The 20th of February 1974
Official U.K. Singles Chart results from Sunday the 17th to Saturday the 23rd of February 1974
Cut-off for sales figures was up to the end of Saturday the 16th of February
Results counted from Sunday the 17th,
published on Tuesday the 19th,
and broadcast on B.B.C. Radio 1 on Sunday the 24th of February 1974.
Perry Como
For The Good Times
At No.49, on the “The Top 50 U.K. Singles Chart”, the week of my 2nd Birthday, is Perry Como with For The Good Times.
A single with two songs…
…pulled from Perry’s latest LP And I Love You So. An album which I have already featured as one of my memories on my musical road during my second year.
The song itself,..
…which has been defined as one of the saddest songs of all time; up there with Gilbert O’ Sullivan‘s Alone Again (Naturally), had been written by Kris Kristofferson six years previously, and plenty of other artists had already had some success with it.
In fact, before Kris had time to release it on his own debut album back in 1970, singer Bill Nash had already recorded it two years prior, in 1968.
A few months before Kris’ version, Ray Price managed to achieve a No.1 with it on the Country and Western Chart in the United States. The following year, that version won the “Single of the Year” award at the Academy of Country Music Awards for 1971. Kris himself rightly won the “Song of the Year” award at the same event.
Perry,..
…once described by Bing Crosby as “The Man who Invented Casual”, was by this point in his life, enjoying a resurgence in popularity since his steady comeback in the late 1960’s.
His interpretation of this song proved so popular with the UK audience, that they gave him quite a sizeable hit with it.
The single…
…had first charted way back int the previous summer of 1973; the 19th of August to be exact, at No.46.
For the next few weeks, it climbed steadily up the chart, breaking into the Top 10 by mid September, before reaching its peak position of No.7 for the first time, which it held onto for 2 weeks in a row from the 30th of that month. I say the first time because, after a week at No.9, he’d go back up for one further week at No.7 on the 21st of October.
Although the single would eventually leave the Top 10 after the 10th of November, it had no intention of disappearing just yet. In fact, it would spend the majority of its remaining time around the middle of the chart. The first signs that the single could be falling lower wouldn’t happen until we’re fully into this new year of 1974.
From here,..
…we find that this week will be its last for now; falling out of the Top 50 after the 23rd of this month.
The single has performed phenomenally well; and as we witness this consecutive run’s end, we can now enumerate that Perry, with this single alone, has managed to stay in the UK Singles Chart for over half a year!
The “A” Side
The “B” Side
Perry Como – For The Good Times (The Royal Variety Show performance; 18th November 1974, in the presence of The Queen Mother).
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