Dave at A Sound Day just wrapped up his monthly feature Turntable Talk. It was an interesting topic this time around and there were a lot of surprises as to who everyone chose to write about. This was my entry to the feature, which originally posted on Dave’s site on Monday:
It is time once again for Dave’s feature Turntable Talk. Dave features this every month on his site A Sound Day. This is the 39th edition, and he continues to come up with fantastic topics. This month is a fun one: Bands? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Bands! Dave’s instructions were simple: This time around, we’re looking for artists who left popular bands to go solo and did well (either commercially or else in your own critical assessment.)
I am sure that I did exactly what the other participants did when the topic was presented – I Googled. I was actually surprised at just how many artists moved from a group to become a solo artist. Off the top of my head I can list Diana Ross, Sting, Lionel Richie, Eric Clapton, Gwen Stefani, Ricky Martin, Peter Gabriel, Rob Thomas, Steve Perry, Lou Gramm, and Justin Timberlake. There are SO many.
In all honesty, I had my choice almost immediately. However, as I began to write about him, there was another artist connected with him that became more interesting to me. It was an artist who had solo success for a short time, and then a sad ending.
If I mention The Drifters I am sure you can name a few of their big hits. Under The Boardwalk, This Magic Moment, and Up On The Roof are just some of them. The Drifters were formed by my choice artist in 1953. His name was Clyde McPhatter. Let’s go back a couple years to see how it all came together.
Like many artists, Clyde McPhatter began singing in the church choir at his father’s church. In 1950, he was working at a grocery store. He entered the Amateur Night contest at Harlem’s Apollo Theater – and won! Afterward, he went back to working in the store.
One Sunday, Billy Ward of Billy Ward and the Dominoes heard Clyde singing in the choir of Holiness Baptist Church of New York City. He was immediately recruited to join the group. Clyde was there for the recording of their hit “Sixty Minute Man,” which was a number one song on the R&B chart for 14 weeks in 1951.
My original pick for this round was Jackie Wilson. Jackie was hired by Billy Ward in 1953 to join The Dominoes. That same year, Clyde left the group. He coached Wilson while they were out touring together. Wilson would leave in 1957. Apparently, Ward was not pleasant to work with. Wilson said, “Billy Ward was not an easy man to work for. He played piano and organ, could arrange, and he was a fine director and coach. He knew what he wanted, and you had to give it to him. And he was a strict disciplinarian. You better believe it! You paid a fine if you stepped out of line.”
Atlantic Records saw a Dominoes show and noticed that Clyde was not with the group, so they searched for him, found him and wanted to sign him to a record deal. Clyde agreed to sign on one condition – they allow him to form his own group. That group was the Drifters. While known as Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters, they released songs like Money Honey.
Elvis Presley covered Money Honey in 1956. In researching for this piece I was surprised to find that McPhatter and the Drifters did the original of another Elvis hit – Such a Night.
In late 1954, McPhatter was inducted into the U.S. Army. He assigned to Special Services in the continental United States. This allowed him to continue recording. After his tour of duty, he left the Drifters and launched a solo career. The Drifters continued as a successful group, but with many changes in personnel, and the group assembled by McPhatter was long gone by the time their greatest successes were released after he left the group.
It would take two years, but Clyde would finally get his first solo #1 R&B hit when he released “Treasure of Love” in 1956. It would top out at #16 on the US Pop Chart. I love his vocal on this one.
His biggest solo hit would come in 1958 when he recorded and released a song written by Brook Benton. A Lover’s Question would reach #6 on the Pop Chart. If I had to pick my favorite Clyde song, it would be this one. There is so much to love about this song. That acapella bass line being sung throughout the song is very catchy.
McPhatter would leave Atlantic Records and bounce from label to label recording many songs, but not having much success. His last top ten record would come in 1962 with a song written by Billy Swan. Lover Please was first recorded by the Rhythm Steppers in 1960. It was the title track from Clyde’s 1962 album of the same name. It would reach #7 on the Pop Chart.
Clyde did manage to have a top 30 hit in 1964 with “Crying Won’t Help You Now,” but when it fell of the chart, he turned to alcohol for comfort. He would record every so often, but nothing ever really did well on the charts. He always had a decent following in the UK, so in 1968 he moved to England.
He wouldn’t return to the US until 1970. Outside of performing on a few Rock and Roll Revival shows, he lived a very private and reclusive life. In 1972, Decca Records signed him and they were planning a a big comeback. That never materialized as Clyde passed away on June 13, 1972 of complications from liver, heart and kidney disease. This was brought on by his alcohol abuse years earlier. He was only 39 years old.
His legacy consists of over 22 years of recording history. Clyde was the first artist to be inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, first as a solo artist and later as a member of the Drifters.
In 1993, Clyde was honored with his own stamp by the US Postal Service.
His career had ups and downs, and his hit songs were an important part of Rock and Roll history. Vocalists like Marv Johnson, Smokey Robinson and Ben E. King are all said to have patterned their vocal styles on Clyde’s. Others have cited him as a major influence as well. In the book “The Drifters” by Bill Millar, he says:
“McPhatter took hold of the Ink Spots’ simple major chord harmonies, drenched them in call-and-response patterns, and sang as if he were back in church. In doing so, he created a revolutionary musical style from which—thankfully—popular music will never recover.”
Thanks again to Dave for hosting another great round of Turntable Talk. I cannot wait to see who the other writers have picked and look forward to Round #40 next month.
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.
I turned 15 in 1985. It was sophomore year and I had moved up from the Freshman band to the Concert/Marching band. It is the year that consisted of many of my favorite songs that I recently posted about in this week’s Turntable Talk blog. It was also the year that I went on my first date and my first dance. How did the music of 1985 play into my life? Let’s find out…
My first pick is a soulful tribute to two amazing singers who passed away in 1984. It is also the only hit that the Commodores had after Lionel Richie left the group. I am talking, of course, about Nightshift.
The song is a tribute to singers Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson. Marvin was 44 when he passed away, while Jackie was only 49. In 1974 the Righteous Brothers had a hit with Rock and Roll Heaven, where they picture fallen stars like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin forming a band in heaven. This was supposed to be a soul version where Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson are on heaven’s nightshift, playing some sweet sounds.
I love how the intro starts with that percussion lick and the smooth bass line that works its way to the vocal. It is such a funky, soulful and loving tribute to Marvin and Jackie – two legends!
Nightshift
As a sophomore, I ventured out of my comfort zone a bit and decided it was ok to go to high school dances. Mostly, the guys just hung out at a table and talked. However, after my first official date, I began actually wanting to go to dances with a female date. While I cannot remember for certain, I am pretty sure that one of my first dances ever with a girl was to Crazy For You by Madonna.
Admittedly, I am not a huge fan of hers. My brother, on the other hand, loved her! There are a few songs that I do like by her, and this is one of them. What I remember most about dancing to this song was that she was singing “crazy for you” and I wasn’t sure what kind of message that may or may not have been sending to my date. I was also thinking about making sure I was swaying the same way she was and NOT stepping on her toes. It had to be a very uncomfortable dance for her.
Fun Fact: Madonna reportedly only took one take to record this song.
This was recorded for the soundtrack to the wrestling film Vision Quest, which also featured a guest appearance by Madonna herself, who played a singer at a local restaurant. After the success of this song, the film was renamed Crazy For You in some European countries to capitalize on the song’s popularity.
Crazy For You
How does that saying go? Everything old is new again? I don’t know. What I do know is that Netflix is currently airing the 4th installment of the Beverly Hills Cop Franchise and I hear it is doing well. It was back in 1984 that Eddie Murphy first played Detroit Cop Axel Foley. The character’s name is what led to the title of my next song, Axel F.
Before the title was settled on, it went by a different name. During production of the movie, it known as the “Banana Theme,” as it was slated for a scene where Axel Foley shoves a banana in the tailpipe of police officers intending to pursue him. The composer was German musician Harold Faltermeyer and truly, this song was all him.
According to Wikipedia, he recorded the tune using five instruments: a Roland Jupite-8 provided the distinctive saw lead, a Moog modular synthesizer 15 provided the bass, a Roland JX-3P provided chord stab brasses, a Yamaha DX7 was used for the marimba sound, and a LinnDrum was used for drum programming. Faltermeyer played every single instrument.
He was also the musical director on Beverly Hills Cop and did the score for the film. The soundtrack went to #1 in the US and won a Grammy for Best Album Of Original Score Written For A Motion Picture Or A Television Special. The song topped out at #3.
We played this at a concert one year in band, and though it sounds pretty easy, it was a bit tougher than I anticipated. It may have been in a weird key. It was one of many fun numbers we played.
Axel F
There are some songs that when you hear them, you cannot help but feel happy. My next pick is one of those songs. I have rarely played this at a party or wedding where it didn’t cause people to just get up and dance.
Remember the feeling you got when you first found out that someone truly loved you? There was that feeling of joy that just overflows from you! You can feel that joy and excitement in the vocals by Katrina Leskanich in Walking on Sunshine. It just makes you feel good!
The wife of one of my second cousins threw him a birthday party I DJ’d. The song was on the “must play” list. I remember having a conversation about the song and she said that it was the kid of song that you should play the minute you wake up in the morning. She said that it would just set the mood for the day. She always seemed to be in good mood when I saw her, so maybe she did just that!
Songfacts says, The video got a lot of airplay on MTV. It shows the band hanging around London, with Katrina very colorful and bouncy, and her bandmates more subdued. She had to make her own sunshine, as there was none in London – it was a typically cloudy and cold day.
Katrina’s look was anti-glam, with tennis shoes and the kind of fashions you’d find at the mall. In interviews from this time, she often took shots at singers like Madonna and Pat Benatar for adopting more suggestive looks.
Teen boys didn’t seem to mind….
Take four major country superstars, all who are friends with each other, pitch them an old song and tell them they should record it together and you get one really neat song. That’s the basic story of how Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash became The Highwaymen.
Country legend Jimmy Webb wrote the song about a soul with incarnations in four different places in time and history: as a highwayman, a sailor, a construction worker on the Hoover Dam, and finally as a captain of a starship. Webb released his version in 1977, it was covered in 1979 by Glen Campbell, who took the song to Johnny Cash, who was recording with Nelson, Jennings and Kristofferson.
The story goes that the four were all together in Switzerland doing a television special and decided that they should do a project together. While the four were recording their first album, Johnny’s friend Marty Stuart played the song for Cash, saying it would be perfect for them. It had four verses, four souls, and four of them.
The song led to the name of their supergroup, their album, and of course, their first single. Each of the four verses was sung by a different performer: first Nelson as the highwayman, then Kristofferson as the sailor, then Jennings as the dam builder, and finally Cash as the starship captain. Webb later observed, “I don’t know how they decided who would take which verse, but having Johnny last was like having God singing your song.”
No personal story to go with this one, I just like it!
I am embarrassed to say that up until 1985, I had never seen a James Bond movie. I was familiar with the fact that Roger Moore played Bond. My mom would rent Bond films on occasion and also watch them on cable. Moore played a Bond-like version of himself in Cannonball Run in 1981, but I had never really seen him AS Bond.
So when a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go to the show with him we saw A View to a Kill. It was actually neat to see this in the theaters. I had often seen the Bond movie intro being parodied, but to see it kick off the film and to hear the song was all new to me. I was grateful to be able to see it.
Knowing Duran Duran and some of their songs, I was surprised that they did the theme song. The story of how they got it is interesting. Songfacts says: “according to the bassist John Taylor, was that he approached the longtime Bond producer, Albert R. ‘Cubby’ Broccoli, while extremely intoxicated when they were both at a party. He stated that he was a long time fan (Major Bond geek would be more accurate. An Aston Martin was said to be one of his first “rock star” purchases, and he frequently mentioned his Bond video collection in interviews) of the series, but the music for the last few movies had been mediocre. He then offered to have his band fix the problem and Broccoli took the idea under advisement.Being asked to perform the theme song for a James Bond movie is a great honor, but the requirement to include its title in the lyrics can be challenging. Just ask John Taylor. “To this day we are forever grateful that we didn’t get Quantum Of Solace,” he said.
It is the only theme from a Bond movie to hit #1 in America.
A View To A Kill
I’ve made it all the way to 1985 and have yet to feature a Prince song. Not that I don’t like him, he was a musical genius. I am still blown away by his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame performance and his Superbowl Halftime Show. He was a talent, no doubt. My only real connection to him was that we play Let’s Go Crazy in Marching Band one year.
However, I can connect this one to me because it was on my 15th birthday that Prince released Raspberry Beret. Prince originally recorded “Raspberry Beret” in 1982, but re-worked it with his newly re-formed Revolution backing band.
At the time this was released, Prince was under fire from Tipper Gore during the notorious PMRC witch hunt, which placed two of his songs on the list of the “filthy 15.” So this is one of the songs where Prince started making his lyrics more family friendly. But if you really listen closely, you know that Prince still slipped in a “filthy” reference.
Raspberry Beret
1985 was the year that one of my favorite movies was released – Back to the Future. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, I reference the movie a lot and have read my fair share of time travel novels. It is a masterpiece and I will always watch it when it is on.
When Marty realizes he’s going to be late for school and he leave’s Doc’s place on his skateboard, Huey Lewis and The News’ The Power of Love makes the perfect song to accompany the scene. How did Huey become involved?
The film’s director Robert Zemeckis wanted Lewis to do the song – Huey Lewis & the News were rising stars with a modern sound that worked well in the movie, which takes place in both 1955 and 1985. Lewis had never done film work and hesitated at first, since he didn’t want to write a song called “Back to the Future.” When Zemeckis told him that the song didn’t have to be about the movie, Lewis accepted the challenge.
All Back to the Future fans know that Lewis has an uncredited cameo in this movie. Lewis has an uncredited cameo in this scene, where he plays a teacher who is judging the auditions. An early scene in the film has Marty McFly and his band The Pinheads auditioning for the high school dance. Huey plays a teacher who is judging the auditions. The group plays the beginning of “The Power of Love,” but before Marty can sing a note, Lewis cuts them off, telling them, “I’m afraid you’re just too darn loud.”
The music video doesn’t contain scenes from the film, but does feature an appearance by Christopher Lloyd in character as Doc Brown. We see him pull up in the DeLorean outside of a club where Huey Lewis & the News are performing.
The Power of Love
Yesterday marked the 34th anniversary of the passing of Stevie Ray Vaughn. I debated posting one of his songs for Tune Tuesday, but opted for a more uplifting post.
I was late to the SRV party. I was introduced to him after he passed away. I marveled at his playing and his vocal abilities. I really fell in love with his music.
I wrote about this song before, probably for one of the Song Drafts we were doing. It is Stevie’s cover of the old Hank Ballard song, “Look at Little Sister.”
Look At Little Sister
My final pick is another fun song. It reminds me a lot of the Kinks Come Dancing (which I just wrote about for Max’s PowerPop blog) because of the sound of the opening keyboards.
The Dire Straits were coming off the success of Money For Nothing which really established the band on MTV and on Top 40 radio in America. The fourth single from their Brothers In Arms Album was Walk of Life.
Mark Knopfler wrote this song to celebrate the street buskers of London, hence the references to “Be-Bop-a-Lula” and “What’d I Say,” which were two standards that might be part of a singer’s repertoire in the mid-’80s. Before the lyrics kick in, Knopfler does a few “who-hoo”s, which help create a whimsical vibe. When he spoke with the BBC in 1989, he expressed some “woo-hoo” remorse. “There’s too many ‘woos’ at the beginning of ‘Walk of Life,'” he said. “I heard it on the radio the other day and thought, Oh my God! What was I doing that for?”
Walk of Life (US)
Walk of Life (UK)
What song defined 1985 for you?
Next week we’ll share some songs from 1986. As I look at the music from that year, there were some great music videos! The year will feature my high school class song, my first attempt at Karaoke – before there was Karaoke, and two fantastic cover songs!
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.
I turned 13 in 1983. I had a paper route and a weekly income because of it. I spent my money on toys, books and music. I loved going into Harmony House and buying 45’s or albums. As I get deeper into the 80’s, I’m seeing more and more songs that I “had” to have.
I am noticing something about a lot of the songs on my lists. There have been some that have not necessarily been meaningful to me the year they were released, but wound up being important later on in my life. That is the case of a few of them from this year. That being said, let’s check out my list….
When Lionel Richie left the Commodores, he had a number one song with “Truly.” The follow up song has always been one of my favorites. I can still see and hear my mother singing along the the chorus of “You Are.”
What I love about this is the fact that while it is a love song, it has some tempo to it. It also has a horn section. Future hit maker Richard Marx sang backup on this track. His first job in music was singing on the Lionel Richiealbum, and he proved himself on this track, which required some deft background vocals. Richard told songfacts.com: “Every session I ever did with Lionel, or for him, was a very fun atmosphere. I’ve been on so many sessions where it’s a downer, and you just try to get through it and nobody is having fun. Lionel is always having fun – no matter what.”
You Are
When I worked in country radio, I used to go to the Country Radio Seminar. It was a place where you got to hear various panels discussing programming, promotions and more. There were plenty of artists there (both old and new) to entertain. We’d often bring stuff for artists to sign so we could auction them off for St. Jude.
Every night there was always a show somewhere. Everyone had always talked about “the boat.” One record label would bring folks about the General Jackson Showboat and provide dinner and drinks. While us radio people would sit and eat, they would bring artists out on the stage to play for us. Many times it was familiar artists featuring their new songs or new artists that the label wanted to showcase.
One of the things about the boat was that there were always one or two surprise guests. You never knew who might show up. The year before my first boat ride, Huey Lewis had mad an appearance. The first time I was on the boat, they wheeled out this piano on the stage. Next, they brought out Ronnie Milsap and I was thrilled. I had always loved his music and he did not disappoint.
He came out laughing and joking and cranked out a few songs, including Stranger In My House. It was written by Mike Reid, who was a defensive tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals for five seasons and had a couple country hits of his own. The song was a country hit and also crossed over to the AC and Hot 100 charts.
The song is done in a minor key and from the opening chords, I was hooked.
Stranger In My House
Anyone who goes through a divorce or a break up knows that what follows can be a rough road. The next song is an example of a song that meant nothing to me at the time, but years later it did.
The fighting, the bickering, the pettiness, the blame, the suffering, the accusations and all the things that comes with a divorce is difficult enough. Once they hand you the final decree, it is important to start anew. I had a wonderful support system in place for me and as time passed, I looked back to see that I was making it. I had been through the war and I had made it to the victory.
Elton John’s I’m Still Standing was used in an animated movie called “Sing.” It was while watching that with the kids that I really heard and felt the lyrics. I can look in the mirror and know that I’m Still Standing and life is GOOD!
I’m Still Standing
Remember ELO’s song “Motor Factory?” Of course, you don’t. That’s because as the group was recording the song, it went through a bunch of changes. They lyrics were completely changed and it became Rock and Roll Is King. The song was released as a single from their Secret Messages album.
ELO’s Dave Morgan said in an interview, “I sang on quite a few tracks, I sang on ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Is King’. I played on that one, but it wasn’t called that, it was something about something about working at Austin Longbridge! It was full of car plant sounds, you could hear it going clank, clank, clank, like somebody hitting a lathe with a hammer, and Jeff went away and made it into ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Is King’, wiped off everything we’d done, no, there was still some backing left in there, It was much better how he finished it off than it was before.”
I remember recording this off the radio as a kid. I didn’t realize that there was (what we radio guys call) a “fake cold” ending. That’s where the song stops, you think it’s over, and they come back and sing again. The first time I recorded it off the radio I hit pause on the fake cold, only for ELO to start singing again. Urgh! I got smart after that and went and bought the single.
Rock and Roll Is King
Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham released a few solo albums in the 80’s. Despite some songs that were Top 40 hits, not many folks can recall them. There is, however, one song that folks know thanks to the misadventures of a family named Griswold.
Thanks to National Lampoon’s Vacation, Buckingham’s song Holiday Road had become his best known song. That’s really saying something for a song that never cracked the Top 40 and peaked at #82 when it was released. The song almost didn’t happen.
Actor/director Harold Ramis asked Buckingham to create two songs for his film National Lampoon’s Vacation. He was initially reluctant, believing that soundtrack work “wasn’t part of his discipline.” Thankfully, he decided to grant Ramis’s request, and wrote. Buckingham recorded “Holiday Road” without seeing the entire film. He figured that the movie “had to be somewhat uplifting and a little bit funny”. To keep in line with that, he added dog barks near the end of the song, unaware that the movie featured a scene where a dog is accidentally dragged to death from the bumper of a car.
It is one of those songs that makes you unconsciously press down a bit too much on the gas pedal if your driving while it is playing. I’m not sure I ever “got” the video for the song, though.
Holiday Road
ZZ Top’s Eliminator album was one of few albums that have sold over 10 million copies in America, earning Diamond certification. I helped it get there! This was an album that I remember buying and dropping the needle on for the first time. It had such a neat sound.
Billy Gibbons says that he got the idea for Sharp Dressed man when he saw a movie and a character was listed in the credits as “Sharp-Eyed Man.” According to songfacts.com, the song attracted a slew of new fans to ZZ Top when the video ran constantly on MTV. Their long beards made them instantly recognizable and the babes certainly helped, but the car was the real star.
Prior ZZ Top albums had a Tex-Mex vibe, but when it came time to sort out visuals for the album, the hot rod was finally ready – Gibbons had been working on it for years. It was good timing, giving them an MTV-friendly focal point just when they needed it. They had never made videos before and had no acting experience, but their videos provided everything MTV’s target audience craved: girls, rock and roll, and a really sweet ride.
The music video was the first that was a sequel. It picked up the story from the “Gimme All Your Loving” video of the down-on-his-luck gas station worker who is swept away by three beautiful women. In “Sharp Dressed Man,” he’s a valet, and he encounters the same three girls and is once again given the keys to the Eliminator, Billy Gibbons’ 1933 Ford Hot Rod.
Sharp Dressed Man
I had no idea in 1983 that I would be working as a sleep technologist. The next song is one that is based on a real sleep disorder – somniloquy (Sleep talking). “Talking In Your Sleep” is the biggest hit of The Romantics’ career. In fact, it’s their only Top 10 hit, and only one other song by them (“One in a Million”) even made it to the Top 40. Contrast that with the number of times you’ve heard their song, “What I Like About You,” which only made it to #49.
I love this story about the song: As usual, MTV helped boost The Romantics’ success right around this time with videos of their songs. In Greg Prato’s book MTV Ruled the World, Romantics’ lead singer Jimmy Marinos talks about this song: “That was the last song recorded for the album In Heat. All we had was a backtrack, the instrumental part of the song. And we realized it was too good a track to leave unfinished. So everybody put their heads together, and in a couple of days, we finished up the song melodically and lyrically.” Ha also mentions that the video was filmed at 8:00 in the morning in Detroit, surrounded by girls in their jammies, at what was deemed “not really rock ‘n’ roll hours.” So if they look like they just woke up, that’s because they did – and it works great!
Check out their hair in this video!!
Talking In Your Sleep
Two years ago, Dave Ruch invited a bunch of us to write a column for his Turntable Talk feature. The first topic was about why the Beatles are still relevant, the next song is an example of their influence.
When Genesis began to write That’s All, it was intended as an attempt to write a simple pop song with a melody in the style of The Beatles. Phil Collins even acknowledged in a subsequent interview that the song also features one of his attempts at a “Ringo Starr drum part.”
Genesis keyboard player Tony Banks was one of the first to use an Emulator, which was one of the first digital samplers (it was introduced in 1981). Banks would record his bandmate Mike Rutherford as he noodled around on his instruments, then play around with those samples to craft a track, which is how this song developed.
That’s All was the band’s first Top 10 hit in the US, setting the stage for their tremendous success the rest of the decade as they adapted their sound from progressive rock to tighter pop songs. The video certainly played a part in the success of the song, too. It depicts the band as homeless men taking shelter outside a disused factory. They perform the song, eat soup, play cards, and keep warm around an open fire. It was the first time Genesis used director Jim Yukich, who would direct the majority of their next videos as well as many of Collins’s solo videos.
That’s All
Remember the group Blue Angel? Me either. It was the group that Cyndi Lauper was in in 1981. It was her solo career and her first single, however, that made her famous. It is interesting to note that Girls Just Wanna Have Fun didn’t start out as the female anthem that Cyndi made it.
A Philadelphia singer/songwriter named Robert Hazard, who had a band called Robert Hazard and the Heroes, wrote it. He recorded a demo of it in 1979. Speaking with Rolling Stone, Lauper said that she had to alter the lyrics from Hazard’s original. “It was originally about how fortunate he was ’cause he was a guy around these girls that wanted to have ‘fun’ – with him”
Believe it or not, Cyndi didn’t want to record this song, but her producer, Rick Chertoff, was convinced it could become her anthem. The challenge for her was figuring out how to sing it. She ended up doing her vocal in the style of the ’50s hit “Let the Good Times Roll” by Shirley & Lee, which Shirley Goodman sings in a high-pitched voice. It obviously worked as the song went to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
MTV again played into the success of the song, as this was a very fun video to watch. The video, which ran constantly on MTV, features the wrestler Captain Lou Albano as Lauper’s father, and also Lauper’s real-life mother, who had no acting experience but did just fine. It won the first ever award for Best Female Video at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards.
The song had a huge influence on how girls dressed in the 80’s. When I think of it, I can picture so many of my gal friends who dressed like Cyndi.
Girl’s Just Want To Have Fun
Everyone I grew up with had the 1984 album from Van Halen. The song actually was a bigger hit in 84, but it is on this list because it was released in December of 1983. Jump is just one of many songs that used synthesizers in the 80’s. The synthesizer intro for Van Halen’s Jump is iconic, but not everyone in the band wanted to use it.
The synthesizer was a point of contention in the band. Eddie wanted to use it, but lead singer David Lee Roth thought it would look like they were selling out to get more radio play. Eddie was classically trained on piano growing up – he didn’t start playing guitar until he was a teenager – so it wasn’t that far a stretch for him. Had the band brought in an outside keyboard player they probably would have gotten a lot of flak, but Eddie was held in such high esteem that fans were happy to hear him on another instrument.
Songfacts.com says: 1984 was David Lee Roth’s last album with Van Halen before he left the band in 1985; the video for “Jump” inflamed the tensions that led to his departure. The video was produced by Robert Lombard, who wanted to show the personal side of the band on stage. Roth, however, wanted the performance intercut with footage of him doing other things, so they shot him doing things like riding a motorcycle and getting arrested while wearing nothing but a towel. Lombard edited the video and used none of the extra Roth footage, taking it to Eddie and Alex for approval. Two days later, the band’s manager fired him for bypassing Roth. Lombard says he never received the award the video won from MTV.
Jump
Next week, we’ll look at songs from 1984. 1984 was a big year for me in a lot of ways. Musically, it was a big year for ballads. With a mix of country, R&B, and a song that led to me embarrassing myself on the air years later, it will be an interesting list!
Tell me about your favorite from 1983 that I may have missed in the comments and I will see you next week.
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.
In 1981 there were two things that influenced me musically. First of all, I discovered American Top 40 with Casey Kasem. My dad had it the radio on one day while he was washing the cars and doing yard work. It was my first exposure to a countdown show. As a matter of fact, as I looked over the list of possible songs for my list, there were plenty of songs that I remember hearing for the first time on AT40. Some of those that are not on my list are: Start Me Up, Centerfold, Waiting for a Girl Like You, Elvira, Bette Davis Eyes, Hearts, Physical, and so many others!
The second thing that not only influenced me musically, but everyone else in the country, was the birth of MTV in August of 1981. This changed the way people listened to music. Some of those 80’s music videos are forever etched in my mind. I loved the creativity of many of those videos. In many cases, the videos helped with the popularity of songs and how much airplay they got on the radio. Perhaps you’ll remember the videos from some of the songs on my list?
Here we go ….
My dad played guitar in a wedding band for many years. Often, my brother and I would have to go to band practice with him. It was there that I recall being introduced to some of the current songs. One of them was Just The Two of Us by Grover Washington Jr. and Bill Withers. I can remember the distinct mystical sounding keyboard part at the beginning from my dad’s band and being wowed at how it sounded exactly like the record.
Grover Washington, Jr. wrote this with his musical partner Bill Salter before Withers added to the lyrics. It was produced by Ralph MacDonald, a percussionist who played on many of Washington’s tracks. MacDonald was friends with Withers and made the connection. Bill said in an interview with songfacts:
“I’m a little snobbish about words, so they sent me this song and said, ‘We want to do this with Grover, would you consider singing it?’ I said, ‘Yeah, if you’ll let me go in and try to dress these words up a little bit.’ Everybody that knows me is kind of used to me that way. I probably threw in the stuff like the crystal raindrops. The ‘Just The Two Of Us’ thing was already written. It was trying to put a tuxedo on it. I didn’t like what was said leading up to ‘Just The Two Of Us.'”
The song reached number 2 on the charts, but never made it to number 1. It was kept from that spot by Sheena Easton’s Morning Train (9 to 5) and Kim Carnes’ Bette Davis Eyes. The song did win a Grammy award for Best R&B Song. It would be Grover Washington Jr’s only Top 40 hit.
Just The Two of Us
I’ve told this story before, but it is why the next song is here. I remember my dad throwing the 45 of The Breakup Song on the turntable and playing the intro over and over. He’d pick on his guitar and work out that intro over a matter of minutes. Once I heard him play it note for note, I was in awe of him.
The Greg Kihn Band had been around for some time. Their album Rockihnroll was their sixth studio album. It celebrates the quality of breakup songs in rock’s earlier times, as the narrator laments both his recent breakup and the fact that they don’t write good breakup songs anymore. The song is perhaps best known by the hook, “They Don’t Write ‘Em Like That Anymore.”
The Breakup Song
I have always loved the Commodores, with and without Lionel Richie. Lady (You Bring Me Up) was released as the lead single from their album In The Pocket, their last with Lionel Richie in the group. Lionel didn’t write the song, Commodores’ trumpet player William King did. He wrote it with his wife, Shirley, and Harold Hudson, a member of the Commodores’ backing group, The Mean Machine.
In 1981, sexually suggestive songs like “Physical” and “Girls on Film” caused a bit of controversy. Naturally, some disc jockeys poked fun by warning listeners that this was another song with sexually suggestive lyrics: “Lady, you bring me up when I’m down.” In truth, the song is simply a song about a man whose woman gets him through life’s difficult times. It went to #8 on the Hot 100 chart.
Lady
It wasn’t until years later that I found out that Juice Newton wasn’t the first one to sing Queen of Hearts. It was actually written by Hank DeVito of Emmylou Harris’ band and first recorded in 1979 by rocker Dave Edmunds. His version was big in the UK and Ireland, but didn’t go far anywhere else.
Juice Newton had the biggest success with “Queen of Hearts” after it appeared on her 1981 album, Juice. In September 1981, Newton’s version peaked at #2 on the US charts, having shifted over one million copies. It almost didn’t happen, though. Juice remembers, “I did [‘Queen of Hearts’] live for about a year…Then I brought it to [producer] Richard Landis when we started the Juice album. He wasn’t convinced at that point that it was a breakout song but I told him I think this is a real cool song … so we cut it”.
In 1982, the song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Dave Edmunds told Creem Newton stole his composition: “She did pinch my arrangement, note for note, but I’m not angry with that.”
Queen of Hearts
Before Foreigner recorded this album 4, two members of the group left, trimming the band from six members to four. This, along with the fact that it was their fourth album, explains the title. My favorite cut on the album has a Motown connection.
Future Mr. Shania Twain, Mutt Lange, produced the album. Lange wanted to hear every music idea guitarist Mick Jones had recorded on tape, no matter how embarrassing. One of these ideas was the opening riff for what would become “Urgent”. “I had the riff starting out,” Jones recalled. “And I said, ‘That’s like an experimental instrumental thing that I’m working on.’ He said, ‘No, it isn’t anymore – let’s take that one, because that’s got a lot of potential.’ There wasn’t even a song with it.”
The group wanted a “Junior Walker-style” sax solo for this record. When they took a break from recording, one of the members read in New York newspaper The Village Voice that Walker was performing that night mere blocks from the recording studio. Walker accepted their offer to play, and the recording of the sax solo was swift and without a hitch.
Urgent
ELO’s TIME is a concept album about a time traveler who visits the year 2095. This song takes place on his return trip in 1981. He is inspired, and now knows that everything he needs he can find back home. “Hold On Tight” was the first single from the album.
By this time, the band was credited as ELO, downplaying the orchestra because they had recently jettisoned their string section. The lead instrument on “Hold On Tight” is piano played by group leader Jeff Lynne, who wrote the song. Billboard called it an “affectionate tip-of-the-hat to ’50s rock ‘n’ roll” that was inspired by the piano playing of Jerry Lee Lewis. That sound is probably why I love this song so much, as well as the uplifting message.
There was an elaborate (for its time) video was made of this song. Wikipedia states that this was the most expensive music video ever made (at the time). Directed by Mike Mansfield, it’s a sendup of sci-fi movie trailers from the 1940, which often blared words on the screen in huge font (AMAZING!, BREATH-TAKING!). Their violinist, Mik Kaminski, had left the group by this time but shows up in the video miming guitar.
The song topped out at number 2 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart.
Hold On Tight
Who can deny a great cover song? Am I right? (I’m talking to you Randy! LOL)
Yep, one of the biggest 80’s hits is actually a cover of a song first recorded in 1964. Ed Cobb of the Four Preps composed the song, and it was first recorded by Gloria Jones. (Fun Fact: Glen Campbell was a studio musician and played guitar on that version!) Her version was actually the B-side of her single, “My Bad Boy’s Comin’ Home.”
In 1973, British club DJ Richard Searling purchased a copy of the almost decade-old single while on a trip to the United States. The track’s Motown-influenced sound (featuring a fast tempo, horns, electric rhythm guitar and female backing vocals) fit in perfectly with the music favored by those involved in the UK’s Northern soul club scene of the early 1970s.
In the book 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh, Soft Cell’s Marc Almond called this song “A mixture of cold electronics with an over-passionate, over-exuberant, slightly out of key vocal.” Almond recalls, “Dave (Ball) introduced me to the record and I loved it so much and we wanted an interesting song for a encore number in our show. Dave loved northern soul and it was a novelty to have an electronic synthesizer band doing a soul song. When we signed with our record company, they wanted to record it. They told us to put bass, guitar and drums on it as they said it was too odd. They put it out anyway and the next thing it was gathering radio play and then it was #1. I was fascinated that it was originally by Gloria Jones, the girlfriend of Marc Bolan and I’d always been a T-Rex fan.”
Marc Almond’s vocal is the first take he recorded. That take was actually a run-through so they could tweak the settings, but it had just the right emotion, so that was the one they used. Obviously it was the right take because even Gloria Jones liked it. She said that she considers the Soft Cell version to be the best one. “I loved the emotion in his voice,” she said. “Their version was far better than mine.”
Tainted Love
Here is another song with a Dave Edmunds connection. Tempted was the second single off Squeeze’s East Side Story album. It was written by Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook. Chris wrote the lyric while the band was taking a taxi to Heathrow Airport. The descriptions of the city and airport sights are interspersed with the narrator’s ruminations on a relationship that is failing, or has failed, due to his own infidelities. As he recalled,
The original story behind “Tempted” is we’re going on another American tour. I got on a taxi and I started writing down what I saw lyrically. I don’t know the course of time of how long it took, but then I gave Glenn the lyrics and then Glenn put the music to it. It’s an extraordinary song. It’s one of the most played songs that we have in our catalog.
Unlike most other Squeeze songs, which are sung usually by Tilbrook or Difford, the song’s lead vocal is sung by newly recruited keyboardist Paul Carrack. According to Carrack, this was the result of a suggestion by co-producer Elvis Costello:
They’d actually recorded a version of that song before I was on board. Dave Edmunds produced it, and it was completely different. The song was in the can, and we were recording the other songs from East Side Story when we had some downtime and played ‘Tempted’ but in that slow, soulful, Motown groove. Elvis Costello, who was producing, ran in and said, ‘Let’s put this down on tape!’ So, we did, and Elvis said ‘Paul, you should sing it.’
I had never heard the song before, but in 1994, I was driving a lot for my job and this would come on Planet 96.3. I have always loved the opening line of this song, “I bought a toothbrush, some toothpaste, a flannel for my face” I can’t imagine it without the slow bluesy feel.
Tempted
Loverboy’s first single from their Get Lucky album didn’t really burn up the charts, however, years later it would be linked forever to a classic Saturday Night Live sketch.
Working for the Weekend originated when guitarist Paul Dean was out walking one Wednesday afternoon, looking for inspiration in his songwriting. He noticed that much of the area was deserted, as most people were at work. “So I’m out on the beach and wondering, ‘Where is everybody? Well, I guess they’re all waiting for the weekend,'” he later said. Mike Reno, the band’s vocalist, suggested they change the title to “Working for the Weekend”. According to Dean, he first began writing the song in a hotel room following a Montreal concert. At the time, the band were still playing bars to little response from patrons. After completing the song, they used it to open one set, and Dean recalled that “the dance floor was packed”.
The video had a life of it’s own on MTV. Loverboy lead singer Mike Reno tells about the filming of this video: “We would play the song over and over again, and we’d bounce around like we normally did. Here’s what I thought was kind of interesting: The director would say, ‘OK, we’re going to shoot another song, now go get changed.’ ‘What do you mean?’ ‘You have to put on a whole new outfit, and we’re going to change the lighting a bit.’ But it was the same stage! So basically, we just had to get some other clothes, fix your hair, take a break, and then jump back on stage and do the same thing over and over again. I really felt like I was being abused a bit, but that’s the nature of the beast.”
On October 27, 1990, Patrick Swayze hosted Saturday Night Live. It was on that show that the famous Chippendale’s Audition sketch debuted. It featured Chris Farley and Swayze auditioning for the final spot in the Chippendale line up. Their audition was done to this song.
Working for the Weekend
“Shake It Up,” was the title track of The Cars’ fourth album. It is hard not to want to dance when you hear it. Some call it a “tailor-made party song.”
It was written by Cars’ frontman Ric Ocasek. It really is an odd song for Ric in that it’s very straightforward, simply encouraging us all to get on the dance floor and boogie like nobody’s watching. Ocasek’s songs were generally far more enigmatic. Years later, Ocasek dismissed the song’s lyrics, saying, “I’m not proud of the lyrics to ‘Shake It Up.'”
This song has some throwback elements, like the “ooo ooo ooo” backing vocals and references to a “quirky jerk” and “night cats” – lingo that was hep in the ’60s when songs about dancing were in vogue. At the same time, “Shake It Up” as a futuristic sound, with synthesizers and drum machines that were part of the new wave.
It was released as the lead single from the album. “Shake It Up” was a big American hit for The Cars, getting them into the Top 10 for the first time as the song reached #4. The song was such a departure from what fans expected that some accused the band of “selling out.” The band, however, insisted they were simply progressing and growing (one point in their defense: they continued to live in Boston instead of relocating to New York or Los Angeles). The jabs came mostly from the UK, where the band got lots of positive press early on but faced the wrath of a finicky press when they released this song about dancing.
Fun Fact: Guitarist Elliot Easton said he wanted his solo to sound like “two guys trading off”. He first plays a Fender Telecaster, in a style skewing country, then midway through the solo switches to a Gibson guitar for a heavier rock sound.
Shake It Up
Finally, a song that has yet another Michigan connection. When Styx was preparing their tenth album, Paradise Theater, guitarist Tommy Shaw, says he was asked to write one more song for the album, which followed the theme of a concert hall rising to prominence and then crumbling. Shaw liked the concept, but was having trouble writing songs that fit. So he just wrote one that didn’t follow the theme – “Too Much Time On My Hands.”
Shaw had a long drive to and from the recording studio, and on one trip, the bassline popped into his head: “dun-dun dun-dun dun-dun-dun-dun.” When he arrived, he quickly had the band record what was in his head so he wouldn’t lose it. He found himself calling out chord changes as they played, which laid the groundwork for the track.
When it came to the lyrics, he drew inspiration from a real bar in Niles, Michigan, where he was living. “I think officially it was called Mark’s Tavern, but everybody called it Mark’s Bar. It was the local watering hole. The drinks were good, and the drinks were cheap. You could go in there with 20 bucks and be a hero, you know – buying rounds of drinks. And you’d always run into somebody you knew in there. That was the basis of the song.”
The song was released in the spring of 1981 and reached its US chart of #9 in May. In August, MTV went on the air, which gave the song new life, since the video was one of the few the network had available from an American rock band, and they played constantly.
Too Much Time On My Hands
Looking back over the list of songs released in 1981, there are so many worth mentioning. Did I miss one of yours?
As I start looking at each year and jotting songs, I have gone from 2 pages to 3 pages of songs to chose from. These 80’s years are probably going to be the toughest to narrow down for me.
Next week, we’ll jump into 1982 and see what 12 year old Keith was liking ….
Thanks for reading!
(Most info was gathered using sources like Wiki, songfacts.com, and artist websites)
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. I turned 8 years old in ’78 and much like in ’77, there is an interesting mix of tunes.
In January of 1978, Kansas released a song that was what Steve Walsh said, “defies the basic formulas that most (rock) groups try to follow,” and it paid off in spades! Dust in the Wind has one of the greatest guitar intros! The story of how it came to be is fantastic.
Kerry Livgren devised what would be the guitar line for “Dust in the Wind” as a finger exercise for learning “fingerpicking.” His wife, Vicci, heard what he was doing, remarked that the melody was nice, and encouraged him to write lyrics for it. Livgren was unsure whether his fellow band members would like it, after all, it was a departure from their signature style. After Kansas had rehearsed all the songs intended for the band’s recording sessions of June and July 1976, Livgren played “Dust in the Wind” for his bandmates, who after a moment’s “stunned silence” asked: “Kerry, where has this been? That is our next single!”
Dust in the Wind
In February of 1978, a song that will forever be associated with a geriatric sitcom was released. Even though Andrew Gold’s version was not the version used as the Theme to the Golden Girls, the song was (A jingle singer named Cynthia Fee sang the TV version). It is one of my ten picks because there are so many female friends that love the show. My wife is a big fan of the show as well, so here it is.
Andrew Gold says that the song was “just this little throwaway thing” that took him “about an hour to write.” Writing is was obviously a breeze, however, recording it was a different story. They recorded 40 different takes of the song, finally releasing take number 40!
If you listen closely, you can hear sleigh bells in the instrumentation of the song.
Thank You For Being a Friend
In March of 1978, the great Warren Zevon released what some call a Halloween classic, even though it was intended to inspire a dance craze. Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers had seen the 1935 film, Werewolf of London on TV and joked to Zevon that he should adapt the title for a song and new dance. He played with the idea with his band members, who wrote the song together in about 15 minutes, all contributing lyrics that were transcribed by Zevon’s wife Crystal. However, none of them took the song seriously.
The song had been written long before it was recorded. It finally appeared on Warren’s third album, Excitable Boy, which was produced by Jackson Browne (who had already been performing the song at shows.) Although 59 takes were recorded, Browne and Zevon selected the second take for the final mix. The record label really pushed for Werewolves to be a single, but Zevon liked a couple other songs. The label released it and it became Warren’s only top 40 hit.
Werewolves of London
Three of my picks from 1978, all were released in my birthday month of May. The first one is by a group that was lucky enough to get a radio station to play a demo of one of their songs on air – and have it lead to a record deal. As a former radio guy, let me tell you, that just does not happen! It did, however, for the Cars.
Just What I Needed was written by Ric Ocasek. The band recorded a two track demo of the song and My Best Friend’s Girl. In Boston, in 1977, DJ Maxanne Sartori, who was given the tapes of these songs by Ocasek, recalled, “I began playing the demos of ‘Just What I Needed’ and ‘My Best Friend’s Girl’ in March during my weekday slot, from 2 to 6 p.m. Calls poured in with positive comments.” With a song on the radio in a major market, The Cars were a surefire success and had their pick of record labels. They went with Elektra, who had them re-record the song and released it as their first single.
Benjamin Orr sang lead on the song and it was a top 30 hit for the band.
Just What I Needed
The next May release is a song that will always remind me of shooting pool with my best friend, Jeff. He always picked songs for the jukebox and Life’s Been Good by Joe Walsh was always a pick. We always laughed at the lyrics. Even Walsh says the song was meant to be a humorous look at fame and fortune.
In a 1981 interview with the BBC, Walsh explained: “I wanted to make a statement involving satire and humor, kind of poking fun at the incredibly silly lifestyle that someone in my position is faced with – in other words, I do have a really nice house, but I’m on the road so much that when I come home from a tour, it’s really hard to feel that I even live here. It’s not necessarily me, I think it paraphrases anyone in my position, and I think that’s why a lot of people related to it, but basically, that’s the story of any rock star – I say that humbly – anyone in my position. I thought that was a valid statement, because it is a strange lifestyle – I’ve been around the world in concerts, and people say ‘What was Japan like?’, but I don’t know. It’s got a nice airport, you know… so it was kind of an overall statement.”
The song first appeared on the soundtrack to the movie FM and later on Walsh’s But Seriously, Folks album. The album version is over 8 minutes long, but the radio single clocked in at about 4 and a half minutes. Made after Walsh had joined the Eagles, “Life’s Been Good” was incorporated into that group’s concert repertoire, appearing in shows at the time as well as reunion tours.
Life’s Been Good
The last May 1978 song on my list was one that three years later would hit me a bit more personally – not because of the content of the song, but because of the title. Only the Good Die Young was a top 30 hit for Billy Joel, and as controversial as it was, the attempts to censor the song (or have it banned from radio) only helped it to gain spins and popularity.
Virginia, as mentioned in the first line is a real person. Virginia Callaghan was a girl Billy had a crush on when he first started playing in a band. She didn’t even know he existed until she saw him at a gig, but 13 years later he used her as the main character in this song about a Catholic girl who won’t have premarital sex. In a 2008 interview, Joel also pointed out one part of the lyrics that virtually all the song’s critics missed – the boy in the song failed to get anywhere with the girl, and she kept her chastity.
In 2023, Joel said of the song “It’s occurred to me recently that I’m trying to talk some poor innocent woman into losing her virginity because of my lust. It’s kind of a selfish song – like, who cares what happens to you? What about what I want?… But on the other hand, it was of its time.
In 1981, my grandfather died suddenly of a heart attack. He was only 58. It was the first time I ever experienced death. At the funeral, I would hear people saying nice thing about him, and I often heard, “He was too young,” or “He was a good man.” Yes, he was, and only the good die young …
Only the Good Die Young
Earlier I mentioned how Dust in the Wind was a totally different sound for Kansas, and my next song also was very different for the artist who recorded it. The Commodores were really known for being a funk band, but when Lionel Richie brought them Three Times a Lady, they knew it was going to be a hit.
This was a breakthrough song for the Commodores and for Lionel Richie as a songwriter. It crossed over to pop, easy listening and even country formats, setting the stage for further Commodores hits and Richie’s massive solo success. In a Blues & Soul interview, Richie said: “The song has given me so much personal satisfaction. I think it is every songwriter’s dream to be totally accepted. And from the masses of awards that the song has won, it seems that the whole world really does love that song. It’s a great feeling.”
It entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart on June 18, 1978, at number 73. Eight weeks later, it reached number 1, where it remained for two weeks. It became the Commodores first number one on this chart.
There are two reasons I have this on my list. First, it was one of those songs that was on my mother’s famous red 8-track tape. Lastly, it always reminds me of the first time I saw Eddie Murphy on SNL. He was doing a phony commercial for an album called “Buckwheat Sings” as Buckwheat from the Little Rascals. “Unce. Tice. Fee Tines a Mady!”
Three Times a Lady
For readers of this blog, you know that I have blogged about Willie Nelson’s Stardust album many times. Making a long story short, my grandparent’s place didn’t have a TV at first, so we listened to the radio and two cassette tapes. One of those was Stardust.
In July of 1978, released the song Blue Skies from that album. The song was written by Irving Berlin way back in 1926 and has been covered by many great singers. Those singers include Bobby Darin, Al Jolson, Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, Johnny Rivers and the great Ella Fitzgerald. Willie Nelson took the song to the top of the Billboard Country Chart and crossed over to the Adult Contemporary chart, too (where it peaked at 32).
Blue Skies
In October of 1978, a group of guys released a song that would go on to be named the 7th Greatest Dance Song of the 20th Century by VH1. It is a song that was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2020 and was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Believe it or not, that song was Y.M.C.A. by the Village People.
There is only one reason why it is on my Music of My Life list. If I had a dollar for every time I have played this at a wedding or DJ event, I could probably retire! I am probably on about 100 Facebook pages where videos of me, a groom and his groomsmen are dressed up as the Village People leading the crowd in the dance. It is totally ridiculous, but true.
The song went to number one in countries all over the world, but it only reached number 2 here in the US. It continues to be played at parties and sporting events throughout the world.
Y. M. C. A.
I certainly do not want to wrap the year on that song, so instead, I will end with another party classic. I’ll also end with a “feel good song.” How can you NOT love September by Earth, Wind and Fire? The song has a tendency to make people happy when they hear it. Allee Willis, who wrote the song with Maurice White and Al McKay from Earth, Wind & Fire, describes it as “Joyful Music.”
Every year, on September 21st, you will hear this song all over the radio! There are many theories as to the significance of the “21st night of September” in the opening lyrics, and until 2018, even the song’s co-writer was in the dark – Maurice White told her it had no real significance and was chosen because it sang well phonetically. White died in 2016; two years later, Willis was having lunch with his widow, Marilyn, who told her that September 21 was the due date for their son, Kahbran, and that Maurice put that specific date into the song as a secret message. Kahbran ended up being born early on August 1, which definitely wouldn’t have the same ring to it as a lyric.
Although many people hear the first words in the chorus as “Party On,” it’s really “Bah-dee-Ya.” Allee Willis explained in a Songfacts interview: “I absolutely could not deal with lyrics that were nonsensical, or lines that weren’t complete sentences. And I’m exceedingly happy that I lost that attitude. I went, ‘You cannot leave bada-ya in the chorus, that has to mean something.’ Maurice said, ‘No, that feels great. That’s what people are going to remember. We’re leaving it.’ We did try other stuff, and it always sounded clunky – thank God.” She went on to say, “The main lesson I learned from Earth, Wind & Fire, especially Maurice White, was never let a lyric get in the way of a groove,” she added. “Ultimately it’s the feel that is the most important, and someone will feel what you’re saying if those words fit in there right.”
The first appearance of the song was on The Best of Earth, Wind and Fire – Volume 1. It is a great groove that still fills the dance floor!
Next week, we’ll take a look at the final year of the 70’s. 1979 promises to be a good mixture of genres and will feature one of my first television heroes, who starred in a couple TV shows, many movies, and is still popular today.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 