1971 'My sweet Lord'

1971 was the year The Beatles started charting separately. George Harrison suprised everyone being the first Beatle to reach the top of the heap with 'My sweet Lord'. even though John Lennon had been the very first to chart separately with 'Instant Karma' (We all shine on) in 1970.  Paul MacCartney hit with 'Another day' and John Lennon had a smaller hit with 'Mother'. Even Ring Starr charted later in the year with 'It don't come easy'. 

Creedence Clearwater Revival showed their power with 'Have you ever seen the rain?' and there was Bread, a new middle-of-the-road band with 'If'. 

1971 was a particular important year for myself as an individual. I flew to New York to live in the USA which was a personal revolution when it comes to following the Hit Parade. I had followed Brazilian Hit Parade ever since the late 1950s and now I would start following the American Top Forties which was a completely different stuff. 

So I will separate 1971 in two parts. The first part goes up to 31st September 1971 and the 2nd goes from 1st October to 31st December 1971. 

1 9 7 1   Part One   (January to September)   

1. My sweet Lord - George Harrison (Apple-Odeon)

2. Have you ever seen the rain? - Creedence Clearwater Revival (Liberty-RCA)
3. If  - Bread (Elektra-Philips)

4. Another day  - Paul McCartney (Apple-Odeon)
5. That’s what I want - The Square Set (Epic)

6. Oh me oh my - B.J.Thomas (Scepter-Top-Tape)

7. Knock three times - Tony Orlando & Dawn (Odeon))

8. Rose garden - Lynn Anderson (CBS)

9. Brown sugar - Rolling Stones (R.S.-Philips)

10. Mozart Symphonie no. 40 - Waldo de Los Rios (Hispa-Vox)

11. She’s a lady - Tom Jones (London)
12. What is life? - George Harrison (Apple-Odeon)

13. Never marry a railroad man - The Shocking Blue (Polydor)
14. Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin (CBS)
15. No matter what - Badfinger (Apple-Odeon)

16. Power to the people - John Lennon (Apple-Odeon) 

17. Sweet hitch-hiker - Creedence Clearwater Revival (Liberty-RCA)
18. Mother - John Lennon (Apple-Odeon)
19. Be my baby - Andy Kim (Dot-RGE)
20. Don’t pull your love - Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds (Dunhill-RCA)

21. Toast and marmalade for tea - Tin Tin (Polydor)
22. Silver moon - Michael Nesmith & the First National Band (RCA)
23. I am ... I said - Neil Diamond (MCA-Chantecler)
24. Hey tonight - Creedence Clearwater Revival (Liberty-RCA)
25. Here comes the sun - Richie Havens (Polydor)

26. Theme from “Love Story” - Henry Mancini (RCA)
27. Me and you and a dog named Boo - Lobo (Philips)


Best-selling single at Radio Panamericana 2 February 1971


1. Eu te amo meu Brasil - Os Incriveis (RCA)
2. My sweet Lord - George Harrison (Apple-Odeon)
3. Candida - Dawn (Odeon)
4. Never marry a railroad man - Shocking Blue (Polydor)
5. A tonga da mironga - Vinícius & Toquinho (RGE)

6. Paixão de um homem - Waldik Soriano (Chantecler)
7. Be my baby - Andy Kim (Young-Fermata)
8. Cracklin' Rosie - Neil Diamond (MCA-Chantecler)
9. Menina - Paulinho Nogueira (RGE)
10. I'll be there - Jackson Five (Top Tape)

D.J. Big Boy watches Stevie Wonder play a Brazilian percusion instrument during his 1971 Brazilian tour. Wonder was invited by TV Record to appear as a special guest in the 1970 Roquete Pinto Award gala in 1971, singing 'For once in my life'. Big Boy whose real name was Newton Alvarenga Duarte (*1st June 1943 +7 March 1977) worked mainly in Rio de Janeiro made a name for himself introducing Anglo-American tunes at Radio Mundial emulating US DJs...

1 9 7 1    Part Two  (October to December)

Suddenly, at the beginning of the 4th quarter there was an invasion of Hybrid-English bands (acts whose original languages are not English) from Spain (Trio Galleta with 'I am so happy'), the Nedherlands (Tony Ronald with 'Help - Get me some help'), Egypt through Germany (Ricky Shayne with 'Mamy blue') and Brazil (Terry Winter formerly known as Tommy Standen with 'You'll notice me' and 'Summer holiday'). 

1. I am so happy - Trio Galleta (Odeon)

2. Help (Get me some help) - Tony Ronald (Epic)
3. Mamy blue - Ricky Shayne (Hansa-Young)
4. You'll notice me - Terry Winter (New Records)
5. Summer holiday - Terry Winter (New Records)

6. How can you mend a broken heart? - Bee Gees (Polydor) 
7. It don't come easy - Ringo Starr (Apple-Odeon)
8. Long ago tomorrow - B.J. Thomas (Scepter-Top-Tape)
9. Don’t let it die - Hurricane Smith (Odeon)
10. Lonely days - Bee Gees (Polydor)

11. Bangla-Desh - George Harrison (Apple-Odeon)
12. Anonimo Veneziano - Stelvio Cipriani (RCA)
13. Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey - Paul McCartney (Apple-Odeon)
14. Is that the way? - Tin Tin (Polydor)

15. Goodbye media man - Tom Fogerty (Liberty-RCA)

16. Well, all right - Sunday (Young)

17. San Bernardino - Christie (Epic)
18. Mr Big Stuff - Jean Knight (Stax-Philips) 

'Jornal da Tarde' 28 September 1971. 

'Jornal da Tarde' 28 September 1971.

Cassette-tape-recorders come into the Brazilian market circa September 1971

It is no coincidence the model on the Philips ad looks like Catherine Deneuve who was probably the most popular foreign movie actress in the country around that time due to films like 'Belle de jour' & 'Repulsion'.

Circa September 1971 there was a revolution in the means of playing and recording music: the advent of the cassette-tape recording deck lauched by Philips originally but soon imitated by all the other makers. It would completely change the way I listened and collected music. 

1 9 7 2 

It actually took me a whole year to get used to the new technology. I had owned a reel-to-reel tape-recording deck I bought in 1968 when I realized that Procol Harum's 'Homburg' that used to play often on Radio Excelsior would not be released in Brazil because EMI's Odeon had discontinued its link with Deram. I wanted really bad to have that song and taping it from the radio was the only way I could get it.

But I never liked to manage my reel-to-reel because it was awkward to deal with the reels. The tape would would unwind easily and it was messy. Now, with tapes much smaller in width and 'self-contained' into a plastic little box ('cassette' in Italian) made all the difference.

My Brazilian friend Nino was the first person I knew who carried a cassette-tape deck around. He moved to San Francisco in February 1972 and had brought along from Brazil a little collection of cassette-tapes with dozens of songs he had recorded through Brazilian radio. As time went by and Nino got homesick he would play those tapes non-stop and sang along with it.

I noticed right there and then that Nino's method of listening to and collecting music was much better than to buy a unwieldy record-player and then keep on buying 12" albums aka LPs; they were big, heavy and expensive. In a 60-minute cassette tape you could store up to 2 hours of music or talk. That was something completely new.

I finally bought my own 'radio-cassette' circa October 1972: it was a Panasonic Stereo FM & AM radio with a cassette-tape player. That changed my life forever. Now I could listen to music in stereo and talk straight from the FM stations... Soon I devised a method of recording the introductions of songs by the various DJs on New York City radio... something that I later realized was done by thousands of people too.

In my case I was tremendously helped in the learning of a foreign language: English!

this was the first compact-cassette I ever bought (in October 1972).