Posts Tagged ‘Eddie Rabbitt’

  
Friday, October 9th, 2009

CHART ATTACK!: 10/11/80

by Jason Hare

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Hi everyone! It’s Friday and it’s time to look back at another Billboard Top 10 from — holy crap, this is from 29 years ago. Anybody else feel really old? Thankfully, I think this is a pretty good week for the charts: good variety, strong songs all around, and some really fantastic videos. Join me, won’t you, as we take a stab at October 11, 1980!

10. Give Me the Night — George Benson null
9. Real Love — The Doobie Brothers null
8. Xanadu — Olivia Newton-John/Electric Light Orchestra null
7. I’m Alright — Kenny Loggins null
6. Late in the Evening — Paul Simon null
5. Drivin’ My Life Away — Eddie Rabbitt null
4. All Out of Love — Air Supply null
3. Upside Down — Diana Ross null
2. Woman in Love — Barbra Streisand null
1. Another One Bites the Dust — Queen null

10. Give Me the Night — George Benson (download)

George Benson on roller skates, y’all. Does it get any better?

If you feel like this song’s groove sounds vaguely familiar, it’s probably because it was written by Rod Temperton, former keyboardist for Heatwave, and the man behind much of Off the Wall (and, later, Thriller). Every time I hear a Rod Temperton jam, I’m once again astounded that sounds like this came from a white guy. “Give Me the Night” peaked at #4, making it Benson’s most successful hit, with the awesome, awesome “Turn Your Love Around” right behind it, peaking at #5 in 1981. I’m disappointed that “Lady Love Me (One More Time) only made it to #30. I don’t have much more to say about this song — I’m too busy groovin’.

9. Real Love — The Doobie Brothers

If you buy the Michael McDonald: The Ultimate Collection CD (and you should!) and you import it into iTunes, there’s a good chance that the song titles for the Doobie Brothers tracks will come up like this: “Real Love (ft. The Doobie Brothers).” Now, on one hand, that’s incorrect: these tracks, and others like it, were released under “The Doobie Brothers,” and changing it is akin to changing “Lennon/McCartney” to “McCartney/Lennon.” (Okay, it’s nothing like that, but I just wanted to compare the Doobies to the Beatles for a second.) But in all honesty, these are Michael McDonald tracks featuring the Doobie Brothers. Other than keeping the album as a consistent “Michael McDonald” album, I’m not sure what the reason was for this alteration, other than McD just trying to find one more way to piss off Jeff “Skunk” Baxter. And if that’s the case — bravo, McD! I thought you ran out of ways to irritate Skunk a long time ago. Of course, Baxter was out of the band by the time both this song — and its accompanying album, One Step Closer — were released, and the band was nearing dissolution anyway due to the increased friction that came from essentially being McD’s backing band. Still, “Real Love” is a great song from this era of the Doobies. It’s no “What a Fool Believes” or “Minute By Minute,” but it’s got plenty of soul and a typically great vocal by McD.

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Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 72

by Dave Steed

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At first, on paper, this week didn’t seem like much. But as I was writing it up, I found myself groovin’ pretty hard to the tracks — it sneaks up on you just a bit, but is thoroughly enjoyable. See if you agree as we take a look at another set of songs that charted below #40 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the 1980s.

Eddie RabbittEddie Rabbitt
“Gone Too Far” — 1980, #82 (download)
“You Can’t Run From Love” — 1983, #55 (download)
“You Put the Beat in My Heart” — 1983, #81 (download)

I know many of you have had your memory jogged by something in this series and I’m happy that same thing happens for me every now and then as well. I’ve often said how my mother had some 45s, but I only remember a few of them, and then I hit another artist in the series that completely takes me back to the ‘80s and my mom’s 45 crate. Eddie Rabbitt is one of those artists. My God, how could I forget the constant spinning of “I Love a Rainy Night” — almost a perfect pop song? I remember the red Elektra label spinning on that record player with the bright yellow adapter you had to put in the hole of the record just perfectly so it would fit snugly on the player. There’s a nice vivid picture of me sitting on my grandparents’ floor listening to this over and over in my head right now and I usually don’t remember anything. See, this is what music does to me. So thank you, Eddie Rabbitt. Unfortunately, none of these three songs even come close to “Rainy Night.”

Gerry Rafferty
“The Royal Mile (Sweet Darlin’)” — 1980, #54 (download)

This is a strange week for me, as I also have vivid memories associated with Gerry Rafferty. His 1978 hit “Right Down the Line” is another brilliant pop record that my mother spun with me. In fact, I’d almost bet many times it was directly before or after “I Love a Rainy Night.” And I don’t know if it’s because it’s in every dollar bin or from my mom, but the cover to his album City to City sticks in my mind as well. I don’t however ever remember hearing “The Royal Mile”; I think my mom was pretty broke raising me, so she didn’t have the money for too much music, so maybe this never made its way into my house. Shame too, because I’m diggin’ it a lot right now.

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Friday, February 13th, 2009

CHART ATTACK!: 2/14/81

by Jason Hare

Howdy, everybody!  Happy Friday and welcome back to another edition of CHART ATTACK! This week’s mix is relatively eclectic, yet — as was often the case in the early ’80s — completely inoffensive.  And you’ll find references to John Lennon in four of this week’s singles.  On with the chart — let’s look at February 14, 1981!

10. Hey Nineteen — Steely Dan Amazon iTunes
9. Givin’ it Up for Your Love — Delbert McClinton Amazon iTunes
8. Keep On Loving You — REO Speedwagon Amazon iTunes
7. (Just Like) Starting Over — John Lennon Amazon iTunes
6. Woman — John Lennon Amazon iTunes
5. Passion — Rod Stewart Amazon iTunes
4. The Tide is High — Blondie Amazon iTunes
3. I Love a Rainy Night — Eddie Rabbitt Amazon iTunes
2. 9 to 5 — Dolly Parton Amazon iTunes
1. Celebration — Kool & the Gang Amazon iTunes

10. Hey Nineteen — Steely Dan (download)

I love Steely Dan.  And I love “Hey Nineteen.”  And although I’ve never had any misconception about this song’s subject, it was only when listening to this song the other day that I realized: Donald Fagen both looks and sounds like a skeevy, dirty old man, and “Hey Nineteen” is, in fact, not helping his image.  And despite the fact that Fagen was only 32 when this song was recorded, it’s not a stretch to hear it and imagine him being, say, 50.  SKETCHY.  Here’s a picture of Donald Fagen with Japanese musician Juri Panda Jones.  Look at this while listening to “Hey Nineteen,” willya?

Right?

Something else weird happened to me while I was listening to “Hey Nineteen” recently.  Whenever I sing along with it, I always avoid the lead line (except for “that’s ‘retha Franklin”).  I just sing the backing vocals.  And, when I sing them, I sing them like…you guessed it.

Oh, picture of 3 Time Grammy Award Winner Michael McDonald, how I’ve missed you.

Anyway, so yeah, I always sing those backing vocals like McD.  But when listening to the song the other day, I realized: I don’t hear McD as a prominent voice.  I mean, I think I hear him in there, and I know he sang backing vocals on Gaucho, but you know that I have a tendency to hear a little bit of McD in everything, so I could just be crazy.

Steely Dan only had a few Top 10 hits ( “Do It Again” and “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” and what the hell, we’ll give “Peg” credit for reaching #11, only because of McD), but this was their last one, peaking here at #10 for only two weeks.

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