At the start of Autumn, music transcends the boundaries of the senses and the right tune at the right time can taste like apple cider and smell like corn stalks and hay bales. And also the smell of brass instruments and dew on cold autumn mornings as we practiced our marching band routines.

1977: Linda Ronstadt, “Blue Bayou”

Oh my god, this song in her voice. I certainly heard it when it was first released, and regularly for many years thereafter. I probably haven’t heard it for at least a decade, and when I pulled it up in the process of writing this post, I was suddenly, immediately, in my aunt’s house on a small lake in West Michigan, hanging out with Dad and my brother, noodling around in a canoe and catching bluegills. I don’t think I will ever not love “Blue Bayou.”

1982: Willie Nelson, “Let It Be Me”

This is the third week in a row(!) that this song was #40 on the charts.

1987: Bruce Springsteen, “Brilliant Disguise”

Getting a handle on being away from home for an extended period for the first time in my life, trying to sort out who I actually was, and who I could be, as an adult in college and well away from the unpleasantness of the hometown. “Brilliant Disguise” played often on MTV and on the stereos around campus. It’s a good one and I am happy to have been reminded that it exists.

1992: Babyface Featuring Toni Braxton, “Give U My Heart”

This is a repeat from a few weeks back, so please enjoy this live version of “Give U My Heart!”

1997: Coolio featuring 40 Thevz, “C U When U Get There”

I think I heard this one, once upon a time. It would have to have been on MTV and possibly lightly sampled on commercials for Nothing to Lose. I’ve always liked Coolio, and this song is most excellent.

[2022.09.29 UPDATE: Artis Leon Ivey, known to his fans as Coolio, died Wednesday, September 28, in Los Angeles. Rest in power, Mr. Ivey.]

 

1977: Brick, “Dusic”

I’m pretty sure the first time I heard “Dusic” was while compiling this post. It’s, well, funky! And O, that sax. And O, that flute!

1982: Willie Nelson, “Let It Be Me”

This is a repeat from last week, so here is Willie singing “Let It Be Me” with Cheryl Crow.

1987: Go West, “Don’t Look Down – The Sequel”

1992: The Cure, “Friday I’m In Love”

I listened to “Friday I’m in Love” on heavy repeat during a 10-day road trip to Denver and environs in May of 1992, between my fifth and sixth years at GVSU. “Friday I’m in Love” will forever be associated with college.

1997: Mack 10, “Backyard Boogie”

Well into September now, typically adjusting to the abrupt change in location, schedule, and possibly job, depending on the year.

1977: The Alan Parsons Project, “I Wouldn’t Want to Be Like You”

Since I was in third grade in this week of 1977 I am pretty sure that, if I heard this song, it was while visiting someone with more modern tastes in music than my parents. Therefore the first time I heard it where it stuck would likely have been in high school when I was listening to a rock station. when listening to this one I feel a faint deja vu for cold weather and apple cider.

1982: Willie Nelson, “Let It Be Me”

I would certainly have heard “Let it Be Me” when was released, given the realities and culture of living in rural Michigan in the early 1980s. I’ve always liked Willie Nelson, and this tune is just beautiful.

1987: Michael Jackson, “Bad”

I remember seeing this video (long version here) on MTV in the public lounge of third-floor Copeland at GVSC. A lot. I also remember several football player types and some of the more redneck-ey students bristling at the idea of Michael Jackson flexing. Like, they felt threatened by MJ being bad. The reaction was amusing back then, and the memory is hilarious now. I really like “Bad” but I have heard the Weird Al Yankovic parody a whole lot more than I have heard the original.

1992: Celine Dion, “If You Asked Me To”

Ah, Celine Dion in the nineties. All over MTV back in the day, so undoubtedly that is where I first heard Dion’s version of “If You Asked Me To.”  I am much more familiar with Patti LaBelle‘s version from 1989, which was on the soundtrack of License to Kill. Of the two, I much prefer LaBelle’s version.

1997: Hanson, “Mmmbop”

Despite its overwhelming popularity at the time, I don’t think I heard it until years later, as during the late nineties I was listening to The Pogues and Tom Waits. Having now heard it, “Mmmbop” is light and fun and kind of forgettable. So maybe I did hear it when it was first released.

Well and truly into September. Days are getting shorter but not yet shorter than the nights. The last few weeks of summer weather tempered by cooler nights which means sleeping is more comfortable but waking times are earlier because of SCHOOL.

1977: Ronnie McDowell, “The King is Gone”

First week of September 1977 I would just have been starting third grade in Parma. This would also have been the beginning of the last school year there, as we moved to the farm in Springport in summer 1979. I have no memory of this song. Then again McDowell sounds so much like Elvis (or would have, to eight-year-old me) that I likely wouldn’t have known the difference. I imagine this was a popular song for its time, but having heard it now, I don’t like it.

1982: Juice Newton, “Break It To Me Gently”

As a kid I had a serious crush on Juice Newton, thanks to “Angel of the Morning” and “Queen of Hearts.” This week in 1982 I was just starting eighth grade, and probably overwhelmed with being 13 years old. So the merest hint of Newton’s voice would have put me in a hormonal fugue state of dissociation from the mundane realm. We’ve all been there at some point.

1987: Bryan Adams, “Victim of Love”

Bryan Adams was HUGE in the late eighties, so I night have heard “Victim of Love” at some point, though I have no specific memory of it. The video is familiar, though, so it was probably playing on a TV somewhere on Grand Valley’s campus.

1992: Mary J. Blige, “You Remind Me”

I think this is a first listen for me. Neither the song nor the video strike any nostalgic chords, though the style is familiar, in the manner of early 1990s videos. I would have been at the beginning of my last year of college when this song charted.

1997: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, “Look Into My Eyes”

Another first-listen for me here. The harmony on the chorus feels familiar but reminds me of another song which I can’t place right now.

Welcome to the last few days of August. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

1977: Dorothy Moore, “I Believe You”

“I Believe You” puts me in mind of wood paneling, shag carpet, the smell of pipe smoke and one of those custom logs in the fireplace which turns the flames different colors, which suggests that there may have been some substances in use among the adults at that time. This is a very seventies song, in the best way. This song is beautiful, but while it sounds familiar, I have no specific memory of having heard it before.

1982: Paul Davis, “Love or Let Me Be Lonely”

This is a repeat from last week, but it’s a good song, so please enjoy it again!

1987: Alexander O’Neal, “Fake”

Like “I Believe You” above, “Fake” sounds familiar but I have no specific memory of having heard it before. I really like it, though; in the parlance of our time, “Fake” slaps. At the end of August 1987 if I heard it at all, it would have been while watching MTV in the lounge on third-floor Copeland at GVSC. There was a lot going on at the time; full sensory overload and a combination of relief and anxiety at no longer living on the farm.

1992: Mariah Carey, “I’ll Be There”

My memory of Mariah Carey’s cover of “I’ll Be There” is so mixed up with the original The Jackson 5 version that I don’t remember when or if I heard this version. That being said, this is a beautiful cover, which is to be expected with Carey, and Trey Lorenz just kills it!

1997: Allure Featuring 112, “All Cried Out”

That opening keyboard is so familiar! O is the lyric “Apology not accepted.” Definitely heard “All Cried Out” before, I just don’t remember when or where. Almost certainly on MTV, and yet another sign that I really need to expand my knowledge of R&B groups, because this song is gorgeous!

Over the past week I went through the lists on top40weekly.com and made a spreadsheet of all the songs which will populate the Bottom of the Top posts for the rest of the year. In doing so I discovered that I had miscounted in the 1977 list, and therefore 1977 was a week off from the other four years. I am not sure where this happened, but the issue has now been corrected thanks to the judicious application of SCIENCE!

Anyway, here are the songs for the 33rd week of the years 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, and 1997.

1977: Heatwave, “Boogie Nights”

I love this one! I don’t have any specific memory of having heard it before now, and the ghost of a fragment of a memory of something like this is probably associated with a movie about the 1970s which included this song, or one very much like it, in the soundtrack. “Boogie Nights” is so very, very ’70s, and it is totally groovy.

1982: Ray Parker, Jr., “Let Me Go”

The summer between 7th and 8th grades is mostly lost to the mists of time, and any Ray Parker, Jr. songs I would have heard around that time were likely completely overwritten by “Ghostbusters,” which was released in 1984. But Mr. Parker has some serious chops and I do like this song.

1987: Natalie Cole, “Jump Start (My Heart)”

I was in the last week of my first summer at the Eaton Rapids pickle factory when “Jump Start” charted. Two weeks later I was at GVSC, enjoying nearly unlimited access to MTV, which is certainly where I would have heard this one, since I definitely didn’t hear it back on the farm. It’s catchy. I dig it.

1992: Rozilla, “Everybody’s Free (to Feel Good)”

This is a repeat from an earlier post, which demonstrates an odd inertia for songs which chart. They can linger.

1997: Rome, “Do You Like This”

This was the first time I heard “Do You Like This.” It’s good, but not particularly memorable. It did much better on the R&B charts than on the Hot 100, where it peaked at #31.

August kept up the momentum of July and we are fast approaching the end of summer, in intent if not in fact.

1977: Glen Campbell, “Sunflower”

“Sunflower” is a joyful, fun, catchy tune which I have no memory of having heard before. It is also the kind of song which an adult would have ill-advisedly sung to a tired or sulky child in order to break a bad mood, but which would instead have only made things worse.

1982: Marshall Crenshaw, “Someday, Someway”

I have heard this one before, but the muscle-memory of my mind is feeling more nineties than eighties, so I probably heard it on a TV show or as part of a movie soundtrack. “Someday, Someway” is fun and bouncy and feels like a throwback to the sixties. Which, considering that it was recorded as a take on Gene Vincent‘s “Lotta Lovin’” which was released in 1957, I guess that makes sense.

1987: Smokey Robinson, “One Heartbeat”

That combination of keyboard and saxophone is unmistakable. I would have been winding down my first summer at the godawful pickle factory and looking forward to my first break in seven years from milking cows on Sunday mornings. So I would have been emotionally receptive to the beautiful grooves of Smokey Robinson.

1992: U2, “Even Better Than the Real Thing”

This whole album was so damn big that I don’t remember when I first heard any one of the songs therefrom. Probably on MTV, considering MTV was still playing music videos back in 1992. Or while cleaning up the kitchen at Jose Babushka’s at the end of a shift.

1997: Mr. President, “Coco Jamboo”

Lessee…1997 I was still working at the bookstore, playing a lot of Vampire: The Masquerade and Dungeons and Dragons, and practicing martial arts for about 15 hours a week. So where would I have heard this song? Probably in my car, on the way to a Renaissance Faire. Or maybe on MTV, if I was lucky enough to be watching TV during one of the increasingly rare blocks in 1997 which had music videos. It’s a catchy tune and Judith “T-Seven” Hinkelmann has a helluva voice.

And suddenly, August arrives.

1977: The Isley Brothers, “Livin’ in the Life”

“Livin’ in the Life” is funky and groovy and fun, but this is the first time I have heard it.

1982: The Gap Band, “Early in the Morning”

Dang! This is an odd one. I distinctly remember the video, but have no memory at all of the song. Given its popularity I don’t see how I could not have heard it at some point. So along with all of the other odd coincidences and discoveries that this project has brought about, it has reacquainted me with the most excellent Gap Band.

1987: Whitney Houston, “Didn’t We Almost Have It All”

Ah, Whitney. You left us far too soon. In the summer of 1987 Whitney was huge and this song was everywhere. I have no specific temporal associations with “Didn’t We Almost Have it All,” because the song has received steady play for over thirty years. So it’s more a case of dividing my life into “pre-Whitney” and “mid-Whitney.” I say that because, even though Ms Houston died over a decade ago, her songs are still on heavy rotation so we are not yet close to “post-Whitney.” And that is a very good thing.

1992: Shabba Ranks, “Mr. Loverman”

“Mr. Loverman” is smooth and oh! so sexy, but I don’t think I heard it before now. Obviously, this means I wasn’t going to the right parties back in 1992.

1997: 98 Degrees, “Invisible Man”

98° was inescapable for much of the late 1990s and early 2000s, but I was listening to Tom Waits and various mixes of punk, folk,and world beat at the time, so I might have heard this, but it was not something I would have sought out. It is a decent enough song but nothing about it really stands out, beyond it being a decently good example of this style of music,.