Tuesday Tunes 271: More Numbers

Posted on by

 

I said last week that I had a long list of songs with numbers in their titles, and I’m going with another set of them for this week’s Tuesday Tunes offering. I’ve spent the past few days trying not to watch sports that would be bad for my blood pressure so I’m in need of some musical relief! How about you? Ready? Then let’s go!

You might remember this first one:

The Four Seasons released December 1963 as a single in December 1975 – kind of appropriate. It was a huge success, topping the charts in the US, Canada and South Africa, as well as top ten appearances in many other countries. It also gave them their first – and only – UK #1. Whilst it has a disco feel to it that didn’t stop me liking it, and it was a favourite at the office Christmas party that year – my first in gainful employment having left uni that summer. Stories of that will not be told here! The single went Gold in the US for a million sales and Platinum in the UK for 600,000. The song had actually been released the previous month on their album Who Loves You (surely a Kojak reference?), which peaked at #38 in the US and #12 in the UK.

Today’s next one is from a band I’ve always liked, as much for their carefree attitude as well as for their great records. This is Bowling For Soup, with 1985, and a video that takes a quick trip through the musical styles of that era. I thought I’d played this before but it seems not, so here it is for its debut:

That video is a hoot: I especially like the Robert Palmer send up, though they are all good. 1985 was released as a single in July 2004 and reached #23 in the US and #35 in the UK. It was a kind of cover of a song released by a band I don’t know, called SR-71, but BFS’ lead singer Jaret Reddick rewrote some of the lyrics to add in some references he felt were better at recreating the year it was about. If you don’t know the band I can only say that this is typical of them, and I love it! The song was then included on their fifth album, A Hangover You Don’t Deserve, which came out in July 2004 and made #37 in the US and #64 in the UK, going Gold and Silver respectively. I bought the album at the time, and can recall playing it, much to her surprise, when I took my daughter to uni for the first time that September. It was one of those occasions when our musical tastes coincided, and blasting this out on that journey took away any nerves she might have been feeling about her first time away from home. It became a standard for our journeys during the seven years she spent there.

Another old favourite next, though it is making its first appearance here:

99 Red Balloons is an English language version of a song originally released in the band’s native German. Nena took their name from the stage name of their lead singer, Gabrielle Susanne Kerner. The German version, 99 Luftballons, was released in March 1983 and was a #1 in Germany, Austria and many other European countries, and also made #2 in the US. The English language one was released in 1984 and made #1 here in the UK as well as in Canada. The song was a massive seller, with over a million in the US, 600,000 in the UK, and 500,000 in both Germany and France. It was also included on their/her debut album, Nena, which was released in January 1983 and peaked at #1 in both Germany and Austria, #2 in The Netherlands, and #31 in the UK.

Today’s two remaining songs are both from usual suspects. I had a couple of obvious choices by this next guy, but went for this one as I like the video:

Bob Dylan released Positively 4th Street as a single in September 1965, and it reached #1 in Canada, #7 in the US and #8 in the UK. It was recorded during the sessions for his Highway 61 Revisited album, but was saved for a single-only release to fill the gap between that and his next album, Blonde On Blonde. It has since appeared on compilations but never on a studio album. The song has an air of mystery, as the title doesn’t appear in the lyrics and it is unclear which street – if any – it is about. And who was he talking to in the song? I wonder if he still knows! There have been many cover versions of the song, notably by The Byrds and by Bryan Ferry, and it now has the honour of being a street name in St. Paul, Minnesota. Not many can say that about one of their songs. I hope President Numpty doesn’t read my blog, or he’ll be sending in the National Guard to get the signs taken down!

Today’s closer is of a similar vintage, and is one with which I’m sure most will be familiar:

The Rolling Stones released 19th Nervous Breakdown as a single in February 1966, and it peaked at #2 in both the UK and the US, though it did get to #1 in what was then West Germany, a few months before we beat them in the World Cup Final – long memories, as it is only the Women’s team that wins at football for us these days! It wasn’t included on a studio album – in those days we in the UK were expected to buy both singles and albums! – though it did appear on their first compilation, Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass), which was released in March 1966 in the US and November 1966 in the UK. It got to #4 in the UK and #3 in the US, and was a fantastic bargain: 14 superb tracks.

That’s today’s five, and I hope you enjoyed them. I’ll see you again in a couple of days, and hope you stay warm, well and happy in the meantime 😊

45 thoughts on “Tuesday Tunes 271: More Numbers”

  1. Yay for the Four Seasons and the 99 Red 🎈 Balloons. Made me think of the short film. The Red Balloon. It’s a silent film but does pull the heart strings
    Have you seen it?
    I know you have done the song A Thousand years before, but its one that I can always listen to. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  2. Pingback: September Fields | Take It Easy

  3. Songs with numbers in the title are plentiful and you’ve picked some famous ones, Clive. My favourite of these would be 19th Nervous Breakdown.

    it did get to #1 in what was then West Germany

    I remember it well, as that is where I was living at the time. 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. I know them all and liked 4 out of 5. I’m sure you have moments where you wonder why a particular song became so popular, just as we often don’t understand why some tunes didn’t do better. I was always perplexed by the popularity of 99 Red Balloons. I thought it was, at best, an annoying tune. I guess that makes me the oddball since it was so popular in many countries. My runaway favorite this week is 1999 by Bowling for Soup. I love the beat and the clever video. The woman climbing on the car was very much like the model in the Whitesnake video.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  8. Hi Clive. I haven’t heard BFS before but agree that’s a great upbeat song typical of the time – and an entertaining fun video. I liked the Dylan song despite not being able to fathom what it is about. The Stones song is a special one for me. It was one of the first singles I ever bought and I’ve still got it!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. Not knowing anything but now living in New York, I assumed it was west 4th in greenwich village, home to all of the coffeehouses in the 60’s that had live music on small stages…but it’s Dylan so it probably had nothing to do with a street at all!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. great opener – one of my all-time favorite songs.

    the video was kind of creepy for the second song, but it did mention CPAs and Springsteen, so it wasn’t all bad 🙂

    not sure how I never heard of a song that made it to Number 2 – but that is the case with 99 Red Balloons…

    great Dylan song – ever since the recent movie about him, I’ve become an even bigger fan.

    nice closing song – and I’m not surprised you have a football memory to go with it 🙂

    this post reminded me of my second most favorite Springsteen song, after Thunder Road – Incident on 57th Street…

    another fun and educational post!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I’m glad you found both entertainment and education in this, Jim.

      BFS play it for fun, and I didn’t find this creepy at all – I like a band prepared to send themselves up along with others.

      I thought it was odd that the German language version of 99 Red Balloons was the hit there – maybe that’s why it passed you by.

      Dylan is always good for me, too.

      As are the Stones. 1966 holds a special memory for any Englishman of that vintage!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  12. All these songs were good ones. I knew the first one and hear it a lot, just didn’t recognize the name of it. I like the others I’ve known, and the only new one for me was the Bowling for Soup. hahaha So good – so funny! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Please leave a reply, I'd like to know what you think