Here’s what Mary wants this week:
A Song with a Girl’s Name in the Title: The Four Tops, "Bernadette"
A Song with the word Under in the Title: The Yardbirds, "Over, Under, Sideways, Down"
A Song with Cry in the Title: Koko Taylor, "That’s Why I’m Crying"
And that’s it for this week.
I think we all do sometimes…
Linda Hill runs One-Liner Wednesday every week. And now a word from Jax beer, the best beer in town!
Singer, banjo player, and comic Louis Marshall "Grandpa" Jones was born on this day in 1913. He earned the nickname "Grandpa" when he was 22 years old and always complaining about early-morning shows. He was a member of the Grand Ole Opry and an original member of the cast of Hee Haw, where he frequently showed off his clawhammer banjo style, either solo or with another great banjo player, David "Stringbean" Akeman. In this 1961 clip, Grandpa demonstrates clawhammer playing and shows off his dancing skills on "Good Old Mountain Dew."
I used to love to go to the zoo, because more often than not you’d catch the animals being, well, animals. Spend enough time at the zoo, you’ll see at least half a dozen animals relieving themselves, and if you’re really lucky (or not), you’ll catch a couple of them mating, or as we like to say, "having a private moment."
When I first saw the picture above, I thought we were looking at a "private moment," then I realized that no, the gorllia underneath was giving the gorilla on top a horsey-back ride. Will that lead to anything else? I have no idea, and frankly I’d rather not think about it.
We were at Hilton Head about 30 years ago, and there was a duck pond with ducks swimming around. One duck (pretty sure it was male) swam over to another (pretty sure it was female) and started poking her with his beak. Mary said "Is that some kind of mating ritual?" As if on cue… you guessed it. We wandered away quickly, as if we had anything to do with it.
The gorillas in the picture above are silverbacks, which is also the name of a swim team here in the suburbs of Atlanta. I wonder if they have cheers…?
Gimme an “O”!
O!
Gimme an “O”!
O!
Gimme an “O”!
O!
Gimme an “O”!
O!
What’s that spell?
OO! OO! OO! OO!….
If I ever meet any of the parents, I’ll be sure to ask…
I was going to tell the story of Samson, the gorilla at the Milwaukee Zoo that we (OK, I) spent most of an afternoon trying to get him to give the finger, but I’ve already told that. So I’ll let you read it…
Christine Bialczak runs Simply 6 Minutes.
We’re up to 1985 in our countdown. Here are songs #11 thru #20 from the year-end Hot 100.
20 – USA For Africa, "We Are The World": A song written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, the single was produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian. It was the title track from an album sold to benefit USA for Africa. The single was in the Top 3 around the world and collected $10.8 million dollars for charity.
19 – Glen Frey, "The Heat Is On": From the movie Beverly Hills Cop, the single reached #2 in the US and Australia, #8 in Canada, and #12 in the UK.
18 – John Parr, "St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion)": Written by David Foster and John Parr, it was the theme song from the 1985 movie St. Elmo’s Fire. It spent two weeks at #1 in the US. Parr was having trouble finding inspiration for the song until Foster showed him an article about the Canadian athlete Rick Hansen, who was wheelchair-bound and was going around the world raising awareness for spinal cord injuries.
17 – Kool & The Gang, "Cherish": The third single from their sixteenth album Emergency. The song was certified Gold and spent six weeks at #1 on the Hot 100.
16 – Simple Minds, "Don’t You (Forget About Me)": From the movie The Breakfast Club, where it plays at the beginning and end. The song reached #1 in the US and Canada, #6 in Australia, and #7 in the UK.
15 – Huey Lewis & The News, "The Power Of Love": Featured in the movie Back To The Future, and reached #1 in the US, Canada, and Australia, and #9 in the UK.
14 – Starship, "We Built This City": The first single off Starship’s 1985 album Lost In The Hoopla, it also reached #1 in the US, Canada, and Australia, and #12 in the UK.
13 – REO Speedwagon, "Can’t Fight This Feeling": From the 1984 album Wheels Are Turnin’ (and on many "greatest hits" and compilation albums besides), this reached #1 in the US and Canada, #2 in Australia, and #16 in the UK.
12 – Phillip Bailey and Phil Collins, "Easy Lover": A fun video of a collaboration between Phil Collins from Genesis and Phillip Bailey from Earth Wind & Fire. It appeared on Bailey’s solo album Chinese Wall and spent two weeks at #2 on the Hot 100, stuck behind Foreigner’s "I Want To Know What Love Is." It reached #1 in Canada and the UK and #74 in Australia.
11 – Paul Young, "Everytime You Go Away": Written by Daryl Hall in 1980 for Hall & Oates, but was not released as a single. Paul Young’s cover was an international hit, reaching #1 in the US and Canada, #4 in the UK, and #20 in Australia.
That’s Top Ten Tuesday for October 19, 2021.
