As I still have a list of loads of songs with numbers in their titles I thought I’d play a third set for you. As before, numbers are their only connection, apart from the fact that I like them all – that rather goes without saying, doesn’t it! I hope you enjoy them – they are a bit of a mixed bag.

Let’s get started with a favourite band for me:

I’ve tried so far to avoid using ‘one’ as my number but couldn’t resist this track. R.E.M. released The One I Love as a single in August 1987, and then on their fifth album, Document, the following month. The single reached #9 in the US and #51 in the UK, but a 1991 re-release made #16 here, making it their first big hit single on both sides of the pond. The album was also their most successful at that point, making #10 in the US, #13 in Canada and #28 in the UK. It went Platinum in both the US and Canada, and eventually made it to Gold in the UK in 2013. I think they call that ‘staying the course!’ I loved the band right from their first album, Murmur, and have a full set from the days before streaming took over.

My next song for today is a very gentle one, but again is another that I have always loved:

That was, if you didn’t already know it, Janis Ian with At Seventeen. Many songs have been written about coming of age, but to my mind few have done it better than this. It first appeared on Janis’ seventh studio album, Between the Lines, in March 1975, and was then taken as the second single from it in July 1975. The album reached #1 in the US and #4 in Canada, though it didn’t make the UK charts. The single was also successful, getting to #3 in the US (#1 on the Cashbox rankings), #6 in Canada and even got to #54 in the UK. I think it was just too delicate for our charts at that time, stuffed as they were with glam rock! The song won Janis a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, which I think was well deserved. She wrote the song about a social outcast in high school, after reading an article in the New York Times. No doubt it would be deemed ‘woke’ today in some circles, though I think that should be a badge of honour!

Another from that era next:

50 Ways To Leave Your Lover was included on Paul Simon’s fourth solo album, Still Crazy After All These Years, which was released in October 1975 and made #1 in the US, #6 in the UK and #8 in Canada, going Gold in the US and the UK and Platinum in Canada. The song was released as a single in December 1975, and topped both the US and Canadian charts, though it only made #23 here in the UK. I still like it, though, with its clever wordplay on the various names he mentions. But why no “Just stay alive, Clive’ is what I’ve always pondered – but I’m trying my best! An honourable mention for Steve Gadd’s drumming on this – it’s a masterclass of understatement.

I’m cranking the pace up again for today’s two closing tracks. Like this:

Two Princes was a track on the Spin Doctors’ debut album, Pocket Full Of Kryptonite, which was released in August 1991. It originally sold in modest numbers, but really took off in 1993 after two of its tracks had been hit singles. The first of those was Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong (October 1992, US #17, UK #23) and this one. It was released in January 1993, and peaked at #7 in the US and #3 in the UK. The album then surged up the charts, finally reaching #3 in the US and #2 in the UK. I bought it back then and played it a lot – it was loads of fun and the band’s sense of humour was very much to the fore. It came with me a lot on the long car commute to work – it is great driving music. And on an utterly irrelevant and unrelated side note, the band’s lead singer, Chris Barron, still follows me on Twitter, proving what good taste he has. But as he hasn’t posted anything there for two years maybe it’s just inertia!

For my final song this week I’m going back to the Seventies again, and an album that was a huge part of the soundtrack to my uni days:

Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five was the closing track on Band On The Run, the masterpiece of an album by Paul McCartney and Wings, which was released in November and December 1973 (UK and US respectively) and topped the charts in the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, Spain and Norway, and sold well just about everywhere else. It has gone 3x Platinum in the US and Platinum in the UK, and to my mind is the best post-Beatles McCartney album. You, of course, are free to differ – though I rate his first solo effort, McCartney, close to it. And Ram wasn’t bad, either…

That’s a wrap for today. As I said at the outset they are a mixed bag, so I hope you found something to enjoy in there. I’m off to try and keep warm, as it is turning distinctly autumnal here. Enjoy your week, and I’ll see you again in a couple of days for one of my annual reminder posts. Take care 😊