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]

1974: The Hollies: The Air That I Breathe

The Hollies

• Disregarding re-releases The Air That I Breathe was The Hollies’ final UK Top 10 hit. 
• The song reached Number 2 in March 1974.
• It was kept from Number 1 by Paper Lace’s Billy, Don’t Be A Hero.
• It became a Top 10 hit across Europe, as well as peaking at Number 6 in the US and Number 5 in Canada.
• The song was written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood.
• It’s included on Hammond’s 1972 album, It Never Rains in Southern California.
• The writers won a lawsuit for plagiarism against English rock band Radiohead for similarities of the track Creep to The Air That I Breathe.
• Simply Red covered the song and took it into the UK Top 10 in August 1998.
• The Hollies’ version was re-released in the UK in 1988, peaking at Number 60.

1975: Ralph McTell: Streets of London

Streets of London Picture Sleeve

• Now a classic of its genre, Streets of London became Ralph McTell’s one and only hit record.
• McTell's intention was to call the song Streets of Paris because of his days busking in the city.
• The song peaked at Number 2 on the UK Singles Chart in January 1975.
• Both Lonely This Christmas by Mud and Down Down by Status Quo kept the record off the top of the charts.
• It remained at Number 2 for two weeks.
• The track was originally included on McTell’s second album, Spiral Staircase, in 1969.
• It was a Top Ten hit in The Netherlands three years before its UK success.
• The song earned McTell an Ivor Novello Award for Best Song (Musically and Lyrically).

1973: The Strawbs: Part of the Union

The German Record Sleeve

• It was February 1973 and the UK was in the middle of a political conflict between the unions and the government of the day.
• As a consequence, it seemed as if the whole country was on strike. Power cuts were common, as was what became known as the Three Day Week. It wasn’t all bad, though. There were still some great tunes about and one of them came from folk-rock exponents, The Strawbs.
• Written by group members John Ford and Richard Hudson, Part of the Union was the band’s tongue-in-cheek tribute to the working man. Highly commercial, it is a sing-a-long number which struck a chord with record buyers, who sent it up to Number 2 in the UK charts.
• This was The Strawbs’ biggest UK hit, though. While they were hugely popular on the live circuit, they could only manage two other hit songs: Lay Down and Shine On Silver Sun.
• Part of the Union was kept off the top spot by Blockbuster! by The Sweet and Cum On Feel the Noize by Slade.