![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c4/Rat_Trap_%28single%29.jpg/220px-Rat_Trap_%28single%29.jpg)
This week, Song Lyric Sunday‘s theme is right up my street. As Jim tells us in his post Swinging London we are invited to play a song that was played on the UK shows Top Of The Pops (TOTP) or Ready Steady Go! (RSG) as suggested by Willow of willowdot21. Her blog is always interesting and worth a follow: like me, she plays a lot of music, most of which is to my taste – she knows who we differ on! These two shows both started back in the days when the UK only had two tv channels – BBC and ITV – and whilst TOTP was required viewing in our house I don’t recall watching RSG. I can only guess that it might have clashed with something my parents watched on BBC at the same time, and it only ran for three years anyway. So I’m going with TOTP for my choices today. The show first aired on 1 January 1964 and ran for 2,272 episodes until it stopped being a weekly event, on 30 July 2006. I had long since given up watching it by then, though my daughters still enjoyed it. At an average of around 8 or 9 songs a week that gave me a lot of choice, but I’ve managed to select three to play today. I saw all of these broadcasts, from the days when Thursday viewing wouldn’t have been the same without it.
What would you do for TOTP if your band had just got to #1 for the first time, taking over from an act that had been at the top for seven weeks, having been there earlier in the year for nine weeks with another song, both from the Grease movie? Taking the piss out of them seems a good option:
Although it is shown on the video as being from the later version – TOTP2, which shared clips from yesteryear – that is the performance that the Boomtown Rats gave of Rat Trap when it reached #1. Its lyrics tell a story, as their best songs did, and they get brownie points for mentioning TOTP. They are long, but I’m quoting them all so you get the idea:
Love Deep Purple and Eddy Grant. Not too keen on Boomtown Rats though.
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Two out of three ain’t bad, as Mr Loaf once said 😉
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For some reason my mother didn’t take a shine to Deep Purple either. Ah well. can’t please everyone. At least I turned the volume down to nine and half.The Equals song is classic.
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Mums don’t always know best! Glad you agree on the Equals too 👍
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All good songs, all new to me. I’d heard of Boomtown Rats before, but not this song. Equals was really good and I liked how the drummer was seen. And of course Deep Purple was good, and we’ve had albums of theirs, but I didn’t remember this song. Thanks for the fun! 🙂
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Glad you liked them, and I always like introducing people to new songs. The Rats had very little success over there so I’m not surprised you didn’t know this one. The Equals were really fun, their enthusiasm was infectious. Black Night was only a single so you wouldn’t have had it on an album unless you got the re-release twenty years later!
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I remember Ready Steady Go – ‘the weekend starts here’. Must have watched it at my friend’s house – they lived round the corner and we had a gate in the fence to go back and forth. Our television didn’t work properly and we could only get BBC. The friends had six children, three of the girls older than me and seemed very sophisticated and up with all the pop music. Then we went to Australia in October 1964 as I am sure I’ve mentioned before, so I was far removed from the British pop scene.
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As I said, I never watched RSG, it was only TOTP for me. You missed out on the show’s classic days!
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Yes I certainly did, the Australian pop shows wee another story…
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great choices, Clive!!! My favorite is the Deep Purple piece.
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Thank you, Marina, I’m glad you enjoyed them. That Deep Purple one is a piece of real Classic Rock 😊
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Being form Canada, I didn’t see a TOTP show but hubby of course did. Then a couple of weeks ago there was a special on BBC 4 which had a couple of shows, one from the 70s and one from the 80s. It was amazing how things had changed in ten years, the hair, fashions, and the music. These are great tunes.
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BBC4 is a good source of old TOTP shows, though they don’t often go far back. In its early days the BBC used to wipe and reuse tapes so a lot of them have been lost. Glad you enjoyed these 😊
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Three great and very different songs. I usually only pick one song for SLS, so i’m going to have to find something obscure.
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Thanks, Glyn. I usually go with two or three so today is no different for me. Good luck with your selection – you need to find a list of one hit wonders!
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I knew the Boomtown Rats from the Monday song and I knew a lot of music from Deep Purple, but Black Night was new to me. I loved all your selections today, Clive.
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Thanks, Jim, I’m pleased you enjoyed them and that I introduced you to a new one. A good theme!
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Thanks for all the added inside info which is always fun to read. Your song selections were spot on and I knew all of them; it’s been a while since I heard them so that was a bonus this morning. I imaging these two shows were like our American Bandstand, Shindig and Hullabaloo … staples in my house while a kid, especially Bandstand.
Great post as usual, Clive!
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Glad you enjoyed the post and the tunes, Nancy, and that you knew all three. From what I’ve seen of American Bandstand on YouTube I think TOTP was very similar though I never watched RSG. Like yours, it was required viewing if you wanted to be in with the in crowd in the playground next day!
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Really enjoy these…lots of music I either didn’t know or had forgotten about, and always fun insight…
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Thank you, John, glad you enjoyed it 😊
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