The 20th of February 1973

Official U.K. Singles Chart results from Sunday the 18th to Saturday the 24th of February 1973

Cut-off for sales figures was up to the end of Saturday the 17th of February

Results counted from Sunday the 18th,

announced on Tuesday the 20th,

and broadcast on B.B.C. Radio 1 on Sunday the 25th of February 1973.

Little Jimmy Osmond

Long Haired Lover From Liverpool

At No.17, on the “The Top 50 U.K. Singles Chart” on my 1st Birthday, is Little Jimmy Osmond with “Long Haired Lover From Liverpool”.

Now, I like the Osmonds…

My eldest sister, who is 9 years and several weeks older than I, had their “Crazy Horses” LP at this point, so Osmonds music filled the air quite a lot of the time which I picked up on, and at that stage in their career, when they were not just playing someone else’s songs but writing their own material too, they were getting some real credibility.

No.40 on “The Top 50 U.K. Singles Chart” on my 1st Birthday

But then enter Little Jimmy and, for me, what credibility they were getting was just as quickly being stripped away again because of this song.

To my ears, this one was just annoying, even for me whenever I heard it growing up, and at this stage I was only just turning 1.

The weird thing is, this single was in our house.

Now, I don’t think it was my eldest sister’s. I also don’t think it was my second eldest sister’s either. She is 6 and a half years older than me, not that she was into the Osmonds as far as I can remember.

My only other assumption is that it was brought into the family home as a gift for one of them from my Auntie.

You see, my Auntie also had a daughter, slightly older than my eldest sister, and these two cousins were, and still are besties to some degree.

Now this older cousin of ours was an even bigger Osmonds, and Donny fan.

Whichever reason of how the single came to be in our home, I doubt that anyone will admit to it being theirs.

But my best guess is that either my Auntie or our cousin got it for my big sister’s 10th birthday at the end of the previous year. This would tie in nicely, as the single at that point in 1972, was at its most popular.

I’m just praying that it wasn’t given to me as a Christmas present the week before.

Anyway, let’s go through its U.K. chart journey,..

…some of which I’ve touched upon when showcasing little Jimmy’s older siblings who are in this same chart with “Crazy Horses”.

So, to place this in it’s correct context, it’s important to remember that the U.K. was in the grip of Osmond-Mania, who were touring here in early November 1972.

Little Jimmy’s “Long Haired Lover From Liverpool” had a quiet start when it entered the U.K. Top 50 on the 19th of that month at No.49.

By its second week though, it had almost climbed half the chart when it got to No.27, and by the third week it had broken into the Top 10 and sat at No.9.

As Christmas got ever closer, Jimmy’s rise got even higher.

By the following week, on the 10th of December, he climbed into the Top 5 at No.5, and in the week before Christmas Day he’d beaten everyone else to achieve No.1, and in doing so, became the youngest artist to ever achieve the feat of obtaining a No.1 single at the ripe old age of 9 years, 8 months and 1 day.

Once there, he’d stay to take the Christmas No.1 accolade for 1972, and stay to not only see in the New Year of 1973, but keep at the top for the first 20 days of January too.

The following weeks after the 20th would witness him very gradually move back through the Top 10 until this week, where he takes a bigger drop of 8 places from No.9 last week.

Even so, this younger Osmond wouldn’t be going anywhere soon.

After this week’s chart, there will be another couple in the Top 20. After that, another 4 weeks inside the Top 30.

In fact, by the time he did vacate the Top 50 it would be during the first week in May.

But that wouldn’t be the end for this single.

A week later he is back inside the Top 50 again, for the start of a further 3 weeks in the chart.

This will see him through to the end of the Spring, before the final curtain eventually comes down for good when he leaves after the 2nd of June with a very impressive 27 weeks (that’s over half a year!) on the U.K. Top 50 Singles Chart.

And before I go,..

…I’d just like to mention that the “B” side of this single will be chosen as a song I will be lined up to sing to my own Mother, a few years later, when I will be around 5 years old.

No.1 on “The Top 50 U.K. Albums Chart” on my Birth Day

I have touched upon this previously due to the song featuring on the No.1 album from the day I was born by another child prodigy, and here’s a brief excerpt:

…my eldest sister tried to get a 5 year old me up on a stage to sing “Mother of Mine” to my own mum at this community village hall / day centre type place we lived nearby to.

You see, my sis (about 15 at the time), was part of a singing and dancing troupe.

We rehearsed round her friends house with all of them.

I vaguely remember one of the guys in the group had an accordion.

There was also discussion amongst them regarding Genesis, as they had a copy of “Seconds Out” there.

Oh, and one of them wanted me to listen to Jasper Carrots’ ”Magic Roundabout” (the flip side to “Funky Moped”), which my sister told them not to (If you know it, you know why).

Anyway, there may have been a couple of evenings of this rehearsing type thing as the day of the performance got closer. Obviously I’d have to keep listening to this single’s flip side to try and nail it. That was punishment enough.

And then I backed out at the last minute, probably due to what I, and everyone else thought of at the time, shyness but maybe also because I just couldn’t stand hearing myself singing this song anymore.

So precariously do things balance in life – I could have been England’s answer to wee Neil Reid and Little Jimmy.

I could have hit the big time!

I could have been a star!!

I could have mingled with all the other big British TV stars of the day, Top of The Pops with Jimmy Saville, or met Rolf Harris, Stuart Hall, Gary Glitter…sigh.

Alas, it was not to be…

The “A” Side

Little Jimmy Osmond – Long Haired Lover From Liverpool

The “B” Side

Little Jimmy Osmond – Mother Of Mine