Tag: pop

Cher | The Way of Love

A single from Cher’s 1971 album Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves, “The Way of Love is “a career highlight … The Stillman/Dieval tune was originally a British hit for Kathy Kirby, and both Cher and Kirby drove the song right by the censors,” (AllMusic). “The song is either about a woman expressing her love for another woman, or a woman saying au revoir to a gay male she loved — in either case this is not a mother to daughter heart-to-heart: ‘What will you do/When he sets you free/Just the way that you/Said good-bye to me.'”

The tune “broke the Top Ten in 1972 a few months after ‘Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves’ became her first number one solo hit toward the end of 1971. Both songs lead off this disc with a one-two punch … Cher never minded androgynous or neutral gender identity in her songs; her deep voice could carry both the male and female ranges for the duo with Bono and, musically, her solo material could soar to heights not possible in a partnership — ‘The Way of Love’ being one example.”

After a start in A major, the groove drops out for a grand pause before a huge brass fanfare heralds a shift to D major 1:12. It’s difficult to grasp that a track with such a prodigious sense of drama clocks in at only 2.5 minutes, but somehow it does. Cher’s full-throttle belt technique, easily matching what eventually becomes a full orchestral instrumentation, certainly never sounded better! Many thanks to Scott R. for this wonderful submission to MotD — the second we’ve published, although we’re grateful for the others that are also currently in the queue!

Styx | Too Much Time On My Hands

“Styx’s co-lead vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Tommy Shaw wrote ‘Too Much Time On My Hands’ from the image of a pub patron ‘sitting on this barstool, talking like a damn fool,’ and detailing the lack of any more attractive options,” (UDiscoverMusic). “The song turned out to be a good thematic fit for (1981’s) Paradise Theatre concept, which used the opening and closing of a classic Chicago theater to symbolize the rise and fall of the American dream, chronicling the lives of underdogs struggling for a better life.

Musically, ‘Too Much Time on My Hands’ was probably the most au courant track Styx had yet recorded. A Kraftwerk-worthy synth locks in with the bass line and lends the track a distinct synth-pop/New Wave vibe. And the fraternal rhythm section of Chuck and John Panozzo puts a dab of disco into the groove, making this the closest thing to a dance tune in the band’s repertoire at the time. All of the above helped ‘Too Much Time; climb into the Top 10, which didn’t hurt the album’s rise to triple-Platinum status. The endearingly goofy video boosted the cause too, alternating performance shots with images of the band camping it up at a funky gin joint.”

After starting in a slightly up-tuned A mixolydian for the intro, the first verse settles in at 0:36 in D mixolydian. At 1:39, the emphasis flips over into the relative B minor for the chorus, guitar solo, etc. There’s a return to D major for the next verse at 2:53; the pattern continues from there. And yes — as they rode the crest of the early-80s pop/rock wave that corresponded to the advent of MTV — the band consistently maintained a shamelessly hammy stage presence, as documented here …

Ohio Express | Yummy, Yummy, Yummy

“‘Yummy Yummy Yummy’ (YYY) is a song by Arthur Resnick and Joey Levine, first recorded by Ohio Express in 1968,” (Americana Highways). “Their version reached #4 on the U.S. Pop Singles chart in June and #5 on the UK Singles Chart. It has since been covered by many artists. Ohio Express was a studio concoction and none of the ‘official’ members appear on the record. Joey Levine sang lead vocals. Time Magazine included it in its 2011 list of songs with silly lyrics. It ranked #2 in Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs.

… YYY was a terrible song even in 1968, but great enduring music was also created in 1968. Paul Simon’s ‘Mrs Robinson,’ Lennon & McCartney’s ‘Hey Jude’ and others also hit the charts that year and have continued to be played and covered to this day … So ignore what the old folks say about all modern music sucking. A lot of old music sucked as well, especially old pop. There are still a lot of YYYs being released, but there is gold out there too. You just gotta dig a little.” 

The moments without the lead vocal (the intro and the backup vocal features at 0:37 and 2:00) are actually rather promising! The nasality of the lead vocal and the unseriousness of the lyrics really scream “novelty song,” but the tune somehow became a major hit nonetheless! 1:28 brings an unprepared half-step key change. The shift in tonality allows the songwriters to largely recycle material from the first half of the tune — a bit laughable when the track’s diminutive run time of 2:20 is taken into consideration.

Basia | Third Time Lucky

“In the 1980s and ’90s, a style of pop that certainly cannot be described as ‘rock’ brought many very talented individuals and bands to the spotlight, if only for a brief time, although their work has continued to shine and gain avid devotees in the decades after those initial spurts of airplay and publicity,” (GarryBerman.Medium.com). “Some have described one particular style as ‘lounge jazz’ — but not always as a compliment. Others classify it as ‘Cool Jazz,’ ‘Smooth Jazz,’ ‘Adult Contemporary,’ ‘MOR (Middle of the Road),’ even ‘Sophisti-pop.'”

“Basia Trzetrzelewska, born in Poland and based in the UK, is long-beloved for her global fusion of jazz, pop, Brazilian and Latin rhythms seasoned with R&B and rock,” (BasiaSongs.com). “Her albums Time and Tide, London Warsaw New York, The Sweetest Illusion and It’s That Girl Again were worldwide hits, with Time and Tide and London Warsaw New York going platinum in the US.”

Basia’s track “Third Time Lucky,” a single from 1994’s The Sweetest Illusion, makes key changes more the rule than the exception. Nods to Brazilian music appear at every turn, woven around the saturated walls of sound that are Basia’s trademark DIY multi-layer backing vocals. The first of many key changes appears at 0:34 at the top of the second verse.

Many thanks to frequent contributor Ari S. for this submission!

Theme from “WKRP in Cincinnati”

“Today, TV shows feature all sorts of contemporary Rock and Pop songs. It has become a way to break new music,” (CityBeat). “But WKRP in Cincinnati (1978 – 1982) was one of the first shows to have the songs on its soundtrack (usually snippets of what the station’s DJs were playing) drawn primarily from current FM Rock hits … And it was always fun to spot some weird new band on the many posters decorating the fake radio station. 

The quirky little sitcom that many outsiders still bring up any time ‘Cincinnati’ is mentioned … was on for three years before MTV debuted, but in many ways it reflected that cable channel’s spirit in its infancy, integrating Rock music with an entertaining visual component and whacky personalities (DJs/VJs) and helping to bring some relatively cutting edge sounds into America’s living rooms.

The show’s theme song, given the catchy title ‘WKRP In Cincinnati Main Theme,’ was a breezy Soft Rock ditty that earned a singer named Steve Carlisle one-hit wonder status (if you even consider peaking at No. 65 on Billboard a ‘hit’).” The FM single was quite a bit longer, with several key changes back and forth between D major and Eb major — until E major and F major make their appearances at 2:02 and 2:27, respectively. The shorter version that aired as the actual show intro featured only one upward shift in key (0:38). Both are posted below. Many thanks to regular contributor Rob P. for this submission!

The TV show’s intro/theme:

The single:

Rita Lee | Lança Perfume

Rita Lee’s “Lanca Perfume” was a 1980 smash hit in Brazil. Lee was the granddaughter of an American citizen living in Brazil. Her father, Charles Fenley Jones, was a dentist born in Brazil who was the son of an American. Her mother, of Italian origin, was born in Brazil as well. Lee was born on December 31st, 1947, and passed away in 2023 at the age of 75.

Lee was a pioneer female rocker in Brazil; she was one of the original members of the famous Brazilian psychedelic rock band Os Mutantes. Later she went solo, married and formed a performance duo with another musician (Roberto de Carvalho), and wrote many soap opera theme songs for Globo TV.

“Lança Perfume” features the same keyboard-driven pop sound which was so popular in the US during the same era. The track shifts up a whole step at 2:24.

Many thanks to one of our Brazilian readers/listeners, Julianna A., for this submission to MotD — her eighth!

Ace of Base | The Sign

“Within the grand narrative of global pop music, the Swedish quartet Ace of Base were a blip, a one-album wonder who came and went,” (Stereogum). “Between 1993 and 1994, Ace of Base essentially conquered the world, and their hits from that album will always work as strange, anachronistic reminders of a very specific early-Clinton moment. AoB themselves were not terribly important, but the group’s short-lived success stands as a kind of proof of concept. In Sweden, a certain form of sleek, shiny, bulletproof computer-pop music was just starting to come into existence, and that sound would rule the pop charts in the century to come. AoB gave some indication that this new hybrid style could work.

… Ace of Base emerged just shortly after the heyday of Roxette, a duo who were, in their time, the most successful Swedish group in the history of the American pop charts. Roxette’s astonishing four #1 hits were defined by a certain cheerful inanity — colossal hooks, absurdist lyrics, slick textures, hard riffs. AoB essentially did the same thing, though they sounded nothing like Roxette. The sound of American pop music had shifted since Roxette’s run, and AoB reflected that. ‘The Sign,’ AoB’s one American chart-topper, is a strange and hypnotic combination of sounds and ideas — chirpy and effervescent bubblegum melodies over deep digital-reggae beats. This particular mad-scientist crossbreed should not exist, and yet it resonates.

After “The Sign” (1994) completes its instrumental intro in G minor, 0:39 brings a verse in the parallel key of G major. At 1:21, an instrumental interlude mirroring the intro takes us back into G minor. subsequent verses switch back to major. The pattern continues throughout as off-beat synth-reggae keyboards propel it all relentlessly forward — at least for the single’s short run time of just barely over three minutes!

Dan + Shay | Show You Off

“Just as the line between gospel and classic country was blurry in the Louvin Brothers’ heyday, it remains possible to pull off a certain Saturday night/Sunday morning thing in the modern country and Christian markets simultaneously,” (Stereogum). “There is no shortage of overlap within these worlds, demographically speaking. Sonically, too, both genres have gravitated toward arena rock grandiosity over the years, alienating traditionalists while still appealing to vaguely traditional notions of faith, family, the heartland, etc. Dan + Shay’s music feels targeted to this intersection. They give off big worship leader energy …

It’s working out well for them. The duo is one of country music’s biggest pop crossover success stories in recent memory. Not only did their 2018 self-titled album spin off three country #1 hits in ‘Tequila,’ the storybook-wedding ballad ‘Speechless,’ and ‘All to Myself’ … they also sent two of those songs to the top 10 at adult contemporary radio. They won awards at just about every ceremony within their reach: Grammys, Billboard Awards, Teen Choice Awards, CMAs, ACMs, you name it.”

The duo’s 2014 release “Show You Off,” performed here live with just the two singers and minus a lot of the contemporary Nashville shininess, shifts up a whole step (2:24) after a a brief bridge.

Connie Francis | Pretty Little Baby

“Connie Francis was one of the reigning queens of the Billboard Hot 100 in its early days,” (Billboard). “The late-’50s and early-’60s pop star scored a whopping 15 top 10 hits on the chart, including three #1s: ‘Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool,’ ‘My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own’ (both 1960) and ‘Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You’ (1962). And over six decades after her commercial peak, Francis is once again having a big pop culture moment – but it’s not with any of those charting singles. 

‘Pretty Little Baby,’ a non-single (written by Don Stirling and Bill Nauman) from Francis’ 1962 album Connie Francis Sings Second Hand Love, has caught fire on TikTok in the past month. Users have been lip synching along to the ‘You can ask the flowers/ I sit for hours/ Telling all the bluebirds/ The bill and coo birds/ Pretty little baby, I’m so in love with you’ verse of the song, often while wearing cute retro outfits and/or singing to actual babies, with over a million videos being created to the song … the song has already begun to cross over from TikTok to streaming in massive numbers … a (recent) gain of over 7,000% … (and) could soon be threatening a Hot 100 debut, a mere 63 years after its initial release.”

At 1:19, a textbook half-step upward key change appears in the midst of the diminutive tune, which features a run time of only 2:22 in total.

EDIT: Connie Francis passed away at the age of 87 on July 16, 2025, one day after we posted this tune.

David Soul | Don’t Give Up On Us

“The newish Quentin Tarantino movie Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood is full of fascinating little period details, and one of my favorites is the idea that everyone in 1969 watched the same TV shows,” (Stereogum). “The washed-up movie stars, the psychotically violent hippies, the ailing cowboys — they all go home at night and tune in to the same cheesy procedurals. They don’t have options. Cable doesn’t exist yet. Neither, obviously, does the internet. There are three networks. If you’re looking for some kind of routine and vaguely comforting diversion, the shows on those three networks are all you really have … That was still the case in 1977. The ABC buddy-cop show Starsky & Hutch wasn’t even an especially big hit in its time. It did decent ratings, stayed on the air for four seasons, and stuck around in syndication for a while. Starsky & Hutch wasn’t a landmark TV show. It didn’t change the game. But it was on. So pretty much everyone in America at least had some vague idea who those two Bay City, California detectives were.

If you were, let’s say, an actor who’d never managed to get your music career off the ground but who was on TV every week, that exposure could change everything. You could record a forgettable ballad, and that forgettable ballad, combined with your own familiar face, could propel a record to #1. Starsky & Hutch was in its second season when David Soul, the chiseled and squinty actor who played Detective Kenneth “Hutch” Hutchinson, released ‘Don’t Give Up On Us.’ That year, Starsky & Hutch was airing against The Mary Tyler Moore Show and regularly getting wrecked in the ratings. But that didn’t matter. David Soul was just famous enough … (UK songwriter) Tony Macaulay produced the song for Soul, slathering it in dramatic strings and woodwinds. (It) has a hook strong enough to linger. It’s got a full, luxuriant arrangement … But ‘Don’t Give Up On Us’ remains a sleepy nothing of a ballad. It fills space, and it does nothing else.”

After a start in A major, the piano-driven track shifts up to Bb major at 2:43. The vocals seem a bit dicey through the transition in terms of pitch, but close enough for a 1970s pop ballad(?) — apparently! Many thanks to regular contributor Rob P. for submitting this track.