Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for May 5th

Today you got an unbelievable Number One run for an iconic movie soundtrack LP (and it's not the one you think it is); a single that annoyed John Lennon; and a wish-we-coulda-been-there U.K. festival...

5/05/1962 (53 years ago today) - How about an incredulous 54 weeks at the Number One position on the U.S. album chart for the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack for "West Side Story". That's one year and two months at the top!!! OK, look, we get that it wasn't all consecutive weeks-in-a-row, it wasn't even "rock-ish" like "Saturday Night Fever" (which was, well, sort of...a little), but still...a fantastic achievement for the Golden Age of Vinyl. If you ever wondered what went on chart-wise in the post-Elvis/pre-Beatles years, here's your answer...

5/05/1969 (46 years ago today) - Still one of their best: The Beatles single "Get Back" was released here in America. John, in a 1980 interview, claimed "there was some underlying thing about Yoko in there", noting that Paul glanced towards Yoko every time he sang "Get back to where you once belonged". For his part, Paul said it was a reference to his wife Linda Eastman's ex-husband, who was broke in Arizona and trolling around for some Fab Four cash and/or drugs...

5/05/1972 (43 years ago today) - "These are the good old days": The splendidly titled Bickershaw Festival gets underway in Wigan, England; what a line-up, pure early '70's magic -- performing over the next three nights are The Grateful Dead, Dr. John, The Kinks, Donovan, Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, America, Hawkwind, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Wishbone Ash, Family, Country Joe McDonald, The Flamin' Groovies and Nick Lowe's first band, the critically acclaimed Brinsley Shwarz. Where's the box set for this one? Hey, it's out there!!!

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"Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona/For some California grass...", xoxo!