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psychicdeath

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

New York Groove – Hello

Sunday song of the day: Today’s song was a hit in Europe but had no impact in the United States until a member of a hugely popular band released a cover version.



The other day while researching Argent’s Hold Your Head Up, I mentioned that the singer for Argent, Russ Ballard, later had a very successful songwriting career. One of his hit songs was New York Groove, recorded by KISS’s Ace Frehley on his 1978 solo album. One thing I was not aware of, however, was that Frehley was not the first act to record New York Groove.

In 1971 an English glam rock band with the name of Hello was formed. In 1974, they had a #6 hit in the UK with Tell Him, and the following year recorded Ballard’s New York Groove. It went to #9 in the UK and #7 in Germany, but never had any popularity in the United States. The band had several hits in Germany over the next few years before splitting up in 1979.

In 1978, instead of another album by the band, the four members of KISS all released solo albums on the same day. Ace Frehley’s record included a cover of New York Groove that was released as a single. It was a hit, peaking at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was the only song from the four concurrent KISS solo albums to break the Top 40. Peter Criss did not chart at all, while Gene Simmons reached #47 with Radioactive and Paul Stanley hit #46 with Hold Me, Touch Me (Think of Me When We’re Apart).

Hello, 1975



Ace Frehley, 1978



Tomorrow: Would you greet me or politely turn away?
 
psychicdeath

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

Oh, Babe, What Would You Say? – Hurricane Smith

Monday song of the day: Today’s song was a big hit for a 49-year old record producer who had no experience as a performer until the previous year.



Norman Smith was an English recording engineer who worked on several of The Beatles’ first albums. He later worked with Pink Floyd and many other acts of the 1960s and 1970s. In 1971 he wrote a song called Don’t Let it Die that he hoped John Lennon would record. He recorded a demo version, and when he played it for fellow producer Mickey Most. Most suggested that Smith just release the demo himself instead of pitching the song to Lennon. That he did, using the name Hurricane Smith. Don’t Let it Die was a hit in England, rising to #2 on the UK singles chart.

The next year he released another song, called Oh, Babe, What Would You Say? This one was written by his wife, Eileen Smith. It was a song about a guy fantasizing about asking a girl to dance, and a relationship that could develop. Musically, it had more in common with 1920s or 1930s crooners than the rock of the early 1970s. The record was released internationally and became an improbable hit in the United States. Oh, Babe, What Would You Say? rose to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Hurricane Smith recorded one more UK hit in 1972 and continued recording for several years after that, but never again had a hit in the United States. He passed away in 2008 at the age of 85.



Tomorrow: Je vois la vie en rose
 
SongExotic2

SongExotic2

ATM 3 CHAMPION OF THE WORLD. #ASSBLOODS
First 100
Jan 16, 2015
41,835
54,737
Rhino said:
Sitting in this show rehearsal for this thing I'm doing, and Leona Lewis is one of the performers..... She's amazing.... And gorgeous


View: https://youtu.be/Vzo-EL_62fQ
Click to expand...
Fuck me I hate that song. Years back while overseas we had a TV station called bfbs. It had about 8 hours of content that it would show 24/7 for a week or two until it updated. This song was on there and featured on of them mimes for deaf people in the corner. Right old hag miming. Fucken song drove me mad 8 times a shift with the creepy old lady doing her facial expressions in the corner
 
psychicdeath

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

La Vie en Rose – Edith Piaf

Tuesday song of the day: Today’s song is one of the biggest hits of post-WWII France, and the signature song of an iconic French singer.



Edith Piaf was a very popular French cabaret singer and recording artist of the 1930s, and her fame grew during World War II. Since she had performed in territories occupied by the Germans, after the Allies liberated France in 1944, she was accused of collaborating with the Nazis. Members of the French Resistance, however, came to her defense and said that during the war she had used her fame and contacts to help several prisoners escape. After she was cleared from the charges, she was free to resume her singing career.

With the war in Europe ending in May 1945, she wrote a hopeful song called La Vie en Rose. Literally translated, it means “life is pink”, but the meaning is more akin to “life in rosy hues.” In other words, she sees good times coming. While the lyrics deal specifically with a love affair and how her love gives her hope and happiness, it is easy to see it as a metaphor for a return to normality after the horrors of WWII.

Piaf wrote the lyrics to the song, with the music written by Luois Guglielmi, who worked under the pseudonym “Louiguy.” Edith Piaf performed the song in clubs and on the radio, but she allowed Marianne Michel to record it first. After La Vie en Rose had been popular in her act, Piaf recorded her own version in 1947, and it was a huge hit in Europe. Not long afterward it was released in the United States and sold over a million copies, which was rare for a foreign language record.

In 1950, Mack David wrote English lyrics to the song, and several artists released their cover versions in English. These included Tony Martin, Paul Weston, Bing Crosby, and Edith Piaf herself. The Piaf version in English reached #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Another 1950 version by Louis Armstrong made it to #28 on the Billboard chart.

Over the years, La Vie en Rose has been covered over 350 times, by artists as wide-ranging as Marlene Dietrich, Petula Clark, Grace Jones, Belinda Carlisle, Iggy Pop, and Lady Gaga. In 1998 it received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award.

Edith Piaf, 1947, (French lyrics)



Edith Piaf, 1950, (English lyrics)



Louis Armstrong, 1950 (English lyrics) note: this version is instrumental until about halfway through



Tomorrow: We’re making moves and starting grooves before they knew we were gone
 
psychicdeath

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

How Bizarre – OMC

Wednesday song of the day: Today’s song was the only US hit for this band from New Zealand.



In 1992 Phil Fuemana formed a band called the Otara Millionaires Club with his brother and one other member. The band name was a joke, since Otara was one of the poorest cities near Auckland. Not long afterward, his younger brother Pauly suggested they shorten the name to just OMC. Phil left the band to Pauly, and for most of its existence OMC was a duo, consisting of Pauly Fuenama and Alan Jansson.

In December 1995 they released a single titled How Bizarre, which became an international hit. It reached #1 in five countries, and in the US it was #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 chart. It did not place on the larger Billboard Hot 100 chart because the criteria for that chart at the time made How Bizarre ineligible. The song was released to radio only in the United States, and with no single available to buy it was not tracked by the Hot 100 singles chart. (It was on the debut album from OMC, also titled How Bizarre, that sold well over a million copies in the US.)

How Bizarre tells a story of Pauly going for a drive with two friends, Sina (backing vocalist Sina Saipaia) and her brother Pele, and the strange things they encounter on the trip. The video made to accompany the song illustrates the lyrics.

OMC would have several minor hits in New Zealand and elsewhere afterward, but never charted in the United States again. Band founder Phil Fuenama passed away in 2005 after a heart attack, and Pauly Fuenama died in 2010 after suffering from a degenerative nerve disease.



Tomorrow: Holding back, every day the same
 
ShatsBassoon

ShatsBassoon

Throwing bombs & banging moms
First 100
Jan 14, 2015
18,604
33,623
You're not the one who waits to go to a Chris De Burgh concert for 3 and a half years so I can go in and miss the encore of don't pay the ferryman because im on the phone in the foyer talking about stolen shopping carts
 
silentsinger

silentsinger

Momofuku
Jun 23, 2015
21,038
14,457
ShatsBassoon said:
You're not the one who waits to go to a Chris De Burgh concert for 3 and a half years so I can go in and miss the encore of don't pay the ferryman because im on the phone in the foyer talking about stolen shopping carts
Click to expand...
Considering Lady in Red makes we want to rip my ears off, that really is a great track.

Woke up with this in my head, Grateful Dude @Grateful Dude
 
psychicdeath

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

That's Not My Name – The Ting Tings

Thursday song of the day: Today’s song was #1 in the UK, but barely cracked the Top 40 in the United States.



In 2007 English musicians Katie White and Jules De Martino formed a band that they named The Ting Tings. The name came from a coworker who told them Ting Ting meant “bandstand” in Mandarin. They later learned that it could also translate to “sound of innovation on an open mind.”

They released their first single That’s Not My Name on the small Switchflicker Records in May 2007, but it didn’t sell very well. Shortly afterward, they were signed to Columbia Records and released their first album in 2008, We Started Nothing. The first two singles from the album were not hits, but the third single was a re-release of That’s Not My Name. This time it received heavy airplay on the BBC and favorable reviews in the music press, which propelled the song to #1 in the United Kingdom.

The song is about the duo’s frustration with the record industry. White and De Martino had been in a band called Dear Eskimo in 2004 that had been signed to Mercury Records, but not long after the signing the people who had signed them left the label and Mercury dropped the band. De Martino explained, “We were really frustrated because we had been in a band before and been dumped by our label. Back at the time, we weren’t specifically trying to write the song about anything. We were just trying to have fun with it. But when we look back at the lyrics we realize they’re all about frustration. In a way, she’s saying she wants to be heard. She wants people to know her name.”

That’s Not My Name did not perform quite as well in the United States. While it was a #4 hit on the Dance Club chart, it peaked at #39 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Ting Tings are still performing and recording, but so far have not had another Top 40 hit in the United States.



Tomorrow: He’s gonna give up the booze and the one-night stands
 
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