Initially, you think: poor Joe Tex, the pioneering
sermoniser from Texas who recorded many fine songs, was sufficiently ahead
of the curve that he could release an album in 1971 entitled From The Roots Came The Rapper, and never made it to fifty; and yet
his only British hit of any size was with a stupid novelty disco song and his
only appearance in this list is with a nasty little rape fantasy. Then you
discover that he wrote, or co-wrote, both. As you mourn the NME, remember that this was the kind of “soulful/passionate/honest”
music its writers wanted you to listen to in the mid-eighties, as opposed to the
“bland cocktail crap” species of pop music that was, and is, liked mainly by
women. To paraphrase the title of his 1966 album, Mr Tex had to do a little better, and so do we.
Date Record Made
Number Two: 6 May 1972
Number Of Weeks At
Number Two: 2
Record At Number One: “The
First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack
UK Chart Position: None
Other Information: The
song was originally the B-side of a single entitled “A Mother’s Prayer.” I wish
radio DJs hadn’t flipped it. The song was subsequently covered – apparently straight
- by Liza Minnelli. Her version doesn’t make me less uneasy.
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