20 July 1972 Dr Hook isn't a person but the collective name of the band. Sylvia and her mother are real-life people, though. 'Sylvia's Mother', alas, is also real. Off-stage, Sylvia is happily packing for her future, about to catch the train to Galveston to get married there. Her mother, justifiably, has little time for … Continue reading Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show – ‘Sylvia’s Mother’ →

29 June 1972 There's a verse in his breakthrough 1970 hit 'Nothing Rhymed' that captures my conundrum over Gilbert O'Sullivan: When I'm drinking my Bonaparte shandyEating more than enough apple piesWill I glance at my screenAnd see real human beingsStarve to death right in front of my eyes? The latter three lines are fantastic; they … Continue reading Gilbert O’Sullivan – ‘Ooh-Wakka-Doo-Wakka-Day’ →

16 June 1972 No fear of Don McLean ever being a misunderstood genius: he's quite clearly dreadful. 'Vincent' is of a piece with 'Streets Of London', which we'll see at the top of our charts a couple of years later: dreary, didactic cabaret-folk balladry that has Something To Say and will say it with the … Continue reading Don McLean – ‘Vincent’ →

10 June 1972 Since last we saw T. Rex at number one in Ireland, four months earlier with 'Telegram Sam', the 1972 Irish top spot has been variously occupied by Irish folk acts and showbands protesting Bloody Sunday, a British Army regiment stationed in Northern Ireland at that time, and noted political agitator Paul McCartney. … Continue reading T. Rex – ‘Metal Guru’ →

13 May 1972 Whenever there's been a number one here from a visiting act about how much they love Ireland—in which they typically take an unsuspecting woman from Dublin or Limerick and tell her she's now a "Galway girl"—I hark back to the original of the species: 'Forty Shades Of Green' by Johnny Cash. In … Continue reading Johnny Cash – ‘A Thing Called Love’ →

6 May 1972 A showband from Cork: already I'm nostalgic for when the British Army topped the Irish charts. This is and isn't the same Dixies that had already had a number one with 'Little Arrows' in 1968. Their two best-known members, singer Brendan O'Brien and drummer Joe Mac, had left to form a new … Continue reading The Dixies With Sandie & Joe – ‘What Do I Do’ →

29 April 1972 So the British Army's chart-topping reign in Ireland only lasted a week. Be it buyer's remorse or a new-found sense of awareness and taste, they were dislodged by an Irish folk protest song about the killings on Bloody Sunday. Despite merely recounting the obvious events and not calling for listeners to reprise … Continue reading Paddy Wagon – ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ →

22 April 1972 On 30 January 1972—Bloody Sunday—British soldiers killed 13 unarmed civilians at a protest march in the nationalist Bogside area of Derry. The immediate response in Ireland included the burning of the British Embassy in Dublin. Three months later, the British Army were at number one in the Irish singles charts. There's more. … Continue reading The Pipes and Drums and the Military Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards – ‘Amazing Grace’ →

8 April 1972 How popular and iconic was Big Tom? Well, he was the first Irish person to have a song named after them go to number one in Ireland, and is one of only four Irish people ever to have had that distinction. His home town of Castleblayney in Co. Monaghan had already been … Continue reading Big Tom and The Mainliners – ‘Broken Marriage Vows’ →

1 April 1972 In this year of 'The Men Behind The Wire' and 'Give Ireland Back To The Irish', surely 'Three Leafed Shamrock' is another politically-charged protest song, right? Or maybe, like 'Ceol An Ghrá' immediately before it at number one, it showcases a new-found national pride in Irish cultural heritage, doesn't it? No and … Continue reading John Kerr – ‘Three Leafed Shamrock’ →