Every year around November 1st, the “Defrosting of Mariah Carey” memes start to post on social media. It’s become quite the joke. Back in the day, Bing Crosby was the “King of Christmas.” I suppose that title today would go to Michael Buble’. However, the undisputed “Queen of Christmas” has got to be Mariah Carey.
Say what you want about her Christmas music, but the numbers don’t lie. Mariah hit a milestone record this week. According to Billboard Mariah’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-tying 19th total week atop the chart. It matches the reigns of two hits that led over one release cycle each — Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” in 2024, and Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, in 2019 — for the longest command over the chart’s 67-year history.
The song was originally released in 1994 on her “Merry Christmas” album. It hit the Top Ten in 2017, went Top Five in 2018 and since 2019 it has hit number one every year. It was number one for for three weeks, two weeks in 2020, three weeks in 2021, four weeks in 2022, two weeks in 2023 and four weeks in 2024. This week it hit number one again which makes Carey the first artist to have ranked at No. 1 on the chart in four distinct decades (1990s, 2000s, ‘10s and ‘20s)!
In 2021, Mariah said, “When I wrote [it], I had absolutely no idea the impact the song would eventually have worldwide. I’m so full of gratitude that so many people enjoy it with me every year.”
Now up to 19 weeks, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” extends its mark as the holiday song with the most time logged atop the Hot 100, among three Yuletide No. 1s. “The Chipmunk Song,” by the Chipmunks with David Seville, led for four weeks beginning in December 1958, followed by Brenda Lee’s three weeks in the 2023 holiday season with “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”
Who knows, maybe she’ll achieve a new record 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 1995 a new form of media was invented – The DVD. 1995 was also the year I hit the quarter century mark, turning 25.
30 years ago this month, in 1994, my partner, Rob, and I lost our jobs at Honey Radio. We searched for other radio work, but no one was looking for a morning team. I kept searching and eventually found some part time radio work. I also ventured out and began to host Karaoke at a few places every now and then.
My full time gig was working in the mail room at EDS. I spent a lot of time in the car and listened to a lot of radio. Many of these songs accompanied me on my deliveries.
After seven years of touring and three previous albums, Blues Traveler finally broke through with the song Run-Around. John Popper had a crush on the band’s original bass player Felicia Lewis. She was actually classically trained as a violinist. She was just playing bass for fun.
Guitar player Chan Kinchla says that Felicia was a great student and eventually became a doctor. “Her calling was medicine, not music” . When Bobby Sheehan was ready to take over on bass, Felicia stepped aside. Kinchla says, “It’s a very amicable situation. John always had kind of a crush on her, but they were friends, as well. So that song’s from that whole affair. They’re still very close. It’s just an unrequited love song.”
The song won a Grammy for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal in 1995.
John Hopper could really blow the harp! His harmonica stuff is just fantastic. It is hard to to hear this one and not feel happy. I often found myself having to set the cruise control, as this one often made me want to drive fast.
If you are a fan of the Wizard of Oz, you’ll appreciate the nod to the classic film in the video.
Run-Around
Until researching for this blog, I had no idea the story behind the next song. I Believe was a top ten record for Blessid Union of Souls. The song is about the power of love and the belief that it can impact life for the better. It is a powerful message.
The song came about because of the end of a relationship. Eliot Sloan recalls writing this song after his girlfriend’s father coerced her into breaking up with him. Many sources say that it was because of his race. Her dad went as far as threatening to cut off her college tuition, if she didn’t leave him.
They did break up, but she obviously meant a lot to him. He placed a message in the liner notes of the Home album. It says, “Lisa, give me a call sometime just to say hello, my number is still the same.”
Sloan says, “I always tell people, and it’s the truth, ‘I Believe’ was written in the middle of the night at about three in the morning. I always used to live in downtown Cincinnati, a really cool spiral staircase up to my bedroom, which kind of ended up as my studio. I kept a piano there that my mother got me when I was nine. In the middle of the night I was hearing the melody and I thought, ‘this is pretty.’ I just had to get up and play it.”
That piano line is really beautiful, and I love the way it intermingles with the strings. I love the message, too:
‘Cause I believe, that love is the answer I believe, love will find the way
I Believe
There are many stories about how Better Than Ezra came up with their name. As far as I can tell, they’ve never really said. The one that I love is that they were playing at some event that featured many bands. The story goes that they followed a band called Ezra, and when asked what their name was they said, “Better Than Ezra.” I hope that is the real story, because I think that is hilarious!
We just heard I Believe about a break up. Better Than Ezra’s, Good, looks at a break up in a different way. As a matter of fact, I tend to look at my past break ups like this.
BTE’s Kevin Griffin wrote the song. In an interview with songfacts.com he said:
“I wanted to talk about the positive things that come from the end of a relationship. There’s always the hurt feelings and everyone’s guarded and it can be traumatic, but when the dust settles, it was about looking at the good things – no pun intended – that you got from that relationship. How did you grow? What did you learn emotionally? And to experience some stuff. And in this case it was just kind of reflecting on how this person changed.“
That isn’t always easy to do. I have to remind myself, for example, that while things with my ex-wife weren’t great, I have two amazing sons from that relationship.
As much as I heard this song, I find it hard to believe that it only reached #30 on the charts.
Good
A new Beatles song in 1995?! How can that even happen!? John Lennon had been dead for 15 years by then. Believe it or not, you can thank Yoko Ono for it. Yoko agreed to release a demo tape of John’s to the other Beatles the day after he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1994 the three remaining Beatles recorded around his demo track to complete the song Free As a Bird. It was released as a single in 1995. Before their breakup, The Beatles won just four Grammy Awards. They picked up three more in 1997 when “Free As A Bird” won for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal and Best Music Video, Short Form.
It was Jeff Lynne of ELO who would produce the single. He The Daily Mail that of all the songs he’s produced, “Free as a Bird” is the one he’s most proud of. “I just had to improvise and come up with a few things to make it work,” Lynne recalled. “I did it late at night, 3 a.m. in the studio, just me and the engineer, because I didn’t want to do it in front of Paul and George. But I came in the next day and Paul gave me a hug and he said, ‘You’ve done it, well done!'”
My first records were Beatles songs. So it was so neat to hear all four of them together again for the first time in years!
Free As A Bird
Next is another song that I heard a lot while driving. It stood out for a few reasons. First, it was uptempo. I seem to remember a lot of ballads being played at the time. Driving while tired, uptempo is always good!
Second, it was short. It was very rare to have any song be under 3 and a half minutes on the radio. Many of them were 4 and 5 minutes. This one clocks in at just under 2 and a half minutes.
Finally, it reminds me of Run-Around by Blues Traveler. Ok, maybe it was Blues Traveler that reminds me of this one. I really don’t know.
The first time I saw the video, I laughed out loud. In it the guys from Del Amitri are being wheeled about in strollers by beautiful women. The band members’ heads were superimposed (badly) on the babies to create the effect.
Roll To Me
When I worked at W4 Country in Detroit, they used to host a huge summer festival. It was downtown in Hart Plaza and all kinds of country artists came to play. It was called the Downtown Hoedown. At this time in my career, I had really never done a lot of backstage stuff.
Looking back now, I could kick myself. So many of the singers were just walking around backstage and in the area that was reserved for our staff. I took my ex wife with me and we were just sitting at a table drinking water. This guy walked by with a cowboy hat on and he looked familiar. I couldn’t place him to save my life.
As he walked by, he nodded and said hello to us. I didn’t know if it was an artist, a manager, a roadie, or someone else. We said hello and he continued walking. What was weird was that as he approached us, he kind of slowed down like he expected us to start chatting him up. I know now that this was David Lee Murphy.
Dust on the Bottle was a big hit for him, but it almost didn’t make his album. He tells the story:
“I had the idea for that song, but I hadn’t ever done anything with it. I just remember being at my house the second day [of recording]. We started recording on Monday, and Tuesday morning, I was drinking coffee at my kitchen table. I started playing the opening chords on my guitar for ‘Dust on the Bottle.’ It just came out of nowhere. The song just fell out in like 15 minutes.
I called Tony Brown, who was producing my record, and I told him, ‘Man, I just wrote this new song!'” Murphy continued. “We had all the songs picked out already for the album. He told me to bring it in and play it for him that day. When he heard the song, he said, ‘Man, we’ve got to cut this.’ So we cut it, and what’s on the record is the first take of the song. A lot of the vocals on it were the first time I sang it. It was really a special song, and it still is to this day.”
Dust On The Bottle
I will apologize for the next song right now. I had to include it because it was such a big song when I was DJing. In the US, the Macarena was the biggest dance craze of the 1990s. It was played at weddings, office parties, cruise ships, and just about anywhere there was dancing. Like the earlier dance craze, the “Electric Slide,” it was easy to learn and was done in a group. This made it perfect for Americans who lacked rhythm. It would spawn other dance crazes in the years ahead.
The song was one that had many “mixes.” The meaning of the song changes depending on what mix you are listening to. In the original version, Macarena is upset because her boyfriend, Vitorino, has joined the army. She retaliates by going out on the town and carousing with other men. In the Bayside Boys mix, Macarena gets mad at her boyfriend and goes out to shake it while he’s out of town. In this version, she seems to be more promiscuous. The Bayside Boys also made it a first-person account, with the lyrics being the voice of Macarena.
Macarena
I never cared for the song that much, however two years later, there was a country mix. It sounded ridiculous. I went out and bought one of those hillbilly hats with the feather on it and a corn cob pipe. I would get out and dance with it on. It only made it more silly.
The next song was one that got played a lot on the radio with dedications to someone who passed away. It was played at weddings in remembrance of a loved one, too. When my mom passed away, this was another of those songs that made me think of her.
Mariah Carey wrote One Sweet Day with Boyz II Men. She said she wrote a song that was identical to a song Boyz II Men had written, so they combined the two.
Mariah was in the middle of writing the poignant ballad with her longtime collaborator Walter Afanasieff when she had the idea to bring in the R&B group.“I just thought the chorus was crying out for the vocals that they do,” she recalled in a 1999 interview. “We contacted them, we went through all the channels, this and that, and we finally got together, sang them the song and Nate had written a song that was basically identical to my song in the theme and melodically – he could actually sing it over my song and it was really bizarro, it was like fate, so we put the two songs together and came up with ‘One Sweet Day.'”
This was #1 on the US Billboard charts for 16 weeks! That is longer than any other song up to that time. It held that record until 2019 when Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road was #1 for 17 weeks.
One Sweet Day
Despite being a 1995 release, Give Me One Reason was a song that Tracy Chapman had been performing since 1988. She also performed it on a 1989 episode of Saturday Night Live.
The song would wind up on her fourth studio album, New Beginnings in 1995. In 2005, she said “This is autobiographical,” before performing the song. “I left it on someone’s answering machine, and it worked. I wrote it late one night hanging out with my dog, a mini dachshund.”
The song would be her first hit since 1988’s Fast Car. The charts had changed a bit in 1995. Songfacts.com explains: The mid-’90s were a tougher time for female singer-songwriters with stories to tell, but Melissa Etheridge, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow and Jewel all got their piece of the pie even as the airwaves were dominated by R&B and dance singers, mostly guys. “Give Me One Reason” fell into this bucket, skewing to an older audience averse to hip-hop and modern rock.
I love this song because of the bluesy feel to it. That opening guitar lick and her voice are just so good!
Gimme One Reason
My final pick for 1995 comes from a gang member. Yes, you read that right. Lead singer Pauly Fuemana was a gang member in Auckland, New Zealand before achieving pop immortality with this song. He received his musical training in a New Zealand juvenile prison.
How Bizarre by OMC reached #1 in eight different countries, the first of which was New Zealand in early 1996. Others include Australia, Canada, and the US (on the Mainstream Top 40 chart). What is Bizarre is that it never entered the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Why? It was released as a radio-only promo single. Therefore it was ineligible to chart on the Hot 100 according to rules in place at the time.
According to songfacts.com: OMC stands for Otara Millionaires Club, after the neighborhood in Auckland where Fuemana grew up. It’s a somewhat fanciful name, as the Auckland suburb of Otara is a ghetto/slum.
This was another one of those songs I would hear driving at work. Many of the drivers would come in to the mail room and if something unexpected happened they’d say “How Bizarre!” Some of my ex wife’s sisters would also say this a lot, but usually they’d say, “How Bizzaaaah.”
The song has a fun sound to it and it brings back some great memories.
How Bizarre
So that’s all for 1995. Did I miss one of your favorites? Let me know in the comments.
Next week, we move forward to 1996. My list includes movie music, a cover song or two, a couple artists I have had the chance to hang out with, and a few I’d like to hang out with. It also includes a song that was given to me by a girlfriend to express how she felt about us. Was it good or bad? Tune in 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 1993, I turned 23 and was still coping with the fact that my girlfriend had broken up with me. It wasn’t until a year later that I began going out with a buddy and hitting the Karaoke bars. It was while we sat and waited for our turn to sing that I heard many songs that were new to me. The first was by Expose.
Expose had success with dance/pop music. When they crossed over and had a #1 song with Seasons Change, they decided to go in a different direction. Their focus was shifted to more mature audiences. The label picked some great songs for their third album, including the Diane Warren song “I’ll Never Get Over You Getting Over Me.”
When one of the gals we hung out with at Karaoke got up and sang this, I watched the words on the screen. The heartache was still pretty fresh and it actually choked me up. It was the break up that I really never saw coming and the fact that she moved on so quickly rubbed salt in my wound.
Today, I appreciate the song for the powerful lyrics, the beautiful arrangement, and the lovely vocals.
I’ll Never Get Over You Getting Over Me
Elvis Presley recorded two songs called “Trouble”. The first was back in 1958. The second was in 1975, but that time he spelled it out. The latter was written by Jerry Chesnut. Travis Tritt covered it on his third album and it was the title track.
Tritt’s version went to #13 on the charts and got some positive reviews. Geoffrey Himes, of Billboard magazine, reviewed the song favorably, saying that Tritt transforms it with “boogie-woogie piano, slide guitar and super-fast tempo into a bar romp reminiscent of (the band) Little Feat.”
Not to diss on Elvis, but Tritt’s version is superior.
T-R-O-U-B-L-E
I’m not the biggest Rod Stewart fan. I can’t give you a reason for that. However, there are a few songs that I feel he does a really good job with. One example of this is from his 1993 Unplugged performance – Have I Told You Lately.
The song was originally done by Van Morrison. According to songfacts.com, the song is widely considered to be about Van Morrison’s relationship with God and religious convictions. Although we’ve never heard him speak specifically about the song, he does acknowledge a spiritual element in his music.
In 1993, during his Unplugged show, Rod dedicates the song to his wife Rachel Hunter (They divorced in 1999). You can really hear the emotion as he sings this, and when you watch the video, those emotions are more apparent.
The song was a huge hit, reaching #5 in both the US and the UK. It remains one of the most popular bridal dance songs.
Have I Told You Lately
Every once in a while, there a song that just pops out of the radio at me. That was the case for Every Little Thing by Carlene Carter. From the opening guitar strums and the drum that kicks into the beat, I was hooked.
Carlene is the daughter of June Carter Cash and her first husband Cal Smith. I’d never heard of her prior to this song, but she’d been recording and writing for some time. As a matter of fact, the album Little Love Letters was actually her seventh album!
To me, this was one of those songs that just made me feel good. It’s happy. It’s uptempo. It’s about a gal who loves her man so much everything reminds her of him. Isn’t that what we all want? Someone who loves us like that?
Every Little Thing
The next song was another one that hit me in the emotional gut. The song could be taken a few ways I suppose. I think you can look at a variety of situations and wonder, “What Might Have Been”. Our lives are full of “What ifs” and such.
When I heard this song, I thought about my ex girlfriend and wondered what our lives would be like if we had stayed together. Depression makes you dive deep into those hurtful thoughts. In hindsight now, I am glad to be where I am and realize that things happened the way they did to get me where I am today. At the time, though, this one ripped me apart.
It’s a truly beautiful song by Little Texas.
What Might Have Been
The early 90’s was a great time for dance music. There were some really awesome songs that kept folks out on the dance floor. As opposed to years later, I never really had to struggle to find a good follow up song back then.
One of my go-to songs was from the German group Real McCoy. The group was a dance trio formed in Berlin in 1993. They were made up of 2 female dance singers and a male rapper. This quickly became a huge hit in European dance clubs, and hit #2 UK. It went to #3 in the US.
It featured a good beat and the signature 90’s synthesizer. The song caught the attention of Clive Davis, who worked a deal with the band and the song took off!
Another Night
The next song was written before the band who sang it was ever created. Blind Melon’s bass player, Brad Smith, was not exactly feeling great. That’s when he wrote No Rain. He says, “The song is about not being able to get out of bed and find excuses to face the day when you have really, in a way, nothing.”
At the time, Brad was dating a girl who was going through depression (she would sleep through sunny days and complain when it didn’t rain), and for a while he told himself that he was writing the song from her perspective. He later realized that he was also writing about it himself.
He once said, “A lot of my songs come from a darker place. And if you just met me walking down the street, you’d say, ‘Oh, you’re such a happy guy, Brad. Why the dark songs?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’ For me, it just has more meaning if you can get inside someone’s soul and identify with them on a heavier level and try to connect with them on that level. Because when you’re sad and you’re down, you’re the most vulnerable, and you feel the most alone.”
This is one of those songs where I really got lost in the lyrics. I felt like there was something more to them, and I couldn’t figure it out.
No Rain
The next one is another one of those songs I heard at the karaoke bar. Sadly, many of the people who tried to sing it were awful!
Linda Perry, the front woman for 4 Non Blondes, said, “There are times when we just need to take a deep breath and scream from the top of our lungs, ‘What’s going on!?'” On a podcast, she said that was the way she felt when she wrote the very cathartic song, “What’s Up”. “It’s like, ‘Why does it always seem like either I’m struggling, or there’s some f–king political mess happening? Why is this all happening in the world?'”
Fun fact: After the “And I scream at the top of my lungs, what’s going on?” line in the chorus, Linda Perry sings, “Hey hey hey hey…” She put this part in as filler, planning to insert lyrics, but the song sounded so good that way she left it in.
The song is sort of an anthem I suppose. I tend to agree with Linda. There are plenty of times where I wonder exactly what’s going on ….
What’s Up
The next one reminds me of my former sister-in-law. She always made me laugh and there are plenty of songs that make me think of her. This one is no exception. She loved Jim Carrey and this song was featured on the soundtrack. It is Boom-Shack-A-Lak by Apache Indian.
I can’t recite any of the lyrics except the chorus. and all I know is that it had a bouncy feel to it and was loaded with wacky sound effects. It is actually kind of silly.
Larry Flick of Billboard magazine described the song as “a wacky blend of guttural toasting and retro-pop shuffle beats.” He felt that “the hook has the potential to take up permanent residence in your brain, while the fun array of sound effects are sure to get those shoulders shakin’ out of control.” He also encouraged, “Seek it out and give it a whirl.”
I can hear my former sister-in-law laughing at this as I type…
Boom-Shack-A-Lak
The final song for this week is one that really didn’t mean much to me in 1993, but it sure did in 1999. When my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, there was a lot of uncertainty. I recall many times wondering about how long she was going to be around. She was in and out of remission so many times.
When I got engaged to my ex wife, there was a lot of talk about whether or not she’d make it to see us get married. Her battle was a long one and she struggled so much with the chemo and radiation. It was through this time that I realized just how strong she was!
She would battle that disease and fight like no one’s business. So when it came time to choose a song to dance with my mom for the mother/son song, I thought long and hard about it. With every passing day, I realized just how much of a hero my mom was to me. She was stronger than I could have ever imagined. So, I chose Mariah Carey’s Hero.
I remember walking out to the dance floor and meeting her there. I remember her telling me how much she loved me and how handsome I looked. I told her how amazing she was and how much I loved her. We both shed tears and it is four minutes of my life that I wish I could revisit every day. I miss her terribly.
Hero
So what song from 1993 was your favorite? What did I miss? Drop it in the comments.
Next week, we visit 1994. There are a couple cover songs, but no Elvis covers. There’s a tribute to a Rock and Roll legend. There’s a bit of country and a bit of alternative music. I’ll share a great story about a singer who appreciates the veterans of our country, and feature my favorite “last song of the night” at weddings and parties.
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 1992, I turned 22 and would land a radio gig at WHND, Honey Radio. It was through my old radio partner that I would become all too familiar with karaoke bars. We spent a lot of time pretending to be singers at them. Believe it or not, it was listening to people try to sing that introduced me to many songs. Many of those songs, were ones I normally would have been unfamiliar with.
Let’s jump right into 1992!
The Spin Doctors are often referred to as an alternative band. I tend to think of them as a rock band, though. Two Princes sounds more like a rock song to me. I could easily hear the Stones covering it.
A buddy of mine used to sing this song all the time. From the opening drum kick and guitar lick, I was hooked. The content of the song was influenced by some classic literature. Chris Barron, said:
“I loved The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I was really into fantasy fiction and stuff like that. I wrote that song when I was 19, so I was still coming out of childhood, and as a child I loved wizards and kings and queens and princess and princesses and stuff like that. And I loved Shakespeare – I already was way into Shakespeare. So I gravitated towards that kind of imagery just because I liked books and poems from that period of time.”
Drummer Aaron Comess said that the song was almost a lot faster. “There are certain songs when you find the right tempo, all of a sudden the lyrics come out, it feels right and I think with ‘Two Princes’ we really lucked out. It’s one of those things, we got in the studio, found a good tempo, we recorded it, everything just really came together. It’s very simple, there’s not a lot of stuff on it, somehow the sound and feel we got, we just lucked out and found the perfect thing.”
Songfacts pointed out that it was songs like this one that were in high demand on radio in 1992-1993. There was an onslaught of hip-hop songs at the time and it was this “sound” that began pushing it back a bit.
Two Princes
Here is another example of how I came to learn of the original because of a parody. I was familiar with the cover of their Nevermind album, but unfamiliar with a lot of their songs. Enter once again, Weird Al.
When Al first heard Nirvana, he was very impressed but thought they wouldn’t catch on. He was thrilled when “Teen Spirit” became a huge hit, since that made the group a parody target.
Al is famous for asking for permission before doing any type of parody. He got permission from Nirvana’s lead singer Kurt Cobain while he was doing an episode of Saturday Night Live. Kurt initially thought the song would be about food. Instead, it was poking fun at how hard it was to understand their lyrics.
The video is a very close parody of Nirvana’s, and got almost as much airplay. For example, the same janitor used in Nirvana’s video also makes an appearance in Weird Al’s. This time donning a tutu and playing a tuba. Al dresses just as Cobain did, complete with wig. He plays a fake blowup guitar and makes fun of the hard-to-understand lyrics by gargling water and singing with marbles in his mouth.
FYI – Dick Van Patten was not in the Nirvana video.
This song is probably the one that really solidified my opinion of Weird Al as a musical genius!
Smells Like Nirvana
For comparison – the original video:
Ok, I admit that the next song was far from a hit. It only peaked at #92 in the US, however in the UK it hit #27. The original, of course, was a number one hit for Elvis Presley in 1957. Personally, I really like Billy Joel’s version of All Shook Up. I think it should have done better on the charts.
The song is one of many Elvis covers from the soundtrack to Honeymoon in Vegas. The movie starred Nicolas Cage, James Caan, and Sarah Jessica Parker. It also featured a whole lot of Elvis impersonators.
What I love about Billy’s version is that it retains the feel of the original, but there is enough “Billy” to make it his song. When I was DJing, I used to put on a cape, an Elvis Wig, Elvis glasses, and grab some random gal out of the audience and “lip synch” this to her. It was ridiculous, but it always got a laugh from the crowd (along with a lot of photos).
All Shook Up
Next, we have the only song that I will fast dance to. I say this, because I believe there is no real dancing necessary. Songfacts explains this perfectly:
House of Pain’s Jump Around earned relentless airplay on MTV and pop radio, and became a huge crowd pleaser in bars and dance clubs. It was great for getting people on the dance floor, as no real dancing is involved – just jumping around.
Exactly. I jump like a fool when this one is on! It’s hard to look bad. It brings the bounce with a steady, throbbing rhythm along with explicit instructions on when to jump. You can’t mess this one up!
Erik “Everlast” Schrody wrote the song. Songfacts explains that the lyrics on this track are very aggressive. It contains lines like “I bust him in the eye, and then I’ll take the punk’s ho.” Everlast was surprised when the song crossed over to a pop audience. He thought it was “too hardcore” to do so. The “pugnacious” lyrics, however, are tempered with comic relief. Listen for lines like “I got more rhymes than there’s cops at a Dunkin’ Donuts shop. ” They make it a lot less threatening.
If the horn flourish that opens this song sounds familiar, it is because it comes from Bob and Earl’s song, “Harlem Shuffle”.
Jump Around
Next a movie song that never made the movie’s soundtrack. In A League of Their Own, Madonna starred with Tom Hanks, Geena Davis and Rosie O’Donnell. The film was based on the true story of an all-women baseball team that was popular during World War II.
The song is about a woman who can’t and let go of her past, with the implication that her present circumstances aren’t so good. The lyrics fit well with the film’s premise, as the now-elderly women reunite and recall their glory days as baseball stars.
To a degree, I can relate to this as I tend to live in my nostalgia and memories, however, my present circumstances are actually good. I find myself thinking of those summers playing ball at our old elementary when I hear this song.
This made me laugh: The video for this song, which shows Madonna singing from the pages of a photo album, bears a strong resemblance to Boy George’s video for his 1987 song “To Be Reborn.” The similarities were not lost on the Culture Club singer, who angrily dubbed it “This Used to Be My Video” in his autobiography.
This Used To Be My Playground
What I love about country music is the honesty of it. There are a handful of songs that I can say really hit home for me. One of them is from Travis Tritt’s third album. For me, I could relate to the lyrics of Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man. After all, I was working on a DJ’s salary!
Truth be told, it doesn’t matter what job you hold, these lyrics hit home. While primarily focusing on the economical injustice to blue collar workers, it fits anyone who struggles financially.
Uncle Sam’s got his hands in my pockets And he helps himself each time he needs a dime
Why’s the rich man busy dancing While the poor man pays the band Oh they’re billing me for killing me Lord have mercy on the working man
The final verse features Tritt’s friends joining in. Listen for Brooks and Dunn, George Jones, Little Texas, Tanya Tucker, T. Graham Brown and Porter Wagoner.
Lord Have Mercy On The Workin’ Man
MTV’s Unplugged had been around since 1989. It featured Joe Walsh, The Cure, Paul McCartney, Sting, and Mariah Carey. Eric Clapton recorded an Unplugged performance at Bray Studios in London. He rearranged many of his classic songs for the acoustic context.
The resulting Unplugged album went on to become the best selling Unplugged album in the U.S. and worldwide with sales of 10 million in the U.S. and 26 million worldwide. He earned six Grammy Awards for the album. He earned Grammys for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Best Rock Male Vocal Performance and Best Rock Song.
I have been a fan of acoustic shows for a long time. I loved when artists came in and played acoustically for us. It is raw and you really feel the song. When I heard the Unplugged version of Layla, I couldn’t get enough of it. I loved the entirely different feel to the song! It was so much more bluesy.
The Unplugged version also helped Eric do his vocal. According to Songfacts, “playing the “Layla” riff while singing is like juggling on a unicycle, so Clapton tries to avoid it. When he does the rock version live, he’ll play the riff until his vocals come in, then let one of his band members take over the riff.” With the slower version, it was a lot easier for him.
Layla (Unplugged)
When it comes to Disney, you cannot deny the amazing songs that have been featured in their films. It is truly hard to picture anyone other than Robin Williams as the Genie in Aladdin. He was just perfect. There were hours of audio that were not used in the film from Robin. If it were ever released to the public, I’d buy it in a heartbeat!
Prior to having children, I was not one to run out and watch a Disney movie. However, knowing that Williams was the Genie in this one, I had to go see it. I was not disappointed.
The Genie’s song, Friend Like Me was written by the amazing composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman. Menken and Ashman didn’t write this with Robin Williams in mind, but the actor would make the number his own. Menken told Entertainment Weekly:
“We didn’t know who was going to play the genie when we wrote the song. We were looking at the character as black, a hipster, and I suggested a Fats Waller, Harlem stride-piano style from the ’40s. When Robin Williams was suggested, my first thought was, ‘Can he sing like Fats Waller?’ Robin learned every note. He was working on Hook at the time, and he would come in after being stuck in a harness all day and sit at the piano and learn. When we went into the studio, we got exactly the Fats Waller performance we wanted, and then everyone said, ‘Okay, but now can we let Robin do his thing?’ He was amazing. That trumpet wah-wah-wah was supposed to be from an instrument, and he made it vocal. He took ahold of the creative process, both on that and ‘Prince Ali’ especially. My God, he went crazy on ‘Prince Ali.’ He was doing the Thanksgiving Day Parade, Arab-style.”
One source says that the song was originally written as a Cab Calloway style big band number. Some elements of this concept remain (for instance, when the Genie scats, in typical Calloway moves), but after Robin Williams was cast it was expanded as a more comedic, pop-culture-filled song.
I miss Robin Williams. He could do comedy and drama and do them both well. This is what makes a great actor, in my opinion. He was truly one of the best ad-libbers and I always loved watching him on late night shows.
When we were picking songs for our alumni band one year, I picked this song for us. Not the best song to march to in a parade, but it was fun to play.
Friend Like Me
I was disappointed in the soundtrack version, as it seems like Robin’s vocals are a bit buried.
I just realized that my list has two Elvis covers on it. Technically, they are both movie songs, too.
When ZZ Top released their Greatest Hits album, they included a remake of Viva Las Vegas. ZZ Top took it up a notch. They took Elvis’ song and modernized it and gave it a real driving rock sound.
I remember my dad bringing home the 12 inch single of it and saying, “Keith, you’ve got to hear this!” He put it on the turntable and there was a downward swishy sound effect followed by Elvis saying, “Y’all still want me to come with ya?” Once the guitars kick in, it just jams!
It’s one of my guilty pleasure songs.
Viva Las Vegas
I had a meeting with a bride and groom once. We were going over songs for their wedding. When I asked them what their wedding song was, they told me “If I Had $1,000,000 by Barenaked Ladies.” I must have looked like an idiot. I thought they were joking. “Barenaked Ladies?! Really?!” I had never heard of them.
I had no idea what to expect when I went searching for the song. I’ve had my share of weird songs to play for the bridal dance, so I was ready for anything. I was finally able to get a copy of it, but it wasn’t easy. The couple enjoyed their dance and the crowd loved every second of it.
Even though it’s one of the group’s most popular songs, it was never a hit single in America. It wasn’t a hit in the UK either. A lot of it was timing: The group didn’t break through outside of their native Canada until their 1998 album Stunt. The song was even re-released in 1996, but didn’t chart then either.
This is a very important song for Barenaked Ladies. They have performed it at nearly every live show since 1988. Frontman Ed Robertson told Songfacts:
“It has become its own thing and people sing along and it represents a time and a place for so many people. It’s oddly a song I don’t get bored of. It brings such joy to the room that it’s hard to not enjoy it.”
He goes on to say, “That song, it was about being in love and being maybe a little bit extravagant but not losing hold of what’s important.” Ultimately it’s just about celebrating your good fortune with someone else, and I think I’ve stayed pretty true to that.”
The song was my introduction to the group. I have come to enjoy many of their future songs, too. Perhaps one or two may show up in the years to come.
If I Had $1,000,000
That’s a wrap on 1992. Did I miss one of your favorites? Drop it in the comments.
Next week, as we head to 1993, a few ballads with a lot of personal meaning to me, a couple fun dance songs, a spelling lesson, and more stories behind the 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.
1991 saw big changes for me. In April, a former coworker called to ask if I wanted a full time radio job at his station. It was a small market on the west side of the state (In Ludington). My girlfriend at the time and I had just had a big argument and I figured “Why not?!”
I was all by myself, in a place where I really only knew one person, at a job that decided to pay less than what I was told when I moved. It was lonely and I struggled a lot. The day I turned 21, I went to the store to buy beer and they never even carded me!
That summer would be one of my favorite summers. Michigan’s West side is just beautiful. I had never seen sunsets like those before! They were breathtaking.
Musically, there were some powerful tunes released in 1991. Some of them wouldn’t play into the events of my life for a few years, but when they did …
The first pick from ’91 is a song that I have found people either love or hate. I’m not sure why. Personally, I love the guitar sound and the harmonies in it, and I love the lyrics.
More Than Words is a song that was written by Gary Cherone and Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme. Nuno says, “The word ‘love’ itself gets really diluted, so we just wanted to say, ‘It’s not really about saying it,’ because everybody gets really worked up when somebody says that to each other. They say, ‘I love you,’ and everybody goes, ‘Oh my God! It must be serious. It must be heavy.’ It’s like, ‘Eh… it’s easy to say that.’ It’s really about showing it constantly and continuously in a relationship. We knew that was the message.”
The song was a huge hit for them. People who rushed out to buy their albums were quite surprised when they heard that the band primarily played Rock music. The band has called the song “both a blessing and a curse.”
More Than Words
R.E.M. had released the very thought provoking Losing My Religion from their Out of Time album as their first single. Their follow up was a song that could not be more different! That song was Shiny Happy People.
Michael Stipe calls this “A really fruity, kind of bubblegum song.” In an interview with The Quietus, he said that he was a bit embarrassed when it became a big hit, but it’s an important song because it shows a different side of him. Said Stipe:
“Many people’s idea of R.E.M, and me in particular, is very serious, with me being a very serious kind of poet. But I’m also actually quite funny – hey, my bandmates think so, my family thinks so, my boyfriend thinks so, so I must be – but that doesn’t always come through in the music! People have this idea of who I am probably because when I talk on camera, I’m working so hard to articulate my thoughts that I come across as very intense.”
Kate Pierson from the B-52s sang backup. She was in demand for her distinctive vocals after the B-52s achieved mainstream success with Love Shack.
In 1999, R.E.M. performed this on Sesame Street as “Furry Happy Monsters.” Kate Pierson’s part was performed by a Muppet that looked like her, voiced by Stephanie D’Abruzzo, a Muppeteer who was also a huge fan of the band.
Guitarist Peter Buck has two daughters who were big fans of the show. “You just looked around,” he recalled to Mojo in 2016, “going, Man this is a weird way to make a living.”
I had heard the song on the radio but it wasn’t until I was sitting at home watching Sesame Street with my oldest that I gained an appreciation for it.
Shiny Happy People
My next one had been on my iPod for years before the lyrics really hit me. My ex and I were at a point where all we did was argue. It was a very unhappy situation.
It was after an argument that I was in the car and heard Mariah Carey’s “I Don’t Wanna Cry.” Those lyrics were something I could have wrote;
Once again we sit in silence After all is said and done Only emptiness inside us Baby look what we’ve become We can make a million promises But we still won’t change It isn’t right to stay together When we only bring each other pain
It stung, but it was true. The end was upon us.
This was Mariah’s fourth consecutive #1 hit on the Hot 100, making her the first solo artist and female artist in Billboard history to have their first four singles top the chart.
I love her vocal and the guitar work in this one
I Don’t Want to Cry
Long before I stood next to a very drunk Hank Williams Jr at a urinal in Nashville, he had put out an album in ’91 entitled Pure Hank.
One of the singles that was released was If It Will It Will. It’s very easy for us to get caught up in worry, but worry isn’t good for us. Hank’s simple advice is something we should all remember,
“If it will, it will. If it won’t, it won’t.”
The weirdest thing about this song is the video. Right at the beginning, Little Richard shows up. To me, he’s out of place and isn’t utilized very well. Even when he does sing along, you can barely hear him. The song, however, is a favorite. It starts off with a bluesy vocal/introduction and then kicks.
If It Will, It Will
As I compile these lists for each year, I always seem to stumble on one that could be used for another feature. The next song would certainly work for my Movie Music Monday feature. It was a big hit from the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves soundtrack.
(Everything I Do) I Do It For You was written to order for the movie. It was initially written by American film composer Michael Kamen. The middle eight, break, outro and arrangement added by Bryan Adams and producer Mutt Lange. Adams used a line in the movie, “I do it for you…” as the basis for the song, and they had it written in about an hour.
The song didn’t meet with Hollywood approval. The film company wanted the song to have an instrumentation that was in line with the film’s era. Can you imagine the song featuring lutes, mandolins, and the like? The film company eventually relented, but still buried the song midway through the credits. They were obviously unaware of the huge hit they had on their hands.
The reason it made my list is because of an ex-girlfriend. It is not because it was “our song” or anything like that. She asked me if I knew the song. Naturally, I did. It was a big bridal dance song. She told me to listen to it again, but to listen to it as if God was speaking the words (making changes to tense and such).
You can’t tell me it’s (your) not worth dying for You know it’s true Everything I do (did) I do (did) it for you
I had never thought of it that way before. I always remember that conversation when I hear the song.
(Everything I Do) I Do It For You
I love Bonnie Raitt. I love listening to her sing and watching her play. She is blues. She is country. She is pop. She is folk. She is something!
She was no stranger to the music scene. Her first album came out in 1971! She also did some session work. She’s collaborated with artists like John Prine, Jackson Brown, The Pointer Sisters, Warren Zevon and Leon Russell. She finally had some success in 1989 with her award winning album Nick of Time.
The first time I heard Something To Talk About on the radio, it stuck out to me. It was so different. As a blues fan, I could hear that blues influence and I feel in love with the song. The song would go on to be her biggest chart hit in the United States, rising to #5.
She was never a singles act, but after her four Grammy wins for the album Nick Of Time, her songs started getting radio play. With radio play, they began showing up on the chart. “Something to Talk About” was the lead single to her next album, Luck of the Draw. Because of her prior success, the song was highly anticipated and radio jumped on it. The song won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Bonnie beat out Oleta Adams, Mariah Carey, Amy Grant and Whitney Houston.
Sadly, it is also a karaoke favorite that is destroyed by many a “wanna be” singer in pubs everywhere! I’ll take the original, thank you.
Something To Talk About
The next song is on the list not because of the content, but the title. “Things That Make You Go Hmmm” became a sort of catch phrase. Arsenio Hall used it on his show all the time. I still hear people using it today!
C+C Music Factory was a dance floor staple when I was DJing. “Gonna Make You Sweat” is still one that I hear when I go to weddings. “Things That Make You Go Hmmm” was a huge dance song when it came out. It had a cool dance beat and some catchy lyrics.
Songfacts says this:
In the early ’90s, before gangsta rap took hold, rap songs were often lighthearted and clever, telling self-deprecating stories over dance grooves. Examples of this would be “Bust a Move” and “Funky Cold Medina.”
I think that is why that early 90s rap is still popular today. They really were very clever. They were also light on profanity. It isn’t odd to see “MF” and other profane words right in the titles as time goes on. That always made me laugh because how can anyone like a song where 75% of the lyrics are bleeped out? I guess that’s one of those … Things That Make You Go Hmmm….
Things That Make You Go Hmmm
The next song was one that was never released as a single. I became familiar with it after my grandfather passed away in 1994. I was extremely close to my grandpa and was heart broken when he passed. I received Reba McEntire’s For My Broken Heart album from my dear friend Allyson.
We both have birthdays in May and when life wasn’t so complicated, we’d meet for coffee or lunch to celebrate. She gave me this CD as a gift. She mentioned that she knew I was still grieving the death of my grandpa. She told me she thought of me when she heard the song, If I Had Only Known.
Quick background on the album. Reba recorded this album after losing many members of her touring band in an airplane crash. In her liner notes she says the album is “a form of healing for all our broken hearts.”
When I listened to this song for the first time, I thought about my grandpa (as Allyson had suggested). It moved me to tears. A decade later, I would hear it and think of my mom, too.
The lesson of the song? If we were aware that we were experiencing the “last” of something, we’d live life a bit differently.
If I Had Only Known
I always love to hear stories about how a song almost didn’t happen. That was the case for I Can’t Dance by Genesis. It came from a mix of a Jam session and writing session.
The lyrics are made up of bits that Phil Collins improvised in the studio. When they started working on it, they decided to just write spontaneously to keep from over-thinking it. Mike Rutherford first created the main riff of the song he called “Heavy A Flat.” Which led Phil to suddenly improvise the basic concept for “I Can’t Dance”. The riff was actually inspired by a Levi Strauss & Co. television commercial.
Originally, the band did not think of it as anything more than a joke recording that would be discarded quickly. They felt this way because the song was too simple, too bluesy, and unlike Genesis’ style. Tony Banks said, “It was one of those bits you thought was going to go nowhere. It sounded fun but wasn’t really special.”
When Banks decided to add keyboard sound effects to complement Rutherford’s playing, “I Can’t Dance” took on an entirely different feeling. The band came to appreciate the sly humor inherent in the song and chose to not only record it properly, but to put it on the album as a single.
The video created a lasting image thanks to the “silly walk” the three band members did. This walk was something Phil Collins did from time to time. He got the idea for it when he attended drama school and noticed that the worst dancers would always lead with the hand and foot on the same side. The dance has become sort of iconic.
I think that I relate to this song in that I can’t really dance. I sway when slow dancing. Fast dancing? HA! Forget it. I can’t. When I try, I look like Elaine from Seinfeld.
I Can’t Dance
When I was DJing at the local VFW, line dancing was a pretty big thing. There were all kinds of country line dances. At one point I had to make a list so I knew what dances people were doing to certain songs.
“Can you play Moo Moo Land?”
That was what someone came up and asked me one day. Moo Moo Land? What in the world was that!? Naturally, my dad knew it because there was a dance they did to it. It was called “Justified and Ancient” by the KLF and featured Tammy Wynette! What a weird pairing!
But it gets weirder! According to Songfacts:
The title “Justified & Ancient” refers to the KLF’s pseudonym and earlier incarnation, “The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu” (The JAMs). The JAMs took their name from Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson’s sci-fi tinged, conspiracy theory-laden Illuminatus! Book series in which The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu are a fictional subversive cult who have been around since pre-history. The song lyrics describe the Justified Ancients making their way to Mu Mu Land in an ice cream van.
Huh?!
Even Tammy was unsure about it. She originally thought the song was called “Justified and ANXIOUS.” She said, “As it was, I didn’t understand what some of the words meant. I know about ice cream vans, but I’d never heard of a 99 before,” she added. “Bill explained it to me and now it makes perfectly good sense. I’m still not sure about Justified and Ancient though.” (A 99 is an ice cream with a flake in it).
Really, it is a great dance record. It’s neat to hear Tammy Wynette on it and it really revitalized her career.
Justified and Ancient
Last week I threw in that crazy Bingo Boys song at the end of my list. This week, I have to throw in another totally ridiculous song at you. Again, it is one that my best friend Jeff and I laughed about – a lot.
The group 2nu (pronounced “two – new”) was a pop group out of Seattle, Washington. When they first hit the scene, they has yet to come up with a name. A radio DJ said that the band was still too new to have a name, and they decided that worked. They have only released three albums, the first in 1991. What makes them unique (if that is the right word) is that their songs consist of sound effects, rhythmic beats, and a spoken word lyric. Their first single was “This is Ponderous.”
The song is more bizarre than ponderous. My buddy and I used to laugh at the “language the narrator doesn’t understand.”
Feel free to file this in the “What the heck was that?” folder…
This Is Ponderous
And with that silliness, we wrap up 1991. I mentioned that I can’t dance this week. Next week, as we dive into 1992, it contains the only fast song that I will dance to. It is an interesting list. It includes three cover songs, one parody song, three movie songs, a song about a royal feud, a song for the hard workers, and a song for the poor. I think you’ll enjoy it.
Did I forget one one your favorites from 1991? Drop it in the comments. I’d love to see if it was one that was on my radar.
I truly hope you are enjoying this series. Thanks for reading!
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.
A brand new decade has dawned and I will turn 20 in 1990. It was a time of change for me, as well. I had been working at WKSG for a little over 2 years. I truly believed that I’d have that job for years, but had yet to learn how unstable radio jobs were. When I was fired, I called my old boss (now at another station in Detroit) and cried like a baby. He brought me in part time at WMXD.
As I looked through the music from 1990 and 1991, there were many songs that I played while at WMXD. When I started there, the music was a mix of Adult Contemporary and Urban songs. Eventually, they would go all Urban Contemporary and I was let go again.
One of the songs I played, I wrote about recently, but it still makes my list here. If you want to know more about Elton John’s Club at the End of the Street, you can read the earlier post here:
Next on the list is a song that was released on my 20th birthday, May 15, 1990. “Vision Of Love” was Mariah Carey’s first single. The song debuted at #73 in America, but two months later, in August, spent four weeks at the #1 spot. I remember playing this one on WMXD, as well. It was a song that really showcased her outrageous vocal range! The first time I heard her belt out that high note, I couldn’t believe it!
The original demo of the song was described as a 1950’s shuffle, but that didn’t matter. The song was good enough. Songfacts says, The original version was included on Mariah’s demo tape for Columbia. It was one of the songs that caught the ear of Tommy Mottola, her future husband and, more importantly, the head of the label’s parent company, CBS Records. At the time, Mariah was working as a backup singer for Brenda K. Starr, who invited her to a label party in Manhattan where the demo tape made its way into Mottola’s hands. After listening to the tape in his limo on the way home, he went back to the party to track down the singer. Mariah had already left and no one knew who she was. Days later, she found a message on her answering machine inviting her to sign with the label. Mottola then sent her to Los Angeles to re-record “Vision Of Love.”
Let me be honest right here. After her second album, there were not too many songs by Mariah that I cared for. I don’t know this for sure, but I feel the “business” changed her. There were a couple of songs later that were good. I felt, however, her strongest stuff was on those first two albums.
Vision of Love
The Godfather trilogy will always be my number one, but my second favorite trilogy would be Back to the Future. In 1990, Back to the Future Part III was released in theaters. I couldn’t wait to see how it all wrapped up.
ZZ Top released their Recycler album in 1990. The lead single from the album was a song from Back to the Future Part III called Doubleback. The group made a cameo appearance in the movie playing an acoustic version. That version is on the soundtrack of the movie.
Doubleback
But wait, there’s more! Consider this a Double Shot of ZZ Top. From the same album, My Head’s In Mississippi sounded like classic ZZ Top to me. I just loved the shuffle and the vocals. Billy Gibbons said:
“My buddy Walter Baldwin spoke in the most poetic way. Every sentence was a visual awakening. His dad was the editor of the Houston Post. We grew up in a neighborhood where the last thing you would say is, ‘These teenagers know what blues is.’ But our appreciation dragged us in. Years later, we were sitting in a tavern in Memphis called Sleep Out Louie’s — you could see the Mississippi River. Walter said, ‘We didn’t grow up pickin’ cotton. We weren’t field hands in Mississippi. But my head’s there.’ Our platform, in ZZ Top, was we’d be the Salvador Dalí of the Delta. It was a surrealist take. This song was not a big radio hit. But we still play it live, even if it’s just the opening bit.”
In 2008, Gibbons stated, “‘My Head’s in Mississippi,’ which was one of the first completed tracks on the album, is a great example of how we mixed the new with the old. Initially, it was a straight-ahead boogie-woogie. Then Frank stepped in and threw in those highly gated electronic drum fills, which modernized the track.”
My Head’s in Mississippi
I have never owned a pair of parachute pants. They do look comfortable, however, and it looks like you have a lot of freedom in them.
As much as I didn’t really want to include this one, I did play it a lot while DJing. It always got folks out dancing, then again, so did Super Freak by Rick James. Believe it or not, James did NOT give Hammer permission to use the song.
Songfacts explains: Rick James tried to keep rappers from sampling his music, turning down any requests. According to James, his lawyers authorized the “Super Freak” sample without his permission. He heard about it when a friend told him about “U Can’t Touch This” and the song came on the radio they were listening to in the car. James said he was irate, but somewhat appeased when he found out how much money it was making for him. Still, he claimed he wouldn’t have done the deal if he was asked.
James had another beef as well: he wanted to be listed as a songwriter on “U Can’t Touch This.” He sued MC Hammer for credit. The case was settled out of court, with James getting listed as a co-writer on the track along with Hammer and Alonzo Miller. Miller was a disc jockey who wrote some lyrics on “Super Freak.”
He recorded the song at Capitol Records, where Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Dean Martin recorded, The label ran an innovative marketing campaign to promote this song. They mailed out free cassette singles of the track to 100,000 kids. The cassettes came with a letter from Hammer asking them to call MTV and request the video. The ploy worked, and the video became the most-played of 1990 on the network.
U Can’t Touch This
I don’t remember when my ex-girlfriend had sent this song to me. It was probably after we broke up the first time. I say that because I believe that this song is what led us to getting back together eventually. I remember being pretty messed up after the break up. I did end up dating someone else.
I don’t recall how my ex and I began chatting again, but it led to her giving me this song. I really loved and cared about my ex. I broke it off with the gal I had been dating to get back together with my ex. It was really unfair to her, but I was 20, almost 21, and didn’t really know any better.
While we enjoyed some very good times the second time around, it didn’t last. She broke up with me again, which led to me always wondering what I did to cause he to leave. Anyway, I tell you all that to play Cuts Both Ways.
Cuts Both Ways
In 1967, Otis Redding wrote and recorded his version of Hard to Handle. He wrote it with Allen Jones and Al Bell and the track was produced by the legendary Steve Cropper. It was released in 1968 (after his death) as the B-side to his song “Amen.”
The song was first covered in 1968 by Patti Drew. The Black Crowes covered the song on their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker. Two versions of the song exist. First, the original album version and the hit single remixed with an overdubbed brass section. The latter is available on the 30th Anniversary edition of Shake Your Money Maker.
Songfacts says: This was The Black Crowes’ third single, following “Twice As Hard” and “Jealous Again.” It made #45 in the US in December 1990, as the group was rapidly gaining momentum. After “She Talks To Angels” hit #30 in May 1991 – over a year after the album was released – “Hard To Handle” was reissued, this time going to #26 and becoming the highest-charting single for the band on the Hot 100.
This has always been a song that I love to crank up. It’s funky and fun!
Hard To Handle
My next song is another one that I played while at WMXD. I was familiar with James Ingram before I worked there and always liked his voice. I Don’t Have The Heart was his only solo number one song. The song won him a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 1991.
The song was written by the duo of Allan Rich and Jud Friedman. It was the first song they wrote together. Speaking about Rich’s lyrics, Friedman told Songwriting Magazine, “Allan says he’s not a poetic lyricist, and he’s not a flowery lyricist. He is very conversational, but in a good way, and that has its own poetry. It’s the poetry of reality and the poetry of life and interactions. And the thing about I Don’t Have The Heart, among many brilliant things about Allan’s idea for the song, is it’s an example of taking a phrase that’s very well known, ‘I don’t have the heart,’ and flipping it. ‘I don’t have the heart to hurt you but I don’t have the heart to love you.’ He used it in two different ways, and that was poetic. We’ve all been there, sometimes wearing one of the shoes and sometimes wearing the other.”
That was the thing that caught me, too. The flip. I love when a lyric does that.
I Don’t Have the Heart
Whitney Houston hadn’t been on the radio since 1988. While she had her fair share of uptempo songs, but I feel like radio played more of her ballads. So the first time I played I’m Your Baby Tonight, I was wowed by it.
According to Songfacts:
By the time Houston released her third album, I’m Your Baby Tonight, she was coming off of a three-year hiatus. Prior to this, she had a record-breaking string of seven consecutive #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100. The problem was, her record label felt she was losing touch with her black audience. Houston balked at the claim, telling USA Today, “I don’t sing music thinking this is black, or this is white… I sing songs that everybody’s going to like.”
But producers L.A. Reid and Babyface agreed with the assertion. Reid told Billboard: “We wanted to come up with something that was different than anything Whitney had sung. So we approached it from that angle. We wanted to give her a new direction, and pick up where we felt she was lacking. We felt like she needed more of a black base.”
It definitely was a fresh sound for her, but I don’t know hear it as “more black” or “more white.” To me, it is just a great song!
The Julien Temple-directed music video shows Houston in the guise of different pop culture figures. They include silver screen siren Marlene Dietrich, Audrey Hepburn, and all three of The Supremes.
I’m Your Baby Tonight
Allow me just one more song from my WMXD days. Let me set this up for you. When I was at WKSG, these two sweet old ladies always called to request songs. They were sisters named Virginia and Dorothy. They always seemed to call toward the end of my overnight shift.
Virginia suffered with respiratory issues, so it took her a bit to say what she wanted. She would get a couple words out and have to take a breath. She had emphysema and really struggled to breathe.
Dorothy, on the other hand, was always on the go. She was always talking about where she was over the weekend. She was always at a party or something, even though she didn’t drive. She took a bus or Your Ride where she needed to go.
When I told them that I was leaving the station, Dorothy gave me her address to keep in touch. When I moved to Ludington, she and Virginia wrote me often. Eventually, communication was over the phone. When I moved back home, we actually ran into each other at a Weight Watchers. meeting.
I was closer to Dorothy, and she would invite me to stop by for coffee. She always had some sort of baked good ready. She was born the same day as Frank Sinatra. She was such a sweet friend. I am sure that I lost touch with her after I married my ex, and was sad to hear that she (and her sister) had passed away.
She once told me that she didn’t like all of the music we played at WMXD. One song she loved was The First Time by Surface. This song went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Whenever I hear it, I think about my friend and am grateful to have known her.
The First Time
Robert Palmer’s Don’t Explain album was very different. It contains 18 tracks and a variety of styles. There is R&B, Rock, Jazz, and more. It also includes some cover songs. I love the track “Top 40” because it swings a bit with a great sax line. It, however, wasn’t released as a single.
The song that is closest to what he had success with in the 80’s is You’re Amazing. I love the guitar line in the song. Billboard said, “Palmer’s reliably strong soul stylings added to headbanger guitar riffs and sweet background harmonies proves to be a quirky, but potent, combination.”
I don’t know that I would call the guitars “headbangers,” but I suppose they are a bit harder than Palmer usually presents. Now, the background harmonies – yeah, I dig those!
You’re Amazing
1990 Bonus Song
I just can’t pass up one song. It is a song that my best friend, Jeff, and I still laugh about. I can’t be sure who heard this first, but I know we laughed about it for years. The idea of taking the voice from a 1970’s instructional dance record and incorporating it into this is brilliant. The Bingo Boys did just that!
It is this vocal part from that record that makes us laugh so much. I cannot even being to picture a couple in their living room trying to learn a dance to that guy! It is so absurd that after a few of his lines, Princessa jumps in to shut him up. “Act like the end of a record and fade out …” is the lyric. I think that’s an awesome line.
The Bingo Boys were a trio from Austria. The song was actually released in the US first. It was released in the UK in 1991. It went to number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart and reached number 25 on the Hot 100.
The song borrows heavily from a number of earlier recordings, including “Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)” by Chic, “Dance (Disco Heat) by Sylvester, “Kiss” by the Art of Noise and Tom Jones, the popular James Brown “Yeah! Woo!” sample loop, the bassline motif from Mantronix’s single “Got to Have Your Love”, and a synth motif from The Whispers’ “And The Beat Goes On”. See if you can catch them all ….
How To Dance
That’s a wrap on 1990. Next week, we’ll check out 1991. That was the year I turned 21 and moved out for the first time. What kind of surprises will pop up?
Did I miss any big 1990 songs from your list?? Drop them in the comments!
When I thought about what to do for the year’s “bonus” day, my first thought was to list a bunch bunch of songs about “leaping” and “jumping.” Then I thought that was just too easy. So I decided to take another musical look at February 29th.
I present to you a look at songs that have the honor of being number one on Leap Day. So let’s leap back to 1940 …
2/29/40 – Glenn Miller and his Orchestra had the number one song with their best known song. In the Mood.
2/29/44 it was Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra with My Heart Tells Me
2/29/48 – Art Mooney was feeling lucky with I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover
2/29/52 – Johnny Ray was shedding tears with his number one – Cry.
2/29/56 – The Nelson Riddle Orchestra took us to Lisbon Antigua
2/29/60 – It was Percy Faith and his orchestra with The Theme From a Summer Place.
2/29/64 – Of course, in 64 it had to be a Beatles song – I Want to Hold Your Hand was on top of the charts.
2/29/68 Yet another instrumental was number one. This time, Love is Blue from Paul Mauriat
2/29/72 – Harry Nilsson lamented about living Without You
2/29/76 – A TV Tune was number one. The Theme from S.W.A.T. from Rhythm Heritage
2/29/80 – Classic Queen! Freddy Mercury and the boys sat at number one with Crazy Little Thing Called Love.
2/29/84 – A song about leaping/jumping …. Jump from Van Halen
2/29/88 – George Michael took the top spot with Father Figure
2/29/92 – The is some confusion as to this particular year, however, the chart is dated 2/29/92 and it says the number one was held by Mr. Big – To Be With You (some people say Right Said Fred – I’m Too Sexy)
2/29/96 – It was the amazing pairing of Boys II Men and Mariah Carey on One Sweet Day
2/29/2000 the group Savage Garden hit number one with a forgotten favorite – I Knew I Loved You
2/29/04 Usher said “Yeah!” about having the number one tune. Any time I think of Lil Jon, I think of that sketch on the Dave Chappelle Show … LOL
2/29/08 – Flo-Rida hit number one with a song that still makes people dance – Low
2/29/12 Kelly Clarkston held the number one spot with Stronger
2/29/16 Justin Beiber was sitting at number one with Love Yourself
2/29/20 it was a song that I find to be a total piece of garbage. The lyrics disgust me and the fact that it was a number one song really makes me sick. I’ll just mention it, but I certainly will not be posting it here. The Box by Roddy Ricch.
As for today, it seems that Beyonce is at number one with something called Texas Hold ‘Em. I read the lyrics. Never heard it. I don’t care to.
Final thoughts? There were a lot of instrumentals on Leap Day! There were certainly some good tunes, some long forgotten, and some crap. Music is subjective. Any stick out for you?
I’ve seen a couple bloggers I follow post this in one way, shape or form. I thought it would be a quick and fun thing to do. Two options are presented – you have to pick one. You are supposed to tag someone else to answer the questions, but I won’t do that. Feel free to chime in with whatever you want in the comments, if you wish.
UPDATE: After being tagged by Dave and Lisa (and seeing their responses), I thought I should go through and maybe expand on my brief answers).
Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
Christmas Eve has always been the bigger day in my family for as long as I can remember. I’m not saying Christmas Day is not as important, but Eve was just always the bigger celebration. We spent every Christmas Eve with my paternal grandparents. It was the Italian side of the family and there was always plenty of food, desserts and family.
We’d have an early dinner (and graze throughout the remainder of the night), and the adults would play pinochle while us kids played with toys, watched videos, or played video games. I would say many of my favorite Christmas memories stem from those Christmas Eves!
Real or Fake Tree?
I have never had a real tree. I know they smell wonderful, but the upkeep of them and the fear or a fire starting has me liking the fake one. When visiting family or friends with a real tree, I always thought they looked great. I was often wowed by the size of some of the trees.
The tree we have at our house now was left by the previous owner. Sam has been using it every year. It has lights on it already, but there is a short in the wires. So we just string a bunch of lights on it separately. For as old as it is, it still looks very full. We talked about getting a new tree this year, but once this one was up, I remember thinking it still looks good.
Snow Globe or Snowflakes?
I think snow globes are nice. We have one that plays music. However, nothing beats real snowflakes falling. I have always enjoyed watching it snow. There is something peaceful about it. Even when it is really coming down, I still find it calming. Unless, of course, I am driving!
Sledding or Ice Skating?
I tried to ice skate once. Once! I can’t do it. I can’t roller skate either. I love sledding. I love taking the kids around on a sled. There is a small hill near us that I can’t wait to take them to.
Before my divorce, we lived at the end of a cul de sac. When they would plow our street, they always just pushed it all to the end. This made a wonderful hill for the boys to sled down. There was also a big hill at one of the parks that we would go to and sled.
I need to go buy a good two person sled this year so I can pull the kids around on it, or ride down a hill with one of them in it with me.
Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Egg Nog hands down. I know a lot of people hate it, but it has long been a favorite of mine. I have blogged about this before, but my grandma used to by this instant egg nog in a pouch and make it. My brother and I loved that!
One year I found a custard egg nog that was absolutely delicious. I wish I could find it. It came in a container that looked like a nutcracker. The only thing I cannot do is low fat egg nog. There is something about it that tastes different.
Photo Taken In Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Do It Yourself Gift or Store Bought Gift?
I guess it depends. Gifts that were made by my kids will always mean more to me than store bought gifts. Either one works, as long as there is some though involved. My wife is the best gift giver and always seems to be able to find just the right gift for me. I wish I had that talent! I don’t know that my gifts to her, no matter how much I thought about it, are as good as the ones she has gotten for me.
Something Red or Something Green?
This is a stupid question. Christmas colors are red and green. A co-worker said “Green can be St. Patrick’s Day, so you have to pick red!” I don’t really know why you have to pick one at all. They go so well together.
Giving Gifts or Getting Gifts?
Personally, I think there is more joy in giving them than getting them. I have told my wife many times that I don’t need anything. I never really understood why my dad would say he didn’t want anything when I was a kid. Today I understand. While it is nice to receive a gift, I just get more joy out of actually giving one to someone.
White Christmas or No Snow?
White Christmas without a doubt. I think that snow just adds to the magic of the day. There is a certain sadness that I get when there is no snow on Christmas. I’m happy with just a dusting, or even flurries. There just has to be a little snow. I really don’t know how people in the south deal with it. When I hear “Let it Snow,” “Winter Wonderland,” or “White Christmas,” I immediately picture snow on the ground. Do they even play those songs in Texas or Mexico? LOL
Colored Lights or White Lights?
I think in certain situations white lights (or any other single color) can look very pretty. However, there is something about having the variety of colors that seems more festive to me.
I recently took the kids to Menards and walked through the Christmas decorations aisles. There are trees that look very nice with all one color – blue, green, or white. I am not sure I could do my tree that way. Perhaps I would do outdoor decorations that way, but on the tree they just have to be multi-colored.
Celebrating at Home or Celebrating Away From Home?
There is a similar question that asks whether you would rather host Christmas or go visiting. There are perks to both. I love being at home in PJ’s while the kids open gifts. I love being able to have breakfast and just watch them enjoy the day. At the same time, celebrating with family at a get together outside of the house is just as fun. Hosting is a bit much for me – too much responsibility.
Opening Gifts One at a Time or Opening All At Once?
We have always done them one at a time. I think it is important to see the receiver’s reactions to the gift they get. If everyone is opening all at once, you miss so much. Besides, I’m a picture taker. I like to capture reactions to gifts. One at a time makes that a whole lot easier. I also think that opening gifts one at a time allows the rest of the family to be joyful for you and what you received.
Gift Wrap or Gift Bags?
I suck at wrapping. I always let Sam do it. If I was responsible for wrapping – everything would be in bags! I think there is something to be said about a beautifully wrapped present under the tree. Wrap it is.
My mother was an amazing gift wrapper. I remember how she’d measure the paper on the box, skillfully slid the scissors along the paper to cut it, and used minimal amounts of tape to wrap something. My kids used to hate gifts I wrapped because I was using a LOT of tape. The corners were never perfect, the paper was never tight around the box, and it really was a shoddy job when I was the wrapper.
Wrap master – I was not.
Angel or Star Topper?
I am not sure we ever had an angel on the top of our tree. It was usually a star or no topper at all. Now, we have this cute snowman that sits on the top, which I really like a lot. I saw somewhere online a snowman topper that makes it look like the snowman is stuck in the tree. That would be very cool. I also saw on Facebook an ad for the Abominable Snow Monster from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer that you can put on the top of the tree. I’d get that too!
Wreath or Garland?
I don’t even know how these two relate to each other. My mom used garland all the time around the tree and would string it up on the walls and such. It’s pretty, but we don’t use it. I think a wreath can be very festive. I like them both.
We don’t have either at our house. The garland above isn’t the garland I remember. Mom and dad used to have gold or silver garland that was placed all over the house. Even little pieces of the stuff wound up somewhere. It seemed to be every where in the house.
Santa Wraps Gifts or Santa Leaves Gifts Unwrapped?
Growing up, gifts were always left unwrapped from Santa. The wrapped gifts were from mom and dad. I kinda like that. I know know why my folks were always so tired on Christmas morning. They were up the night before putting toys together! There were plenty of nights we didn’t get home from my grandmas until way after midnight. This freaked us out because all kids think that Santa comes at exactly midnight. If my dad had a dollar for every time he told us, “Don’t worry, Santa will come!” he would be a rich man!
Matching Pajamas or Ugly Sweaters?
As corny as it sounds, I think it can be very cute to have matching PJ’s. The kids had matching jammies for pictures. I think if we had extra money, we’d have bought matching ones for Sam and I. Ugly Sweaters are a party thing. I have one and I plan on wearing it to every ugly sweater party I every attend. LOL I need to get my money’s worth.
Cash or Gift Cards?
This depends. I know my son wants a video game this year. I can’t afford to buy it for him, but I will get him a gift card towards it. I think many folks would love cash, but I usually use any cash I get to pay bills. Not very Christmasy. “Hey, Pop. Thanks for helping me with the electric bill this year!” LOL
Mariah Carey or Michael Buble’?
Mr. Buble’! I love how he has brought back some of the great standards. I only really like the one Mariah Carey song, and they play it so much now it just drives me crazy. Buble’ has many great takes on holiday standards. He’s no Bing, Frank or Dean, but he still is one that I enjoy listening too!
Gloves or Mittens?
Gloves! I never cared for mittens. I never felt like my hands worked properly in them. LOL!
Grinch or Charlie Brown?
Charlie Brown! The Grinch song is over played. There are so many reasons why Charlie Brown gets my vote. Linus’ speech tops the list!
It was pointed out to me that the Grinch does come around and loves Christmas much like Scrooge does. True – but Charlie Brown still wins this battle.
Turkey or Ham?
Neither! On Christmas, it is always ravioli for me!! It’s a Christmas Eve Tradition!!
There were many other choices, but I think that is enough for now.
How would you answer “This or That?” Do you have two choices you’d like me to answer?
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 