Sounds on Sunday: 50 years on/16

POP MUSIC was once so new and daring: it’s shocking to think that it’s over 50 years old. Some standards have been around for over half a century… What, then, were we listening to 50 years ago? It was an odd year, 1970. The influence of the older generation saw a good deal of old school easy listening in the charts – while the movements that were to develop during the 1970s were not yet established. Come with us – whether it’s down memory lane or to unknown territory – and remember or find out what it was all about.

We spent the first half of 2020 looking back on the UK number 1s of 1970 – half a century ago. Now let’s have a butcher’s at the singles that made it into second place in the charts.

The year began with Elvis Presley at the number 2 spot – with Suspicious Minds. Later in 1970 he was to hit the top spot with The Wonder of You, but Minds had to be content with the second spot.

It was perhaps a daring set of lyrics for 1970: an appeal to a partner to trust the singer rather than be suspicious of any contact the singer may have with other people. Was the suspicion well founded? We’ll never know.

Minds was written by Mark James, a prolific US songwriter (who also featured on the writing credits for Elvis’s later hit Always on My Mind). James did release his own version, but then gave the song to Elvis – who reached number 1 in the US charts with it, the last time he reached the top spot before he died.

If you’re an Elvis fan, indulge yourself with a quick listen. If (like us) you are a little more hesitant, have a quick check in – it is a good song, after all – and then pop over to our entertainment page and enjoy our last feature, Neanderthal Man, just one more time.

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