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JUMP TO:
🎵 1994 – I SWEAR / All-4-One
🎵 1984 – TIME AFTER TIME / Cyndi Lauper
🎵 1974 – BAND ON THE RUN / Paul McCartney & Wings
🎵 1964 – CHAPEL OF LOVE / The Dixie Cups
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Welcome to another #1 Songs On This Date!
As you may know, a permanent archive is being built at HouseoftheHits.com which will ultimately feature ALL 837 different number one singles as listed in 2,080 weekly national music charts published by Billboard® within that 40-year timeframe.
242 distinct number one singles from the years 1956 through 1995 have now been presented since January 6th of 2016. The remaining titles will be following through this year and into 2017, when the project will be completed.
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Fortunately, HouseoftheHits has every one of those charts – plus secondary data – as published in the essential Joel Whitburn’s Record Research series (CD-ROM and eBook edition formats).
Everything is stored digitally on a HouseoftheHits computer – as are all 837 number one singles (in high-quality audio) from the music vault.
With the availability of precise data and the HOTH song files – together with some amazing technology – approximately 600 – 700 of those Billboard® chart-toppers will be presented this year – with the remainder to follow in early 2017.
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As the archive grows you will have continual free access to the accumulating repository, indexed by Decade, Month and Year. Plus, EVERY Title and Artist will be (blue) hyper-linked for smooth, easy navigation from song to song – with more great features to be added along the way.
Again, it will contain every #1 single in America, plus interesting commentary about each song (written by yours truly) and presented with a crystal clear High-Definition audio version of the complete original hit to instantly play as often as you wish.
The ever-expanding library is found HERE and you can bookmark this link for future instant access.
Enjoy!
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[NOTE]
Due to copyright issues, some audio song files may not play on smartphones, tablets and connected devices. Whenever possible, an alternate working audio source will be provided, but a PC, Mac or laptop may ultimately be required in some cases.
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#1 / June 9th, 1994
I SWEAR
All-4-One
[1994]
Number One: 11 weeks
Replaced: THE SIGN / Ace Of Base
Succeeded: STAY (I Missed You) / Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories
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1994 was a strange year in the annals of the Billboard Hot 100 music charts in that only 9 songs held the #1 spot, setting the Top 40/pop music era record for fewest top-shelf singles.
A big part of the reason for the scarcity of chart-toppers in ’94 was the absolute domination of just two songs.
The biggest hit of that year, I’ll Make Love You from Philadelphia R&B-ers Boy II Men, controlled the top spot for an astounding 14 weeks in the late summer and fall of ’94.
That was preceded by the pole sitter on this date, I Swear, by the L.A.-based interracial male vocal group All-4-One with their own 11-week domination.
Do the math. That’s 25 weeks – and just a single week short of two songs having spent exactly half the year at #1.
Further mind-boggling is the former stayed inside the Top Ten for 22 weeks, with the latter there continuously for a mere 18. Again, mathematically, the pair resided at or near the top for 40 weeks combined!
All-4-One’s I Swear was a cover version of a country recording originally done by John Michael Montgomery earlier in 1994. That single, from his album Kickin It Up, reached #42 on the Billboard Hot 100
[Trivia Bits] When I Swear first hit #1 on May 21st, All-4-One were playing gigs at Disneyland.
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#1 / June 9th, 1984
TIME AFTER TIME
Cyndi Lauper
[1984]
(Single Version)
Number One: 2 weeks
Replaced: LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE BOY / Deniece Williams
Succeeded by: THE REFLEX / Duran Duran
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Time After Time was the final track recorded for Cyndi Lauper‘s 1983 album, appropriately titled – in an endearing way of course – She’s So Unusual.
And as is often the case, this date’s #1 was almost an afterthought – emerging when one more tune was needed to finish the new record. The future hit singles Girls Just Want To Have Fun (1983 • #2), She Bop (1984 • #3) and All Through The Night (1884 • #5) were already in the ‘can.’
Lauper came up with this song’s title while reading an issue of ‘TV Guide’ magazine. “Time After Time” was the name of a 1979 science fiction movie starring Malcolm McDowell as a man who invents a time machine.
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Initially, TAT hit the top of the Adult Contemporary charts. But after its first seven days there the single also reached #1 on the Hot 100 to enjoy a concurrent two-week hold on a pair of Billboard’s premier lists.
Some called the orange-haired Ms. Lauper, from Queens, NY, “Betty Boop crossed with Bugs Bunny” – an appearance and personality which only added to the marketability of Cyndi and her music.
[Trivia Bits] Further significant chart successes followed for Cyndi Lauper through the rest of the 1980’s: True Colors (1986 • #1), the Bangles guesting on Change Of Heart (1986 • #3) and 1989’s I Drove All Night (#6). She then stopped recording.
But Lauper would re-surface in 1995 with Hey Now (Girls Just Want To Have Fun), a remake of her ’83 original. Heard in the Wesley Snipes movie that year called ‘To Wong Foo,’ the re-do contained “samples” of the 1973 hit by the group Redbone titled Come And Get Your Love but would place no higher than #87 on Billboard.
In May of 2106, Cyndi again returned, releasing a Nashville-recorded album called Detour – and then hitting the road for her “Detour Tour.”
The new recordings showcased her unmistakable voice on country music classics from the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s that featured guest appearances from stars of the genre like Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss and Willie Nelson.
Other #1 Singles by CYNDI LAUPER (2)
• 1986 / TRUE COLORS
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#1 / June 9th, 1974
BAND ON THE RUN
Paul McCartney & Wings
[1974]
Number One: 1 week
Replaced: THE STREAK / Ray Stevens
Succeeded by: BILLY, DON’T BE A HERO / Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods
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The top Billboard singles chart item on this date in 1974 was the title track from the highly acclaimed album Band On The Run by Paul McCartney & Wings.
Recorded in Lagos, Nigeria, Africa, the nine-song disc ended up nearly being a solo effort by McCartney, with two members of Wings, drummer Denny Sewell and guitarist Henry McCullough, being last minute no-shows for the flight to the world’s second largest continent. This was the first signal to Paul that the duo were splitting from the group.
Consequently, in addition to his normal bass-playing and lead vocals, Macca filled in on drums, lead guitar and back-up vocals in the absence of Sewell and McCullough.
The making of the album was fraught with other problems too, including unexpected heavy rains during a normally pleasant season, when basking in the sun by day and recording at night was the band’s plan. Also there were run-ins with paranoid local musicians who feared Wings was there to take over their music scene.
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Despite all its issues, BOTR was both a critical and commercial success, still viewed as the best Beatles – or related – effort since their 1969 Abbey Road album and arguably Paul’s finest solo set.
And regarding the highly successful lead track/single – it’s been suggested that ‘escaping’ from being “stuck inside these four walls” of the song’s metaphorical prison represents Paul’s sense of freedom from no longer being involved with the Fab Four.
[Trivia Bits] Besides the remaining three members of Wings – Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney and Denny Laine – six noted public figures are seen with the trio on the album’s cover photo (above) as prison ‘escapees.’
They are [L-R] Michael Parkinson (UK talk-show host, journalist), Kenny Lynch (actor, comedian, singer), Sir Paul, James Coburn (actor), Clement Freud (politician, columnist, raconteur), Linda McCartney, Christopher Lee (actor), Denny Laine and John Conteh (professional boxer).
Due to the long-standing marketing philosophy of American record companies in which hit singles being included on albums greatly helps sell the latter, Macca conceded to exec’s requests for the addition of his previous #10 single – 1973’s Helen Wheels (a song about McCartney’s Land Rover vehicle) – as a tenth track on the U.S. version of the Band On The Run LP.
Band On The Run was McCartney’s final album on the Beatles’ Apple label.
Other #1 Singles for PAUL McCARTNEY (29)
• 1964 / I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND (The Beatles)
• 1964 / SHE LOVES YOU (The Beatles)
• 1964 / CAN’T BUY ME LOVE (The Beatles)
• 1964 / LOVE ME DO (The Beatles)
• 1964 / A HARD DAY’S NIGHT (The Beatles)
• 1964 / I FEEL FINE (The Beatles)
• 1965 / EIGHT DAYS A WEEK (The Beatles)
• 1965 / TICKET TO RIDE (The Beatles)
• 1965 / HELP! (The Beatles)
• 1965 / YESTERDAY (The Beatles)
• 1966 / WE CAN WORK IT OUT (The Beatles)
• 1966 / PAPERBACK WRITER (The Beatles)
• 1967 / PENNY LANE (The Beatles)
• 1967 / ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE (The Beatles)
• 1967 / HELLO GOODBYE (The Beatles)
• 1968 / HEY JUDE (The Beatles)
• 1969 / GET BACK (The Beatles with Billy Preston)
• 1969 / COME TOGETHER b/w SOMETHING (The Beatles)
• 1970 / LET IT BE (The Beatles)
• 1970 / THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD (The Beatles)
• 1971 / UNCLE ALBERT/ADMIRAL HALSEY (Paul & Linda McCartney)
• 1973 / MY LOVE (Paul McCartney & Wings)
• 1975 / LISTEN TO WHAT THE MAN SAID (Wings)
• 1976 / SILLY LOVE SONGS (Wings)
• 1978 / WITH A LITTLE LUCK (Wings)
• 1980 / COMING UP (Live At Glasgow)
• 1982 / EBONY AND IVORY (Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder)
• 1983 / SAY SAY SAY (Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson)
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#1 / June 9th, 1964
CHAPEL OF LOVE
The Dixie Cups
[1964]
Number One: 3 weeks
Replaced: LOVE ME DO / The Beatles
Succeeded by: A WORLD WITHOUT LOVE / Peter and Gordon
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Hailing from New Orleans, the black ‘girl group’ trio aptly-named The Dixie Cups captured Billboard’s top spot on this date with their timely cover version of the traditional wedding month song Chapel Of Love (See ‘Trivia Bits’ below).
COL was written by the famed Brill Building husband-wife duo of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, together with outlandish record producer Phil Spector.
Normally heavyweight songwriters, the venerable tandem of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller produced the recording for the duo’s new record label, Red Bird.
Presented here is a rare version of Chapel Of Love in pristine-sounding, crystal-clear ‘true’ stereo – i.e. ladies and gentlemen, another “sonic whopper!”
[Trivia Bits] With Phil Spector a part of the the song’s writing team, it’s not surprising that the original version of Chapel Of Love was recorded by one from his own stable of artists – the Blossoms (with Darlene Love) in April 1963, but it was never released.
As well, the Ronettes included the song on their debut album from November 1964, with production again by Spector.
And in 1973, singer-actress Bette Midler had a moderate hit with a cover of Chapel of Love.
Leiber and Stoller’s Red Bird label enjoyed just a two-year existence, but would turn out significant singles by a number of other groups: The Shangri-Las – Remember Walkin’ In The Sand (1964 • #5), Leader Of The Pack (1964 • #1) and I Can Never Go Home Anymore (1965 • #6), the Jelly Beans – I Wanna Love Him So Bad (1964 • #9) and on their subsidiary label Blue Cat, the Ad-Libs – The Boy From New York City (1965 • #8).
You Might Also Enjoy: THE SHANGRI-LAS: Leading The Pack 🎵
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CREDITS
Produced & Written By: Rick Murray Hunter / HouseoftheHits.com
Songs Source: The Music Vault of HouseoftheHits Inc.
Billboard® Chart Data: Joel Whitburn’s Record Research (eBook Editions)
References:
• The Billboard Book Of Number One Hits (5th Edition) by Fred Bronson
• The Billboard Book Of Number One Rhythm & Blues Hits by Adam White and Fred Bronson
• The Billboard Book Of Number One Adult Contemporary Hits by Wesley Hyatt
• The Billboard Book Of Number One Albums by Craig Rosen
• The Billboard’s Hottest Hot 100 Hits (4th Edition) by Fred Bronson
• 1000 UK Chart Hits (Kindle Edition) by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh
• The Archives of RollingStone.com
Record Sleeve & Label Graphics: Courtesy of 45cat.com
Special thanks to the patio of Starbucks, Little Road in New Port Richey, FL 😎
Other #1 Songs on This Date Posts are HERE
