The middle of November feels like the briefly-held breath before something exciting or unpleasant but not unexpected. Such are the holidays.

1977: Shaun Cassidy, “Hey Deanie”

All I remember of Shaun Cassidy from the 1970s is “The Doo Ron Ron” and The Hardy Boys. “Hey Deanie” is fun but not terribly memorable.

1982: Jeffrey Osborne, “On the Wings of Love”

I heard “On the Wings of Love” when it first came out, though seldom since then, as I didn’t recognize the song until the chorus. Then it all came back. I heard it on the school bus, in the milking parlor, and probably while in houses where people actually listened to music. It has had a well-deserved long life, and still gets play on classic rock stations.

1987: Levert, “Casanova”

Oh, that ever-present drum machine beat. They only place I would have encountered this video would have been MTV, and that probably late at night, considering the realities of MTV racial politics in the 1980s. “Casanova” is a hip song, and I am glad to have encountered it again, 35 years later.

1992: Whitney Houston, “I Will Always Love You”

This song was so ubiquitous that I don’t remember a time when I had not heard this song. “I Will Always Love You” is so much a part of the pop landscape that it is inextricable, and therefore not associated with any specific memory, because it is associated with every memory.

1997: Timbaland & Magoo, “Up Jumps Da Boogie”

Heard this one for the first time when I put this post together. I like it.