Throwing back to the week of July 20, 1974, we find soul singer George McCrae with ‘Rock Your Baby.’ This disco track, McCrae’s first single, became a worldwide hit, reaching #1 in ten countries.
There’s really not much to this song, other than a silky groove and the falsetto repetition of the title phrase. I guess that’s all you need sometimes.
The week of July 11, 1964, saw The Beach Boys land their first #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘I Get Around.’
It also saw my father turn 21. Today is his birthday, quite a few years later, and while I don’t think he’s much of a Beach Boys fan (Frank Sinatra was and remains more his style), I dedicate this Song of the Day to him anyway. Fortunately, he didn’t “leave his best girl home on a Saturday night” or else my sister and I might have never been born.
Throwing back to the week of July 10, 1954, we find Kitty Kallen still dominating the charts with ‘Little Things Mean a Lot,’ at #1 for the seventh of nine straight weeks.
In the #2 spot that week was Archie Bleyer’s recording of ‘Hernando’s Hideaway,’ a song from the musical The Pajama Game, written by Jerry Ross and Richard Adler. The song was recorded by several artists, but Bleyer’s was the most successful.
Usher held on to the two top spots the week of July 3, 2004, with ‘Burn’ at #1 and ‘Confessions Part II’ at #2. This song eventually replaced its album mate atop the chart.
As the title suggests, ‘Confessions Part II’ is a sequel to another track called ‘Confessions’ which immediately precedes it on the album (also titled Confessions). You can hear the first track at the beginning of this song’s video, embedded below.
Throwing back to the week of July 2, 1994, we find All-4-One’s ‘I Swear’ continuing its stranglehold on the #1 spot.
At #2 is rapper Warren G with ‘Regulate,’ a track from the soundtrack of the basketball drama Above the Rim. Another West Coast rapper, Nate Dogg, is featured on the track.
Nate is the cousin of Snoop Dogg, whom Warren G is credited with discovering. The trio performed together in Long Beach, California, as a group called 213 before all three found success as solo artists.
