The 20th of February 1972 to the 19th of February 1973
Ok so I’m not even 1 yet. What do I know about music at this stage of my little life?
Now, I suppose I could have heard the next few songs via osmosis or something but when I hear them again there is something that I get from somewhere. Could’ve been years later on the radio I suppose but they were released in this year. Sooo, for this and probably the next year too, I’m taking it that they went in there somehow when I was on my way to my first birthday.
Hot Butter
Popcorn
Released in the Summer of 1972,…
…“Popcorn” enters the U.K. Chart at No.41 on the 16th of July.
The week after, it climbs into the Top 20 and by it’s 4th week enters the Top 10, where it will stick around for another 4 weeks.
The single will see out the rest of the Summer and watch it turn to Autumn before leaving the U.K. Chart after the 5th of November.
After a few weeks, it will return for one last visit, re-entering the week leading up to Christmas 1972, and sit at No.50 for 3 weeks before leaving for good in the New Year of 1973, after the 6th of January.
From my infant memories, I just about remember this music and it sounding so different…
Whether it was from when it actually charted is lost in the mists of time.
I could well have picked it up from countless plays on any number of kids tv programs in the subsequent years, as it would play as a backing track which showed factory machines, the ones which you’d see cans or bottles being made of something or other on a conveyor belt, before being boxed and packed.
It was the equivalent of sitting a baby in front of a washing machine and leaving them there to watch it spin around for a while.
It always sounded familiar though, like it had always been there, probably because they would have played it quite a bit on the radio when it was a hit and I was still a baby.
Now, 99% of the time,…
…I will stand by the fact that the original recordings of songs or instrumentals are always the best. I know of only a couple of exceptions, and this surprisingly is one of them.
It’s actually a cover version from an original track by a guy called Gershon Kingsley, a self taught musician, who I’d never heard of until now.
Gershon,…
…part Jewish and brought up in Berlin in the 1920’s and ‘30’s, his family were fortunate enough to be able to leave just days prior to the atrocities of Kristallnacht (the Night of the Broken Glass) which would find the Nazi’s massacre the Jewish population eventually leading to over 7000 businesses destroyed and over 600 killed in 1938.
Moving to Palestine before eventually emigrating to the U.S., Gershon became a pit conductor for some Broadway Musicals before collaborating on various other recording projects with like minded artists.
He was one of the first experimentalists for the Moog synthesiser, also later on championing further breakthroughs of electronic instrumentation with the use of the Fairlight and Synclavier synths also.
He released an album “Music to Moog By” in 1969 which featured many cover versions and classical pieces re-imagined with the Moog, as well as a couple of tracks that Gershon composed himself.
One of these was “Pop Corn”.
Three years later,…
…in 1972 with Gershon, now in a new collaboration called the First Moog Quartet, he decided to re-record the instrumental and update the name to “Popcorn”.
Another member of the quartet – Stan Free – also decided to re-record the track with his other band Hot Butter, and that’s the version everyone remembers.
Countless others have had a pop (pun intended) at recording their own versions since, but for me (although not the original) this is the best. (We won’t talk about the version which was re-released by Crazy Frog 30 years later for one simple reason – I hate Crazy Frog – not that I’ve got any problem with frogs in general, just this motorcycle-riding, willy-weilding, gribbity freak).
My personal favourite send-up of the song is probably the Swedish Chef from the Muppets.
Apparently, the Hot Butter version…
…shifted a 1/4 million physical singles in the UK alone at the time. That would easily make that a number one track now, but back then, it was only enough to get it to No.5 here in the UK.
It sold around a million in France alone, getting to Number One there.
It also sold well, and hit the top, in several other European countries, and hit the top on the other side of the world in Australia too.
Due to the fact it was released in my first year, it’s such a musical ear worm, and always felt familiar, it makes my list.
The “A” Side
The “B” Side
Oh, here you go
Many thanks go to the following YouTube Channels for providing the chance to hear these songs once again.
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Listen to “The Official Top 50 UK Singles Chart: 20th February 1972” Playlist here:
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