The Music of My Life – 2007

Welcome back to The Music of My Life, where I feature ten songs from each year of my life. In most cases, the ten songs I choose will be ones I like personally (unless I explain otherwise). The songs will be selected from Billboard’s Year-end Hot 100 Chart, Acclaimed Music, and will all be released in the featured year.

Late 2006 and most of 2007 was a blur to me. The loss of my mother hit me hard. I distanced myself from so many people, including my wife at the time. That wasn’t good because the weekend we buried my mom, we found out we were expecting our second son. I was there, but I was not there.

Life goes on, however, and I was still working and DJing. In between all of that, I was seeing a grief counselor, which helped a little. But not much. All that being said, music found a way to get me through the tough times. Let’s look at my 2007 picks.

One of the things that has always remained constant is that people love to dance. Line dances like the Hustle, the Madison, and the Stroll have been getting people on the dance floor for years.

The Cupid Shuffle has been compared many times to the Cha Cha Slide from 2000. They are two very different songs, but they both have easy to follow line dances. Those songs became a staple of DJ gigs, dance clubs, and a night at the bar. It remains one of those songs that people of all ages can dance to. Folks still get excited when there here it play.

Nothing makes a DJ happier than a full dance floor. This one always filled them.

Cupid Shuffle

Honestly, I had forgotten that Michael Buble’ dated Emily Blunt. It seems like she and John Krasinski have been together forever. Michael was her boyfriend before she met and married John. Buble’ wrote the song Everything for Emily when they were still together. He explained:

“I wrote that song about the great happiness of real love, but at the same time I was making a statement about the world. We’re living in really crazy times, and I wanted to say that no matter what’s happening, this person in my life is what really makes it worthwhile.”

In 2009, after Buble’ and Blunt broke up, an Australian newspaper asked him about the song. He explained:

“I can sing ‘Everything’ because I’m OK now. But straight after, well, I didn’t want to listen to music. Forget about my music. I couldn’t do anything. The only good thing I did do was I went and got a therapist. I felt bad for everybody involved. It’s definitely worse cause it’s all done publicly. You go to the grocery store and it’s in every magazine. It’s the same thing that’s happened in my other break-ups. It’s always tough. You grow attached to someone and they become your best friend. You lose a friend – that’s one of the most difficult parts. I’m a sentimental person.”

This one didn’t mean much to me until after Sam and I got together. She is my everything without a doubt.

Everything

There was something about Colbie Caillat for me. I still don’t know whether it is her voice or the words of her songs. I really connected to her music. I remember hearing Bubbly for the first time and trying to figure out just what (or who) it is about. I found out, it isn’t about anyone or anything specific. According to songfacts, Colbie says,

“It’s about the feelings you get when you have a crush on someone and they make you make smile all the time; they give you butterflies and you just adore everything they do.” She added that the inspiration for the song came in the summer of 2006 when she was realizing that, “I didn’t have a crush on anyone, and its always fun to have a crush. So I was just thinking about missing those feelings and wanting them.”

She comes from a musical family. Her father, Ken Caillat produced Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Tusk albums!

Colbie Caillat explained the album title to MTV. “Coco is my nickname,” she said. “My parents called me it since I was a baby. And then my friends called me that, now my producer calls me it. So I just, I don’t know, I figured that would be a cool name for the album.”

She is a beautiful lady with a beautiful voice.

Bubbly

Sara Bareilles signed with Epic Records in 2005 and recorded the album Little Voice. Prior to this, she released a lot of demos. Things changed in a heartbeat thanks to iTunes.

“Love Song” was featured as the free single of the week on iTunes between June 19th and 26th June 2007. People then began to check out her album. Little Voice became the most downloaded album on the iTunes store between July 8th and 17th. Because of this, her music gained a lot of fans. She went from having a relatively small following to national exposure within a very short space of time. In an interview with Songwriter Universe, she commented on the popularity of the song:

“Honestly, I don’t know what it is about ‘Love Song’ that’s catching on with everyone. I think it’s just a cool and sassy uptempo tune and people are ready for a female artist in that range.”

What many people don’t know is that an artist doesn’t always have a lot of control of their music. Many times, they are asked to record something that the label feels is what the public wants. That was sort of the case with Love Song. Sara says,

“‘Love Song’ came out of my own frustration about trying to please somebody else with my music. I really put an unseen pressure on myself and got way too caught up in what other people wanted. That is not why I write songs. No one was really excited about the material I turned in. ‘Love Song’ came on a day where I was like, ‘God, just let me write something – anything – just for me.’ The label had no idea I was writing about them.”

I guess I like this because it does have a “feel” to it. It is as cool and sassy as she says.

Love Song

One of the absolute coolest artists I have ever met is James Otto. When I worked at the Moose he dropped by to play us some tunes and blew us away. One of the songs was “Just Got Started Lovin’ You.” My program director, Jim Johnson, and I looked at each other when he was done playing it and asked if we could start playing it on the air that day!

It was the ultimate smooth love song. When you get married, it’s easy to say I will love you forever. However, when you say, “Hold on to your seat, because I just got started loving you!” In other words, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”

James wrote this with Jim Femino and D. Vincent Williams. In an AOL interview, he said,

“We sat down to write and I said, ‘I have got this hook – just got started loving you.’ D. Vincent had this melody line, which turned out to be completely hooky. The feel of that melody and that hook just sounds sexy, but I had no idea it was going to do what it did.”

In regard to the song itself, he says,

“This song is kind of a real groovy, R&B-feeling song. Like if Ray Charles was doing a modern Country record. It would have that R&B-feel to it, that kind of groove to it. It seems to be appealing to more women than men, which is not a bad thing. Actually the key demographic in Country music is women and all men want to reach women. That’s why we play music and buy nice cars and buy nice things, because we want to meet women in the first place. So, I guess it’s just a groovy song, it’s got a unique feel and kind of a sexy thing and hopefully it reaches them on all those levels.”

The song reached #1 in May of 2008. We were thrilled for him and were glad to see him on more than one occasion when he came through town. He and I are friends on Facebook and chat every so often. Over the past year or so he’s been working on rebuilding a late 60’s early 70’s Chevelle. It’s been fun to watch.

Side note: The first time he shook my hand, I thought he’d crush it! His hands were HUGE!

Just Got Started Loving You

The next song is about murder. I don’t promote it and I don’t think it is right. However, anyone who watches the First 48 or any of those cop shows knows that cheating is often a motive for murder.

My introduction to Wake Up Call by Maroon 5 was via video. The video was edited in the style of a NC-17 movie trailer. Naturally, lead singer Adam Levine as the main character. At the end of the video, Levine is arrested and dies in the electric chair. It was one of those videos that I thought was very well done. I like when a video lines up with the content in the song.

Despite the content of the song, I love the song.

Wake Up Call

New Eagles music?! Yes, please! That was my reaction when the song How Long hit my desk. I was working at a country station at the time. There were many people who did not want to play it, but I was super excited to add it. It was so fresh and so “Eagles!” Those harmonies were still fantastic!

From songfacts: “How Long,” was recorded with Don Henley and Glenn Frey sharing lead vocals. The song sounds especially familiar, like it could have come from the 1970s. That’s because it did.

The song was written by the band’s longtime friend J.D. Souther in 1969. Souther wrote many songs for the band (Best of My Love, Heartache Tonight, etc…). The Eagles used to perform it live in the early ’70s, but never recorded it. Souther put it on his first solo album in 1972. At the time, if one member or a cohort released a song, the Eagles wouldn’t do it themselves. However, 35 years separated them from Souther’s version. So they had no problem adding it to the Long Road Out Of Eden album.

We have YouTube to thank for the Eagles recording this song. Glenn Frey’s kids were online watching videos. They came across footage of the Eagles performing “How Long” in 1974 on a Dutch TV show called Pop Gala. They showed it to their dad and had a good laugh. Glenn’s wife suggested he record it with the Eagles. He took the idea to the band and they all got on board.

The album was the band’s first studio album in 28 years. The single didn’t even crack the Hot 100, peaking at #101. That didn’t matter, the song won the Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals.

I just love this song!

How Long

I’m not the biggest Kenny Chesney fan. I know that will not go over well with some people. I felt that there was a time when he could record a piece of trash song and people would play it. Why? Because he is Kenny Chesney. There were songs that were much better than some of his tunes that never got airplay because stations only played established acts.

With all of that being said, he did have some great songs! Don’t Blink is one of those. It basically says what I have said over and over on this blog – Time flies! Life goes faster than you can imagine.

From songfacts: “Don’t Blink” is a reflective song where Kenny Chesney sings of a TV news story where a 102-year-old man is asked about the secret to his longevity. The man’s response is “don’t blink,” which inspired the song’s message about slowing down and cherishing every moment. So very true!

For me, having children sped up the clock of time. It just goes faster when you have children. Before you know it, you blink and they go from toddlers to high school graduates.

Don’t Blink

Leona Lewis is one of those artists who appeared on a reality singing show. She won The X-Factor in February of 2008. She waited almost a year before putting out this song. Songfacts says, the 22-year-old from Islington took her time over the follow up and accompanying album. She didn’t want to rush out a record that might disappoint all her fans who supported her on the show. It was worth the wait. In its debut week “the single “Bleeding Love” sold 218,000 copies, the biggest total for any UK single since “A Moment Like This.” In it’s debut week it outsold the rest of the UK top five put together.

“Bleeding Love” was originally intended for Jesse McCartney’s third album, Departure. However record label boss Clive Davis heard the song and wanted it for Leona Lewis, who he was championing. McCartney said: “We originally wrote the song for my record and then I guess Clive Davis heard it, called up and said, ‘We really wanna use it for her album.'” Jesse co-wrote the song with OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder.

Jesse McCartney revealed that his songwriting inspiration for this song was the pain of a long distance relationship (specifically actress Katie Cassidy, daughter of singer David Cassidy). He said: “I kept thinking about being in love so much that it hurts. I was away from my girlfriend for four months at the time and I really wanted to throw in the towel (quit) and fly home. I was so in love that it was painful. It was like bleeding, it cut me open. That’s how my head was and that idea just really fit the song.”

Bleeding Love

When Taylor Swift first came out, I was impressed with her stuff. There were some really deep songs for a gal that young. I suppose I knew when they started remixing her songs for pop radio that she’d wind up leaving behind the format that made her famous.

There were some great songs from that debut album, and Our Song is no exception. AOL asked her if there was a true story behind this song. She replied:

“I wrote this song in my freshman year of high school for my ninth grade talent show. I was sitting there thinking, ‘I’ve gotta write an upbeat song that’s gonna relate to everyone.’ And at that time, I was dating a guy and we didn’t have a song. So I wrote us one, and I played it at the show. Months later, people would come up to me and say, ‘I loved that song that you played.’ And then they’d start singing lines of it back to me. They’d only heard it once, so I thought, ‘There must be something here!'”

Her debut album went Platinum on June 7, 2007. This made the 17-year-old Swift the first female solo artist to write or co-write every song on a Platinum-selling debut album. The album eventually went 7x Platinum.

When this reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, Swift became the youngest performer ever to write and sing a chart-topping Country single.

This made my list because of my wife and me. We’ll be married 7 years in March. Would you believe we do not have a song?!

Our Song

So that wraps up 2007. What songs did I miss that are on your list? List them in the comments.

Next week, we’ll move into 2008. My list includes two fantastic parent songs, a counting song, a couple songs that make you ponder, a song with a great sample, one that I came to love because of the Rock Band video game, and a song for the guys. I thank you for listening and reading!

See you next week.

The Music of My Life – 2004

I turned 34 in 2004. By then, we had figured out that there was something not right with my son’s development. We went through a ton of testing with him. Blood work ruled out a lot. We began intensive therapies. They helped. As time progressed we moved from “developmentally delayed” to “autism” and finally to “Asperger’s.” He overcame so many obstacles and today has a job and is ready to move out on his own.

When you deal with something like this, it is difficult to remember all that was going on at the time. You are consumed with all the various therapies and appointments. As I tried to look back on 2004, I felt a disconnect to much of it. There were things I remembered, but most of the year was a blur.

How about we dig into the tunes?

I was on the phone one day catching up with my old country Program Director Brian. They had let him go and it didn’t take him long to land another job. It was at an Adult Contemporary station. He joked around about trying not to laugh whenever he had to say “Hoobastank.” This phone call would be recalled by me years later. I was working part time at an AC station and had to talk into or out of The Reason.

It was the first time I had really heard the song. I related to it so much now. Here is a guy who admits to his lover that he isn’t perfect. He is going to disappoint and hurt them, but he wants to change. The reason for it – is his lover.

“I’ve found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
And the reason is you”

It is often a struggle to deal with our personal issues. Those things that you’ve carried around all your life. Things that are almost habitual. For the right person, you want to do whatever you can to move past those things and be a better person. I try this daily – and don’t always get it right.

The Reason

The next song is one that I wrote about for a round of Turntable Talk. In 2004, one of the hottest country songs introduced us to Gretchen Wilson. Her debut was like an M80 exploding. It was huge.

Rather than writing it all again here, you can click below to read the original blog.

Turntable Talk – “Out of the Blue”

Redneck Woman

My son loved Shrek. So naturally, he loved Shrek 2. The next song was written especially for the movie. It wasn’t an easy song to write.

Counting Crows lead singer, Adam Duritz, told the story of Accidentally in Love to Billboard magazine:

“I was really struggling with it. I generally don’t write songs on demand, and I almost got to the point where I thought I wasn’t going to do it. They just told me that the song had to be uplifting. They actually said, ‘Don’t write a song about Shrek. Write a song that’s about you.’ The funny thing is, the song ended up reflecting a lot of what was going on in my life at the time: falling in love with someone you’re not supposed to fall in love with because it’s inconvenient. My songs for Counting Crows are mature and generally don’t get a chance to reach kids. To be part of something like that is pretty cool.”

The song appears toward the beginning of the movie and barely broke the Top 40 (#39). It is an uplifting song that is fun to sing along with. It baffles me that it didn’t do better on the charts.

Accidentally in Love

The next song is one that not many have heard. It only went to #40 on the country chart, but it really connected with me. I have been accused of being a hoarder. I tend to save a lot of things that are special to me. Some of those things caused riff between my wife at the time and me.

I had old prom pictures, ticket stubs and mementos from past girlfriends. I had cards from my grandparents and many other things that really held a special meaning to me. I was told that those things meant more than she did and stuff like that. That wasn’t true, but I can see how it might be taken that way.

Chely Wright wrote the song with then-unknown songwriter named Liz Rose. (Liz would go on to co-write a lot of early stuff with Taylor Swift.) The lyrics of the song were written from Wright’s own experiences of saving mementos in small spaces. “I’m 33 years old, I’ve got a couple of champagne corks, and those are my stories, and I don’t have to tell about it.”

Again, it was a song I could totally relate to.

I don’t keep these things ’cause I’m longing to go back
I keep them because I want to stay right where I’m at
I’m reminded of my rights and wrongs
I don’t want to mess this up
But I wouldn’t know where I belong
Without this box of stuff

I am who I am today because of my past. You cannot delete your past. The things from it helped to shape you. They helped you to grow. They helped you to think a bit more before you acted. It really is amazing how something like a ticket stub can bring change in your behavior based on what happened when you used it.

Back of the Bottom Drawer

The next song is here only because I played it at almost every party, dance, or wedding I DJ’d. Sometimes a line dance will come and go, but this one is still being played at events. What is funny to me is the story behind it.

When you do the Cha Cha Slide, does it count as a workout? Apparently it does. DJ Casper created this song for the American health club chain Bally’s Fitness, who developed a workout routine around it. The song caught on with gym members, which led to its release as a single. In 2001, the song gained traction in America at dance clubs, weddings and other celebrations.

It had been around a few years prior. According to DJ Casper: “I wrote Cha Cha Slide in 1996 as an aerobics workout program for a gym trainer friend of mine, David Wilson, and I recorded and released my own version in 1998.”

In 2003 the song resurfaced in clubs across Europe and All Around The World Records picked it up for a UK release. On March 20th 2004 this rose from #2 to #1 on the UK singles chart.

Cha Cha Slide

I laughed when I first heard the name Bowling For Soup. I had forgotten about them after this song. Then I realized that they were the band singing the theme song to the cartoon Phineas and Ferb.

1985 wasn’t a big hit, but I remembered hearing it on the radio. It only went to #23 on the charts. I liked it because of the nostalgia factor. This song is about a woman who is still living in the past. She is reliving her glory years when she was a teenager in 1985. She had big dreams, but now spends her time immersing herself in ’80s pop culture.

Jaret Reddick, the lead singer for Bowling For Soup told Songfacts:

“‘1985’ was interesting because we were coming off our biggest record, which was Drunk Enough To Dance. And we went in thinking that we had a complete album, and we recorded a complete album. We did Hangover You Don’t Deserve, and it was pretty much done. Butch Walker produced three songs on that album, and we recorded the whole record at his place. And his manager called and said, ‘Hey, a song came across my desk. You know Mitch Allan, right?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ ‘Well, he wants you to call him.’ So I call Mitch Allan from SR-71, he’s like, ‘Dude, I’ve got this song. It’s a freakin’ hit for you guys. It sounds like you.’ And evidently that whole conversation happened because Mitch was pitching his band to Jonathan Daniel, who is Butch’s manager, trying to get this record that they had put out in Japan released here in the United States. And JD said, ‘Dude, that sounds like a Bowling for Soup song.’ And Mitch said, ‘You know what? You’re right.’

So anyway, he sends me the song. And I’m actually like, ‘Man, we’re done. We’re literally leaving tomorrow. This album is complete.’ We had a little studio apartment that we were staying in and I listened to the song a few times, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s good.’ And the night goes on, had a few more beers, me and Gary (Wiseman – BFS drummer) sat in our kitchen and listened to it twice. And we’re just like, This is a great song. We don’t really know that it’s going to be a single, but it is great. We might as well just do it. So we went back in the next day and we cut it.

1985

I DJ’d a lot of Daddy/Daughter dances before having my daughter. I remember watching dads dancing with their little girls and tearing up. It made me understand why so many father’s cry when the dance with their daughter on her wedding day.

John Mayer’s Daughters was a song that was always requested at Daddy/Daughter dances. Sometimes, more than once. It took on a whole new meaning to me when I danced with Ella to it. The bond is a special one.

The song won Mayer Grammy Awards for Song Of The Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

I wonder if people know his inspiration for the song. According to Songfacts:

Part of the inspiration for this song was a Chris Rock comedy bit. In the bit, he talks about how a father’s main responsibility is to keep his daughter “off the pole.” In other words, to make sure she doesn’t become a stripper.

Daughters

The next song was originally done by the group Supertramp in 1977. It was written by singer/guitarist Roger Hodgson. He told Songfacts in 2012:

“That song has really taken on a life of its own, and I think it’s even more relevant today than when I wrote it. Because we really are needing to value love in a much deeper way, and also we’re needing to care. The song is basically saying: just show you care. You know, reach out and show you care. So in concert it’s the perfect show closer, because what I try to do in my show over two hours is unify the audience and unify all of us. So that at the end, when everyone stands up for ‘Give A Little Bit,’ they’re open and ready to open their hearts and sing at the top of their lungs and go away with a smile on their face. And that song really does, it has a very pure energy. The moment I start, people just start smiling. It’s amazing.”

The Goo Goo Dolls released it on their 2004 album Live From Buffalo. Their version had a lot of success on Top 40 and light rock stations. It made #37 on the Hot 100. It is on my list because I love the song and I think this is a great cover!

Give a Little Bit

One of my favorite country bands was Montgomery Gentry. I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with them when they were touring. They were so good! The next song is probably my favorite track from them.

Eddie Montgomery and the late Troy Gentry often swapped singing lead on their songs. Troy is doing the singing on Gone. It is a classic “break up” song.

Songfacts says:

Bob DiPiero and Jeffrey Steele wrote the song. DiPiero explained to the Tennessean that he and Steele had arranged a writing session at his place on the Florida Gulf Coast. After a fruitless morning, DiPiero wanted to come up with something simple and quick so they could go to lunch. He suggested they write a song with a one-word title and two chords that tip a hat to old time country tunes. They came up with “Gone.”

The song starts off by explaining his lover has walked out on him and is definitely not coming back.

This ain’t no temporary, typical, tearful goodbye
his ain’t no breakin’ up, then wakin’ up and makin’ up one more time
This is gone (gone), gone (gone), gone (gone), gone

For the rest of the song, a series of similes is used to illustrate how his baby has certainly departed forever.

She’s gone like a:

Freight train
Yesterday
A soldier in the Civil War
A ’59 Cadillac
And like all the good things, that ain’t never comin’ back

The writing on this one is just SO good.

Gone

My last pick is one that has brought me to tears on many occasions. It is a song that makes me think of my mom and those who have passed away. Homesick by MercyMe.

The song is an expression of grief and longing. It was written after the band experienced the deaths of nine people they were connected to in a short period of time.

Wikipedia states:

Lead singer Bart Millard initially wrote the chorus to “Homesick” following a funeral service for two infants that died in utero. He did not finish the song, as didn’t want to fake his way through writing the song. However, following the death of Millard’s brother-in-law, Chris, in a car accident, Millard finished the song so as to play it at Chris’s funeral. Millard and the rest of MercyMe intended the song only to be played once—at Chris’s funeral—but Millard’s mother-in-law encouraged them to record it.

It was a top 5 song on the Christian charts and a top 10 song on the Adult Contemporary charts.

When I hear this song, I remember that there is a reunion with my mom and others who have passed on. I cannot wait for that day.

Homesick

So there are my ten picks from 2004. I’m sure that I left a few of your favorites out. Let me know which ones you loved from 2004 in the comments.

Next week, we will head to 2005. My list includes an amazing duet, a band people love to hate, a song that is the subject of October first jokes, a song that mentions ME, and the song my mom used as her ringtone the last year of her life.

Thanks for reading and listening! See you next week.

The Music of My Life – 1988

1988 was a very big year for me. It was the year I graduated from high school. It was also the year that I landed my first radio job. As graduation day grew closer, I began counting all of the “lasts.” The last marching band performance. The last band concert. The last final exam. To say that I was an emotional wreck would be an understatement.

After graduation, I had a full time radio gig (making a whopping $12 an hour) and so I gave up thinking about doing anything else. I was that clueless to think that I’d have this radio gig until I retired. Can you imagine? Typical 18 year-old!

I mentioned last week that 1988’s list would present some songs that may or may not seem out of place. I suppose that those who know me well will not be surprised by the songs I picked, and there certainly is a variety! Well, I suppose I should get right into the tunes …

I have to remind myself that it is not Movie Music Monday, because my list includes not one, but two songs from the soundtrack to Tom Cruise’s film, Cocktail. My buddy Steve and I cruised a lot our senior year. He was always bringing new music for me to listen to. I am almost positive that he was the one who told me about the Georgia Satellites’ version of the Hippy Hippy Shake.

The version I was familiar with was done by the Swinging Blue Jeans, and was a song we played at my first radio station. I had no idea that the song was written and recorded first by Chan Romero in 1959. Anyway, when I hear the Satellites’ version really rocks and it was a great song to cruise to.

Hippy Hippy Shake

In 1987, the song La Bamba was a hit again. This time it was Los Lobos from the soundtrack to the hit movie starring Lou Diamond Phillips. It made for the perfect parody song for Weird Al Yankovic. His version was called, Lasagna. Now, what Italian wouldn’t like this song?!

It is on my list because when my dad booked my graduation party, he also gathered up a few of his band friends. He had the sax guy, keyboard guy, and bass guy come. It was either my cousin or my uncle who brought their drum kit, and my dad brought his guitar. No rehearsal, all they had was some lyric sheets with chords on them and they jammed through the whole party. It was awesome!

My dad played so many great blues songs. Everyone seemed to take turns singing something. My dad called me, and my friends Steve and Joe up to the stage and handed us the lyrics to Weird Al’s Lasagna. I’m guessing it didn’t take much coaxing for us to sing, and it was probably awful. However, it is a great memory of me and my pals.

Lasagna

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, they say. Robert Palmer had great success with his Addicted to Love video. So he brought back the models from the previous music video for this one. Only this time they’ve multiplied! Five of them do choreographed dance moves, but another eight stand behind Palmer looking bored. It worked, though, as Palmer won the 1988 Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male for this song. It was the same award he won two years earlier for “Addicted To Love.”

Songfacts.com says: The big, sexy hook in this song is the pause after Palmer sings, “Now I find her.” After some drumbeats, he comes back with “…simply irresistible.” The song was in the works for three years before Palmer came up with this part, making the song complete. “A little thing like that makes the difference between an idea and the complete song,” he wrote in his Addictions: Volume 1 liner notes, adding, “I like the manic military rhythm and the strong counter melody.”

This was yet another song that made it to our “cruising cassettes.” It was another great sing along song for us.

Simply Irresistible

My next song is one that I always thought was very creative. I Hate Myself for Loving You is such a great line. I relate to in in a few ways. As a young punk, I kinda fell for gals pretty hard. I let many of them treat me bad and I just kept hanging on with them. I always felt that I would just keep on loving them through it all. Yeah, I was an idiot. Today, that title makes me smile and makes me think of young Keith, who just wanted to make someone happy.

Thanks to Songfacts, I learned that that wasn’t originally the title: Joan Jett’s producer Kenny Laguna told us that Joan came up with the guitar riff for this song and wrote it as “I Hate Myself Because I Can’t Get Laid.” She took it to the writer/producer Desmond Child, who thought the title would never fly and convinced Joan to change it to something with “Love” in the title. Child, who got a co-writing credit on the song.

I Hate Myself For Loving You

The next song is the only country song on my list. I am guessing that I never really heard this when it was released, and became familiar with it a year or so after when I had my first stint at a country station.

I was familiar with the Oak Ridge Boys, of course. I mean, who wasn’t? Elvira was all over the radio when it was out. They guys had great harmonies and when I first heard Gonna Take a Lot of River, that is what stood out to me. This would have been sometime in 1991, when my girlfriend had broken up with me.

That being said, the lyrics now really hit home. I spent a lot of time at the beach and on the pier watching the waves during that time. So the lines “Because my baby’s long gone and nothings going my way. I’m gonna let this muddy water just wash away my blues.” resonated with me.

Today, when I hear it I just love listening to the harmonies and fumble every time I try to say, “Monongahela.”

Gonna Take a Lot of River

The variety of songs continues …

1988 brought us the only acapella song to go to number one in the United States. It is the second song from the Cocktail soundtrack. Don’t Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin was unlike anything on the radio at the time. Bobby recorded it using only his body to make all the sounds. The simple message and unusual sound made it a surprise hit.

The inspiration for the song came from a poster that Bobby saw featuring the Indian guru Meher Baba. It simply said, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” Bobby says that when he saw it he thought it was “a pretty neat philosophy in four words.” If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say, Don’t Worry, Be Happy in 1988 alone, I’d be financially set for life.

The video was a silly one and a received lots of airplay on MTV. It featured Robin Williams and the lesser-known comedian Bill Irwin (who plays Mr. Noodle on Sesame Street). It is interesting to note that the video is a bit shorter than the single.

I always think of my best friend, Jeff, when I hear this one. He would always say the line, “I’ll give you my phone number, when you worry, call me, I’ll make you happy.” We found that line hilarious for some reason.

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

The next song was something I heard while cruising with my girlfriend. I’m sure we were listening to that Love Song show (Pillow Talk). It grabbed me from the intro. It was a smooth groove that reminded me of some old Atlantic or Stax soul songs. I was surprised to learn it was Glenn Frey.

Glenn’s Soul Searching album was his third solo album. I picked up the album because of the song True Love. My feelings about the song were justified when I read the liner notes. Frey wrote of the song “For those of you who have my previous albums, I apologize. I just can’t shake my obsession with this Al Green-Memphis thing. Like Wilson Pickett says, ‘Don’t fight it’.” Cash Box magazine even called the song: “a classic R&B tune replete with hornbreaks and soul-tinged arrangement and production.”

My favorite part of the song is the fake ending. After a second or two, the drum kicks back in and the sax wails away at a solo. Love this song. I wish the video would have started with the song instead of the cheesy acting by the actors … LOL

True Love

Who would have thought that Tom Jones would have a career boost in 1988?! Tom enjoyed great success in the mid 60’s and the 1970’s. He never really stopped making records and was always on tour. In the early 1980s, Jones started to record country music. From 1980 to 1986, he had nine songs in the US country top 40, yet failed to crack the top 100 in the UK or the Billboard Hot 100.

Prince had recorded Kiss in 1986. The song was a big hit and continues to be played in a regular rotation on Adult Contemporary stations all over the country. I know that many will not agree with me when I say that Prince’s version sounds weak compared to the Tom Jones/Art of Noise version. Tom commands the song and I cannot love it more!

According to Songfacts, after his country songs, he “made a left-field decision to cover this song, and in doing so revived his career. He told the Observer Music Monthly December 2008 how this came about: “If I hear a song I like I’ll do it in the show, so when I heard this I sang it (Kiss) in an R&B style. Then I was due to go on Jonathan Ross’s program in 1987 to perform the ballad ‘A Boy From Nowhere,’ and he wanted something upbeat too. My philosophy has always been: when in doubt, do ‘Great Balls of Fire.’ But Jonathan asked if I had anything new. Art of Noise were watching and they asked if I’d do a version with them. When they sent me the finished version I thought: ‘If this isn’t a hit, I’ll bloody well pack it all in.’ It was a busting hit.”

Tom tells a great story about Prince. When he met Prince and thanked him for the song, but didn’t ask what his thought of his version, as he wasn’t sure he would like the answer. “I saw a movie once that Bette Midler did called The Rose,” Jones said in a Songfacts interview. “She goes to see Harry Dean Stanton, a country singer, because she’d recorded one of his songs. She says she’s a big fan of his, and just before she walks out the door he says, ‘Could I say one thing to you? Don’t you ever record one of my songs again. ‘That hit home. I thought, s–t, I’m never going to ask a songwriter what he or she thinks of my version. I’ll leave that to them. That always sticks in my mind. So I just thanked him for writing it.”

Fun fact: Prince and Tom Jones were both born on the same day, the 7th of June (Prince in 1958, Jones in 1940)

Kiss

I am sure that I have talked about the next song before. I am also sure that I talked about the album before. It was truly a monumental event!

From Songfacts: Handle With Care was the first single from The Traveling Wilburys, a supergroup created by George Harrison and Jeff Lynne. Initially an informal grouping with Roy Orbison and Tom Petty, they got together at Bob Dylan’s Santa Monica, California, studio to quickly record an additional track as a B-side for the single release of Harrison’s song “This Is Love.” “Handle With Care” was the song they came up with, which Harrison and his record company immediately realized was too good to be released as merely a B-side. The five superstars decided to form a band and make an entire album, recording nine more songs at Dave Stewart’s (of Eurythmics) house in Los Angeles in a 10-day window when they were all available.

This was the only video that included Roy Orbison. A short time after the album was released, he passed away of a heart attack. I was working at the radio station the morning that news of his passing came across the news wire. I will never forget that.

Handle With Care

When I was DJing parties and weddings, I would often find out about new dance songs from people who made requests. Many of the songs were line dances like the Cupid Shuffle or Cha Cha Slide. Over the years, I was introduced to The Biker Shuffle, The Turbo Hustle, The Dougie and many others that way. I was always surprised at how they would fill the dance floor.

I remember someone asking for a song called Da Butt and I laughed. It was from a Spike Lee movie, but I had never heard of it. That week, I stopped by a DJ supply store and there on one of the many compilation CD’s they made was Da Butt by a group called EU. I bought it, took it home and gave it a listen.

It certainly had a funkiness to it and I could see how this might be something that people could dance to. It didn’t take long to find out because I had a wedding the following weekend. Once I started the song, the crowd screamed and got on the dance floor. Before I knew it, everyone was shaking their rear end. I would use this song a lot over the years.

I always think of one of my college instructors when I hear this because I DJ’d a birthday party for one of her kids and SHE was the one who asked me to play it.

I would often get out on the dance floor with these poster board signs I had made for my gigs. I had one that said “Oh-We-Oh. Whoa-Oh” and I would hold it up for audience participation during that part of the song. While it is not the most family friendly song, it did give me a chance to have some fun at a lot of DJ gigs.

Da Butt

I couldn’t let this year pass without touching on one of the big controversies of the year. In June of 1988, Gail Brewer-Giorgio released a book called “Is Elvis Alive?” Along with the book, there was a cassette tape with alleged phone conversations that Elvis had with someone long after he was supposed to have died.

This played right into the rumor in the music industry was that Elvis had faked his death. In the years following his death, there were many sightings of him (including my home state of Michigan – at a Kalamazoo Burger King), and in late 1988 record label LS Records released “Spelling on the Stone” to capitalize on the popularity of the phenomenon. According to LS Records owner Lee Stoller, who produced the song, his daughter Tammy received the recording in August 1988 from an anonymous man who arrived at the label’s offices in a limousine. After obtaining distribution rights, LS Records released the song on radio by the end of 1988, with the single’s release not crediting an artist. The song’s title refers to the fact that Presley’s middle name, Aron, is misspelled as “Aaron” on his tombstone, which was a common argument against his death at the time. The song features an uncredited vocalist with a delivery similar to Presley’s; it tells a first-person narrative, purportedly from his perspective, to suggest that he had faked his death.

Some people claim that the impersonator is actually a guy named Dan Willis, who recorded at LS Records. Others think it really is Elvis. I say Balderdash …

Bonus Song: Spelling On the Stone

1988 had so many great songs. There have been times I wonder if I should pick 15 instead of 10. I know that in future years, I will struggle to pick 10, so I won’t. What one of your favorite 1988 hits did I miss? Mention it in the comments.

Next week we move to 1989. The list isn’t as all over the place like this one and includes some great songs. Join me next week and we’ll give them a listen….