Don’s Top 10 From August 18, 1978

(New on survey) One-and-a-half-hit-wonders (the catchy followup, "Hot Number", peaked at a not-so-hot #21 nationally). Too much face makeup, Mr. Lead Singer. Uh, I think, Mr. Lead Singer. Thought it was a girl.  :-)

(#14 last week) Peaked at 25 nationally, but top 10 right here. 2013: I have been "followed" on Twitter by a Village Person! The cowboy. :-):

(#12 last week)The classic rags-to-riches showbiz story. King was working as a cleaner in a recording studio when she was discovered singing while she worked cleaning the bathroom!

(#7 last week) The critics didn't like this California pop-rock group. Robert Christgau in the Village Voice said, ""hear David Jenkins sing 'once you get past the pain' fifty times in a day and the pain will be permanent". Ouch. Well, the public felt differently.

(#5 last week) At first, this was thought of as a novelty (the singles sales outstripped the radio airplay in '78), but it's surprisingly turned into Manilow's most enduring hit! First featured in the movie "Foul Play" with Chevy Chase & Goldie Hawn.

(#3 last week) Cover your eyes, disco haters. Mick Jagger & Ron Wood insist that "Miss You" wasn't conceived as a disco song, while Keith Richards said, "...'Miss You' was a damn good disco record; it was calculated to be one." Even though Richards is credited as co-writer, it apparently was co-written by Jagger with Billy Preston.

(#6 last week) In researching tonight's "Don's Top 10", I was reminded of the incredible chart run locally of "Boogie Oogie Oogie" in the summer & fall of '78: 22 weeks with a number on WABC, every single one of them in the top 10! Debuted at #8 on June 6, & it took 14 long weeks, but finally hit #1 on September 6, holding on to the top spot for 5 weeks, finally falling to "Encore" on November 7. Amazing.

(#4 last week) Wow, you could lose things in Richie's hair in 1978! Sometimes, a songwriter only needs the simplest inspiration. Lionel said he was inspired to write this song because of a comment his father made about his mother. His father said to his mother "I love you. I want you. I need you. Forever".

(#2 last week) Written by Barry Gibb. In the I-did-not-know-this-department, Peter Frampton was playing on this. They were both filming "Sgt. Pepper" at the time.

(#1 last week; 4th week at #1) Didn't make it to the top nationally, but a huge #1 song right here! "Last Dance" was one of the first disco songs to also feature slow tempo parts: it starts off as a ballad; the full-length version on the film soundtrack also has a slow part in the middle. This part was edited out for the 7". The versions found on most greatest hits packages is either the original 7" edit (3:21) or the slightly longer and remixed version from the 1979 compilation "On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes 1 & 2" (4:56). "Last Dance" started a trend for Summer as some of her following hits also had a ballad-like intro before speeding up the tempo. Her other hits of this tempo format include "On the Radio"; "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)"; & "Dim All the Lights".