Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.

This week’s theme is  “Arms/Elbows/Knees/Legs.”

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 Released as a single from his album Straight from the Heart, If Ever You’re in My Arms Again peaked at #6 on the R&B chart and was Bryson’s first Top 10 single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it peaked at #10 during the summer of 1984.

FUN FACTS

• Bryson and Celine Dion’s pop version of the Beauty and the Beast theme would reach number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 1991, returning Disney songs to the pop charts after a thirty-year absence.
• In March of 1993, Bryson, along with Regina Belle went all the way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with A Whole New World, the first and so far only song from a Disney animated film to top the US Billboard Hot 100.

Enjoy!

See my Song Lyric Sunday selection for FeliciaDenise.com.

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Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.

Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.

This week’s theme is  “Chin/Ears/Eyes/Face/Mouth/Nose.”

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Vanessa Williams’ 1991 sophomore album, The Comfort Zone, went all the way to #17 on the US Billboard 200 and reached #1 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It sold nearly three million copies and was nominated for five Grammy Awards. But while the songs Runnin’ Back to You, The Comfort Zone, and Save the Best for Last are well-known favorites and helped drive album sales, it’s the unreleased eighth track, Stranger’s Eyes, that has been a part of my playlists for almost thirty years.

The song is about being caught off guard and overwhelmed by love when you least expect it. As the song says, “It’s the kind of thing that dreams are made of…”

Enjoy!

See my Song Lyric Sunday selection for FeliciaDenise.com.

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Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.

Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.

This week’s theme is  “Bounty/Dessert/Eat/Feast/Food/Hungry/Turkey.”

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I went left of one this week’s prompts–dessert– and used sweet!

Initially recorded and released a single in late 1975, Sweet Thing was first a hit for Rufus featuring Chaka Khan.

Sweet Thing reached number-one on the R&B singles chart and number five on the pop chart.

FUN FACTS:

•  During an interview, Khan said, “I told all of my boyfriends around that time that it was them that inspired Sweet Thing. In fact, I think Tony was my real boyfriend at the time. That song was just spontaneous. Tony and I were just sitting around and it happened – really. We had that kind of chemistry, and it was that kind of situation. We wrote the song in five minutes. It’s all really chemistry when it boils down to it. Rufus and I had an amazing chemistry. That’s what was underneath it all. And the love we had for each other.”
• In 1997, contemporary jazz saxophonist Boney James did another remake of the song; it was included on the album titled Sweet Thing. The album’s title track included background vocals by original co-writer Tony Maiden.
• Mary J. Blige recorded Sweet Thing for her debut album What’s the 411? in 1992. Her version hit #28 in the US.

Enjoy!

See my Song Lyric Sunday selection for FeliciaDenise.com.

~~~

Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.

Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.

This week’s theme is  “Did/Didn’t/Do/Don’t/Does/Doesn’t.”

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Calling it show-tune schmaltz and knocking it for it’s big emotional finish, many music critics didn’t care for Didn’t We Almost Have It All, the second single from Whitney Houston’s second album, Whitney, in 1987.

But when has the music-loving public ever listened to a music critic?

The song debuted at number forty-one on the Billboard Hot 100 in August and in just six short weeks, it landed at number one, where it stayed for two consecutive weeks and became Whitney’s fifth consecutive number one song.

Didn’t We Almost Have It All is about wishing for a reunion with someone, and making the case for it by recalling past good times. It was widely speculated that the song is about Houston’s relationship with then NFL star Randall Cunningham.

FUN FACTS:

•  The single stayed in the Top 40 for 13 weeks, and topped the Adult Contemporary chart for three weeks.
• Michael Masser, who worked as a producer on the album, wrote this with Will Jennings, a lyricist from East Texas who around this time was also writing for Steve Winwood, B.B. King, The Crusaders and Randy Crawford.
• Following Houston’s death in 2012, Entertainment Weekly published a list of her 25 best songs and ranked Didn’t We Almost Have it All at 16.

So much for music critics, eh? 😀

The official video for Didn’t We Almost Have It All is a live performance for members of the military in Saratoga Springs, New York. It played in heavy rotation on VH1, MTV, and BET, but is not a favorite of mine. Whitney’s “performance” actually takes away from her singing and doesn’t do the song justice.

I chose a static album cover with a radio version of the song instead.

Enjoy!

See my Song Lyric Sunday selection for FeliciaDenise.com.

~~~

Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.

Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.

This week’s theme is  “Could/Might/Should/Would.”

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Finishing behind Ruben Stoddard and Clay Aiken, Kimberley Locke was the third place winner in season two of American Idol in 2003.

While a fan favorite, Coulda Been, the third release from her 2005 album, One Love, failed to chart. It did, however, find minor success in the UK.

While none of her other songs grew on me, Coulda Been has been a favorite for over a decade.

FUN FACTS:

• Kimberley has enjoyed major success with Christmas songs. Her version of Up on the House Top, released in autumn of 2005. By the end of year, it had reached the top spot of the Adult Contemporary (A/C) charts. The following year, Locke’s version of Jingle Bells was released and topped the same charts. A full Christmas album entitled Christmas — only available digitally — was released on November 6, 2007.
• From 2005 through September 2006, Locke was signed with Ford Models’ 14+ Division. She has appeared on the covers of the July 2005 issue of Figure magazine and the summer 2007 issue of UneQ magazine. She has also been a former spokesperson for Lane Bryant and Seven7 Jeans.
• In 2007 Locke was a participant on the fifth season of Celebrity Fit Club. While filming for the show, Locke chose to follow the Jenny Craig diet plan and had such great success she was offered a deal as spokeswoman with Jenny Craig At the completion of filming for the show, Kimberley weighed in at a final weight of 149 lbs; down a total of 27 lbs. from her original start weight of 176 lbs. A feature in the September 10th issue of People Magazine shows Kimberley at 141 lbs., only 3 pounds away from her goal. Locke announced through her official MySpace blog on October 8, 2007 that she had finally achieved her 40-pound weight loss goal.

The video for Coulda Been was directed by Urban Strom, who also directed videos for Mary J. Blige, Rachel Stevens and LeAnn Rimes. It was filmed in London, England in the spring of 2004. In the video, Kimberley sees another woman’s name show up on her boyfriend’s caller ID. She goes on to tell him that one day he will look back at what “coulda been” and regret letting her go.

Enjoy!

See my Song Lyric Sunday selection for FeliciaDenise.com.

~~~

Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.

Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.

This week’s theme is  “Around/Down/Sideways/Up.”

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Following my first mind led me to this smooth groove from the early 70s.

I’ll Be Around was initially released as the B-side of the group’s first single on Atlantic Records, with How Could I Let You Get Away being the A-side. Radio deejays, however, soon opted for I’ll Be Around which led to Atlantic flipping the single over and the song became an unexpected hit, eventually spending five weeks at number one on the U.S. R&B chart (the group’s first number-one on the R&B chart), and reaching number three on the U.S. Pop chart in the fall of 1972. It also reached sales of over one million copies, The Spinners’ first record ever to do so. The success of I’ll Be Around would be the first in a series of chart successes The Spinners and Bell would have together during the 1970s.

FUN FACTS:

• The Spinners were known as the Detroit Spinners in the UK.
• This song of devotion is heartbreaking on a deeper level. The lyrics, written by the aptly named Phil Hurtt, find our hero unable to move on from a relationship that has ended. There is an air of desperation as he offers himself up to his lost love unconditionally. He might be bowing out gracefully, but he can’t leave her behind.
• Cover versions of I’ll Be Around made the US Hot 100 in the each of the three decades after The Spinners first charted with the song.

A 70s song from a 70s group, of course, the video performance is from Soul Train!

Enjoy!

See my Song Lyric Sunday selection for FeliciaDenise.com.

~~~

Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.

Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.

This week’s theme is  “Lost/Found/Hide/Seek.”

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This is the second time before Halloween I’ve used a Christmas song. Stop judging me! #Sorrynotsorry 😀 😀 😀

It doesn’t bother me to post holiday songs because I play them year-round, and this is one on my writing playlist. And, I love this movie! I never dreamed I’d one day watch a live action version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas as a kid watching the animated version, but Jim Carey nailed it!

Originally titled Christmas, Why Can’t I Find You?  this tune was co-written by James Horner and Will Jennings for the movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas in 2000. A full-length version of the song, was renamed Where Are You, Christmas? This version was co-written by Horner, Jennings and Mariah Carey with additional lyrics for the film’s soundtrack. The song was originally recorded by Carey, but because of a legal case with her ex-husband Tommy Mottola, it could not be released, so it was re-recorded and released by Faith Hill..

A video was released featuring Hill singing from the Grinch’s mountaintop home, interspersed with clips from the film and a cameo appearance by Taylor Momsen as Cindy Lou Who.

FUN FACTS:

• As of December 2018, Hill’s version was approaching one million digital downloads and placed seventh on the list of all-time best-selling Christmas/holiday digital singles in Nielsen SoundScan history.
• In the movie, Where Are You Christmas? is sung by Taylor Momsen, who played Cindy Lou Who.
• Where are you Christmas? only reached #65 on the US Billboard Hot 100 but went all the way to #10 on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.

Enjoy!

See my Song Lyric Sunday selection for FeliciaDenise.com.

~~~

Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.

Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.

This week’s theme is  “Lean/Sit/Stand.”

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As one out of five singles released from the wildly popular soundtrack of the 1995 film Waiting to Exhale, starring Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett, Brandy’s Sittin’ Up in My Room  reached number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming her most successful single on that particular chart up to that point.

The song won the award for Best Song from a Movie at the 1996 MTV Awards and was also nominated for Best Video from a Film

. Actor Donald Faison, known for the character Christopher Turk in the medical comedy-drama Scrubs, appears in the Sittin’ Up in My Room video. Faison played the son of Loretta Devine’s character Gloria in Waiting to Exhale.

FUN FACTS:

• The characteristic bass intro is a replica of the famous riff performed by bassist Larry Graham, of Sly and the Family Stone, on their hit “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”.
• Sittin’ Up in My Room also peaked at number two on the Hot 100 Singles chart (kept from the top spot by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s One Sweet Day), staying on the chart for a total of thirty-three weeks. The single earned a platinum award by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on May 23, 1996, with 1,000,000 copies sold less than six months after it’s release.

Enjoy!

See my Song Lyric Sunday selection for FeliciaDenise.com.

~~~

Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.

Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.

This week’s theme is  “Drifter/Loner/Transient/Vagabond.”

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Mr. Bojangles was recorded twice, by Allen Wayne Damron in 1967 and songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker in 1968, before country rock group the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band took it all the way to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971.

Walker has said he was inspired to write the song after an encounter with a street performer in a New Orleans jail.

While in jail for public intoxication in 1965, he met a homeless black man who called himself “Mr. Bojangles” to conceal his true identity from the police. He had been arrested as part of a police sweep of indigent people that was carried out following a high-profile murder. The two men and others in the cell chatted about all manner of things, but when Mr. Bojangles told a story about his dog, the mood in the room turned heavy. Someone else in the cell asked for something to lighten the mood, and Mr. Bojangles obliged with a tap dance.

FUN FACTS:

• Mr. Bojangles appears on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s 1970 album Uncle Charlie & and His Dog Teddy, which also includes the popular House on Pooh Corner.
• More than SIXTY artists have recorded Mr. Bojangles in every music genre, including classical.
• The song is most widely associated with Sammy Davis Jr., who made the song part of his stage shows and live television performances for nearly two decades.

Enjoy!

See my Song Lyric Sunday selection for FeliciaDenise.com.

~~~

Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.

Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.

This week’s theme is  “Truck and Bus Songs.”

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Double Dutch Bus is a hit 1981 funk song by Frankie Smith, made famous for its extensive use of the “izz” infix form of slang. Smith popularized the nonsensical form of slang, (From his song “Slang thang”, 1981 WMOT records.) in which “iz” is placed in the middle of a word (for example, the word “place” becomes “plizace”) or the last letters of a word are replaced with “-izzle” (ex. sure becomes shizzle). The style became part of hip-hop slang, and was popularized by rappers Snoop Dogg and E-40. The style today holds a place in popular slang.

Smith and co-writer Bill Bloom persuaded contacts at WMOT Records to finance the song, and it was recorded in early 1981, engineered by Gene Leone. The song rocketed to popularity in a matter of weeks and debuted on the US Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart in February, rising to the top spot by July, where it held at number one for four weeks. It also crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at number 30 in the summer of 1981.

The record became only the second in history (following the 1979 Barbra Streisand/Donna Summer duet No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)), and remains one of the few, to receive two separate standard-release Gold certifications from the RIAA: first in June 1981 for sales of the 12″ single; and a second Gold record in September 1981 for sales of the 7″ edit.

Raven-Symone covered Double Dutch Bus for her 2008 family comedy with Martin Lawrence, College Road Trip, and I’m using the song scene from the movie. I love Frankie’s version but his cuts are so long (8-13 mins), and the official video is horrible. Looks as though their total  budget for the video was $7.25. 😀  (Okay, it was 1981.) (Lyrics posted are to the original song. Raven sings a shortened version.)

FUN FACTS:

• The title represents a combination of two institutions in Smith’s Philadelphia, Pennsylvania neighborhood: the double Dutch jump rope game played by neighborhood kids; and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) bus system.
• Frankie Smith complained that WMOT Records failed to pay him his royalties, and how he therefore was unable to pay his taxes. An investigation was started which brought to light that WMOT Records was not only badly managed, but in fact laundering money for Larry Lavin, aka Dr. Snow, a dentist who was secretly dealing cocaine. This way, the success of Double Dutch Bus indirectly caused the end of a major drugs business.
• Frankie Smith died in Philadelphia on March 8, 2019, he was 65-66 years old.

Enjoy!

See my Song Lyric Sunday selection for FeliciaDenise.com.

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Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.