Hi Everybody! Welcome back to the Countdown! If you missed the earlier songs, you can go back and check out songs 40-31 and 30-21. Today, we have another mix of songs that I am very familiar with, and songs I had never heard before today. Since we are getting to the bigger hits, I’m hoping some of these unfamiliar songs are good. So, let’s Return back to the weekend that Star Wars opened (May 25, 1977), and check out more Top 40 songs from the week ending May 28, 1977.

20. “Jet Airliner” by The Steve Miller Band

I know that this may be blasphemous, but I don’t really care much for The Steve Miller Band. The reason is probably that our local rock radio station always played them at least once an hour. This song isn’t as irritating to me as some of the others. I do love the guitar in this song.

19. “Right Time of the Night” by Jennifer Warnes

File this song in the department of “Oh, I forgot about this one!” I know Jennifer Warnes from her movie soundtrack duets with Joe Cocker (“Up Where We Belong“) and Bill Medley (“(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life“). I remember hearing this song, but never knew that it was by her. I like this one a lot. It’s one of those nice singer/songwriter ballads.

18. “Lido Shuffle” by Boz Scaggs

Oh yeah! Lido! Whoah-oh-oh-oooh! This is my pick of the day, unless there is a new song that is better. Whenever I’m on a cruise ship, and I hear that there is an activity on the Lido deck, I sing this song. And I just learned this fact, that may explain why I like this song so much: two of the members of the band on this song includes David Paich (keyboards) and Jeff Porcaro (drums), who would later go on to form the band Toto.

17. “Heard It in a Love Song” by The Marshall Tucker Band

I thought I knew about The Marshall Tucker Band, but I guess I don’t This song was the country rock band’s biggest hit, reaching up to #14. After a quick scan of their discography, none of their song titles sound familiar to me. I like this one. It’s a very good mid-tempo country-crossover song.

16. “Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)” by Joe Tex

This is definitely one of the most interesting song titles I have ever seen. In this politically correct world we live in right now, there is no way this song would get released. But, the ’70s were a different time. Not only was this song released, but it was a hit. And not only was it a hit, but it was nominated for a Grammy Award (for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance)!

15. “Hello Stranger” by Yvonne Elliman

I recognized this song as soon as it started (She-bop, she-bop, my baby). This was a cover of Barbara Lewis’ 1963 hit, that reached #3 on the mainstream chart, and #1 on the R&B chart. The song was covered many times, but this version by Yvonne Elliman was the most successful since the original, peaking right here at #15. It only charted at #57 on the R&B chart. But, it was #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart for four weeks.

14. “Undercover Angel” by Alan O’Day

This one was a pleasant surprise for me. This is an uptempo easy listening song. This was a #1 for Alan O’Day, even without an album to support it. This was his only hit song in the U.S. However, that was not the end of Alan O’Day. He would go on to write over 100 songs for the Muppet Babies cartoon.

13. “Angel in Your Arms” by Hot

We have another winner here! Although this was by an R&B girl group, this song has a country music vibe to it. Apparently, the country music industry also felt the same way, as there have been several country artists who covered this song. The most notable version was by Barbara Mandrell. In July 1985, it was her first recorded song following her horrible September 11, 1984 car accident. As much as I love the Hot version, I think I may even like the Barbara Mandrell version even better.

12. “Southern Nights” by Glen Campbell

Oh, duh! I had totally forgotten about this song! Man, this is classic! This was a #1 smash hit on this chart, the country chart, and the adult contemporary chart, It would be Campbell’s fifth and final #1 country hit.

11. “Hotel California” by The Eagles

This trademark Eagles tune goes into my Overplayed Songs in History Hall of Fame, along with “Margaritaville” and “Stairway to Heaven”.
I’m also a little bitter about this song because it was my high school ex-girlfriends song with her douchy rebound boyfriend. If you want to hear a far superior, long storyteller Eagles tune, check out “The Last Resort” which was also from their Hotel California album.

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That wraps up today’s list of songs. This was my favorite day so far! So much so, that I can’t even pick a song of the day. I basically love every song between between “Jet Airliner” and “Hotel California”. Are you digging this songs? We will wrap this up on Friday. I’m not sure if I’m going to like it as much as today’s list, but there are some pretty good songs that I know in the Top 10. And I love the #1 song. So come back Friday and see what it is.

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