Every Entry Into The Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart- 1969- Part 179. The three singles today were the highest debuting singles the week of November 15, 1969- “I Want You Back” -Jackson 5 , “Jam Up Jelly Tight”- Tommy Roe and “Cold Turkey”- Plastic Ono Band.
586. “I Want You Back”- Jackson 5. Motown, Soul. Written by The Corporation. B-side:”Who’s Lovin’ You.” Peaked at #1 19 weeks on the chart. The first entry on the charts for The Jackson 5- from Gary, Indiana- went all the way to #1. They would have as The Jackson 5 or later as The Jackson’s- 33 Hot 100 singles and 26 Top 40 hits from 1969-89. They would have three other #1 hits- “ABC”, “The Love You Save” and “I’ll Be There” in 1970. “I Want You Back” released in November 1969 – would hit the top of the charts in January 1970. Grade: A+
587. “Jam Up Jelly Tight”- Tommy Roe. ABC. Pop. Written by Freddy Weller and Tommy Roe. B-side:” Moontalk.” Peaked at #8 14 weeks on the chart. Roe’s 4th of 4 Hot 100 singles in 1969- the Atlanta pop singer’s biggest hit came earlier in the year with “Dizzy” a #1. Grade: B-
588. “Cold Turkey”- Plastic Ono Band. Apple. Rock. Written by John Lennon. B-side: “Dont Worry Kyoko [Mummy’s Only Looking For A Hand In The Snow} While credited to Plastic Ono Band- this is a John Lennon single- released before The Beatles had broken up. What does the song mean? Beatles author Peter Brown said that it was based on Lennon and Yoko Ono’s going cold turkey from their brief addiction to heroin- where as Beatles assistant in the 70’s- Fred Seaman said it was about food poisoning. A great single but I can see why it wasn’t a huge hit- peaking at #30 and 12 weeks on the chart. Eric Clapton plays guitar. Grade: A+
slicethelife 
Cold Turkey doesn’t seem to fit in with I Want You Back and Jam Up Jelly Tight, but they are all good songs.
A great mixture there!
For some reason I thought ABC was their first big hit, but I definitely remember I Want You Back. I still remember where the radio sat, on the shelf by the back door. That thing was on from morning til night. About what Peter Brown said about John & Yoko’s “brief” addiction to heroin, have you ever known anyone to have a brief addiction to heroin? I would hope it would be about food poisoning. Wouldn’t their assistant know? Amazing that Clapton was on this song — and sounding kickazz by the way — he got around didn’t he…
They did have a heroin habit late in the Beatle years- when John pretty much let Paul take control of The Beatles. I think it was about heroin.
Ah that is the pits. For someone who found the love of his life, which is supposed to make a person feel happy, here we have someone picking up a heroin habit 😦
They both had the habit- a lot of people blame Miss Ono for it.
😦
Ohhh…10 year old Michael. Hm.
I remember the name “Jam Up…” but, I don’t recall it.
Cold Turkey made my head hurt.
I remember the first time I heard “Cold Turkey”- it was so jarring….I knew all my Beatles music and was moving on to the solo careers and it was so un-Beatles -like… I didn’t like it at first.
“I Want You Back” was a great first chart entry for the Jackson 5 but truth be told, “Who’s Lovin’ You” was better. I listened to AM radio all day, every day in ’69 and I just barely remember “Jam Up…”. “Cold Turkey”, not at all.
I had never heard Jam Up before..The Jackson 5 started off pretty strong in the early years of the 70’s