Sad Eyes (1979) 5/1/20

The charts of 1979 were filled with disco and disco-influenced songs, but there were a few notable exceptions.

One was “My Sharona,” which spent 6 weeks at #1, and another was today's “Great Song of the '70s,” which replaced “Sharona” at the top in August. (Note: We highlighted “My Sharona” back on February 8th.)

In 1958, 12-year-old Robert John Pedrick, Jr. spent 1 short week at #100 on the Hot 100 with a song called “White Bucks and Saddle Shoes.”After that, nothing happened for a very long time. Over the years, he recorded for several record companies without even a glimmer of success. He even dropped the “Pedrick Jr,” and became Robert John. No one noticed, or apparently cared.

But then, in 1971, out of nowhere, he hit #3 with a cover version of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” a hit for The Tokens in 1962. (We may highlight his version at a later date.)

And then it was back to obscurity until 1979, when he wrote, recorded and released “Sad Eyes.”

Not only did it replace “My Sharona” at #1 on Billboard's Hot 100, it went to #10 on the Adult Contemporary Charts in both the US and Canada. It also reached #3 and #9 on the Canadian and Australian Top 40 Charts, respectively.

And then, other than a few songs that barely scraped the Top 50, it was back to obscurity.

But Robert John gave us a “Great Song of '79,” and that's something to be be happy (not “Sad”) about!