Today’s dance party kicks off with Lisa Stansfield’s “All Around the World,” a 1989 record that was a big hit all around the world, going to #1 in the U.K., Canada, Holland, Spain, Norway, Austria, and Belgium. It topped the U.S. Dance chart and R&B chart and reached #3 on the pop chart.
Lisa Stansfield turns 48 today. Her new album is entitled Seven.
A few months back I mentioned that I am assembling a list of my top 100 albums of all-time. Presently hovering around #30 is Tracy Chapman’s debut album. My introduction to the album was via its first single, the exceptional “Fast Car,” a song that manages to captivate and impress me twenty-six years after its release.
Her singing on the track deservedly won Chapman the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female; however, it is the song’s structure that wows me each listen.
Most pop songs start with two verses and then go into the chorus or they start with the chorus and then go into the verses. “Fast Car” starts with four verses, which lay out the situation in which our narrator finds herself. The second line tells us of her desperation to escape where she is – “I want a ticket to anywhere.” The song’s first line, and the first line of all but one of the verses, is “You got a fast car.” This fast car will be her means of escape, with the word “fast” representing the urgency to start over. She doesn’t yet know what she and the car’s owner will do, but she throws out a few vague optimistic lines, all starting with the word “maybe” – “Maybe we make a deal,” “Maybe together we can get somewhere,” “Maybe we’ll make something.” It’s worth the shot, because she has nowhere to go but up – “Anyplace is better / Starting from zero got nothing to lose.”
In verse two, after singing “You got a fast car,” she tells us she came up with a plan. She has a job and is saving money so they can climb into the fast car and get moving. They “won’t have to drive too far” to “finally see what it means to be living.”
In verse three she gives us some back story – her father’s an alcoholic who won’t look for work. Her mother “wanted more from life than he could give” so she left her husband and her daughter, leaving our narrator to quit school to take care of her dad. This is the verse that doesn’t open with “You got a fast car,” as this is the only verse in which she isn’t singing of her hope for the future. This verse takes place in the past.
With the listener now knowing her situation, we fully understand her need to escape. The fourth verse lays it out: “You got a fast car / Is it fast enough so we can fly away / We gotta make a decision / Leave tonight or live and die this way.”
Finally, we get to the chorus, where she reminisces about them driving together in the car, “speed so fast felt like I was drunk.” Some drink to escape their problems; riding in a fast car is the narrator’s way of escape. When she’s in the car she expresses hope in the future, with the past in the rearview mirror and what lies ahead right in front of them. They are both in this together. The car’s owner puts his/her arm around the narrator’s shoulder, and our protagonist “had a feeling that I belonged / I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone.” The chorus is all about the hope symbolized by the fast car. Interestingly, it is louder – both vocally and instrumentally – than the verses, reflecting the optimism in our narrator’s words. However, by ending the chorus with the repetition of “be someone, be someone, be someone” she appears to be coming out of this daydream.
From this point on the song alternates a verse with the chorus. In verse five the narrator tells us that her partner is still without a job, but she remains optimistic, singing “I know things will get better.”
The chorus comes back with one word altered. The first time it is sung, the chorus starts with “So remember we were driving, driving in your car.” This time she sings “I remember….” One letter fewer, yet oh so telling. They were in it together; now she’s noticing that maybe that is no longer their reality, making the lines “I had a feeling that I belonged / I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone” more heartbreaking.
In verse six the narrator recognizes that her present situation is a repeat of the situation she previously escaped – supporting an unemployed alcoholic, and just like her mother did, she knows she has to get out of this cycle. The verse opens with “You got a fast car,” but that fast car no longer represents her means of escape. As such, the verse closes with her telling her partner to “take your fast car and keep on driving.”
After a final round of the chorus, we get to the song’s final verse. The listener knows the narrator’s situation and we and she understand her need to escape it. She lays it out to her partner. The seventh verse is a repeat of the fourth verse, but as she cleverly did with the chorus, she changes one word – “we” to “you:” “You got a fast car / But is it fast enough so you can fly away / You gotta make a decision / Leave tonight or live and die this way.” Starting over last time didn’t work out as she planned, so she’ll try again.
This amazing song was nominated for Grammys for Song of the Year and Record of the Year, but lost both to Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” I’m usually not in favor of the death penalty, but whoever voted for the McFerrin song over this one should fry. The woman living in poverty, taking care of her alcoholic unemployed partner should not worry and be happy? Fuck you!
The Tracy Chapman album was nominated for Album of the Year, but lost to George Michael’s Faith, which is around #31 on my top albums list.
Tunes du Jour recognizes the great Tracy Chapman, who turns 50 today.
Twenty Things You Should Know About Quincy Jones:
1) He’s had a record 79 Grammy Award nominations. He’s won 27.
2) He arranged the Frank Sinatra/Count Basie version of “Fly Me to the Moon,” which astronaut Neil Armstrong played when he first landed on the moon.
3) Jones produced the soundtrack of the motion picture The Wiz. He later said he hated working on it, as he didn’t like most of the songs nor did he like the film’s script. However, on the set on The Wiz he got to know the singer who played the scarecrow, Michael Jackson. Jackson asked him to recommend a producer for his next album. Jones threw out a few names and also offered to produce it himself. Jackson took him up on his offer, though his record label thought it was a bad idea. The album, 1979’s Off the Wall, went on to sell 20 million copies and won Jackson his first Grammy Award.
4) While widely known as the producer of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Bad and Off the Wall albums, Jones is also the producer of the hit records “We Are the World” by USA for Africa; “It’s My Party,” “You Don’t Own Me” and “Judy’s Turn to Cry” by Leslie Gore; “Angel” by Aretha Franklin; “I’ll By Good to You,” “Stomp” and “Strawberry Letter 23” by The Brothers Johnson; “One Mint Julep” by Ray Charles; and “Love is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)” by Donna Summer, among others. He also worked with Bono, Stevie Wonder, Miles Davis, Little Richard, Paul Simon, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Herbie Hancock, Billie Holiday, B.B. King, Louis Armstrong, Dizzie Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Diana Ross, Dinah Washington, Peggy Lee, Chaka Khan, Tony Bennett, George Benson, Luther Vandross, Sammy Davis Jr., Johnny Mathis, James Ingram and Patti Austin, plus plenty more.
5) “Quincy Jones is one of the most versatile and potent figures of popular culture….When you listen to his impressive and monumental body of work, it’s easy to understand how and why he’s touched such a broad audience of music lovers. He’s done it all.” – Michael Jackson
6) Time magazine named him one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century.
7) In the early 1960s he became the Vice President of Mercury Records, the first African-American at a major record company to reach that executive level.
8) His middle name is Delight.
9) Along with Bob Russell, he became the first African-American to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song for “The Eyes of Love” from Banning.
10) With seven Oscar nominations, he is tied with sound designer Willie Burton as the African-American with the most Oscar nominations.
11) Jones produced the film The Color Purple, his first foray into film production. He asked Steven Spielberg to direct it, which he did. It was nominated for eleven Academy Awards.
12) Among his 33 movie scores are the ones for The Color Purple, In the Heat of the Night, In Cold Blood, and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.
13) He has a daughter with actress Nastassja Kinski as well as six other children.
14) He’s the father of actress Rashida Jones. She’s pretty.
15) In 1988 he formed Quincy Jones Entertainment, who produced the television program The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
16) He never learned how to drive.
17) Among the charities Jones supports are American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmfAR), Global Down Syndrome Foundation, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), MusiCares, Elton John AIDS Foundation, Rape Foundation, UNICEF, NAACP, Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, and Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes.
18) In 1974 Jones suffered a brain aneurysm. He was given a 1 in 100 chance of surviving. Family and friends, including Richard Pryor, Marvin Gaye and Sidney Poitier, planned a memorial service for him, which he got to attend.
19) Today he turns 81 years old.
20) “The thing is to find your lightning – and ride your lightning.” – Quincy Jones
As Friday is dance day at Tunes Du Jour, we’ll kick off today’s playlist with Q’s #3 club hit of 1981, “Ai No Corrida.”
I can’t find my Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam promotional athletic socks. I know they’re in my home somewhere. I wanted to post a photo of them on my blog today, Lisa Lisa’s birthday, but I can’t find them anywhere. I found my Tenacious D socks, but they do me no good.
Over the years, while at my various record company jobs, I’ve collected promotional tchotchkes. You’d be surprised what were manufactured. Madonna lollipops, a Rolling Stones matchbook, a Terence Trent D’Arby electric toothbrush. I have all of those at my fingertips. I have an Aerosmith thermos and an Eazy-E thermos at my disposal. I can find my Kiss lunchbox and my Aaron Carter lunchbox (autographed!), my Babyface clock and my Prong clock (I can’t name a single song or album by Prong), my Gloria Estefan CD wallet and my Toto CD wallet, my Bruce Springsteen wallet and my Pras wallet. Pras! The member of the Fugees you never hear about these days. I know exactly where to find my Eminem bobble-head, my Michael Jackson paperweight, my Ricky Martin diary, my Nas inflatable globe, my NSYNC make-up case, my Cher paper fan, my Dead Milkmen flipbook, my Jamiroquai flag, my Nick Heyward kite, my Aerosmith handkerchief, my Pearl Jam doormat, my Michael Jackson duffle bag, my George Michael oversize paper clip, my Alice Cooper water gun and my Poi Dog Pondering whistle. Who the hell are Poi Dog Pondering? Where are my Lisa Lisa promotional athletic socks? I know where my Sophie B. Hawkins “As I Lay Me Down” hammock is – it’s hard to lose that! I remember giving away my Celine Dion luggage. The line had to be drawn somewhere. But for the life of me, I have no idea where my Lisa Lisa promotional athletic socks could be.
When I find my Lisa Lisa promotional athletic socks, I’ll post a photo of them. For now, here is Ringo with my Pras wallet.
Enjoy Lisa Lisa’s birthday (she’s 48!). Here is a mini-playlist of her best tracks.
Today Tunes du Jour observes World AIDS Day with a playlist of diverse genres – pop, hip hop, rock, dance, r&b, gospel and whatever you call what Ween does.
Thematically there are songs of reminiscence, reunions, safe sex, politics, pride, goodbyes and whatever you call what Ween does.
Give it a listen and let me know what songs you discovered and if there are any great ones I missed.
Down the street from my first job in midtown Manhattan was a bookstore that often hosted book signings. There was also a record store one block over that held album/cassette/CD signings. Between these two places I got to meet many great artists, including Prince, Joan Rivers, Liberace and Tipper Gore. I also met Tina Turner, who turns 74 today.
My main memory about that meeting was how flawless her skin was. She was 46 and there was not a wrinkle to be found. I’m now older than she was then and my face is devoid of wrinkles, which is why I’m often mistaken for Tina.
Tina-mania was high in 1986. After separating from her abusive husband Ike, she toiled in relative obscurity until her 1984 album Private Dancer put her back on the map in a big way. The album sold around twenty million copies worldwide and earned Tina a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year (alongside three other great albums – Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A., Prince & the Revolution’s Purple Rain and Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual, as well as Lionel Richie’s Can’t Slow Down. Guess who won.), with its single “What’s Love Got to Do With It” winning Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female and its “Better Be Good To Me” winning Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female. In 1986 she released her best-selling autobiography, I, Tina, and her follow-up to Private Dancer, Break Every Rule, which produced three top forty hits in the U.S.
Enjoy this Tina Turner-inspired playlist.
Today is the 14th annual International Men’s Day. Per the holiday’s website, “It is an occasion for men to celebrate their achievements and contributions, in particular their contributions to community, family, marriage, and child care while highlighting the discrimination against them.”
We at TunesDuJour are taking this day to pay tribute to the many types of men out there. Whether you’re a soul man, a trouble man, a rocket man, a monkey, tambourine, candy, love, carpet, watermelon, egg, sixty minute or hurdy gurdy man, we have a song for you.
To kick off this blog in a silly fashion, we present to you a playlist of songs with the word “men” or “man” in the title, performed by men. This list is by no means comprehensive. Dare I say there are MANy more. Sorry, I shouldn’t have dared.
Give it a listen and let us know in the comments section how you are celebrating International Men’s Day and if you discovered or rediscovered any worthwhile tunes from our list.