Tuesday Tunes 289: Return Of The Numbers

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Last September/October I ran a series of four posts which featured songs with numbers in their title. I have a long list of further candidates for this – to which I am still adding – so I thought I’d take this theme for another spin. Hope you enjoy them!

Let’s begin with a rock and roll classic:

The late, great Eddie Cochran with Three Steps To Heaven. The song is all too short, like Eddie’s life, sadly. Eddie was only 21 when he was killed in a car crash in Wiltshire on his way back to London in April 1960, having just played a show in Bristol. He was already a star and could well have gone on to become huge, though his posthumous legacy has done well and he has taken his place as an icon of rock and roll history. There is a tragic irony in that the final single he released in the US when alive had just come out before the crash that took his life: it was this one. It wasn’t released here until the month after his passing – we took it to #1 in his honour but, rather shamefully, I think, it only made #108 in the US.

Next up is one of my favourite bands. There are several of theirs I could go with for this theme, and I’ve chosen this one – maybe not the most obvious selection:

Two Of Us is the opening track on The Beatles’ twelfth (and final) studio album, Let It Be, which was released in May 1970 and reached #1 in the UK, the US, Australia, Canada and elsewhere. It went 4x Platinum in both the US and Canada, for 4m and 400,000 sales respectively, and Platinum in the UK for 300,000. It’s a mixed bag, with some great songs and also one of Paul’s ‘grandad songs” – though The Long And Winding Road did actually reach #1 in the US as a single. Rolling Stone magazine’s reviewer, John Mendelsohn, didn’t pull any punches with it when reviewing the album as a whole, and Phil Spector’s contribution as producer: “He’s rendered The Long and Winding Road … virtually unlistenable with hideously cloying strings and a ridiculous choir that serve only to accentuate the listlessness of Paul’s vocal and the song’s potential for further mutilation at the hands of the countless schlock-mongers who will undoubtedly trip all over one another in their haste to cover it.” For once I agree with a critic: I much prefer this song to that dirge!

Today’s next tune is a newly released video, which came out last Friday:

Nina Nesbitt comes from Scotland, and is 31. She released her first record at 17, and her first album, Peroxide, in February 2014, when she was still only 19. That reached #11 in the UK, and her follow up album The Sun Will Come Up, The Seasons Will Change, came out in February 2019, and made #21 here. Her two subsequent albums have also made the UK charts and all have scored well in her Scottish homeland: a #1, two #3s and a #5. This song, Seventeen, is newly released as a single, which I hope means another album may be on the way. Looking at the lyrics she is clearly thinking back to her younger self, to the dreams and aspirations we all have then, though not all of us make our first record at such a tender age! Like everything she does, it is a song of intelligent lyrics with Nina’s beautiful voice – highly recommended.

From the very new to the rather old. Remember this one, from my youth?:

From Wikipedia: 1-2-3 is a 1965 song recorded by American blue-eyed soul singer Len Barry, who also co-wrote it with John Madara and David White. The recording’s chorus and accompaniment were arranged by Jimmy Wisner. The single was released in October 1965 on the American Decca label. The writers were sued by Motown Records at the time, claiming that the song is a reworking of Holland-Dozier-Holland’s Ask Any Girl released by The Supremes as the B-side to their single Baby Love the year before. They denied the claim, but after two years of litigation agreed to give the Motown writers 15% of the song’s writing and publishing royalties. Holland-Dozier-Holland are listed as co-authors by BMI. 1-2-3 reached #2 in the US Billboard chart: I Hear a Symphony by The Supremes kept it from the #1 spot. It also went to #11 on the Billboard R&B chart. Elsewhere it peaked at #3 in the UK and Canada, #6 in New Zealand and #8 in Ireland. It sold over one and three quarter million copies, and was awarded a Gold Disc.

Today’s final song is one that appeals to my sense of drama in music. Nobody did that better than this guy:

Meat Loaf released Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad on his magnum opus, Bat Out of Hell, in October 1977 and it then became the second single taken from the album, in March 1978. That was his first record, and there can have been few more successful debuts: it has sold more than 43m copies worldwide, making it one of the best sellers of all time. It has a string of multiple Platinum and Diamond Discs to its name, and is still one to which I return after nearly fifty years: it is, simply, a fantastic record. Despite the huge sales of the album the single also fared well, making #11 in the US (Platinum), #5 in Canada (Gold), #9 in New Zealand (Platinum), and #32 in the UK (Gold). This video was shot to promote the single and received much coverage, even though it was a further three years before the birth of MTV, for which it would have been ideal.

That’s all for today. I still have loads more numbers songs on my list so may well run this again, and if you have any song suggestions I’ll be happy to hear them. I’ll see you again in a couple of days, and until then I hope you stay safe and warm 👍

45 thoughts on “Tuesday Tunes 289: Return Of The Numbers”

  2. Clive, well done with great selections. I agree on Meatloaf’s magnum opus. “Two out of three ain’t bad” is a fabulous song, but it has a lot of competition for best song on the album. I have always liked the acoustic guitar on “Two of us.” By the way, “The Long and winding road” is a long and winding song, not one of my favorites. And, Len Barry’s “123,” has always been a favorite. Nice work, Keith

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  6. The only song I really knew was the one by Meatloaf, and like you, I agree that the song, and the entire album is just fantastic.

    I enjoyed all the other songs. I thought Eddie sounded a bit like Elvis, and like many others have said, Nina has a terrific voice. I also much prefer this Beatles song (which I don’t think I’ve heard before), to the Long and Winding Road). The Len Barry song seems vaguely familiar, and it was fun to listen to that 60s style music.

    And I know we’ve talked about this before, but how could you not like Three Dog Night!? 🙂

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  8. Not all songs were familiar to me, but I like your list. The Beatles’ song was totally new to me. Actually, I knew the older ones… hehe. Oh, and how nice that you included Meat Loaf. I loved his voice!

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  10. I know some see it as absolute sacrilege but I too think ‘The (way too slow and) Long And Waywardly Winding Road’ is not one of the best ever’s best myself, and have since I first heard it. At the time everyone was in awe of it and I was wondering what was wrong with me and my ears? So I just shut up and didn’t disagree with the vast majority, though it was all I could do was not to yawn through it. At least it wasn’t ‘Hey Jude’ in length! But they have an incredible amount of classics and you can’t please everybody all the time.

    Len Barry’s 1 2 3 does have more than a nod at the Motown sound- whether or not it is 15% worth of the song, well that is someone else’s judgment.

    ‘Seventeen’ is lovely, and I really like that ‘better buckle up honey’ lyric.

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    • I’ve never liked the song, and back in the day it always made me get up and move the needle to the next track: the first listen was one too many!

      Len Barry had a short career which mostly seemed to consist of him trying to be a white soul singer. I’m surprised he didn’t get sued more often, to be honest.

      Try more of Nina if you enjoyed this. She writes intelligent songs and has a lovely voice. She also has a fun side. Like this one, from her first album:

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  12. Like the other people who have commented I enjoyed the Nina Nesbitt song, and a nice distinctive voice. Thanks for letting us know about her.

    It must have been tough to give up 15% of the royalties for a song you wrote, particularly when there are three people sharing the credit as it is. I didn’t think I knew the track until I played the video; talking of which I think the girl in the booth at the top had a bit of a candy overload by the looks of it…

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    • It is, isn’t it, and is so typical of Nina’s music. I didn’t expect anyone to know it – I only heard it for the first time last Friday when it appeared in my YouTube recommendations. I thought the others would be more familiar!

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