If You Go Away by Terry Jacks

#52: If You Go Away by Terry Jacks

City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFGO
Peak Month: July 1974
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #68
YouTube: “If You Go Away
Lyrics: “If You Go Away

Terrence Ross Jacks was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1944. During his career as a recording artist he became a household name and recognized as a singer, songwriter, record producer and environmentalist. His family moved to Vancouver in 1961 and he formed a band named The Chessmen along with local guitarist, Guy Sobell. The Chessmen had four singles that made the Top 20 in Vancouver, two which were double-sided hits. These included three Top Ten hits: “Love Didn’t Die”, “The Way You Fell” and “What’s Causing This Sensation”. In 1966 Terry Jacks met Susan Pesklevits on a local CBC music show called Let’s Go.

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Walk Right Back by Anne Murray

#57: Walk Right Back by Anne Murray

City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFGO
Peak Month: April 1978
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #18
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #103
YouTube: “Walk Right Back
Lyrics: “Walk Right Back

In 1945 Morna Anne Murray was born in Springhill, Nova Scotia, a coal-mining town. Her father was a doctor and her mother was a registered nurse. Growing up she took piano lessons for six years and began taking vocal lessons at age fifteen in 1960. Anne loved music. It was the age of rock ‘n’ roll, and growing up she sang along with all her favourites – Buddy Holly, Bobby Darin and Connie Francis. However, Anne was also inspired by a wide variety of musical styles, including the classics, country, gospel, folk, and crooners such as Patti Page, Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. She loved them all. In 1962 she gave one of her first public performances singing “Ave Maria” at her high school graduation. She went on to be part of the CBC variety show Singalong Jubilee in 1967.

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First Hymn from Grand Terrace by Mark Lindsay

#39: First Hymn from Grand Terrace by Mark Lindsay

City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: August 1969
Peak Position in Fredericton: #9
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #81
YouTube: “First Hymn From Grand Terrace
Lyrics: “First Hymn From Grand Terrace

Mark Lindsay was born in Eugene, Oregon, in 1942. In 1958 Lindsay was working at a bakery. While picking up hamburger buns at the bakery cafe where Lindsay worked, 20-year-old Paul Revere Dick began a conversation and found they shared a fondness for music. At the time Revere owned several restaurants in Caldwell, Idaho. Lindsay . Within a year the two formed Paul Revere and the Raiders and released their first instrumental hit in 1960. In the group’s song, “The Legend of Paul Revere”, they sang about how they got their start.

In a little town in Idaho way back in sixty one,
a man was frying burgers, gee – it seemed like lots of fun.
But to his friend the bun boy, he confessed it’s misery,
I think I’d like to start a group, so come along with me.

The song was using poetic license as they group started in ’58 not ’61. But “fun” rhyming with “one” had more appeal then writing “way back in fifty-eight, a man was frying burgers, gee, it seemed to be real great.”

Just as they were starting to get a name Paul Revere Dick was drafted into the United States Army. He became a conscientious objector and worked as a cook in a facility for patients with mental health issues. While Revere was in the U.S. Army, Mark Lindsay toured with the Raiders in 1961, after they had a Top 40 hit instrumental in the USA called “Like Long Hair” early that year. It climbed to #3 in Cleveland, Ohio, and #29 in Vancouver. That summer a piano player named Leon Russell filled in for Paul Revere. When Revere returned to civilian life in 1962 the band moved to Portland, Oregon. In April 1963 both Paul Revere And The Raiders and The Kingsmen recorded a tune called “Louie Louie”. Both versions were spirited, but it was The Kingsmen’s version that would go to #2 on the pop charts in the USA, while Paul Revere & The Raiders version missed the Billboard Hot 100.

First Hymn from Grand Terrace by Mark Lindsay

By 1965 the band had released fourteen singles, but didn’t have any sizable hit. Then they released “Just Like Me” and everything changed. The infectious pop rock tune climbed to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1966. They had Top Ten hits in Canada and the USA that year with “Hungry”, “Kicks” and “Good Thing”. In November, 1966, Paul Revere & The Raiders appeared on the Batman TV show, in an episode called “Hizzoner The Penguin.” They were also regular guests on Dick Clark’s Where The Action Is. In 1967, “Him Or Me – What’s It Gonna Be?” became their fourth Top Ten hit.

While remaining with the band, in 1969 Mark Lindsay released the single “First Hymn From Grand Terrace”.

First Hymn from Grand Terrace by Mark Lindsay

In “First Hymn From Grand Terrace” a singer recalls a memory from their youth, of “the games that children play” and a hill they climbed. On rout to that hill they’d fly “across waving grass.” There was a rock “that sheltered us from passing planes.” A romantic relationship is inferred as he sings “…the earth caught fire when you turned, but nothing burned.” They watched the stars at night, and were old enough to drive a car, as “for just a while cars would pass, and we were out of gas. But we didn’t care even though we walked a mile” presumably to get a jug of gas to take back to the car on the side of the road. So it’s poetic license to refer to themselves as children. Though the age to get a drivers’ license in Arizona was (and apparently still is) at age 15. So for those reading the lyrics, one can view the context of the song as a romantic adventure a couple had with the guy being plausibly 15 years old.

Jimmy Webb, born in Elk City (OK) in 1946, wrote “First Hymn From Grand Terrace”. In 1966, at the age of 20, he composed “By The Time I Get to Phoenix” which became a crossover country-pop hit for Glen Campbell. In 1967, Webb wrote “Up, Up and Away” which became a Top Ten hit for the Fifth Dimension. In 1968, Webb won Grammy Awards for “Up, Up and Away” for both Song of the Year and Record of the Year. The Fifth Dimension recorded two more songs by Jimmy Webb that reached the Top 40: “Paper Cup” and “Carpet Man”. Glen Campbell recorded Webb’s songs “Wichita Lineman”, “Galveston”, “Honey Come Back” and “Where’s The Playground Susie”. Brooklyn Bridge, featuring Johnny Maestro, had a Top Ten hit in 1969 with “Worst That Could Happen”. His biggest hit was “MacArthur Park” which was a #2 hit for Richard Harris in 1968 and a number-one hit for Donna Summer in 1978. Webb also had songs recorded by Roberta Flack, Nina Simone, Art Garfunkel, Tony Bennett, Issac Hayes, Dionne Warwick, the Four Tops, Andy Williams, Thelma Houston, Al Hirt, the Three Degrees, Judy Collins, Joe Cocker, the Everly Brothers, P.F. Sloan, Chuck Jackson, Johnny Rivers, the Supremes, Billy Eckstine, Vicki Carr, Nancy Sinatra, the Vogues, Dusty Springfield, Clarence Carter, Frank Sinatra, Bobby Vee, Al Wilson, Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66, Barbra Streisand, Ray Charles, Connie Stevens, Hugo Montenegro, the Association, Jackie Trent, Tom Jones, the Fortunes, Cass Elliott, Harry Nilsson, Bob Dylan, Toto, Waylon Jennings, John Denver, Kenny Rogers, David Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, R.E.M., America, Shirley Bassey, Carly Simon, Cher, Amy Grant, and Linda Ronstadt. Over the decades Jimmy Webb has also recorded 14 studio albums. His most recent is SlipCover in 2019.

“First Hymn From Grand Terrace” peaked at #2 in Knoxville (TN), #5 in Lansing (MI), #7 in Springfield (MA), #8 in Denver, and Bowling Green (KY), #9 in Fredericton (NB), and Grand Rapids (MI), and #11 in Sarasota (FL), and Seattle.

In 1970, Lindsay had his only solo Top Ten hit with “Arizona”. His followup, “Silver Bird” made the Top 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1970. It was featured in the 2022 Netflix film The Grey Man. Later that fall Lindsay released “And The Grass Won’t Pay No Mind”.

Lindsay continued to perform with Paul Revere And The Raiders who had their biggest success in 1971 with their #1 hit “Indian Reservation”. However, both Lindsay as a solo artist and Paul Revere And The Raiders failed to release any substantial hits after that year. Lindsay made a number of appearances on The Carpenters variety show Make Your Own Kind of Music. He also sang the theme for the 1971 film Something Big and the theme song for the 1973 film Santee. He also wrote songs for the films The Love Machine (1971) and For Pete’s Sake (1974). Lindsay was a session musician for the 1973 Jerry Lee Lewis album Southern Roots. He released eight more singles with Columbia Records. None were commercially successful. In 1975 Mark Lindsay left the band.

Between 1974 and 1981 Lindsay released another seven singles variously with CBS Records, Capitol Records, Warner Brothers, United Artists and Ariola. His final single release was a song titled “Disco Kicks” in 1981, just as the disco fad was on the wane. In 1980 and 1982 Lindsay wrote songs for the soundtracks of two Japanese films: Shogun Assassin (1980) and The Killing Of America (1982). In 1984 he released a Best Of Mark Lindsay album. Meanwhile, Mark Lindsay also wrote TV jingles for Baskin-Robbins, Datsun, Kodak, Levi’s, Pontiac, Yamaha and others.

For a number of years Lindsay was a DJ on his oldies program Mark After Dark. He opened the Mark Lindsay’s Rock & Roll Cafe in Portland, Oregon, in 2006. The restaurant got into a legal dispute and closed after eleven months. Between 1969 and 2013 Mark Lindsay has recorded fourteen albums.

During of summers of 2010-2013, Lindsay had a heavy touring schedule throughout the U.S. as part of the Happy Together: 25th Anniversary Tour, along with Flo & Eddie of  The Turtles, The Grass Roots, The Buckinghams, and ‘Monkees‘ singer Micky Dolenz. And in 2015, 2016 and 2018 Lindsay returned to perform with the the “Happy Together” tours. In 2018 his setlist included “Where The Action Is”, “Hungry”, “Arizona”, “Good Thing”, “Indian Reservation” and “Kicks”. In 2019 Mark Lindsay appeared with The Cowsills, The Buckinghams, Gary Puckett, Three Dog Night and The Association for a concert in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire on June 23, 2019.

In 2020, Lindsay released his 14th studio album, Book of Love. In 2021, Lindsay was featured in a TV documentary titled Where The Action Was. In 2022, Lindsay began hosting a show on SiriusXM’s Underground Garage channel, called Mark Lindsay’s American Revolution. He continues to tour. His website indicates he is working on a new recording project with the draft title “The Oregon Project”.

October 11, 2025
Ray McGinnis

References:
Peter Blecha, Music in Washington, Seattle and Beyond (Images of America) (1st ed.), (Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, SC, 2007).
Daniel Kreps, “Raiders Leader Paul Revere Dead at 76,” Rolling Stone, October 5, 2014.
Hizzoner the Penguin,” Batman, ABC, 1966.
Paul Revere’s Raiders.com
Gordon Oliver, Rock & Roll Cafe Dies Before it Gets Old, Oregonian, May 12, 2007.
Nancy Adamson, “Mark Lindsay Talks About New Music, Cats and Charlie Manson,” Midland Reporter-Telegram, Midland, Texas, June 8, 2013.
Johnno Cary, “The History of Driving Age,” Itstillruns.com, August 5, 2023.
Johnny Takiff, “The Man Behind the Hits,” Philadelphia News, January 17, 1992.
Mark Lindsay – Bio,” marklindsay.com.

First Hymn from Grand Terrace by Mark Lindsay

CFNB 550-AM Fredericton (NB) Top Ten | August 9, 1969

Torero by Renato Carosone

#58: Torero by Renato Carosone

City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CKOY
Peak Month: July 1958
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #29
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #18
YouTube: “Torero
Lyrics: “Torero

Renato Carosone was born in Naples in the Kingdom of Italy in 1920. At 14, he wrote “Triki-trak”, his first composition for piano, and in 1935, he was hired by an opera dei pupi puppet theater to play music to the battles of Count Roland and Renaud. Subsequently, he worked at E.A. Mario’s publishing house teaching new songs to singers. He studied piano and composition at the Naples Conservatory under Alberto Curci, and obtained his diploma in 1937, when he was just 17. A few months later he signed a contract with comedian Aldo Russo to perform as a band leader in Italian East Africa. The troup landed in Massawa, Eritrea, to work in a restaurant-theatre frequented by Italian workers. He remained after a short stay with Aldo Russo, and met a woman and got married.
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Love Over And Over by Kate and Anna McGarrigle

#64: Love Over And Over by Kate and Anna McGarrigle

City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: July 1982
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Love Over And Over
Lyrics: “Love Over And Over

Anna McGarrigle was born in Montreal in 1944, with her sister Kate born there two years later. In the 1960s, in Montreal, while Kate was studying chemical engineering at McGill University and Anna art at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal, they began performing in public and writing their own songs. From 1963 to 1967 they teamed up with Jack Nissenson and Peter Weldon to form the folk group Mountain City Four. Their songs have been covered by a variety of artists including Linda Rondstadt, Emmylou Harris, Judy Collins, and others. These covers led to the McGarrigles getting their first recording contract in 1974. They released their debut album Kate & Anna McGarrigle in 1976. It charted into the Top 30 on the pop album chart that year in Sweden. A track from the album, “Complainte pour Ste. Catherine” charted in the UK.

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Chantal by Goddo

#63: Chantal by Goddo

City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: December 1979
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Chantal
Lyrics: “Chantal

Greg Godovitz was born in 1951 in Toronto. He began playing guitar in 1964 with a band named The Pretty Ones. He began his professional music career in the late 1960s and early 1970s as the bassist for the Canadian rock band Fludd. Founded by Ed and Brian Pilling, Fludd gained popularity with hits such as “Turned 21“, “Get Up, Get Out & Move On“, and “Cousin Mary“. Following his departure from Fludd, Godovitz was briefly involved in the Toronto rock band Sherman and Peabody. Greg Godovitz founded the hard rock trio Goddo. The original lineup included Godovitz on bass and lead vocals, Gino Scarpelli on guitar, and Marty Morin on drums, with Doug Inglis later replacing Morin. In 1975, the band released a cover of the Kinsmen’s 1963 hit “Louie Louie”. The band’s self-titled debut album was released in 1977 with the lead single “Under My Hat”.

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Doggone Right by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

#38: Doggone Right by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

City: Fredericton, NB
Radio Station: CFNB
Peak Month: August 1969
Peak Position in Fredericton: #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #32
YouTube: “Doggone Right
Lyrics: “Doggone Right

William “Smokey” Robinson Jr. was born in Detroit in 1940. An uncle gave him the nickname “Smokey Joe” when he was a child. From the age of five he became acquainted with Aretha Franklin, who lived a few doors from his home in the Belmont neighborhood. In 1955 he formed a doo-wop group named the Five Chimes and renamed them the Matadors in 1957. Later that year they changed their name again to the Miracles. The other members of the Miracles were Robert Edward “Bobby” Rogers, who was born in 1940 in Detroit in the same hospital as Robinson. Bobby Rogers joined the Five Chimes in 1956. Born in 1942, Claudette Annette Rogers was from New Orleans and joined the Miracles in 1957. Ronald Anthony “Ronnie” White co-founded the Five Chimes with Smokey Robinson. Warren Thomas “Pete” Moore was born in Detroit in 1938 and was an original member of the Five Chimes. Moore and Robinson met at a musical event in public school in Detroit. Marv Tarplin was born in Atlanta in 1941. He became the Miracles guitarist in 1959 after the group had a dismal reception at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem in 1959. With a guitarist backing the five singers, they were headed for stardom.

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My Mistake (Was To Love You) by Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross

#66: My Mistake (Was To Love You) by Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross

City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFGO
Peak Month: August 1974
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #19
YouTube: “My Mistake (Was To Love You)”
Lyrics: “My Mistake (Was To Love You)

Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. was born in 1939 in Washington D.C. His father was a Pentecostal church minister who never held down a job for more than three years in a row. Marvin’s childhood consisted of “brutal whippings”, since Gay Sr. would strike him for any shortcoming, including putting his hairbrush in the wrong place or coming home from school a minute late. Marvin later stated, “It wasn’t simply that my father beat me, though that was bad enough. By the time I was twelve, there wasn’t an inch on my body that hadn’t been bruised and beaten by him.” He also said that “living with Father was like living with a king, an all-cruel, changeable, cruel and all-powerful king”. He later recalled, “if it wasn’t for Mother, who was always there to console me and praise me for my singing, I think I would have been one of those child suicides you read about in the papers.”

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Middle Of The Road by the Pretenders

#67: Middle Of The Road by the Pretenders

City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: February-March 1984
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 Singles ~ #19
YouTube: “Middle Of The Road
Lyrics: “Middle Of The Road

The Pretenders were a band formed in 1978 in Britain. The band was fronted by Chrissie Hynde. She was born in Akron (OH) in 1951. After high school she attended Kent State University. A friend of hers was dating Kent State Massacre shooting victim Jeffrey Miller who died on May 4, 1970. The events of that day shaped Hynde and were a catalyst for her decision to move to the Britain in 1973. She eventually became a dual citizen. She worked at an architectural firm and then at Malcolm McLaren’s punk clothing store Sex. She attempted to find success as a rock musician by joining up with a number of bands. Nothing came together until she gave a demo to a record owner and she was encouraged to form a band named The Pretenders. They were named after the Platter’s 1956 number-one hit “The Great Pretender”.

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Beat The Clock by the Sparks

#71: Beat The Clock by the Sparks

City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: January 1980
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 Singles ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Beat The Clock
Lyrics: “Beat The Clock

The Sparks were formed by two brothers in 1971 in Pacific Palisades, California. Ron Mael was born in Culver City, California, in 1945. Brother Russell Mael was born in Pacific Palisades (CA) in 1948. After high school, Ron began a course in cinema and graphic arts in 1963 while Russell studied theatre arts and filmmaking during 1966–1968. Ron Mael plays the keyboards and synthesizers and writes most of the songs for Sparks. When the band hit the peak of its popularity in the 1970s, he was well known for his strange appearance, often remaining motionless over his keyboard in sharp contrast to Russell’s animated and hyperactive frontman antics. Ron’s conservative clothes and unfashionable, Charlie Chaplin-esque toothbrush moustache attracted much attention. In 1972, they released their debut single “Wonder Girl”. The single stalled beneath the Billboard Hot 100 at #112.

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