - 5.5
• Paper Roses - Marie Osmond - 6
• Angie - The Rolling Stones - 6
• Space Race - Billy Preston - 6.25
• Top Of The World - Carpenters - 8.25
• Just You 'n' Me - Chicago - 11.25
• Half-Breed - Cher - 11.25

Three (3) songs topped the charts in November, 1973:  Gladys Knight and the Pips' Midnight Train to Georgia started the month, continuing from the last week of October. Keep On Truckin' was #1 for the middle 2 weeks of November, and Ringo Staar closed out the month with Photograph.  There's a couple of songs in this Top 10 that I see as real stinkers, and a couple of really good songs.  I own 7 of the 10, can you guess which ones? 

There were 55 individual songs on the Top 40 over the course of the 4 weeks in November, which is pretty much average.

18 songs made their Top 40 debut in November, which is pretty typical.  Several are especially notable, a few? not so much. Here they are, with their debut rank:  

• Leave Me Alone (ruby Red Dress) - Helen Reddy - 29
• Let Me Serenade You - Three Dog Night - 32
• My Music - Loggins and Messina - 32
• Ooh Baby - Gilbert O'Sullivan - 33
• Rockin' Roll Baby - The Stylistics - 34
• Be - Neil Diamond - 35
• Hello It's Me - Todd Rundgren - 36
• The Joker - The Steve Miller Band - 37
• Show And Tell - Al Wilson - 37
• If You're Ready (Come Go With Me) - The Staple Singers - 38
• Check It Out - Tavares - 38
• Sweet Understanding Love - Four Tops - 38
• Living For The City - Stevie Wonder - 38
• Come Get To This - Marvin Gaye - 39
• Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John - 40
• Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up - Barry White - 40
• D'yer Mak'er - Led Zeppelin - 40
• Friends - Bette Midler - 40

So that's it, look for the post later this month of songs that dropped off the Hot 100 in November without having made the Top 40!

My Adventure Challenge

I finished my Hiker's 365 Challenge in October.  The goal was to hike 365 miles in the year.  I'll keep logging miles, see how far I can get by the end of the year.  But, I also started a new challenge:  Winter 100.  The goal here is to complete 100 miles of hikes during Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb.  I'm off to a decent start, but the early sunsets are tough.

Here's some photos from a recent hike at Watershed Nature Center: