Billboard Number One Songs of 1973 Quiz

Answer: Carly Simon

"You're So Vain" has been the subject of one of rock's enduring lyrical mysteries. Although Carly maintains the secret, she did confide that the song is definitely not about her ex-husband, James Taylor. In her book "Carly Simon Complete" she alludes that the song may be about a number of men. "You're So Vain" features background vocals by Mick Jagger. Carly had first met Mick when she interviewed him after she initially decided to take up a career in journalism. Carly later sang the title song for the James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me". Music runs in the Simon family. Carly's older sister, Joanna, became a mezzo-soprano opera singer. Carole King struck gold with her "Tapestry" album the same year.

Helen Reddy had a late 1972 hit with "I Am Woman" and Donna Fargo was number five behind "You're So Vain" with "Funny Face".

Answer: Roberta Flack

Roberta Flack admits to being a perfectionist and worked on the song for three months before she had an arrangement that she was happy with. The Gimbel/Fox composition was titled "Killing Me Softly With His Blues" when Roberta heard Lori Lieberman singing it on an airplane headset.

The classically trained Flack redid the arrangement and some of the lyrics, then she kept auditioning different versions of the song for Atlantic Record Company executives. They assured her it would be a hit. She won a Grammy for Record of The Year as well as Best Pop Vocal-Female. Gimbel and Fox took home the Song of the Year Grammy. Phoebe Snow had a hit with "Poetry Man". Sylvia had a number four song in June, 1973, with "Pillow Talk" and Maureen McGovern took "The Morning After" to number one the week of August 1, 1973.

Answer: The Edgar Winter group

Edgar Winter was preparing songs for his LP "They Only Come Out At night". Edgar and his band, White Trash, had been doing an extended instrumental in their live performances simply titled "Double Drum Solo". The song was written by Rick Derringer, formerly the guitarist and singer for the McCoys. Edgar was reluctant to put the instrumental on the LP because it was drastically different from the other material on the album.

The band members insisted it be included and prevailed. It was titled "Frankenstein" because of all the tape cutting necessary to make the song short enough for airplay. Stories had a hit with "Brother Louie", taking it to number one the week of August 25, 1973. Deep Purple's "Smoke On the Water" went to number four in August as well. Grand Funk's 1973 chart topping entry was September's "We're an American Band".

Answer: My Love

Paul had only been a solo Beatle for about one year when he put the band Wings together. Paul thought of the band name while Linda was giving birth to their second daughter. The group started doing small gigs at universities and unannounced concerts for small fees, but the shows gave the band a chance to get tight and develop a sound.

The band's two singles from their first album, "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" and "Little Woman Love" failed to crack the top twenty. "Hi Hi Hi" was another release from their first album. Paul wrote "My Love" as a tribute to his wife Linda. Paul met Linda while she was in England on a photo assignment to shoot the band Traffic.

She was invited to a concert featuring Georgie Fame at the Bag O' Nails Club by Jimi Hendrix' manager Chas Chandler. Chas was formerly the bass player for the Animals. Paul and Linda met at the show and married on March 12, 1969 at the Marybone Register Office.

Answer: Give Me Love (Give me Peace on Earth)

"Give Me Love (Give me Peace on Earth)" was the first release by Harrison since he did the Concert for Bangladesh and released the live album from the show in 1971. "My Sweet Lord" from the "All Things Must Pass" LP had been a number one for George in 1971. "Give Me Love (Give me Peace on Earth)" was the only song he released as a 45 from the "Living in the Material World" album.

In his book "I Me Music" George relates that the song is a prayer and personal statement between him, the Lord and whoever likes it. "What is Life" was released by Apple Records after the success of "My Sweet Lord" in 1970. George formed his own label called Dark Horse for subsequent releases.

Answer: Billy Preston

Billy Preston is the only American artist to share billing with the Beatles. He recorded two solo albums for their Apple Records. When the Beatles partnership began to dissolve Billy left the label under good terms. He signed with A&M Records when he returned to Los Angeles and recorded his "I Wrote a Simple Song" LP.

He had top five success with an instrumental from the album titled "Outa-Space". He co-wrote "Will it go Round in Circles" with Bruce Fisher, who promptly left his job at the mail room at NBC when it became a hit. Leon Russell, Eric Clapton and Ringo Starr were all backing musicians during George Harrison's Bangladesh concert along with Bob Dylan, Ravi Shanker and members of the band Badfinger.

Answer: Bad, Bad Leroy Brown

In an interview with Bob Gilbert in "The Top Ten" Jim relates that he was still a soldier at Fort Dix when he met the man who inspired "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown". Leroy used to go AWOL and cause a lot of problems. The line from the song about being meaner than a junkyard dog was inspired from Jim's early years as a laborer in junk yards.

In college at Villanova, he performed in bands and was a disc-jockey. He began singing in coffee houses after marrying his wife, Ingrid. "Time in a Bottle" was the second number one for Jim in December of 1973. "Shambala" was number four behind "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" for Three Dog Night. "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" from Jim's first album of the same name reached number eight in September, 1972. "Operator (That's Not The Way it Feels)" peaked at number 17 in December of the same year.

Answer: The Most Beautiful Girl

After his discharge from The Air Force, Charlie married and put his dreams of becoming a musician on hold to raise his family. He was eventually introduced to Sam Phillips of Sun Records in the late fifties. Sam wanted him to be another Jerry Lee Lewis, so Charlie released a rocker called "Lonely Weekends" which reached number 22.

After Sun Records closed in the early sixties Charlie signed with a number of labels and developed a country style. He followed "The Most Beautiful Girl" with a string of hits. According to Peter Guralnick's book "Feel Like Going Home" Charlie's alcoholism and inability to cope with success heralded a decline of chart entries. Charlie knocked The Carpenters' "Top of the World" from the number one spot. "Keep on Truckin'" was number one for Eddie Kendricks in November, 1973, and "Just You 'n' Me" reached number four behind "The Most Beautiful Girl".

Answer: Photograph

"Photograph" was written by Ringo and former Beatle-mate George Harrison. George also sang backing vocals and played the 12-string guitar on the song. Earlier in 1973 Ringo and Harry Nilsson were asked to be presenters at the Nashville-based Grammy awards.

While Ringo was in Nashville he decided to record several tracks for his next LP project. "Photograph" was released six weeks prior to the "Ringo" album, entering the charts at 74 and climbing to the top in only seven weeks. The DeFrancos' "Heartbeat-It's a Lovebeat" was number five behind "Photograph". "Sentimental Journey" was the title of Ringo's first solo LP. "It Don't Come Easy" peaked at number four for Ringo in 1971.

Answer: The O'Jays

"Love Train" was the O'Jays' thirteenth chart single. The band was a trio at the time. At one time there had been five in the band. At the core of the band were Eddie Levert and Walter Williams, who had been friends since elementary school. They formed and group and called themselves The Triumphs.

The got a deal with King Records in 1961. A disc jocked named Eddie O'Jay mentored the group and they started playing clubs and getting airplay. The boys renamed the group in honor of him. The Stylistics had a top five with "Break Up to Make Up" the following month. Gladys Knight and the Pips scored a number one in October, 1973 with "Midnight Train to Georgia" after hitting number two in April with "Neither One of us (Wants to be the First to say Goodbye)". Marvin Gaye brought "Let's Get it On" to number one in September, 1973.