All My Life

Cheryl Cole's Fight For This Love samples K Ci & Jojo's gorgeous ballad All My Life.
It would be nice if their song was a download hit again on the strenght of the success of Cheryl's song. Maybe even Shayne Ward too!

Here's K Ci & Jojo's All My Life which will be 12 years old this December.



And Shayne's version from his debut album. Which isn't very old at all.

Champaign

In May 1981 this got to number 5 in the UK charts.

Here's a real late night radio song, Champaign and How 'Bout Us.

Pebbles

Several times when I post an old song that I love I often wish that the people who read my blog now could have been able to listen to my radio show back in the mid 1980s here in Ireland. Many of the albums that I bought on CD over the years are ones I had on vinyl back in the 1980s.

One album that I played many songs from on my show was Pebbles self titled album. It featured Girlfriend her most famous song which got to number 5 in the US and number 8 in the UK. I love that song but that isn't my favourite. The follow up single Mercedes Boy is. It got to number 2 in the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1988 making it her biggest hit ever. I think it is a perfect R'n'B pop song. I thought Pebbles was so gorgeous. She had perfect attitude, no nonsense, sheer fabulous.
The other songs that I liked on the album the most were Slip Away and Baby Love. Do Me Right and Take Your Time were also singles from her first album. Check them out if you can. Pebbles also had a great single in 1990 called Giving You The Benefit. Janet Jackson was the queen of that type of R'n'B pop back then but you can see a lot of an artist like Pebbles in other groups like Destiny's Child in the later 2 decades.

Pebbles is now Perri Nixon. She went on to create TLC, marry and separate from the music producer L.A. Reid and become a Christian minister called Sister Perri. Lots more about her here.

Mercedes Boy is now 21 years old. Like all my favourite songs I will never grow tired of hearing it.

Here's the album version which is almost 5 minutes long. It includes the car starting up intro and a great male backing vocal later on.

Last Dance

For the past few months I've been posting a write up on the weekly Irish singles chart. I've always wondered if this was ok to do, copyright etc. Well, as it turns out it isn't. In order to do so a blogger needs permission and also pay an annual fee. That fee is several hundred euro a year. I am allowed to make a link to the IRMA chart which really isn't the same so I've decided that I'm not going to continue it.
I always felt that I was in a way assisting the IRMA chart by highlighting the few Irish music acts in the singles chart. I firmly believe that without hit singles a singer or band will never go beyond the album artist only category. Hit singles make people go to gigs and concerts not just now but for the years to come. The Irish singles chart is actually full of pop music at the moment but it is nearly all American and UK music acts. Ireland is a very small country but in regards to pop music, what is in the chart doesn't reflect what the majority of people like, listen to and buy.
If you would like to see what's selling in Ireland every week do google IRMA and charts. The site includes singles, albums and music DVD sales. The chart comes out on a Friday. Last week there was a technical difficulty so it came out on Monday and that's how Cheryl got to number 13 already.

I've really enjoyed writing about the Irish chart but like the little ice man up above, nothing lasts forever.

Most Of These Songs Have Something In Common

Strange things are happening in the Irish charts. The IRMA chart is usually available on line on a Friday but was only there today, Monday. The new chart is dated October 15th but a song that was released (according to it's wikipedia page) on the 16th has charted already at number 13. That song is Cheryl Cole's new pop anthem Fight For This Love. But whatever the reason that happened all is good!

There are a wonderful 11 new entries in the chart but they are not all brand new songs. That's still over one in every five songs and it all makes the chart a little bit more interesting. Without X Factor, shown here in Ireland on both UTV and TV3 the IRMA chart would truly be a whole lot less poppy. Alexandra and Flo Rida's Bad Boys is number one, and the other 3 brand new songs in the top ten; Robbie's Bodies at 3, Miley's Party In The USA at 5 and Michael Buble's Haven't Met You Yet have all been X Factor guest stars. And that's just the top ten.

Here the IRMA chart for week dated October 15th.

1(-): Bad Boys - Alexandra Burke featuring Flo Rida
2(1): I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
3(-): Bodies - Robbie Williams
4(2): She Wolf - Shakira
5(-): Party In The USA - Miley Cyrus
6(3): Sexy Bitch / Chick / Auld Wan- David Guetta featuring Akon
7(4): Break Your Heart - Taio Cruz
8(5): Empire State Of Mind - Jay Z featuring Alicia Keys
9(7): Oopsy Daisy - Chipmunk
10(-): Haven't Met You Yet - Michael Buble

The other new entries include Irish band Identity Parade and Kicking Stones which is their second and biggest hit this year. Cheryl's Fight For This Love is at 13. Hmmm! Big Pink's Dominos, which I did a post on last week, is new at 25. Black Eyed Peas are brand new at 27 with Meet Me Halfway, perfectly timed as I Gotta Feeling finally falls to number 2. Danyl and his version of And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going To Leave The Gender Of This Song Title Untouched puts Jennifer Hudson's powerhouse version in the chart at 37, it's first time in the IRMA chart. Little Lion Man by Mumford & Sons' charts at 49 and the 11th brand new entry, this time of an old song, is Leona's Footprints In The Sand. How high will Happy chart next month!

Whitney's Million Dollar Bill is climbing again since Sunday night's X Factor but for now she's at number 40 in Ireland, a climb of 5. Beyonce's Brokenhearted Girl climbs to 33 from last week's 39 which isn't too bad for a very dull song..
Saturdays Forever Is Over drops to 15 already but that's mainly due to the 4 new entries in the top ten and the release of their album. Paulo Nutini, primarily an album artist in Ireland has the biggest drop as Last Request falls 20 places to 28.

The songs I don't cover are mainly ones that have fallen down the chart and it shows the amount of songs doing so each week as they stay in the chart. JLS incidently are at number 39 with Beat Again which is now 14 weeks in the Irish Top 4o and Madonna's Celebration is at 23, it's 11th week in the chart. Both positions showing the respective artists popularity here in Ireland.

Cheryl Cole's Fight For This Love is easily my most favourite song in the chart. Especially after the week it has been with the coverage of Stephen Gately death and funeral, I don't think there's a greater pop song title that gives the man himself and his husband Andrew tribute.

For all the times that Stephen was in the IRMA chart as an artist over the years this week's very poppy chart is dedicated to him.

The photo of Cheryl above was used on the cover of the Sunday Times magazine recently and here she is with the properly amazing Cahill Club Mix of Fight For This Love.

Whitney & Akon

Whitney Houston plays Dublin's O2 on April 17th 2010. I hope her X Factor appearance this coming weekend is amazing. I Look To You is an album full of good pop and r'n'b and her collaboration with Akon on Like I Never Left is one of my most played songs on the album. It is one of the most obvious choices as a future single.

Here it is.

These Songs Fall Like....

Back in the 1980s there were always several songs that charted or re-charted because they had been featured in a TV ad. Today that happens to a lesser degree but the genre of music used in those ads is what has changed the most. That is, less pop or 1960s nostalgia and now more guitar or dance based band. It is often an advertisement for a mobile phone that will give a, usually indie, music act a platform. I think in a way that is a bit sad. What the world needs now is a proper BBC/ITV/ RTE/MTV music show that will give new music acts a way of selling music without corporate sponsorship which is what placement in prime time TV ads effectively is doing. I think that kind of weekly music show will come back.
X Factor this year has shown when a good song is sung to a huge television audience that chosen song charts on the sales of downloads. Alicia Keys, Luther Vandross, Kings Of Leon, Jennifer Hudson are all just a few of the music artists whose songs have re-charted from a recent X Factor performance. I hope that next year music companies won't use the contestants choice as a marketing way to make a song a hit again. It is already happening of course, with downloads available to buy as soon as the song is heard on a TV show like X Factor it is the music buying public that will make the hits and determine some of the following week's chart. That is also why I think, by now the charts should today be even more varied but even in six months time the songs that make up a weekly chart may be very different. I am a traditionalist when it comes to the charts but long live the hit single is all I say!

I'm always intrigued by the songs that chart outside of the UK top 40 every week. This week The Big Pink's Dominoes moved up from number 145 to 42, a climb of 103 places. The song is indie pop and is being used on an ad for X Box 360 in the UK. Computer games being the alternative to the mobile phone. The Big Pink's website is here. I like the song a lot.

Here it is.

Dayo & Saturdays

A record for me, the IRMA chart from last Friday posted a week later but I wanted to post every Irish singles chart week by week so here's the chart from October 9th. (Note to potential pop bloggers: working full time, doing a degree at night, having a half decent social life and writing a blog is a major juggling act!).

Black Eyed Peas are still number one. I do like their new song, Meet Me Halfway which John of Pop Music Notes writes about here. With a lot of upcoming new releases competition it's unlikely that song will be a number one for a 100 weeks in Ireland but who knows!
The only two new entries in the top ten in Ireland are Chipmunk and Oopsy Daisy at number 7 and the Saturdays' Forever is Over at 9, both went top 3 in the UK last weekend. One point of note about Chipmunk is that I think the song should really be Chipmunk featuring Dayo Olatunji who has a really strong voice and I think she sounds a bit Rihanna/Sugababes. (which is of course is good). As ever on hip hop or Grime (awful term!) music it's the female vocalists that are a huge part of the records success and Dayo deserves a 'featuring' at least. 2009 has been a great year for young black male stars and I often feel they should be the ones doing guest spots on X Factor. Oopsy Daisy is a dreadful name for a song but it stands out and like Dizzee's Bonkers the sillier the better when it comes to being a hit. Oopsy Daisy is also Chipmunk's 4th hit this year following Chip Daddy Chip, Diamond Rings and his guesting on Tiny Dancer.

Here's the IRMA top ten from last week:

1(1): I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
2(2): She Wolf - Shakira
3(3): Sexy Chick - David Guetta featuring Akon
4(4): Break Your Heart - Taio Cruz
5(5): Empire State Of Mind - Jay Z featuring Alicia Keys
6(7): Hotel Room Service - Pitbull
7(-): Oopsy Daisy - Chipmunk
8(10): Last Request - Paulo Nutini
9(-): Forever Is Over - Saturdays
10(6): Run This Town - Jay Z featuring Rihanna & Kanye West

There are only 3 other brand new entries in the rest of the top 50. Tinchy Stryder's You're Not Alone charts at 25, Beyonce is new at 31 with Brokenhearted Girl and Whitney's Million Dollar Bill is new at 45. Expect Whitney to climb high later on today's new chart. It will be great to see her back in the top ten in the UK sometime soon. She is also playing a concert in Dublin's O2 next April.

Several songs climbed in the IRMA chart as well including Paloma Faith's New York moving up from 19 up to number 12. Coronas are back up to 19 with Listen Dear, the longest time that an Irish act has stayed in the chart for a while now (4 weeks). Cobra Starship's Good Girls Go Bad is at 20, a climb of 13. Mini Viva's I Left My Heart In Tokyo is up 8 places to 23. The highest climber is up 19 places; it's Daughtry and What About Now now at 30.


The new IRMA chart follows soon but for now here's Chipmunk and Dayo Olatunji and a Live Lounge performance of Oopsy Daisy.

Then Sings....

Susan Boyle's debut album I Dreamed A Dream is released on November 23rd in the UK and the next day in the US. I assume it will be released on the 20th in Ireland as new albums come out here on a Friday.

The track list for I Dreamed A Dream was released recently and the list below is taken from the Digital Spy website.

The songs are:

• Wild Horses
• I Dreamed A Dream
• Cry Me A River
• How Great Thou Art
• You'll See
• Daydream Believer
• Up To The Mountain
• Amazing Grace
• Who I Was Born To Be
• Proud
• The End of The World
• Silent Night

I already love her version of Wild Horses. Cry Me A River is, I assume, that great song of long, long ago not Justin. You'll See is the Madonna song which could be very amazing indeed. You almost feel that Susan Boyle actually had some choice in the songs chosen as there are songs that you could imagine her loving and been singing for years.
This album is really aimed at a certain but also very wide market. The one song that stood out for me on the track list was How Great Thou Art. It instantly made me think of being a very young child and associating it with one of my grandparents. I think that song will 'get' people the most, more so than Amazing Grace which has been on so many pop and r'n'b albums over the years. I was born Catholic, like most of Ireland. As I grew up I have had less respect for the catholic church but as I grew older I almost have more respect for people's spiritually. If someone believes in someone up there then as long as that person is not racist, sexist, homophobic or just mean then that is fine by me. I think that is the difference from a fundamentalist belief. My own parents don't go to church as much as they used to but when they do I respect that. I'm a bit of a candle lighter and always light as many candles as possible when I'm in a church , on purpose but with good intent. It's not catholic it's just me. I think spirituality is a very personal thing. It is like something gay (or straight) people never really address but for me living your life is what being spiritual means.

Reading How Great Thou Art as a song included on an album that will be one of the biggest sellers in 2009 made me think about that tonight. Looking up who else sang the song I realised that it is the version by Elvis that many people will know the most. It reminds people of parents and grandparents. Looking further I found Carrie Underwood sing the song and her version is below. It does not matter if the song is religious or spiritual or whatever but the fact that the song is powerful in that it touches some emotion, some memory in us. It sort of comforts and makes you want to break down at the same time. Maybe it's just me, I had a bit of a cry listening to it this evening!
I had a few really lovely comments from friends, old and new, on recent blog posts so I've decided that I'm going to mix up the posts here again and write more from the heart.

I hope someone is minding Susan Boyle, that the next step in fame will be okay for her. I look forward to hearing her album and in the meantime here is my favourite American Idol winner, Carrie Underwood and her version of How Great Thou Art.

Mini Viva: Showing Out

Mini Viva's I Left My Heart In Tokyo is very slowly climbing the Irish singles chart, they are currently at number 23 up from 31 last week. The song is pure pop bubble gum. I first heard it on the Chris Evans show many weeks ago on my friend Brian's car radio as we drove to Dublin from Belfast. It was an experience. Enduring the Chris Evans show that is.
Pete Hammond has a very dancey retro mix of the song which basically mashes up Showing Out (Get Fresh At The Weekend) by Mel & Kim, which was one of SAW's finest pop moments.

Here's that mix.

And here's the wonderful Mel & Kim, two of pop's best stars ever. Mel was another popstar gone too soon.