Ten Great Songs From One Great Year

1995

(for a previous 1995 list, click here)

As we entered the middle of the '90s, America was in a lull. Bill Clinton had been President for a couple of years and his popularity was rising. Although rocked by the events in New York in '93 (first world Trade Center attack) and Waco Branch Dividian massacre), just a year ago, most Americans seemed content not to heap any blame on the President - no matter how poorly both crisis were managed. Instead, as the stock market rose above 4,000 for the first time, Americans were more interested in phenomenon that is the Internet. America Online became the latest and greatest creation and everyone was infatuated with the World-Wide Web. Another invention, the DVD (Optical Disk Storage), is introduced this year, offering  a far better viewing experience than the VHS (video recorder). Using digital technology, as opposed to analogue, it should made the VCR obsolete.

This is not to say tragedy did not strike this year. Just that it seemed, at least here in the States, it was less important. However, there were noticeable events that of course, affected not just us in the United States, but throughout the world. Of course, the biggest of these events was the April 19th bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City, by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. While McVeigh was executed for this crime, questions still linger as to who his true accomplices were. Regardless, the tragedy and outpouring of grief throughout the country reminded us of how quickly life can turn in an instance. Little known (outside of law enforcement) at the time was the continued manhunt for the Unibomber, who actually struck again in California, just 5 days later.

This was also the year that Mexican singer, Selena, was gunned down by the president of her own fanclub, Yolanda Saldívar. Also, "Superman" Christopher Reeve was paralyzed during a riding accident in Culpepper, Virginia. He would survive an additional 9 more years, before succumbing to an allergic reaction to an antibiotic. After a year of sensational media coverage, justice was hardly served when former NFL great O.J. Simpson was found not-guilty of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Brown.

November brought tragedy is Israel, when Yigal Amir assassinates Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, during a peace rally in support of the Oslo accords. Amir believed that they peace deal between Yasir Arafat's PLO and the Israeli government were a huge mistake and a suicidal pact with the enemy. Sadly, while his actions were contemptible, his fears were proven proficient.

Kiss From a Rose - Seal (lyrics)

Seal wrote this in tribute to Crosby Stills and Nash while living in a squat in Kensal Green, London and he recorded this for his second album. It was later used over the end credits of the Batman Forever movie, which helped make it a huge hit. It didn't start climbing the charts until the movie was released. With its curious waltz time, lavish harmonies and epic sound proportions, this had a very different sound and stood out on the radio, where many stations were willing to play it. In the US, it was a #1 hit on the Adult Contemporary charts for 12 weeks and won Grammy Awards in 1996 for Record of the Year, Song Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance. This song was a worldwide hit, scoring in the Top-10 in Australia, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the US, and the UK. Not only is this song part of the Batman Forever soundtrack, but the second version of the video contains a great deal of film footage, and has Seal on a rooftop stage set next to a bat-signal. This ages the song badly, as - brace yourself for an onslaught from the world's most hideous fandom - director Joel Schumacher was later credited with ruining the Batman franchise "forever," resulting in the reboot with the Nolan version. What is Seal's actual birth name? Take a deep breath and say "Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel." Yes, all six of them. Seal is of Nigerian and Brazilian heritage, which might explain some of his unique international appeal. He's married to model/actress/designer Heidi Klum. However, Just this past January, the pair announced that they were separating after just 7 years of marriage.



I'll Be There For You - The Rembrandts (lyrics)

This was the theme song of the TV show Friends, which went on the air in 1994 and quickly became a ratings powerhouse. The theme was written by the songwriters Allee Willis and Michael Skloff. Says Willis: "I had seen the pilot, and that one line ('I'll Be There For You') had been given to me by Michael Skloff, who had started on the music, and it was just supposed to be about the loyalty of friends. That no matter how screwed up your life was, I'll be there for you." It is fairly rare for a TV show theme song to become a hit. The themes usually sound great for the 30 seconds they are on the air, but make terrible full length songs. This was an exception, as the popularity of the show exposed the theme to a mass audience that loved the incredibly catchy tune, and soon there was demand for a full-length version of the theme. Says Willis: "It was never, ever to this day released as a single. It was just DJs who made a cassette of the song and just started playing it. And it became the #1 airplay record of the year, but the Rembrandts never wanted it out as a single because they didn't write the song. So they kind of bit off their nose to spite their face. At that point, the only way they could get the Rembrandts to do the record was if they got songwriting credit. So the song needed a bridge, and it needed a second verse lyric, and they wrote that. They don't have credit on the theme, but they have it on the record." The Rembrandts are guitar players Danny Wilde and Phil Solem. They had some success since their first album was released in 1990, but they are best known for this song, which isn't typical of their work. They recorded the song because they were the only group signed to Warner Brothers who was available, and since Warner Brothers owned Friends, they made sure the theme was written by their publishing company (Warner/Chappell) and recorded by one of their artists.



You Oughta Know - Alanis Morissette (lyrics)

This an angry message from a scorned ex-girlfriend directed at her former lover. Morissette has said it is about a specific person, but that person has not contacted her, and probably doesn't know it's about him. Morissette claims she will never say who this is about, just as Carly Simon has done with "You're So Vain." The song was rumored to be about the actor Dave Coulier, who Morissette went out with for a while when she was 16 and he was 31 (hence the line "an older version of me"). Coulier played Joey on the TV show Full House, and is known for his Bullwinkle impression. In a 2008 interview with the Calgary Herald, Coulier confirmed that this song is about their rocky former relationship. The actor/comedian said that he first heard the track was when he was driving. "I said, 'Wow, this girl is angry.' And then I said, 'Oh man, I think it's Alanis,'" Coulier revealed. "I listened to the song over and over again, and I said, 'I think I have really hurt this person.' I tried to contact her and I finally got a hold of her. And at the same time, the press was calling and saying, 'You want to comment on this song?' I called her and I said, 'Hi. Uh, what do you want me to say?' And she said, 'You can say whatever you want.' We saw each other and hung out for an entire day. And it was beautiful. It was one of those things where it was kind of like, 'We're good.'"



When I Come Around - Green Day (lyrics)

This is about 2 lovers who have had a fight. The song is saying that they need space, but eventually they will "come around" and get back together. MTV released 2 videos for this song when it became a single. They had the concept video for the song directed by Mark Kohr, and they also released a live version from Green Day's infamous Woodstock '94 performance (lots of mud was in the air). They used this video to promote the MTV Woodstock '94 retrospect video tape and it went into rotation. Jason White, who sometimes played as a second guitarist for Green Day, is in this video. He's the guy kissing the girl. When performing this song at Woodstock 94, a fan threw a clump of mud onstage and Billie Joe stuck it in his mouth. This caused the fans to keep throwing mud and started the infamous mud fight. A security guard (in a rush to get fans off of the stage) accidentally slammed bassist Mike Dirnt into an amplifier, causing him injuries to his arm and three of his teeth. This song was the fourth single, and highest charting song from the multi-platinum album, Dookie.



As I Lay Me Down - Sophie B. Hawkins (lyrics)

This song is Hawkins' second-highest charting Billboard hit right behind "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover." And the contrast between that song and this one is quite pronounced, showing off her' broad thematic range. This song is actually a ballad in memory of her father and as told in the 1998 film documentary The Cream Will Rise, Hawkins has struggled to overcome problems with her dysfunctional relationship with her mother and brother; so with that in mind, her father might have been her main source of stability in her home. Hawkins took to touring the country with an acoustic piano to promote this song, after which time it took off in the charts. Radio stations in the Top 40 and Adult Contemporary formats loved the song, since it was such an accessible, non-threatening tune without a trace of Grunge or Hip-Hop. The phones weren't exactly lighting up with requests for it, but it fit nicely on the playlists. "As I Lay Me Down" is familiar not only from heavy radio airplay, but from soundtrack usage in the TV series Dawson's Creek and Party of Five. It was also used in the 1995 film Now and Then, a chick flick about girls bicycling around the neighborhood to (mostly) 1969-1970 music. You name it, if it's a liberal cause, Hawkins is an active supporter of it. She's vegan, an animal-rights' activist, a female musician advocate, and as a member of Waterkeeper Alliance, an environmentalist. She also reworked her "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover" single into "Damn We Wish You Were President" in support of former first lady Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign for US president.



I Believe - Blessid Union of Souls (lyrics)

This is a heartfelt song about the power of love and the belief that it can impact life for the better. It has a strong Christian message, though it's implied rather than spelled out. There's a heavy dose of social commentary in this song as well. Blessid Union of Souls frontman Eliot Sloan recalls writing this song after his girlfriend's father coerced her into breaking up with him by threatening to cut off her college tuition. This was the group's biggest hit - they had 3 others hit the US Top-40: "Let Me Be the One," "I Wanna Be There," and "Hey, Leonardo (She Likes Me For Me)." Although they have not had a charted single since 1999,  the band still performs and records. This past year, they released a contemporary Christian record, called The Mission Field.



December - Collective Soul (lyrics)

Before forming Collective Soul, Ed Roland had studied music composition and guitar playing at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Since the mid 1980s Roland had been involved in underground music, either making unpublished demos or performing. He also worked at Real 2 Reel Studios in Stockbridge during the 1980s and early 1990s, which was owned by Will Turpin's father. Roland's main duties were producing, mixing and engineering work for local Atlanta artists. He also recorded his own demos and released his independent solo album Ed-E Roland in 1991. He had a pre-Collective Soul band in the late 1980s and early 1990s called Marching Two-Step which included Shane Evans, Michele Rhea Caplinger, and Matt Serletic. Marching Two-Step were a band for several years, but never managed to grow beyond the local club scene. Roland's early attempts to be signed to a recording contract by a label ended in rejection. In 1992, he enlisted musicians to record a demo in a basement. Roland intended only to sell the songs to a publishing company and had no plans of forming a band out of it. The demo was passed along to an Atlanta college radio station which began playing "Shine," soon to be its most requested song. Amidst the surprise popularity, Roland agreed to perform live shows, enlisting his brother Dean as well as Shane Evans, Will Turpin, and Ross Childress in what would be the first line-up of Collective Soul. Atlantic Records took note of the popularity of the song and subsequently signed them. While "Shine" was their breakthrough song, the band's second album, the eponymous Collective Soul, put them solidly on the map. Two singles for the LP, "December" and "The World I Know"both hit the Billboard top 20 and also, both topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. Unfortunately, the two songs were the last top 40 songs the band recorded. They still perform and record, releasing their eighth studio album, another self-titled, but designated by the band as Rabbit, in 2009.



Bullet With Butterfly Wings - Smashing Pumpkins (lyrics)

Lead singer Billy Corgan wrote this about pain that comes from being a rock star. The lyrics are exceptionally dramatic, and Corgan has said they are a bit of a joke. This was the first single off Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness and Smashing Pumpkins' second biggest US hit ("1979" hit #12). This song also won a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. The next year, they won the same award for "The End Is The Beginning Is The End." In the video, Corgan still has hair. However, when it was released, he had cut all of his hair off. Ever since, Billy has been bald. Possibly shedding some light on what to read into the lyrics, Corgan once said: "If people were interested in my own personal story and they knew every thing that had happened to me in my childhood, I think they would look at me differently because I was raised in a family that set me up to fail." Although the band first formed in 1988, it took until this year for them to make any impact on the charts. "Bullet" was their first single from the multi-platinum Mellon Collie LP, and first of theirs to chart. It ushered in their most successful run. In 2000, due to infighting and drug use, the group disbanded. However, as most bands do, they reconvened to record a new Smashing Pumpkins album, Zeitgeist. The band toured with a rotating lineup of between five and nine musicians through much of 2007 and 2008 before changes to the lineup were made permanent. Still, they toured through much of 2010 and 2011, and are currently recording the album Teargarden by Kaleidyscope and the album-inside-an-album Oceania.



Zombie - The Cranberries (lyrics)

This was inspired by the IRA bombing in Warrington, Cheshire in 1993. Two children, Jonathan Ball and Tim Parry, were killed. The IRA (The Irish Republican Army) is a militant group determined to remove British troops from Northern Ireland. Lead singer Dolores O'Riordan claimed that "Zombie" speaks about "The Irish fight for independence that seems to last forever." The lyrics even say, "It's the same old theme since 1916." Like the responsive works of Yeats, Heaney and U2, The Cranberries claim they wrote "Zombie" to be a "Song for peace, peace among England and Ireland." On August 31, 1994, just a few weeks after this song was released, the IRA declared a ceasefire after 25 years of conflict, leading some critics of The Cranberries to wonder if the IRA was willing to call a truce to make sure the group didn't release any more songs about them.



One of Us - Joan Osborne (lyrics)

This was written by Eric Bazilian, who was working on the album with Rob Hyman and Rick Chertoff. Says Bazilian, "For me, the song was more about what happens to you when you look at something that has completely changed your world view, which could be meeting God, it could be meeting an alien, it could be a near-death experience, it could be anything like that. Just how everything you know is wrong, or everything you know is right, and you didn't know it." Hyman and Bazilian were members of The Hooters and along with Chertoff, collaborated on Cyndi Lauper's first album, She's So Unusual. They usually take a while to craft their songs, but occasionally one will come out quickly. One of these songs was "All You Zombies," which was The Hooters' first single and also contains lots of Biblical imagery. Says Bazilian, "I've written a decent number of 'God' songs, and I wrote a bunch of them after 'One Of Us,' except you'll never hear them because they're not as good. It's a strange thing. I could, and I often have, pointed to another hand guiding." This song earned Grammy nominations for Song Of The Year, Record Of The Year and Best Female Pop Vocal. Osborne was also nominated for Best New Artist and Relish for album of the year. None of them won, with Seal's "Kiss From A Rose" beating it for Song and Record Of The Year, Alanis Morissette winning Best Album and Hootie and the Blowfish winning Best New Artist. Osborne's latest album, Little Wild One, was released in September 2008. Osborne performs as a guest vocalist on Sgt. Pepper Live, the 2009 album and DVD by Cheap Trick.



BONUS TRACK

Macarena - Los Del Rio (lyrics)

This was originally released on a local label in Spain in 1993, where it did fairly well. The next year, the American label BMG bought the Spanish label and set out to make "Macarena" a hit in America. They marketed an English language version to dance clubs and cruise ships, then released it as a single in 1995. It was a minor hit until the summer of 1996, when the Macarena dance craze hit America. The song went to #1 in July and stayed there for 14 weeks. Los Del Rio (Antonio Romeo Monge and Rafael Ruiz) are a Spanish flamenco-pop duo and they were inspired to record this on a trip to Venezuela when they spotted a beautiful flamenco dancer named Diana Patricia. When the song became a hit, she became known in Venezuela as "Macarena." This was the first hit for Los Del Rio since 1962 and their only hit in the US. This song stayed in the US Top 100 for 60 weeks, the one-time record for the longest run on the singles chart. In 1998 it was overtaken by LeAnn Rimes' "How Do I Live", which spent 69 weeks in total in the Hot 100. The song's 32-week climb (over two separate chart runs) to the #1 position established the record for the longest journey to the Hot 100's summit. The world record for the most people performing one dance at the same time was set by 50,000 people in Yankee stadium while dancing the "Macarena."

Ten Great Songs From One Great Year

1986

(for a previous 1986 list, click here)

The first month of the year brought a terrible tragedy to America, as all 7 crew members, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, perish when the Space Shuttle Challenger explodes just 73 seconds into it's flight. The event was witnessed by a national television audience, as well as friends and families of the astronauts. A month later, the Soviet Union launches the Mir Space Station.

At the start of April, TWA Flight 840 was attacked with an on-board bomb causing four Americans (including a nine-month-old infant) to be ejected from the aircraft to their deaths. Five others on the aircraft were injured as the cabin experienced a rapid decompression. The remaining 110 passengers survived the incident as pilot Richard "Pete" Petersen made an emergency landing. just 3 days later, Libyan terrorists attack the La Belle discothèque in West Berlin, Germany, an entertainment venue that was commonly frequented by United States soldiers. A bomb placed under a table near the disk jockey's booth exploded at 1:45am, killing three people and injuring around 230 people, including 79 American servicemen. The US retaliates with Operation El Dorado Canyon: At least 15 people die after United States planes bomb targets in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and the Benghazi region.

Also in April, a nuclear meltdown occurs in the city of Chernobyl, Ukraine, USSR, due to  a mishandled security test.  The meltdown killed at least 4056 people and damaged almost $7 billion of property. Radioactive fallout from the accident concentrated near Belarus, Ukraine and Russia and at least 350,000 people were forcibly resettled away from these areas. In other international news, Pan Am Flight 73, with 358 people on board, is hijacked at Karachi International Airport by four Abu Nidal terrorists. 20 passengers were killed by the terrorists, including a 7 year old boy. Although all the terrorists were captured and sentenced to death, a Pakistani court commuted the sentences to life. Currently, all but one of the terrorists are free (Jamal Saeed Abdul Raheem was killed by American drone attack in 2010). The very next day, two Abu Nidal terrorists kill 22 and wound 6 inside Instanbul's Neve Shalom synagogue during Shabbat services.

Rock Me Amadeus - Falco (lyrics)

Falco's real name was Johann Holzel and he was born in Vienna, Austria in 1957. He was a long time established artist in German speaking territories before this was released, but it was his first song to be a huge international hit. In most countries it was also his only hit, although one of his German songs, "Der Kommissar" was a huge international hit for the band After the Fire" in 1983. However, Falco continued to have success in mainland Europe after this song. "Rock Me Amadeus" is about the classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). Mozart was a child prodigy who performed his first musical tour at the age of five. His last three years were his most successful and he had an extremely excessive lifestyle. The basic concept is the suggestion that Mozart was the rock'n'roll rebel of his day. Some of the lyrics in this song reflect this. Sadly, Falco died of severe injuries received from a collision with a bus in his Mitsubishi Pajero on the road linking the towns of Villa Montellano and Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic on February 6, 1998, just two weeks before his 41st birthday. It was initially reported that the autopsy showed high blood levels of alcohol and cocaine, however this was later dismissed. At the time of his death, he was planning a comeback. He was buried in the Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) in Vienna, Austria.



Sara - Starship (lyrics)

Starship was the third configuration of the old Jefferson Airplane of the 1960s. In the early 70s, hey reformed under the name Jefferson Starship, and had a number of hit singles over the next decade. In 1984, Paul Kantor left the band. He was the last remaining original member of Airplane and upon departing, sued the band for rights to the band's name. For their next album, Knee Deep in the Hoopla, the band changed their name to just Starship. Ironically, this new formation of the band finally hit the top of the charts - something neither Jefferson Airplane, nor Jefferson Starship had ever accomplished - when "We Built This City" went #1. "Sara", the second single from the Hoopla LP, matched that when it went to #1 in March of 1986. This song was written by Austrian composer and producer Peter Wolf together with his wife Ina. Peter Wolf (not the former singer of the J. Geils Band) was born in Vienna, Austria. He has had multiple Grammy nominations and has received his birthplace's highest honor, "the Great Honor Cross of the Republic of Austria for Art and Culture." The song was named after the wife at the time of Starship's vocalist Mickey Thomas, who sang lead on the track. Thomas also sang on the Elvin Bishop Group's 1979 chart hit "Fooled Around And Fell In Love." Starship broke up in 1991. However, Kantor established Jefferson Starship – The Next Generation (a nod to the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation), a group that would, at times, include various former Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship members, to tour and perform. After the first couple of years, the band dropped the use of "The Next Generation", and began to perform as Jefferson Starship. The revived band grew out of Paul Kantner’s decision, following the "Unplugged" trend, to hit the road in 1991 with an acoustic ensemble called Paul Kantner’s Wooden Ships, a trio that included Slick Aguilar and Tim Gorman from the KBC Band, a previous group centered on former Jefferson Airplane/Starship members.



These Dreams - Heart (lyrics)

Until this album, Heart wrote most of their songs. In 1985, they signed with Columbia Records and got help from some experienced songwriters. This was written by Bernie Taupin (Elton John's lyricist) and Martin Page, and the song was first offered to Stevie Nicks, who turned it down. Around the same time, Taupin and Page also wrote "We Built This City," which was a #1 hit for Starship. This song was dedicated (on the album) to Sharon Hess, a good friend of Nancy Wilson's who died of Leukemia. Sharon's sister, Shannon Hess-Terlop, shares the story: "Sharon was a fan who had a custom, hand made blue acoustic guitar made for Nancy. It was her dying wish to meet Nancy, and give it to her. She did get her wish, and was able to spend several days in the recording studio with the band while they were working on this album. She died 4 weeks later, on Nancy's birthday. The reason for choosing that particular song for the dedication was simply because it was the only song on the album where Nancy sang lead vocals. Nancy and Sharon became very close, bonded even during the time she was in California with Nancy. In Nancy's words: Sharon was my "soulmate of the sea" When Sharon got very ill during her visit, and was unable to leave her hotel room, it was Nancy, and Scotty Olson (her then guitar roadie and later bandmate) who got her out of the hotel, and drove her to the hospital on the Presidio in San Francisco (Sharon was US Army). Nancy later came back to visit Sharon in the hospital, when things were looking so very bleak, we thought she might not make it back home at all. This was the first time I met Nancy. When she arrived, after greeting my Mother and myself, she just went in to Sharon's room, and climbed up on the bed and lay down beside her (she was sleeping). That visit buoyed Sharon's spirits so much, that to her doctor's amazement, she was able to make the horrible trip home via military transport, and she died a few weeks later." On the final recorded track, Nancy Wilson had a nasty cold when she recorded her vocals. The producer liked the raspiness in her voice, so they kept it.



Russians - Sting (lyrics)

From 1977-1985, Sting was a member of the punk/jazz/rock band The Police. During that time, he and his band-mates made a significant addition to rock music and, with the release of 1983's Synchronicity, became one of the top bands in the world. Following that success, Sting, born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, embarked on his first solo record, titled The Dream of the Blue Turtles. All four singles released from this album make the Billboard top 20, with "Russians" peaking at #16 (in the UK, "Russians" was the highest charting song at #12). The melody was inspired by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev's "Romance Melody" from the Lieutenant Kije Suite. Sting wrote this during the Cold War, a tense time when Russia and the United States felt threatened by the nuclear missiles they had pointed at each other. Sting's lyrics rhetorically ask if Russians love their children too, and question why the Russians and the Americans would participate in the Cold War. "Oppenheimer's deadly toy" refers to the atomic bomb. Robert Oppenheimer was an American physicist who was considered "The father of the atomic bomb." He later regretted his creation, saying he intended it to be used for energy in peace time.



The Way it Is - Bruce Hornsby and the Range (lyrics)

Hornsby's recording career started with the biggest hit he has had to date, entitled "The Way It Is". It topped the American music charts in 1986. With a propulsive yet contemplative piano riff and the refrain, That's just the way it is / Some things will never change / That's just the way it is / But don't you believe them, the song was catchy and described aspects of the American Civil Rights movement and institutional racism. In years to come, the song would be sampled by at least six rap artists, including Tupac Shakur, E-40, and Mase. With the success of the single worldwide, the album The Way It Is went multi-platinum and produced another top five hit with "Mandolin Rain" (co-written, as many of Hornsby's early songs were, with his brother John Hornsby). "Every Little Kiss" also did respectably well. Other tracks on the album helped establish what some labeled the "Virginia sound", a mixture of rock, jazz, and bluegrass with an observational Southern feel. Bruce Hornsby and the Range would go on to win the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1987, beating out Glass Tiger, Nu Shooz, Simply Red and Timbuk3. This song deals with the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The line in the lyrics that mentions "The law passed in '64" is the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The law was supposed to prohibit discrimination in public places, the government and employment. The lyrics in this song deal with the need to resist complacency and never resign yourself to racial injustice as the status quo.



Captain of her Heart - Double (lyrics)

Double was a Swiss duo consisting of Kurt Maloo and Felix Haug who were active during the mid-1980's. This atmospheric song, about a woman who's tired of waiting for the man she loves to return to her even though she still loves him, was their signature hit and got a lot of air time on VH1. The band broke up in 1987 and Maloo pursued a solo career. Prior to releasing their debut album, the duo issued several singles, of which "Nanningo", "Rangoon Moon", and "Woman of the World" were the most popular. The album, Nanningo, of which, unlike their later albums, it began with Post-punk. The high point of Double's career came shortly after the late-1985 release of their first full length album, Blue. The album contained two of the band's earlier singles as well as the international smash hit, "The Captain of Her Heart," a plaintive, atmospheric, piano-led ballad which was an immediate success throughout Europe upon its 1986 single release. It reached #8 in the UK Singles Chart, and eventually hit the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at the end of the year, climbing to #16. Their next album, Dou3le followed in 1987 but, despite including the acclaimed single "Devils Ball", it failed to emulate the success of its predecessor and Double split shortly after. Kurt Maloo pursued a solo career, in the course of which he has released four albums Single (1990), Soul and Echo (1995), Loopy Avenue (2006) and Summer Of Better Times (2009). Felix Haug died following a heart attack on May 1, 2004, at the age of 52.



Big Man on Mulberry Street - Billy Joel (lyrics)

This is a jazz influenced song by Billy Joel from the album The Bridge .An extended version of the song was used on a season three episode of Moonlighting. The episode was titled "Big Man On Mulberry Street" and in a dream sequence, Maddie Hayes envisions David Addison's history with his ex-wife, presented as an elaborate dance sequence with no dialogue; Sandahl Bergman was the main dancer. An extra horn solo was added to the song. The television series, starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd, was a cult classic that ran for just 4 seasons and was known for constantly breaking the "fourth wall." The show's ratings decline is popularly attributed to Episode #14 of Season 3, "I Am Curious… Maddie", which infamously had Maddie and David consummate their relationship after two and a half years of romantic tension. In commentaries on the third season DVD set, however, Caron stated that he didn't feel the event led to the show's decline, but that a number of other factors led to the series' decline and eventual cancellation. As for Billy Joel, this latest LP was his 6th staright one to hit the top 10 on Billboard's Album Charts. Three of the four singles hit the top 10, with "Modern Woman" and "A Matter of Trust" reaching #10.



Calling America - ELO (lyrics)

The Electric Light Orchestra finished 1979 as the biggest selling act in the UK. ELO had reached the peak of their stardom, selling millions of albums and singles, and even inspiring a parody/tribute song on the Randy Newman album Born Again, titled "The Story of a Rock and Roll Band". After recording tracks on the soundtrack to the movie Xanadu, the band returned to the studio to record the concept LP Time. By this point, Lynne felt like ELO had run its course and should disband. However, the record company reminded them they still contracted to do two more albums. In 1983, they released Secret Messages and in 86, Balance of Power. ELO's last performance of the century occurred on July 13, 1986 in Stuttgart, Germany. The band effectively disbanded after that final show in Stuttgart in 1986, but there was no announcement made of it for the next two years, during which George Harrison's Lynne-produced album Cloud Nine and the pair's follow-up (with Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty) Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 were released. Bevan approached Lynne to make another ELO album in 1988, but Lynne was not interested and went on to announce that ELO was no more. However, following tremendous success as a producer, Lynne and Tandy did reunite under the ELO name and in 2001 released their final album Zoom.



For America - Jackson Browne (lyrics)

Jackson Browne was born in Heidelberg, Germany, where his father, an American serviceman, was stationed. Browne's mother, Beatrice Amanda (née Dahl), was a Minnesota native of Norwegian ancestry. After moving to Greenwich Village, in early 1966, Browne joined the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, performing at the Golden Bear (Huntington Beach, CA) where they opened for The Lovin' Spoonful. The band later recorded a number of Browne's songs, including "These Days", "Holding", and "Shadow Dream Song". After hitting the top 10 in 1972, with the song "Doctor My Eyes," Browne seemed to just be known as a one-hit wonder for the next several years. However, in late 1977, he hit it big with the release of the platinum-sold LP (and single) Running on Empty. That, along with his left-wing activism, put him in the center stage during the late 70's. In '82, his song, "Somebody's Baby" was released off of the soundtrack for Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and became his biggest hit. The momentum for that carried through his next LP, Lawyers in Love, which garnered two top 40 hits. However, his chart momentum was slipping. In 1986, he released perhaps his most politically-minded album, Lives in the Balance. While I personally felt this was his best work, sales of the LP paled in comparison to previous efforts. "For America" was the first release and allowed Browne to express his displeasure with Ronald Reagan's vision of the country. In addition, the song became Browne's last top 40 hit, peaking at #30.



This is the Time - Dennis DeYoung (lyrics)

As a member of the rock band Styx, DeYoung acted as lead vocalist, keyboardist, accordion player, producer, writer and creative force behind many of the band's hit songs. In fact, DeYoung was the band's primary hit writer and singer, writing and singing 7 out of the band's 8 top 10 singles. Specifically DeYoung wrote and sang the following top 10 Styx singles: Babe (#1), Show Me The Way (#3), Mr. Roboto (#3), Best of Times (#3), Don't Let It End (#6), Lady (#6), and Come Sail Away (#8). However, due to internal control struggles with the band, DeYoung and Styx parted ways a number of different times, only to reconcile and tour again. During their first split, he recorded his first solo LP in 1984, Desert Moon, which spawn the title track that hit #10. His followup LP, Back to the World, did not match the success of its' predecessor and failed to crack the top 100. However, the first single from the album, "Call Me," did hit #15 on the Billboard AC chart. "This is the Time" was the second single from that album. It did not chart on Billboards "Hot 100" chart, but did hit the AC top 40 as well. A third solo LP, Boomchild, fared even worse. However, a reunion with Styx brought DeYoung back to the higher levels of the charts, when their song "Show me the Way"-  a track written by DeYoung for his son Matthew, received extensive radio play, peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart (Styx's 8th top 10 single, and 7th written and sung by DeYoung) particularly after a number of radio stations mixed it with voice tracks of parents headed off to fight in the first Persian Gulf War. Though DeYoung and his bandmates had been able to put their musical and personal differences aside, the same problems resurfaced once work started on the next Styx LP. A chronic fatigue syndrome-like disorder affecting DeYoung's trigeminal nerve—which left him overly sensitive to bright light and sound, making performing on stage nearly impossible—further complicated matters, and eventually led to DeYoung being replaced by Canadian star Lawrence Gowan in 1999. A lawsuit between DeYoung and his former bandmates was settled in 2001, with the group being allowed to keep the name "Styx" and DeYoung able to use the name in descriptive phrases such as "the music of Styx" or "formerly of Styx" (but not "the voice of Styx"). When asked about any possible reunions with DeYoung, James Young of Styx commented on an edition of Behind the Music "maybe when they are playing hockey on the river Styx" and on an episode of VH1's Feuds 2000 "as The Eagles said 'when Hell freezes over'". However, in 2007, when asked about the possibility of DeYoung returning to Styx, Chuck Panozzo told tampabay.com, "Before any more of us die, I would hope that it could happen. Every year that it doesn't happen is another year that goes by. And if you wait too long, who will care?"



BONUS TRACK

Paranoimia - Art of Noise featuring Max Headroom (lyrics)

This is a song by Art of Noise, from their album In Visible Silence. This more popular version of the song was released as a single, featuring television character Max Headroom on vocals. This also was first featured on the 1986 album Re-Works of Art of Noise. The band was an avant-garde synthpop group formed in 1983 by engineer/producer Gary Langan, programmer J. J. Jeczalik, along with arranger Anne Dudley, producer Trevor Horn and music journalist Paul Morley. The group's mostly instrumental compositions were novel melodic sound collages based on digital sampler technology, which was new at the time. Inspired by turn-of-the-20th-century revolutions in music, Art of Noise were initially packaged as a faceless anti- or non-group, blurring the distinction between the art and its creators. The band is noted for innovative use of electronics and computers in pop music and particularly for innovative use of sampling. For those who were around in the '80s, Max Headroom needs no introduction. He is a fictional British artificial intelligence, known for his wit and stuttering, distorted, electronically sampled voice. He was introduced in early 1984 and the character was created by George Stone, Annabel Jankel, and Rocky Morton, and portrayed by Matt Frewer as "The World's first computer generated TV host" although the computer generated appearance was achieved with prosthetic make up as the computer technology of the time was not sufficiently advanced to achieve the desired effect. Preparing the look for filming involved a four-and-a-half hour session in make up which Matt Frewer described as "a very painful, tortuous and disgusting enterprise." The classic look for the character was a shiny dark suit - which was actually a fibreglass mould - often paired with Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses. Only his head and shoulders were depicted, usually against a "computer generated" backdrop of a slowly rotating wire-frame cube interior, which was also initially generated by analogue means - in this case traditional cel animation, though later actual computer graphics were employed for the backdrop. The character's personality was partly intended as a satire of insincere and egotistical television personalities - what Rocky Morton described as the "very sterile, arrogant, Western personification of the middle-class, male TV host," but also was "media-wise and gleefully disrespectful" which appealed to young viewers. Of course, as with most pop-culture icons of the '80s, the Max Headroom phenomena was quickly overplayed and overexposed. He still shows up on the occasional '80s flashback shows. But it's mostly as a prop to remember the over-achieving silliness of the long-ago decade.

A few weeks ago, the White House released a video attempting to point out how committed Obama has been to the State of Israel and how strongly he feels about protesting the only true democracy in the Middle East. Sadly, the video was nothing more than a propaganda show in the hope to solidify his support among American Jews.

As Caroline Glick stated, "On the whole it was an obscene production. What can Binyamin Netanyahu or any other Israeli official say other than that Obama is a great friend of Israel? We have to face the dismal fact that Obama may remain in the White House until 2017. No Israeli official can afford to say openly what they think of this man."

In response, to coincide with Obama's speech to AIPAC (which was also chock full of half-truths and coverups), the Emergency Committee for Israel, a super PAK formed by Bill Kristol, Gary Bauer and Rachel Abrams, created a 30-minute video exposing the true relationship President Obama has with the Jewish state. Of course, those Jews who are so ideologically bound to liberalism will object and call this right-wing propaganda. But anyone who has followed the past three years and watches this with an open mind, will see that the contents of this video are 100% true and honest. It's very hard to lie when it's your own words coming back to haunt you.

Sadly, the majority of American Jews place their liberalism before their Judaism. The outcome of that fact is why so many liberal Jews blindly support the Democrat Party. Israel, however, can not take a chance that Obama does not mean what he says. There are many reasons why we need a real change in leadership in this country. Supporting the democracy of tiny Israel - against the overwhelming forces of radical Islam - is just one of those priorities. However, as goes Israel, goes America. The two countries share the same enemies and are both targeted by the abolitionists of the Islamic world. For there to ever be peace in the Middle East, we must have a President who understands the difference between good and evil and supports good over evil every time. This video brings to light both how naive Obama is, and how dangerous his re-election would be.

I urge every Jew and friend of Israel to watch this 30-minute video:

Ten Great Songs From One Great Year

1972

(for previous 1972 lists, click here and here)

The biggest stories of 1972 were about the Watergate Hotel break-in, that eventually took down the Nixon White House, and the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at 20th Summer Olympic games, in Munich, Germany. But there were other major developments as well this year. In science news, The first publication reporting the production of a recombinant DNA molecule marks the birth of modern molecular biology methodology. In financial news, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 1,000 (1,003.16) for the first time.

The year started on a disturbing note, as the United Nations named Kurt Waldheim Secretary General. Waldheim was a former Nazi intelligence officer who has been implicated in advancing anti-Semitic propaganda, as well as being personally involved in German war crimes. In technology news, the HP-35, by Hewlett-Packard, is introduced as the first "hand-held" calculator, and sells for $375. The Magnavox Odyssey video game system is first demoed, marking the dawn of the video game age; it goes on sale to the public in August. Atari kicks off the first generation of video games with the release of their seminal arcade version of Pong, the first game to achieve commercial success.

Space was still an area of great exploration in 1972. In January, President Nixon orders the development of a space shuttle program, in February, Mariner 9 sends pictures back of the Martian landscape and in March, Pioneer 10 becomes the first man-made satellite to leave the solar system. However, in December, Apollo program: Eugene Cernan is the last person to walk on the moon, after he and Harrison Schmitt complete the third and final Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) of Apollo 17. This is the last manned mission to the moon. In entertainment, The Godfather is released and is greatly respected among international critics and the public and is routinely listed as one of the greatest films ever made. The TV series Bewitched ends its 8th and final season. However, new shows like M*A*S*H, Sanford and Son, Maude, The Bob Newhart Show and Kung Fu take over the airwaves. Locally in Dallas, 4 Country Reporter debuts as well. The back-home country show is still on the air every Saturday (now called Texas Country Reporter) after 40 years.

In sports, Bobby Fischer defeats Boris Spassky in a chess match at Reykjavík, Iceland, becoming the first American to be world chess champion. April brought in the first Boston Marathon in which women are officially allowed to compete. In Football, Terry Bradshaw throws a last second touchdown pass to running back Franco Harris, as Pittsburgh Steelers the Miami Dolphins, losers in the January Super Bowl, become the first team in history to win all 14 games played in a season. The will go on to win Super Bowl 7, the following January. Sadly, the year ended on a tragic note, as December brought in two major airline crashes; a United Airlines Boeing 737 from Washington National to Chicago Midway crashes short of the runway, killing 43 of 61 passengers and 2 people on the ground and just two weeks later, Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 crashes into the Everglades in Florida, killing 101 of 176 onboard. Of course, this was followed by the crash of a chartered DC-7 off the coast of Puerto Rico, which took the life of baseball great Roberto Clemente. Clemente was en route to his native Nicaragua, in order to assist in the aftermath of a massive earthquake a few days prior

I'll Be Around - The Spinners (lyrics)

In 1954, a group of friends who grew up together in Royal Oak Township, Michigan, just outside Detroit, came together to make music. For a time, several of the band members resided in Detroit's Herman Gardens public housing projects. Billy Henderson, Henry Fambrough, Pervis Jackson, C. P. Spencer, and James Edwards called themselves The Domingoes, however James Edwards lasted only a few weeks. He was replaced by Bobbie Smith, who sang lead on most of the Spinners' early records (and many of their biggest Atlantic hits). C. P. Spencer left the group shortly afterwards, and would later go on to be a member of the Voice Masters and The Originals. He was replaced by George Dixon. The group renamed themselves The Spinners in 1961. This name was chosen after looking at popular car hubcaps and noting how they spun around on a car's wheel. However, although they had been around since 1961, they had not had any consistent success. This all changed with "I'll Be Around." Over the next 8 years, The Spinners reached the top 40 twelve times and had a number one hit ("Then Came You" with Dionne Warwick, in 1974). In September 2011, 57 years after forming in Detroit, and 50 years after "That's What Girls Are Made For", the group was announced as one of 15 final nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, their first nomination.



Clair - Gilbert O'Sullivan (lyrics)

Alas, this is a love song that had a most unhappy ending. Gordon Mills, the father of Clair, was the man who can be said to have created Gilbert O'Sullivan. The Irishman was born Raymond Edward O'Sullivan, and moved to the North of England as a boy when his father was offered a job in Swindon. After finishing art college, Raymond moved to the capital to chase the dream, a path taken by countless songwriters and other artistes before and since, successful and not so. He got lucky when a workmate who had a contract with CBS gave him an intro to the company, and he was signed up for a five year deal, which must have been music to his ears at the time, but led precisely nowhere. Eventually, he came to the attention of Gordon Mills, who knew the music industry inside out, having been both a performer and a songwriter before moving over to the business side. (He co-wrote "It's Not Unusual", the song that launched the career of Tom Jones). Mills signed O'Sullivan to MAM, changed his name, and the world was his oyster. Alas, as often happens when a star arrives, he decides he is being underpaid, while the person who guided him to fame and fortune believes Mr. Ten Percent should receive a larger slice of the pie. Their relationship, which had been as much friendship as business, ended in the courts. After years of litigation, O'Sullivan came out on top; the London Times of May 6, 1982 reported that "agreements made between Mr. O'Sullivan and Mr. Mills and his company, Management Agency and Music Ltd [were] 'an unreasonable restraint of trade'." Among other things, O'Sullivan won control of his songs and master tapes. According to a July 1995 article by Grace Bradberry, the court case left Mills humiliated, his company collapsed, his wife divorced him, and he died in 1986 a broken man.



Everybody Plays The Fool - The Main Ingredient (lyrics)

The group was formed in Harlem, New York in 1964 as a trio called the Poets, composed of lead singer Donald McPherson, Luther Simmons, Jr., and Panama-born Tony Silvester. They made their first recordings for Leiber and Stoller's Red Bird label, but soon changed their name to the Insiders and signed with RCA. After a couple of singles, they changed their name once again in 1968, this time permanently to the Main Ingredient, taking the name from a Coke bottle. The Main Ingredient then teamed up with record producer Bert DeCoteaux. Under his direction, they reached the R/B Top 30 for the first time in 1970 with "You've Been My Inspiration." A cover of The Impressions' "I'm So Proud" broke the Top 20, and "Spinning Around (I Must Be Falling in Love)" went into the Top 10. They scored again with the McPherson-penned black power anthem "Black Seeds Keep on Growing," but tragedy struck in 1971: McPherson, who had suddenly taken ill with leukemia, died unexpectedly. Stunned, Silvester and Simmons regrouped with new lead singer Cuba Gooding, Sr., who had served as a backing vocalist on some of their previous recordings and had filled in on tour during McPherson's brief illness. Of course, Gooding Sr. is the father of actor Cuba Gooding, Jr. Over the years, the band released more material. However, they were only able to score one other top 10 hit - 1973's "Just Don't Want to Be Lonely"



Song Sung Blue - Neil Diamond (lyrics)

This was inspired by Mozart's "Piano Concerto no. 21." It's probably the bounciest hit inspired by the classical composer. Diamond: "This is one to which I never paid too much attention. A very basic message, unadorned. I didn't even write a bridge to it... I had no idea that it would be a huge hit or that people would want to sing along with it." While Diamond didn't think this song had hit potential, Russ Regan, who ran his record label Uni, was a believer, telling Diamond it would be his "biggest copyright ever." Said Diamond, "Although the lyric says everything I wanted it to say, there's not much meat to it, but it turned out to be a major, major copyright." By 1972, Diamond was already a successful recording artist. Two years earlier, he hit #1 for the first time with "Cracklin' Rosie". Although that wasn't the first #1 he was a part of. In 1966, Diamond wrote "I'm a Believer" for the Monkees - a song that went #1 and was the top selling song of the year. "Song Sung Blue became his second chart topper. All told, Neil Diamond made the top ten 13 times, had three #1 songs and hit the top 40 an amazing 37 times. He is one of just a few artists to have top 5 hits in three different decades and have a top 10 album in 5 different decades.



Rocket Man - Elton John (lyrics)

Space exploration was big in 1972, and that's what inspired Bernie Taupin's lyrics. It came out around the time of the Apollo 16 mission, which sent men to the moon for the fifth time. According to an account in Elizabeth Rosenthal's book, His Song: The Musical Journey of Elton John, the song was inspired by Taupin's sighting of either a shooting star or a distant airplane. The account goes on to relate that the notion of astronauts no longer being perceived as heroes, but in fact as an "everyday occupation" led him to the song's opening lines, "She packed my bags last night, pre-flight. Zero hour: 9 a.m. And I'm gonna be high as a kite by then." The lyrics in the song, inspired by a short story of the same title written by Ray Bradbury, and written by John's longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin, describe a Mars-bound astronaut's mixed feelings at leaving his family in order to do his job. in Ray Bradbury's "The Rocket Man," the astronauts of this story are few in number and work as they desire for high pay. One such astronaut goes off into space for three months at a time, only returning to earth for three consecutive days to spend time with his wife and son. From there he came up with the song about a man who is sent to live in space as part of a scientific experiment.



Black Dog - Led Zeppelin (lyrics)

The title came from a nameless black dog that wandered around the Headley Grange studios during recording. It has nothing to do with the song itself and is the first track on Led Zeppelin 4, one of the best selling albums ever. The album has symbols on the cover and is untitled, but since it was their 4th album, it became known as Led Zeppelin 4. Of course, this was the album that spurned the classic song, "Stairway to Heaven." Ironically, while "Stairway" has been long been considered their greatest work (and perhaps the most popular song on the Rock era), it was never released as a single. The start and stop a cappella verses of "Black Dog" were inspired by Fleetwood Mac's 1969 song "Oh Well." Before Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac in 1974, they were more of a Blues band led by guitarist Peter Green. Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones got the idea for this song after hearing Muddy Waters' "Electric Mud." He wanted to try "Electric Blues with a rolling bass part."



Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress) - The Hollies (lyrics)

The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s. They enjoyed considerable popularity in many countries, although they did not achieve major US chart success until 1966. Along with The Rolling Stones and The Searchers, they are one of the few British pop groups of the early 1960s that have never officially broken up and that continue to record and perform. The Hollies were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. The original line-up included Allan Clarke as lead vocalist, Graham Nash as guitarist and vocalist, Vic Steele on guitar, with Eric Haydock on bass guitar and Don Rathbone on drums. Nash left the group in 1968 and joined Buffalo Springfield. Upon that groups demise, he was one of the founders of the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. However, Nash returned to the Hollies in time for their last charting hit, 1983's remake of the Supreme's best-seller, "Stop! In the Name of Love," which peaked at #29. This is the only Hollies single without any backing vocals. The reason why Clarke is the only singer on this record is that he didn't intended the song to be released on a Hollies album, but as a record of his own. When the band learned that he intended to do a solo recording, Clarke was issued an ultimatum - he could either remain with The Hollies or pursue a solo career, but not both. Clarke told Rolling Stone in 1973: "I think with me the band feared that if I got a hit I'd leave. How can you stop destiny? Now, if they originally agreed, I might not even have left. 'Long Cool Woman' would have been released a year earlier, and we'd have done a few tours of the States and maybe would have been really big."



Too Late to Turn Back Now - Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose (lyrics)

Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose was a family soul singing group from Dania Beach, Florida, that attained brief popularity in the early 1970s. The original members were the siblings Carter Cornelius, Eddie Cornelius, and Rose Cornelius. Another sister, Billie Jo Cornelius, was added later. The group hit the pop chart in 1971, with the single "Treat Her Like a Lady" (U.S. R/B Top 20, Billboard Hot 100 #3) and sold over a million copies. The act succeeded again in 1972 with "Too Late to Turn Back Now" (U.S. R/B #5, Hot 100 #2); both songs were written by Eddie Cornelius. This also sold over one million copies with a gold disc awarded in August 1972. While the group failed to find any further success on the scale of their first two singles, two releases, "Don't Ever Be Lonely" and "I'm Never Gonna Be Alone Anymore" reached the Billboard Top 40. Their final charting single was "Since I Found My Baby" in 1974, from their third and last album. The group broke up in 1976 when Carter Cornelius joined a black Hebrew sect in Miami and adopted the name Prince Gideon Israel. He wrote, recorded, and mixed the sect's music and videos for the next 15 years. He died on November 7, 1991 as the result of a heart attack at the age of 43. Eddie Cornelius became a born-again Christian and later an ordained pastor. He still continues to sing, produce, and write music that reflects his faith in God. Rose Cornelius appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in June 1967, and performed in Las Vegas and worldwide before joining her brothers. She came home to form CB and SR with her brothers at her mother's request. Rose Cornelius wrote most of the CB and SR background vocals. In 1970, she toured with another group called the Gospel Jazz Singers. She is working and living in Port Saint Lucie, Florida, and still performs with many groups.




Where Is the Love - Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway (lyrics)

This was written by percussionist Ralph MacDonald and bass player William Salter. They wrote the song hoping The 5th Dimension would record it, but MacDonald was working on the session for the Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway album, and when they needed one more song, he offered it to them. Flack and Hathaway were good friends and went to school together at Howard University. Their first collaboration was a cover of Carole King's "You've Got a Friend." This led to an entire album of duets, which contained this hit. In this song, Flack and Hathaway sing about a relationship that is not working out. Unlike most male/female duets, they aren't singing to each other, but are both taking the role of the person who is on the short end of the relationship. It's a classic case of girl leaves boyfriend, tells another guy she will love him, then goes back to her original boyfriend, leaving Donny and Roberta to ask, "Where Is The Love?" During the best part of his career, Hathaway began to suffer from severe bouts of depression. It was found that he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and was known to take strong medication daily to try to control the illness. However, Eulaulah Hathaway has said that her husband was frequently less than diligent about following his prescription regimen. Donnita Hathaway has said that her mother gave her similar information about her father, saying that when he took his medication, he was generally fine, but that when he did not, it was impossible for her to deal with him. Over the course of the 1970s, Hathaway's mental instability wreaked havoc on his life and required several hospitalizations. The effects of his melancholia also drove a wedge in Flack and Hathaway's friendship; they did not reconcile for several years, and did not release additional music until the successful release of "The Closer I Get To You" in 1978. Flack and Hathaway then resumed studio recording to compose a second album of duets. However, on January 13 of that year, Hathaway began a recording session and the album producers each reported that although Hathaway's voice sounded good, he began behaving irrationally, seeming to be paranoid and delusional. According to one of them, Hathaway said that "white people" were trying to kill him and had connected his brain to a machine, for the purpose of stealing his music. Given Hathaway's behavior, they decided the recording session could not continue, so they aborted it and all of the musicians went home. Hours later, Hathaway was found dead on the sidewalk below the window of his 15th-floor room in New York's Essex House hotel. He had jumped from his balcony. The glass had been neatly removed from the window and there were no signs of struggle, leading investigators to rule Hathaway's death a suicide. His friends were mystified, considering that his career had just started to pick up again, and Flack was devastated. Spurred by his death, she included the few duet tracks they had finished on her next album, Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway. This spring, Flack is set to release Let it Be Roberta, an album of Beatles covers including "Hey Jude" and "Let it Be". It is her first recording in over 8 years. Flack knew John Lennon and Yoko Ono personally as they both moved in 1975 into the The Dakota apartment building in New York City and had apartments across the hall from each other. Flack has stated that she has already been asked to do a second album of Beatles covers.



All the Young Dudes - Mott the Hoople (lyrics)

This was written and produced by David Bowie. Mott the Hoople had a cult following in England and Bowie was a big fan. The problem was, they weren't selling many albums and were about to break up. Bowie heard about their impending breakup when Mott bass player Pete Overend Watts called looking for work, and in an effort to keep the band together, he offered to produce their next album and provide them with a song he was working on. The challenge was getting Mott in the studio to record the song, since they had alienated their record label, Island. Bowie got them some time at Olympic Studios in London in the middle of the night, and that's where they recorded the song. Besides producing the track, Bowie played guitar, sang backup, and clapped. Mott The Hoople didn't know this when they recorded it, but Bowie intended this song for his The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars concept album. The, "All the young dudes carry the news" line refers to part of Bowie's story where there is no electricity, and Ziggy Stardust uses songs to spread the news. Said Bowie: "'All the Young Dudes' is a song about this news. It's not a hymn to the youth, as people thought. It is completely the opposite." Even though the band was heterosexual, this became a gay anthem, at least in America, thanks to lyrics like "Lucy looks sweet 'cause he dresses like a queen." This was the nature of Glam Rock, a style that emerged in England in the early '70s where singers performed in makeup and feminine clothes while playing bombastic rock songs. The performers were not necessarily gay, but they definitely blurred gender roles. Bowie may have been the biggest influence on Glam Rock.In January 2009, the band announced they would be re-uniting for two concerts at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, in October 2009. According to lead singer Ian Hunter's web site, all five of the original members would participate in the reunion. Hunter wrote, "Why are we doing it? I can't speak for the others, but I'm doing it just to see what it's like.



BONUS TRACK

Joy - Apollo 100 (instrumental)

Apollo 100 was a short-lived British instrumental studio-based group that had a hit with this Johann Sebastian Bach-inspired single. The recording of "Joy" as performed by Apollo 100 is a nearly note-for-note remake of the arrangement of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" (but with modern pop music flourishes like percussion and bass) recorded by the British band Jigsaw ("Sky High") on their 1970 debut album Letherslade Farm. Arranger Tom Parker an accomplished multi instrumentalist/arranger responsible for most of the successful arrangements from the Young Blood catalogue, such as the Top 20 American hit "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" and a number of Don Fardon's recordings. Parker is a multi-instrumentalist, having played keyboards, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, and a number of other instruments from an early age. His first performances were in and around Newcastle, England, where he performed in a number of jazz clubs. Following this he was associated with a number of groups, including The Mark Leeman 5, Jimmy James and the Vagabonds, and Eric Burdon with the New Animals. He put together the band in 1972, with drummer Clem Cattini, guitarist Vic Flick, guitarist Zed Jenkins, percussionist Jim Lawless, and bassist Brian Odgers. Their first single, "Joy" rose to number 6 on the pop singles chart in the US. None of their subsequent efforts were as successful and they broke up in 1973. "Joy" has subsequently been featured in the soundtracks of the films Boogie Nights, One Day in September and The 40-Year-Old Virgin.