Good evening, Kibitzers!
Happy Pay Equity Day! Women on average earn 82% of what men earn annually, so this date represents the extra amount of time this “average” woman must work to make as much as the “average” man had made at Dec. 31. As you might imagine, the dates for women of color specifically are later in the year.
A woman who went to college and works outside the home would earn roughly $1.2 million more income over her lifetime if she were paid equally. Men married to such women might do well to pay attention to this too. (Obviously, men reading here do not need this advice. Right?) These stats and more info at the link.
But we’re here today as a followup to last week’s diary, in which we looked at the Billboard-charting pop music of the 1967-68 school year, when I was in 8th grade. Once I started looking through those songs, I didn’t want to leave the 1968-69 year behind. I am not, however, just going to keep doing this until I run out of public school years, at least not now.
Here are links to the Billboard Top 100 charts for 1968 and for 1969. As discussed last week, due to my inability to make choices efficiently, I didn’t use those — here are links to the charts of #1 song for each week in 1968 and in 1969. They made it much easier to get down to a reasonable group of videos. So: Billboard Hot 100 #1 songs for selected weeks in 1968-69, below the fold.
Sept 28 - Nov 23, 1968: Hey Jude, The Beatles. (This was the overall #1 song of the year in 1968. For 1969, I’m sorry to report that it was Sugar Sugar by The Archies.) [7:06]
Nov 30 - Dec 7: Love Child, Diana Ross & the Supremes. [2:57]
Dec 14, 1967 - Jan 25, 1968: I Heard It Through the Grapevine, Marvin Gaye. [3:14]
Feb 1 - 8: Crimson and Clover, Tommy James and the Shondells. [5:33]
Feb 15 - Mar 8: Everyday People, Sly & the Family Stone. [2:20]
Apr 12 - May 17: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In, The 5th Dimension. [4:51]
May 24 - Jun 21: Get Back, The Beatles with Billy Preston. [3:09]
Jun 28 - Jul 5: Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet, Henry Mancini, from the soundtrack of the 1968 Franco Zeffirelli film [film trailer]. [2:33]
Jul 12 - Aug 16: In the Year 2525, Zager and Evans. [3:16]
Aug - Sep 20 23: Honky Tonk Women, The Rolling Stones. [3:03]
I hope everyone’s faring well with the wide assortment of aggressive weather across the US today. As always, please feel free to share songs from your 9th grade year, my 9th grade year, or anyone else’s 9th grade year. Or whatever. You know us — we love eclectic content!
Also, happy Pi Day to those who celebrate!