1970: Peter Paul & Mary: Leavin' On A Jet Plane

1970: Peter, Paul and Mary: Leavin' On A Jet Plane

• Leavin' On A Jet Plane was the folk trio's fourth and final UK hit and their only record to enter the British Top 10.
• In America, the single topped the Billboard chart for one week in December 1969.
• It peaked at Number 2 in the UK for a single week in February 1970 when Edison Lighthouse's Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) occupied the Number 1 spot.
• It remained on the British chart for a run of 16 weeks.
• Written by John Denver, it featured on his 1966 album John Denver Sings under the title Babe, I Hate to Go.
• The song was first recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary for their 1967 long player Album 1700, but it wasn't released as a single until 1969.
• Denver re-recorded versions of the song for his 1969 LP Rhymes and Reasons and the 1973 compilation John Denver's Greatest Hits.

1970: Elvis Presley: Suspicious Minds

Elvis Presley

• Elvis's version of Suspicious Minds peaked at Number 2 in the UK in January 1970, making it the first single of the Seventies to do so.
• It was held off the Number 1 position for one week by Two Little Boys from Rolf Harris.
• It peaked at Number 1 in the US in November 1969, Presley's first American chart-topper in seven years.
• Suspicious Minds was Elvis's final US Number 1, although he would return to the top of the UK charts in 1970 with The Wonder of You. He had several posthumous Number 1 hits in the UK, including Way Down which climbed to the top just after his death in 1977.
• The recording features the famous false ending - the producer adding an early fade before a booming Presley returns with his ongoing repetition of the chorus.
• The song prompted a dispute about money between Elvis and his manager Colonel Parker when the copyright owner turned down demands to surrender a percentage of the publishing royalties. Presley won out in the end.
• The single has appeared on the UK chart on three separate occasions: its original 1969 release, a 2001 re-release (#15 peak) and a 2007 release to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Presley's death (#11 peak).
• Download Suspicious Minds here.

1970: Mary Hopkin: Knock, Knock Who's There?

Mary Hopkin

• This song was Mary Hopkin’s final UK Top 10 hit in March/April 1970.
• It was prevented from reaching Number 1 by Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water.
• The track was Hopkin’s second UK Number 2 hit following 1969’s Goodbye.
• Knock, Knock Who’s There? was the UK’s entry at the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest.
• The song finished second with 26 points behind Ireland’s All Kinds of Everything.
• The single’s B-Side was I’m Going to Fall in Love Again, the runner-up from the UK’s 1970 Song For Europe competition to decide its Eurovision entry.
• Mary Hopkin reportedly dislikes both songs intensely.
• In Australia, a cover version by Liv Maessen peaked at Number 2 on that country’s national chart.

[Above image by Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Rijksfotoarchief: Fotocollectie Algemeen Nederlands Fotopersbureau (ANEFO), 1945-1989 - negatiefstroken zwart/wit, nummer toegang 2.24.01.05, bestanddeelnummer 923-3712 (Nationaal Archief) [CC BY-SA 3.0 nl], via Wikimedia Commons]