Congratulations to a Nottingham, England, band who didn't realize - and neither did the tune's songwriters - that Chicago doesn't have an "East side." (That would be a lake.) "The Night Chicago Died" is nevertheless a fun ragtimer of a story-song pop single, and it made it to #1 in this year's countdown of the top 100 songs as measured by requests/votes received by longtime Boston DJ Barry Scott for his weekly "Lost 45s" program on WODS-FM."Lost 45s" has been essential listening for me for many years, and I highly recommend it for all fans of '60s-'70s pop, particularly trash singles. Barry has over the years introduced me to literally dozens of songs that have become major favorites of mine. But I've been thinking that Paper Lace would have been better served with the inclusion of their rendition of "Billy, Don't Be a Hero", which came out at the same time as Bo Donaldson and the Haywoods' hit version.
2 comments:
I was just thinking last week you should blog this song.
I'm always disturbed about "about one hundred cops were dead." It is of course a great blessing the narrator's father lived, but there were a lot of families in the story that didn't have such happy reunions. Although perhaps the vast casualty figure should be taken as an exaggerated rumor.
-D*
"Barry has over the years introduced me to literally dozens of songs that have become major favorites of mine."
I literally have to check that out!
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