Tag Archives: Grammy award

♫ Another Day In Paradise ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music, Social commentary

Some nights I have a song in my head, or one pops into my head while I’m in the shower (the only place I’m allowed to sing … even my car doesn’t tolerate my warbling!!), and other nights I start with a blank slate and sift through the archives.  Tonight is the latter, and I decided I was in the mood for some Phil Collins, so I went in search of and found this … a song with meaning and Phil’s exquisite voice as an added bonus!

The song, published in 1989, is about the consequences of ignoring the needy and homeless.  According to Collins …

“It was begun at the piano. I started playing and put it down on a tape so I wouldn’t forget it. Then I decided to see what would happen when I started singing. When I began, the words just came out, ‘She calls out to the man on the street.’ I didn’t set out to write a song about the homeless. Those were just the words I happened to sing. It was only then that I decided that was what the song would be about.”

This song was Collins’ seventh and final Billboard Hot 100 #1 single, the last #1 single of the 1980s and the first #1 single of the 1990s. It was also a worldwide success, eventually becoming one of the most successful songs of his solo career. It won Collins and co-producer Hugh Padgham the Grammy Award for Record of the Year at the 1991 awards ceremony, while it was also nominated for Song of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male and Best Music Video, Short Form. Another Day in Paradise also won an award for British Single at the 1990 Brit Awards.

Despite the awards gained following its release, the song also generated some controversy over its subject matter and has received a largely negative reaction from music critics.  Singer-songwriter and political activist Billy Bragg was scathing of the song.

“Phil Collins might write a song about the homeless, but if he doesn’t have the action to go with it he’s just exploiting that for a subject.”

Andrew Collins described the song as a “bland redress” for the subject of homelessness.  Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian dismissed the track in 2007 as “a song that addressed the issue of homelessness with the same insight as Sporty Spice’s ‘If That Were Me'”.  David Sheppard described the song’s lyrics as “cringe-worthy” and gave it as an example of Collins “painting the bull’s-eye on his own forehead” when it came to his negative status with music critics.  Hugh Wilson contrasted Collins’ concern for the homeless in the song with his concern as a multimillionaire at the prospect of the UK’s election of a tax-raising socialist government.  (Sound familiar?)

Despite all that criticism, the fact remains that this song was a hit in many countries from Australia to Zimbabwe!  It reached #1 in both Canada and the U.S., and #2 in the UK.

Another Day in Paradise
Phil Collins

She calls out to the man on the street
‘Sir, can you help me?
It’s cold and I’ve nowhere to sleep,
Is there somewhere you can tell me?’

He walks on, doesn’t look back
He pretends he can’t hear her
Starts to whistle as he crosses the street
Seems embarrassed to be there

Oh think twice, it’s another day for you and me in paradise
Oh think twice, ’cause it’s just another day for you,
You and me in paradise, think about it

She calls out to the man on the street
He can see she’s been crying
She’s got blisters on the soles of her feet
She can’t walk but she’s trying

Oh think twice, ’cause it’s another day for you and me in paradise
Oh think twice, it’s just another day for you,
You and me in paradise, think about it

Oh Lord, is there nothing more anybody can do
Oh Lord, there must be something you can say

You can tell from the lines on her face
You can see that she’s been there
Probably been moved on from every place
Cause she didn’t fit in there

Oh think twice, ’cause another day for you and me in paradise
Oh think twice, it’s just another day for you,
You and me in paradise, just think about it, think about it

It’s just another day for you and me in paradise
It’s just another day for you and me in paradise, paradise
It’s just another day for you and me in paradise
It’s just another day for you and me in paradise, paradise
It’s just another day for you and me
It’s just another day for you and me
It’s just another day for you and me in paradise
In paradise

Songwriters: Phil Collins
Another Day in Paradise lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, Concord Music Publishing LLC

♫ Hit The Road Jack ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

I was searching for a song tonight … seems I’ve played all my favourites in the past year or so.  My friend Jerry and I were chatting via text this evening and he suggested a couple by Steely Dan, but I didn’t care for either of them enough to play them here.  So, as I was scrolling through music posts, I came on this one … I’ve always loved this and haven’t played it in over two years, so it qualifies for a redux!

Let’s close our eyes for a minute … no, I didn’t say go to sleep … wake up, Joe!  Close your eyes and travel back in time … the year is 1961 … I was ten years old, but I remember this song like it was yesterday.

Although Ray Charles wrote many of the songs he recorded, this one was actually written by his friend, Percy Mayfield. 

Percy_MayfieldMayfield himself had been a popular performer, singing mainly rhythm & blues, but in 1952, at the height of his career, Mayfield was severely injured in an automobile crash.  He was returning from a performance in Las Vegas to Los Angeles as the front-seat passenger in a chauffeur-driven car. The vehicle hit the back of an unseen stationary truck, and Mayfield was hit by debris. Though pronounced dead at the scene, he eventually recovered but spent two years convalescing. The accident left him with a facial disfigurement that eventually ended his career as a performer but did not halt his prolific songwriting.

This song was first recorded in 1960 as an a cappella demo sent to Art Rupe, but it didn’t become famous until it was recorded by the singer-songwriter-pianist Ray Charles with The Raelettes vocalist Margie Hendrix, and eventually became one of Charles’ signature songs.

Charles’s recording hit #1 for two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, beginning on Monday, October 9, 1961. Hit the Road Jack won a Grammy award for Best Rhythm and Blues Recording. The song was #1 on the R&B Sides chart for five weeks, thereby becoming Charles’s sixth number-one on that chart. The song is ranked number 387 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

I am told that many professional and semi-professional hockey teams play the first few lines whenever a player is sent to the penalty box.

I found a bit of cool trivia about Ray Charles, including the fact that he owned his own plane and even flew it, though he had been blind since the age of 7!  Take a look for yourself.

I am playing two versions tonight … both by Ray Charles, but one is the original recorded in 1961, and the second is 35 years later when Ray Charles, then … played it on Saturday Night live.  I liked both, loved seeing Ray Charles still as vibrant as ever.

Hit the Road Jack
Ray Charles

Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back
No more, no more, no more, no more
Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back
No more
What’d you say?

Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back
No more, no more, no more, no more
Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back
No more

Oh woman, oh woman, don’t treat me so mean
You’re the meanest old woman that I’ve ever have seen
I guess if you say so
I’ll have to pack my things and go (that’s right)

Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back
No more, no more, no more, no more
Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back
No more
What’d you say?

Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back
No more, no more, no more, no more
Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back
No more

Now baby, listen baby, don’t you treat me this way
‘Cause I’ll be back on my feet some day
Don’t care if you do, ’cause it’s understood
You ain’t got no money, you just ain’t no good
Well, I guess if you say so
I’ll have to pack my things and go (that’s right)

Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back
No more, no more, no more, no more
Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back
No more
What’d you say?

Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back
No more, no more, no more, no more
Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back
No more

Well (don’t you come back no more)
Uh, what you say? (don’t you come back no more)
I didn’t understand you (don’t you come back no more)
You can’t mean that (don’t you come back no more)
Oh now baby please (don’t you come back no more)
What you tryin’ to do to me? (don’t you come back no more)
Oh, don’t treat me like that, baby (don’t you come back no more)

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Percy Mayfield
Hit the Road Jack lyrics © The Ray Charles Foundation Dba Tangerine Music

 

♫ Monday, Monday ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

Another Monday, another Monday song!  Don’t know how much longer I’ll keep this up, but at least for this week and next week, I have Monday songs to play!

While awaiting the release of California Dreamin’, band member Denny Doherty was prodding songwriter John Phillips to come up with some new material. Phillips said he would come back in the morning with “A song with universal appeal.”  Monday, Monday was that song, which Phillips said took him all of about 20 minutes to write.

Interestingly, Doherty, who sang lead on this song for The Mamas & the Papas thought very little of Monday Monday when they recorded it.

“Nobody likes Monday, so I thought it was just a song about the working man. Nothing about it stood out to me; it was a dumb f–kin’ song about a day of the week.”

As you can imagine, he was taken by surprise when the song became a huge hit. Doherty wasn’t alone in his incredulity: Mama Cass and Michelle Phillips didn’t like the song either, and John Phillips claimed he had no idea what the song meant.

The Mamas & the Papas used top-tier Los Angeles studio musicians on their recordings. On this track, Larry Knechtel played keyboards, Joe Osborn played bass, Hal Blaine was on drums and P.F. Sloan played guitar. Sloan was the baby of the bunch, just 20 years old when the song was released in 1966.

On March 2, 1967, the Mamas & the Papas won a Grammy Award for this song, in the category Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.  The song was performed at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. The performance was filmed for the movie of the festival, but not included in the final print.

The song charted at #1 in Canada and the U.S., #3 in the UK

Monday, Monday
The Mamas & the Papas

Bah da bah da da da
Bah da bah da da da
Bah da bah da da da

Monday, Monday, so good to me
Monday mornin’, it was all I hoped it would be
Oh Monday mornin’, Monday mornin’ couldn’t guarantee
That Monday evenin’ you would still be here with me

Monday, Monday, can’t trust that day
Monday, Monday, sometimes it just turns out that way
Oh Monday mornin’ you gave me no warnin’ of what was to be
Oh Monday, Monday, how could you leave and not take me

Every other day, every other day
Every other day of the week is fine, yeah
But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes
A you can find me cryin’ all of the time

Monday, Monday, so good to me
Monday mornin’, it was all I hoped it would be
But Monday mornin’, Monday mornin’ couldn’t guarantee
That Monday evenin’ you would still be here with me

Every other day, every other day
Every other day of the week is fine, yeah
But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes
A you can find me cryin’ all of the time

Monday, Monday, can’t trust that day
Monday, Monday, it just turns out that way
Oh Monday, Monday, won’t go away
Monday, Monday, it’s here to stay
Oh Monday, Monday
Oh Monday, Monday

Writer/s: JOHN EDMUND ANDREW PHILLIPS
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

♫ I’ll Never Love This Way Again ♫

Posted on by under music

I planned to post Glenn Yarbrough’s 1965 Baby the Rain Must Fall, after being told yesterday that “Into every life a little rain must fall, unless you happen to live in the Atacama Desert.”  But, once I listened to the song for the first time in probably 50 years, I decided that I really didn’t like it all that much, so … back to square one. Next I tried to find a song about the Atacama Desert, but to no avail.  And so, I just fiddled around with some of my favourite artists and struck paydirt when I got to Dionne Warwick!

According to SongFacts …

Will Jennings wrote this with Richard Kerr, who first recorded the song on his album Welcome To The Club. Jennings is a lyricist who has worked with Steve Winwood, Roy Orbison, Eric Clapton and many others. Kerr is a pianist who wrote the music for Barry Manilow’s first hit “Mandy” and teamed up with Jennings to write Manilow’s songs “Looks Like We Made It” and “Somewhere In The Night.” Jennings told us: “Sometime, sooner or later, you reach a height that you never reached and you never will reach again – and this is the story.”

Explaining what fuels his songwriting, Jennings says, “You have to sit down and write sometime, but it all comes out of life and experience, like any other kind of writing. I travel, look into things. Go out and listen to music. Go to plays. Go to places I haven’t been and places I like to re-visit. Have a good time, drink wine, eat good food, stay up late, dance.”

This won the 1979 Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.  The song hit #6 in Canada, #5 in the U.S., and only #62 in the UK.

I’ll Never Love This Way Again
Dionne Warwick

You looked inside my fantasies and made each one come true
Something no one else, had ever found, a way to do
I’ve kept the memories one by one, since you took me in
I know I’ll never love this way again

I know I’ll never love this way again
So I keep holdin’ on, before the good is gone
I know I’ll never love this way again
Hold on, hold on, hold on

A fool will lose tomorrow reaching back for yesterday
I won’t turn my head in sorrow if you should go away
I’ll stand here and remember just how good it’s been
And I know I’ll never love this way again

I know I’ll never love this way again
So I keep holdin’ on before the good is gone
I know I’ll never love this way again
Hold on, hold on, hold on

I know I’ll never love this way again
So I keep holdin’ on before the good is gone
I know I’ll never love this way again
Hold on, hold on, hold on

I know I’ll never, love this way again
So I keep holdin’ on before the good is gone
I know I’ll never love this way again
Hold on, hold on, hold on

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Will Jennings / Richard Kerr
I’ll Never Love This Way Again lyrics © Irving Music, Inc.

♫ You’re Still The One ♫

Posted on by under music

Shania Twain wrote this song with her rock producer husband, Robert “Mutt” Lange. Her lyrics were inspired by their marriage, which many felt wouldn’t last. The soothsayers were right, as Twain and Lange divorced 10 years later in 2008 after 14 years of marriage.  I guess she spoke too soon when she said “Looks like we made it …”

This song was remixed for its single release to sound less country and appeal more to pop audiences in the hopes of giving Twain a mainstream crossover hit. The plan worked: It became Twain’s first Top 10 hit in both the UK and US, and reached #1 in Australia. It was her most successful single on the Billboard Hot 100, spending a record nine (non-consecutive) weeks at #2.  The song won the 1998 Grammy Awards for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song.  I’ve never really thought of this song as Country, else it likely wouldn’t have found a spot here!

Though Twain and Lange ultimately divorced because of an affair between Lange and her best friend, the Canadian star still thinks of this ode to a long-lasting union as one of her favorite songs she has written. Twain stated in her memoir that she continues to cherish the song in memory of her mother and stepfather, who shared a very true love.

You’re Still The One
Shania Twain

When I first saw you, I saw love
And the first time you touched me, I felt love
And after all this time
You’re still the one I love, mmm, yeah-yeah

Looks like we made it
Look how far we’ve come, my baby
We mighta took the long way
We knew we’d get there someday

They said, “I bet they’ll never make it”
But just look at us holding on
We’re still together, still going strong

You’re still the one I run to
The one that I belong to
You’re still the one I want for life
(You’re still the one)
You’re still the one that I love
The only one I dream of
You’re still the one I kiss goodnight

Ain’t nothin’ better
We beat the odds together
I’m glad we didn’t listen
Look at what we would be missin’

They said, “I bet they’ll never make it”
But just look at us holding on
We’re still together, still going strong

You’re still the one I run to
The one that I belong to
You’re still the one I want for life
(You’re still the one)
You’re still the one that I love
The only one I dream of
You’re still the one I kiss goodnight

You’re still the one

Yeah (you’re still the one)
You’re still the one I run to
The one that I belong to
You’re still the one I want for life, oh yeah
(You’re still the one)
You’re still the one that I love
The only one I dream of
You’re still the one I kiss goodnight

I’m so glad we made it
Look how far we’ve come, my baby

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Robert John Lange / Shania Twain
You’re Still The One lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Tratore

♫ What A Fool Believes ♫

Posted on by under music

Last week, I rather got into a Bryan Adams ‘mode’ and ended up playing three of his.  Then, I played one by the Doobie Brothers, which led to another, and in the course of doing the research for that ‘another’, I came across this one which may well be my favourite by the Doobie Brothers.  No, I don’t plan these things, but … when you’re on a roll, having a good time, chillin’ to the tunes … why not?

Kenny Loggins co-wrote this one with the Doobie Brothers’ lead singer at the time, Michael McDonald.  Loggins put his version on his album Nightwatch, which was released in July 1978, five months before The Doobies included it on their Minute by Minute album. Loggins’ version was never released as a single, but The Doobie Brothers took it to #1 in the US in April 1979.  Michael McDonald wrote the original version of this song. He presented a fragment of it to Templeman, who encouraged him to continue working on it. Kenny Loggins came in when McDonald got stuck on the bridge of the song. Bassist Tiran Porter had suggested Loggins to McDonald because the two were good friends.

The story goes that while he was waiting for Loggins to arrive at his home, McDonald played some of the songs that were “in progress” and asked his sister Maureen which she thought was best. As Loggins was getting out of his car, he heard McDonald playing a fragment of this. According to Loggins, he heard about three-quarters of the verse’s melody (no lyrics), but McDonald stopped at the bridge. Loggins’ mind continued without a break… and the song’s bridge was born. Then Loggins knocked on the door, introduced himself to McDonald, and demonstrated the bridge that he devised before the two of them could sit down. The lyrics were finished over the telephone the next day.

Now, I am a huge Kenny Loggins fan, and I will offer you both the Doobie Brothers version and Kenny Loggins’, but in this case, I have to say that I prefer the Doobie Brothers offering.

This was the band’s second U.S. #1, after “Black Water.” The Doobie Brothers took on a different sound when they lost lead singer Tom Johnston due to illness in the mid-’70s. Instead of the album rock they were known for, they had more of a soft rock sound with Michael McDonald as lead singer.

This won Grammys for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. The album won a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus.  The song hit #1 in both the U.S. and Canada, and #31 in the UK.

What a Fool Believes
The Doobie Brothers / Kenny Loggins

He came from somewhere back in her long ago
The sentimental fool don’t see
Trying hard to recreate what had yet to be created
Once in her life, she musters a smile for his nostalgic tale
Never coming near what he wanted to say
Only to realize it never really was

She had a place in his life
He never made her think twice
As he rises to her apology
Anybody else would surely know
He’s watching her go

But a fool believes he sees
The wise man has the power to reason away
What seems to be
Is always better than nothing
And nothing at all keeps sending him

Somewhere back in her long ago
Where he can still believe there’s a place in her life
Someday, somewhere, she will return

She had a place in his life
He never made her think twice
As he rises to her apology
Anybody else would surely know
He’s watching her go

But a fool believes he sees
The wise man has the power to reason away
What seems to be (if love can come and love can go, then why can’t love return once more?)
Is always better than nothing
(Who got the power?)
There’s nothing at all (oh, now)
But a fool believes he sees (I believe she’s never gone away)
The wise man has the power
To reason away (to reason away)
What seems to be (oh, if love can come and love can go, oh, mama)
Is always better than nothing (better than nothing)
And nothing at all (oh, I believe)

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Kenny Loggins / Michael McDonald
What a Fool Believes lyrics © Gnossos Music / Milk Money Music, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

♫ Blue Eyes ♫

Posted on by under music

Sigh.  It only took me 4 hours tonight to get Jolly Monday edited and placed on the schedule, thanks to my Internet Service Provider (ISP), Cincinnati Bell, who apparently decided to do maintenance on the internet tonight without telling anyone, so my internet has been ‘catch as catch can’.  So far, I have only cracked one computer monitor and one knuckle in my frustration, but … as I was about two years ago when I first played this song here … I am in need of me some Elton John to ‘soothe the savage beast’!

I’m in an Elton sort of mood tonight, and this is one that I haven’t yet played.  Why am I in an Elton sort of mood?  Because I just finished writing a rant-y sort of post that has left me agitated, because I’ve lost the little rubber tip to my cigarette rolling machine, because the a/c still isn’t fixed, because I washed windows today and they don’t look much better than they did before I washed them, and most of all, I think, because I’m tired and frustrated.  A few people can relieve all those symptoms, and Elton is one such.

Released in 1982, both as a single and on the album Jump Up!, it hit #8 in the UK and #10 in the U.S. and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1983.  The music and lyrics were written by Elton and Gary Osborne, but there really isn’t much trivia that I could find about the song.  The video you are about to see was filmed in Australia, on Sydney’s famous Bondi to Bronte walk.  So, grab a cracker and some peanut butter and just listen …

Blue Eyes
Elton John

Blue eyes
Baby’s got blue eyes
Like a deep blue sea
On a blue blue day

Blue eyes
Baby’s got blue eyes
When the morning comes
I’ll be far away
And I say

Blue eyes holding back the tears
Holding back the pain
Baby’s got blue eyes
And she’s alone
Again

Blue eyes
Baby’s got blue eyes
Like a clear blue sky
Watching over me

Blue eyes
Ooh I love blue eyes
When I’m by her side
Where I long to be
I will see

Blue eyes laughing in the sun
Laughing in the rain
Baby’s got blue eyes
And I am home, and I am home again

Blue eyes laughing in the sun
Laughing in the rain
Baby’s got blue eyes
And I am home again

Songwriters: Elton John, Gary Osborne
Blue Eyes lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

♫ Evergreen ♫ (Belated Birthday Redux)

Posted on by under music

In an email yesterday, our friend Ellen reminded me that “In the event that you may have forgotten…on this day in 1942 the talented Barbra Streisand was born.”  Well, of course I had forgotten … heck, I can’t even remember my own birthday (I don’t really want to remember it, either!), let alone Barbra’s!  However, by the time I received the email, my music post for the day was already posted, so I shall make amends today!  Happy belated 79th, to a beautiful lady with a fantastic voice!  79?  Whoa … she’s older than even me! 

This song about new love was the theme to the 1976 remake of A Star Is Born. The film, which starred Streisand, was very popular and this song won the Academy Award for Best Song.  I knew I was in the mood to play some Streisand tonight, but I couldn’t decide between this one and Memories.

Paul Williams, who had written hits for the Carpenters and Three Dog Night, wrote this with Streisand. The songs for A Star Is Born had to be written before filming began, since they were performed on camera. When Williams signed on to the project, Streisand had the music and one verse for the song “Everything.” Over the next seven weeks, they wrote all the songs for the movie.  According to Paul Williams …

Paul-Williams“She sat down and played on a guitar, the melody for ‘Evergreen’ that she’d written. It was just such a beautiful melody. I said, ‘There’s your love song. There’s the big love song.’ I asked her for the melody. She put it on tape for me, and I took it home. I actually wrote that as the last thing, which I think bothered her. But all the Kris Kristofferson stuff was the first thing up on the shoot schedule. So I wrote the songs for Kris first.

You know, Barbra recorded two or three of my songs before we did A Star Is Born. People would always ask, ‘Were you nervous about writing the Streisand music?’ Of course, she’s an amazing talent. But to sit down and write songs and to play songs for Kris… I mean, this is the man who wrote ‘Sunday Morning Coming Down,’ ‘Me And Bobby McGee.’ It was wonderful. Kris was great about the songs. But the very last thing that I wrote was ‘Evergreen.’ I gave that to Barbra, and then hit the road and didn’t look back.

I actually wrote those first two lines in the opposite order. I wrote ‘Love, fresh as the morning air, love soft as an easy chair.’ I called Barbra as I was getting on a plane to go on tour with Olivia Newton-John. We were doing a 6-week tour, and Barbra was in Arizona getting ready to start filming A Star Is Born. I called her and said, ‘You know what, flip those two first lines, because it sings better.’ ‘Love, soft as an easy chair, love, fresh as the morning air.’ ‘Morning’ sang better at that point in the song. And I remember saying to Barbra, ‘They’ll probably laugh us out of the theaters for starting a love song with a line about a chair, but I think it works better that way.’ And I think it was the biggest-selling soundtrack album ever at that time, and of course the song won the triple crown: the Oscar, the Grammy, and the Golden Globe.”

Evergreen
Barbra Streisand

Love soft as an easy chair
Love fresh as the morning air
One love that is shared by two
I have found with you
Like a rose under the April snow
I was always certain love would grow
Love ageless and evergreen
Seldom seen by two
You and I will
Make each night the first
Everyday a beginning
Spirits rise and their dance is unrehearsed
They warm and excite us
‘Cause we have the brightest love
Two lights that shine as one
Morning glory and midnight sun
Time, we’ve learned to sail above
Time, won’t change the meaning of one love
Ageless and ever, evergreen

Songwriters: Barbra Streisand; Paul Williams
Evergreen lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

♫ Downtown ♫

Posted on by under music

Being in something of a black mood after the latest mass shooting, I considered playing Elvis’ In the Ghetto tonight, but then I though perhaps something really upbeat would be a more fitting way to start the weekend.

This one will take you back a ways … for some of you, it will go back to a time before you were even born, but you’ve likely heard the song anyway.  Petula Clark was a British actor, singer and composer who was popular in the UK long before the U.S. discovered her talent.  According to SongFacts …

This was Petula Clark’s first hit in the US, which was slow to discover her talents. In the UK, she was a star as a singer and as a television performer, where she was a regular on the BBC. In the early ’60s, she also caught on in France when she started recording her songs in French. Oddly, she didn’t get an American record deal until late in 1964 when a Warner Bros. executive named Joe Smith, who was vacationing in England, heard the song and signed her to a deal.

When “Downtown” was released in the US, it shot to #1, making Petula the first female singer from the UK to hit #1 in the US during the rock era (after 1955). Remarkably, she didn’t even promote the song before it hit the top spot, as she was touring French-speaking countries at the time.

“The Ed Sullivan Show had been calling every day while I was on tour in Canada, saying, ‘You’ve got to get here,'” Petula told Songfacts. “I couldn’t get there. Eventually I got there, and the record was #1.”

A British songwriter and producer named Tony Hatch wrote this. During the ’60s, he wrote most of Clark’s material, including her follow-up hit, “I Know a Place” (which also deals with city life). Hatch was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013.

The word “downtown” had a different meaning in America than it did in the UK. In America, “downtown” is the heart of the city where the action happens. The word wasn’t used much in Britain at the time, but it generally meant the less affluent part of the town’s central area. The song’s writer, Tony Hatch, used the word in its American meaning, as he was inspired by a walk down Broadway during his first visit to New York. These days, the American “heart of the city” use of the phrase is common in the UK.

Petula Clark came to record this song at a time when she had carved a successful career in French, Italian and German-speaking territories. She recalled to The Guardian that Tony Hatch suggested she should be recording again in English. “My head wasn’t in it at the time,” she admitted, “I was totally into French, Italian, German, whatever. I said: ‘Well, you know, if I could find the right song’ and he said he had an unfinished song he wanted to play me, and he played ‘Downtown’ on the piano. I said: ‘Woah, I like that.’ So I asked him to write a lyric up to the standard of the tune, and two weeks later we did it.”

This won a Grammy in 1965 for Best Rock & Roll Recording, making Clark the first British singer to win a Grammy. In 2003, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Clark recorded a new version of this song for her 2013 album Lost in You, which was released when she was 80 years old.

80 years old???  Heck, I’m a decade younger and I can’t, as my late ex-husband used to say, carry a tune in a bucket!  My hat is off to this lady!

I don’t have room nor time to cover all the trivia associated with this song, but if you’re interested, check out the Wikipedia entry, for there is much fascinating info about both the song and the artist.

Downtown
Petula Clark

When you’re alone and life is making you lonely
You can always go – downtown.
When you’ve got worries all the noise and the hurry
Seems to help I know downtown.

Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city
Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty
How can you lose?

The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
So go downtown
Things will be great when you’re downtown
No finer place for sure downtown
Everything’s waiting for you.

Don’t hang around and let your problems surround you
There are movie shows downtown.
Maybe you know some little places to go to
Where they never close downtown.

Just listen to the rhythm of a gentle bossa nova
You’ll be dancing with ’em too before the night is over
Happy again.

The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
So go – downtown
Where all the lights are bright downtown
Waiting for you tonight downtown
You’re gonna be alright now
Downtown
Downtown
Downtown

And you may find somebody kind to help and understand you
Someone who is just like you and needs a gentle hand to
Guide them along.

So maybe I’ll see you there
We can forget all our troubles, forget all our cares
So go downtown
Things will be great when you’re downtown
Don’t wait a minute more downtown
Everything is waiting for you
Downtown
Downtown
Downtown
Downtown
Downtown
Downtown
Downtown…

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Hatch Anthony Peter
Downtown lyrics © Emi Blackwood Music Inc., Welbeck Music Ltd., Smack Hits, Sony/atv Story Music Publishing, Warner/chappell Music Ltd

♫ Yester-me, Yester-you, Yesterday ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under music

Tonight, I am re-playing one that I played three years ago, a Stevie Wonder tune.  It’s not that I don’t have any ideas for new songs — I have a list as long as my arm!  And it’s not that I’m too tired or lazy to do a new post — sleep is a long way off yet.  Rather, it is that I’ve been in a rabbit hole for days now, and tonight I thought to myself, “I want me some Stevie Wonder!”  I thought Stevie would bring a bit of a smile to this tired, empty heart.  Yet, rather than a smile, it brought tears.  But nonetheless, it is a beautiful song and I do love me some Stevie, even when he makes me cry. 

It would be difficult to choose a single favourite musician, but if you held my feet to the fire, it would most likely be Stevie Wonder.  Just watching this man perform gives me chills, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard music by him that I did not like.  Not too long ago I did a post with one of my absolute favourites pairing Stevie Wonder with Paul McCartney in Ebony and Ivory — one that I am likely to repeat from time-to-time, for the meaning of the song should never be forgotten.

Blind since birth, Stevie Wonder was considered a child prodigy and signed with Motown at age 11.  He has recorded more than 30 U.S. top ten hits and received 25 Grammy Awards, one of the most-awarded male solo artists.  He is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a holiday in the United States. In 2009, Wonder was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace.

This song, Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday, was released in 1969.  It reached #7 on the pop singles chart and become Wonder’s ninth Top 10 single of the 1960s. The single fared even better on the UK singles chart where it reached #2 in November 1969, and at that time, it was Wonder’s biggest UK hit.

Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday
Stevie Wonder

What happened to the world we knew
When we would dream and scheme
And while the time away

Yester-me yester-you yesterday
Where did it go that yester glow
When we could feel

The wheel of life turn our way
Yester-me yester-you yesterday
I had a dream so did you life
Was warm and love was true
Two kids who followed all the rules
Yester fools and now
Now it seems those yester dreams
Were just a cruel

And foolish game we used to play
Yester-me yester-you yesterday
When I recall what we had
I feel lost I feel sad with nothing but
The memory of yester love and now
Now it seems those yester dreams
Were just a cruel

And foolish game we had to play
Yester-me yester-you yesterday
Yester-me yester-you yesterday
Sing with me
Yester-me yester-you yesterday
One more time

Songwriters: Bryan Wells / Ronald Miller / Ronald N. Miller
Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC