Ramblin' with Roger

Hot 100 #1s for 1995

TLC

Here are the Billboard pop Hot 100 #1s for 1995, A nice short list. And the Hot Adult Contemporary is both so short and has so much in common that I will note them here.

One Sweet Day – Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (Columbia), 16 weeks at #1 pop, 13 weeks at #1 AC, double platinum record. This song was a response on the first episode of JEOPARDY I was on in 1998. SONGS BY THE NUMBERS: This 1995-96 hit by Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men holds the record for the most weeks at No. 1 with 16. (A record that has since been superseded.) I couldn’t think of the song’s name, though I knew it was One [something] Day.

In the next year or two, a very similar question showed up on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire at a very high level, I think $250,000. By that point, of course, I knew!

Fantasy – Mariah Carey (Columbia), eight weeks at #1 pop, double platinum record. I recognize the swipe more than the song.

Waterfalls – TLC (LaFace), seven weeks at #1 pop, platinum record. I also know this from the parody Weird Al Yankovic did, Phony Calls, featuring Bart Simpson.

Take A Bow – Madonna (Maverick /Sire), seven weeks at #1 pop, nine weeks at #1 AC, gold record

This Is How We Do It – Montell Jordan (PMP /RAL), seven weeks at #1 pop, platinum record

Some songs in movies

Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman – Bryan Adams (A&M) five weeks at #1 pop and AC. It was used for the film Don Juan DeMarco, starring Marlon Brando, Johnny Depp, and Faye Dunaway, which I never saw.

Creep – TLC (LaFace), four weeks at #1 pop, platinum record

Gangsta’s Paradise – Coolio featuring LV (MCA Sound), three weeks at #1 pop, triple platinum record. This song was initially rooted in Pastime Paradise by Stevie Wonder from his legendary album, Songs In The Key of Life. Coolio and Weird Al had a bit of a row about Weird Al’s use on Amish Paradise, though it was settled by 2011. The song is taken from Michele Pfeiffer’s movie Dangerous Minds.

One week at #1 pop

Kiss From A Rose – Seal (ZTT/Sire), 12 weeks at #1 AC, gold record, . It was from his second eponymous album (1994), released as a single in July 1994 and included in the film The NeverEnding Story III that year. “The song was re-released a year later as part of the Batman Forever film soundtrack, helping it top the charts in the United States.” I own the latter album, as well as his second album.

Exhale (Shoop Shoop) – Whitney Houston (Arista), platinum record. It was released as the lead single from the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack. The film starred Houston and Angela Bassett.

You Are Not Alone – Michael Jackson (Epic), platinum record

Hot Adult Contemporary #1 for 1995

These are the songs that were NOT #1 pop.

I’ll Be There For You (Theme from Friends) -the Rembrandts, seven weeks at #1 AC, #17 pop. I remember going on a picnic with my future wife. This song played on the radio when we got to the location, and again when we left about four hours later.

As I Lay Me Down – Sophie B. Hawkins, six weeks at #1 AC, #6 pop

In The House Of Stone and Light – Martin Page, four weeks at #1 AC, #14 pop

Love Will Keep Us Alive – Eagles, three weeks at #1 AC, #22 pop

Believe – Elton John, two weeks at #1 AC, #13 pop

Movie review? HamilTEN

cf West Side Story

As our celebration of HamilTEN, the tenth anniversary of the musical Hamilton, my wife and I went to the Spectrum Theater in Albany in late September to see the movie. Well, more correctly, we saw the stage version of Hamilton, which was filmed in 2016, and the original cast was featured before they dispersed.

It was made available on Disney+ in 2020, but I had no streaming service. Moreover, I’m not all that fond of seeing movies on the small screen anyway. So when it came to the cinema in honor of the 10th anniversary of Hamilton (HamilTEN), it was a required visit.

As I’m sure I’ve described, we first learned about Hamilton when our daughter was really hot on this musical. We bought and played the CD in our car whenever we traveled with our daughter. There were rules, including that my wife could not turn off the vehicle until the playing song ended. So, and I’m not exaggerating, we’ve probably listened to Hamilton north of 200 times in three years. Although not 100% historically accurate, our daughter learned who ran in the elections of 1796 and 1800.

A guy named Howard Ho is a scholar of the musical who explains over several videos why the listening and relistening of Hamilton isn’t as repetitive as it might be. Part of it concerns the fact that so many words are packed into a single line. One video suggests the first measure encapsulates the entire musical motif.

In 2019, we saw both the touring company and a parody of Spamilton. We’ve watched the Weird Al Hamilton Polka.

Finally

Still, finally seeing the movie and seeing the staging was magical. Angelica (Renée Elise Goldsberry) performed Satisfied, which was electric. King George (Jonathan Goff) never blinks in his three songs, and after his final song, he remains rollicking on the stage. Thomas Jefferson’s moves (Daveed Diggs) are extraordinary. It is remarkably moving when Eliza (Phillipa Soo) sings Burn. This is fascinating, given our history with the work.

I probably know Hamilton better than any other musical, except possibly West Side Story, which I saw more than 60 years ago, plus subsequent movie and stage presentations.

I can’t review Hamilton. We got more emotional about it than we would have thought. Oh, we were the only people in the theater – it WAS the third week – but it would have been interesting to register audience reaction.

Vaguely related: Did an Enslaved Chocolatier Help Hercules Mulligan Foil a Plot to Assassinate George Washington?

The Honest Playlist, part 1

inverse pedal point

It’s J. Eric Smith’s fault that I’m doing the Honest Playlist. He is an old blogger buddy of mine—well, he is not that old—who used to live in the Albany area but now resides in Arizona.

He explained the setup, which you can read here. It involves, in part, Flight of the Conchords, which I have never seen, but that is not required for this exercise.

“The premise of the recurring feature is that artists are given a set of song-based questions which they must answer, honestly.” And I have to do this because Eric namechecked me, curse him.

The first song I remember hearing: I don’t really know, but it is likely one of my father’s 45s. It may also be Be Kind To Your Parents. I’ve written about this before, but the previous link is the correct version. It was on a red 45 that my sister Leslie and I played on our record player all the time.

The first song I fell in love with: From my father’s singles, 45 Men a Telephone Booth by The Four Tophatters.

The first album I bought: Beatles VI from the Capitol Record Club, which I paid for with proceeds of my newspaper route delivering the Evening and Sunday Press in Binghamton, NY circa 1966.

The song I do at karaoke: I seldom do karaoke, but it’d be Talking Heads’ version of Take Me To The River.

Party!

The best song to play at a party: I initially thought of songs my daughter and I know and like. The first thing that came up: Motown Philly by Boyz II Men; she was jealous when her mother and I saw the group at Chautauqua in 2024. Then I thought, maybe some Motown, such as the obvious Dancing In The Street by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas or the obscure, though it went to #2 on the pop charts, I Heard Through the Grapevine by Gladys Knight and the Pips. How about Twist and Shout by that Liverpool group? Ultimately, I landed on Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel, which is slower than the video suggests.

The song I inexplicably know every lyric to: The Ballad of the Green Berets by SSgt. Barry Sadler. It WAS the song that spent the longest at #1 pop in 1966, at five weeks, when I turned 13 and was listening heavily to the radio. (The Monkees’ I’m A Believer started their run in ’66 but most of it was in ’67.)

The third and final verse and chorus:

Back at home, a young wife waitsHer Green Beret has met his fateHe has died for those oppressedLeaving her his last request

Put silver wings on my son’s chestMake him one of America’s bestHe’ll be a man they’ll test one dayHave him win the Green Beret

Even then, I wondered about rhyming oppressed with request – I’m pretty sure Stephen Sondheim would not have approved – but after hearing Defying Gravity from Wicked pronounced “gravidy,” I’ve surrendered on the point.

Ick

The song I can no longer listen to: Oddly, I don’t think there is one. After making lists of songs that hit #1 from the first third of the 20th century and listening to songs that are boldly racist, I have tough skin on this.

Now, I do hear songs that have changed for the worse. I’m thinking of The Homecoming Queen’s Got A Gun by Julie Brown, which appears on a Dr. Demento CD I play every April for his birthday. It makes me reflect that it was supposed to be funny in 1990—it really wasn’t—but in the last quarter century of school shootings, it’s even less comfortable.

Back in 2019, Arthur asked: About your Rolf Harris song [Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport] – it raises a question: Are we under any obligation to erase performers or songs we once liked because it later turns out that they were either allegedly or actually terrible humans or allegedly or actually did terrible things, like Rolf?

I was disinclined broadly, though Eric was eloquent in dismissing several artists, notably Michael Jackson. He is incidentally correct that Off The Wall is better than Thriller. I think of all those Phil Spector-produced songs I wouldn’t want to give up. Generally, music is a multifaceted endeavor.

Non-musical sidebar: I STILL remember chunks of Bill Cosby routines verbatim from repeated listening.

But it’s weird because if I were watching films, I might experience a greater ick factor. I’m thinking Woody Allen’s Manhattan or American Beauty with Kevin Spacey.

Guilty Pleasures?

The song I secretly like: I have a soft spot for Seals and Crofts. I saw them with my then-girlfriend on November 12, 1971 in New York City. (Why do I remember that date? Because it was the birthday of Baháʼu’lláh’, who founded the Baháʼí Faith. Anyway, I was listening to them recently, and i think Yellow Dirt is a hoot.

The best song to have sex with: Eric wrote, “I’m a gentleman, yo. That’s none of your business. Sheesh.” Sure. That said, I can’t think of an answer anyway.

The song I’ve always hated: You Light Up My Life – Debby Boone, You’re Having My Baby -Paul Anka, several others. But I can easily avoid them.

The song that changed my life: Quintet/Tonight from West Side Story. Can you do multiple melodies like that? This is why this musical was my favorite.

The song that gets me up in the morning: Never a single album or artist fits the category. Generally, it’s something my wife wouldn’t mind, so John Hiatt/Ella/the Duke/world music (I’ve been listening to Playing For Change a lot)/my wife’s K girls (her designation) Alison Krauss and Diana Krall rather than Led Zeppelin/the Who/the Kinks.

That’s enough because the last question in particular took up a lot of space. I’ll finish it next week.

Did I jinx my mother-in-law?

a certain familiarity

Did I jinx my mother-in-law?

On Wednesday, October 1st, I went for my annual physical with my primary physician. They call it a wellness check, covered by Medicare for old people like me. Can I remember these three words? Apple, table, penny. Draw the clock face for ten minutes past 11.

Then I talked to my primary care physician, who asked whether I’d had any falls. I said no, though my wife had three weeks to the day earlier. “I haven’t fallen since…” “DON’T SAY THAT!” The implication was that I would jinx myself if I had stated it. In fact, I do remember that it was before I retired in June 2019, but I shan’t say when.

I had taken buses to see my doctor in the past, to three locations in suburban Delmar and one just outside Albany. The location in Rensselaer would take two buses and 90 minutes, but it would also require a walk along a busy highway. So my wife had dropped me off before she went to work.

I called an Uber to get to the train station because I didn’t want to pay the full price for a ride home. The bus costs 65 cents from the train station to a block from my house. I saw a couple of people I know, and they thought my plan sounded complicated; I didn’t think so—it’s just logistics.

Making plans!

After a stop at the grocery store, I said, “OK, I’m going to work on all these projects”—a call for church, library stuff, and finishing a blog post I started the day before. I can do that because my wife has a meeting tonight. Sometimes, getting your stuff done when you’re alone is easier.

But less than an hour later, my wife calls me and tells me that my mother-in-law, who’s at an elder care facility, had fallen and was taken by ambulance to the hospital, specifically St. Peter’s Hospital, where my wife had gone when she fell. She picked me up, and we went to the ER.

Only one person is allowed in the space with the patient, so I stayed in the waiting room and read the newspaper. Eventually, my wife wanted something to eat. Nothing was available at the hospital, so I got a couple of slices of pizza at a nearby restaurant and chargers for our phones from CVS because they were running out.

A couple of hours later, my mother-in-law was discharged with no significant damage done. I waited with her while my wife got the car, and we chatted. Then we took her back to her facility because it was locked up after 11 p.m. We got home around 11:30, which was not my wife’s best time of day.

So talking to my primary physician that day about falling led to my MIL falling. Sorry, Joyce.

The New York Times games

Spelling Bee

Wordle 1300 I will note the New York Times games my wife and I play daily at our house. As I’ve mentioned, I play Wordle and have a decent streak; my wife does, too, although not as long as mine. It’s the game we play first; sometimes, I play right after midnight.

In the last report, I thought I could get 100 2s before I could get 100 6s. That didn’t work out. Still, in the previous 100 games, I got zero 1s (and it may always be thus because I start with the same word), eight 2s, 49 3s, 31 4s, 10 5s, and two 6s fairly early on.

The Connections game involves grouping “words that share a common thread.” We play it together after she comes home from work. Our strategy is to figure out all four groups – yellow, green, blue, and purple in increasing difficulty before entering any of them. We’re seeking the reverse rainbow, with the purple first. Sometimes we only know what three of them are. So we try the fourth one blindly; more often than not, it’s purple.

Trying to get them all minimizes the misleading clues—Harp, Chic, Grouch, Marx—which suggested the Marx Brothers but were not.

Spelling Bee

But the thing that takes us the most amount of time is the Spelling Bee. There are seven letters, one of which you must use, and you’re supposed to make words of four letters or longer.

There is always at least one pangram, which is a word that uses all seven letters. A perfect pangram uses only the seven letters. My wife is very good at finding pangrams. The only pangram I remember getting was genealogy, which I saw right away, only because I’ve been doing genealogy recently.

She is generally better at word games than I am, so it’s her game; I’m just the helper. There’s no way I would ever finish it, but she has finished it on her own. We spend way more time on Spelling Bee than Wordle and Connections combined.

I suppose it is a team-building project, and we learned many more words. One of the things about Spelling Bee is that you need to remember the words that popped up a few days ago because they’re likely to reappear. They like Greek letters.

Working on prefixes and suffixes and building them onto existing words is essential. But it’s also helpful to look at possible three-letter words that you can extend, or words that end in E, when it’s not a chosen letter, but the expanded word works. For instance, CHANGE isn’t an option, but CHANGING could be.