American Top 40 - September 16, 1978

"Casey! How you gonna butcher 'Reminiscing' like that but play the entire Robin Gibb monstrosity?!?" - Your humble, but upset, blogger on a recent Sunday morning

This past weekend, I was making a five-hour car trip across the Great State of Texas and this 1978 episode happened to be playing on the Sirius/XM '70s on 7 channel so of course I tuned in. Overall, the bottom 20 can't compare with the top 20, but the show had enough going for it to keep listening. What really caught my attention, however, were the truncated versions of the singles to which we were subjected. The show was only three hours at the time and a new feature, the Long Distance Dedication, appeared once. The Sirius/XM broadcast had no ads and spared us from their usual "AT40 Extra" nonsense and I'll be doggoned if all 41 tunes didn't clock in at a speedy 2 hours, 10 minutes. I'll chalk that up to efficiency and the power of advertising dollars, but at the expense of the music. A few tunes get played at full length but some crimes against music are more heinous (there are also several aggravated crimes against editing technique but I'll let someone more qualified than I discuss that matter). Below, we'll compare the actual length of the single (taken from the labels as found at 45cat) and how much of said single was played on the aforementioned AT40 episode. Even the #1 song can't escape the splicing tape! And even though you didn't ask, I'll let you know the stars (✔) and stinkers (✘) of this countdown IMO. Those not marked I find pleasant enough and wouldn't feel compelled to switch stations should they be heard on my car radio.The graph is followed by a big announcement about the blog. But first, a word about this episode from Tom Rounds:

	Song	Artist	Single	AT40
40	Paradise by the Dashboard Light ✘	Meat Loaf	7:55	5:05
39	My Angel Baby ✔	Toby Beau	3:27	2:14
38	Two Tickets to Paradise ✔	Eddie Money	3:07	2:16
37	Love Will Find a Way ✔	Pablo Cruise	3:40	2:34
36	5.7.0.5.	City Boy	3:11	3:11
35	Who Are You ✔	The Who	3:22	3:22
34	Talking in Your Sleep	Crystal Gayle	2:53	2:53
33	I Love the Nightlife (Disco 'Round)	Alicia Bridges	3:10	2:58
32	You Never Done It Like That	Captain & Tennille	3:19	2:59
31	She's Always a Woman	Billy Joel	3:19	3:13
30	Rock & Roll Fantasy ✘	The Kinks	3:44	3:44
29	Come Together ✘	Aerosmith	3:45	3:00
28	Get Off ✔	Foxy	3:30	3:02
27	Just What I Needed ✔	The Cars	3:44	2:37
26	Back in the U.S.A.	Linda Ronstadt	3:02	2:52
25	Close the Door ✔	Teddy Pendergrass	3:37	2:46
24	Right Down the Line ✔	Gerry Rafferty	3:33	3:33
23	Love Theme from "The Eyes of Laura Mars" (Prisoner) ✘	Barbra Streisand	3:54	3:18
22	Magnet and Steel ✔	Walter Egan	3:25	2:16
21	Oh! Darling ✘	Robin Gibb	3:29	3:29

	Song	Artist	Single	AT40
20	Miss You ✔	The Rolling Stones	3:31	2:43
19	Whenever I Call You "Friend" ✔	Kenny Loggins	3:59	3:43
18	Grease	Frankie Valli	3:21	2:30
LDD	Sometimes When We Touch	Dan Hill	3:31	4:05*
17	Hollywood Nights	Bob Seger	5:00	3:01
16	You Needed Me	Anne Murray	3:38	3:38
15	Reminiscing ✔	The Little River Band	3:26	2:11
14	You and I ✔	Rick James	3:08	3:00
13	Love is in the Air ✔	John Paul Young	3:28	3:00
12	Fool (If You Think It's Over) ✔	Chris Rea	3:35	3:17
11	Hot Child in the City	Nick Gilder	3:06	3:06
10	Shame ✔	Evelyn "Champagne' King	2:55	2:48
9	Got to Get You Into My Life ✔	Earth, Wind & Fire	4:08	2:38
8	Don't Look Back ✔	Boston	5:53	2:33
7	Summer Nights	John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John	3:36	2:52
6	An Everlasting Love	Andy Gibb	4:06	2:36
5	Kiss You All Over	Exile	3:30	3:20
4	Hopelessly Devoted to You ✔	Olivia Newton-John	3:01	3:01
3	Hot Blooded ✔	Foreigner	3:03	2:56
2	Three Times a Lady	Commodores	3:35	3:35
1	Boogie Oogie Oogie ✔	A Taste of Honey	3:45	2:05

*Casey played the album version of the song for the Long Distance Dedication.

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Since its beginning four years ago, this blog has originated in the small East Texas town of Nacogdoches (pronounced NAC-uh-DOH-chiss) where I've been a university professor since 2006. However, I have recently accepted a job as a public school administrator in San Antonio and will be moving to that area in the coming weeks. This fact also explains the five-hour car trip I took this weekend. As a result, there may be some understandable lapses in blog postings during this transition, but I hope to be up to full speed as soon as possible as this blog and the interactions with its readers keep me (relatively) sane. Prayers and positive thoughts graciously accepted and appreciated!