Category Archives: throwback weekends

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Song of the Day #5,782: ‘Cross Over The Bridge’ – Patti Page

Throwing back to the week of May 1, 1954, we find two repeats topping Billboard’s singles chart: Perry Como’s ‘Wanted’ and Jo Stafford’s ‘Make Love to Me.’ This was the fifth straight week that those songs occupied the top two spots, with Como in #1 for four of them.

At #3 is ‘Cross Over the Bridge,’ a song originally written in 1945 by Bennie Benjamin and George David Weiss. The recording that received the most success was this one, by singer Patti Page. Page was the top-selling female performer of the 50s, having already scored four #1 hits before this one made it to #2.

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Song of the Day #5,776: ‘I Dont’ Wanna Know’ – Mario Winans Featuring Enya & P. Diddy

The week of April 24, 2004, saw Usher atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Yeah!,’ in the middle of a 12-week run at the top spot.

At #2 was R&B artist Mario Winans with ‘I Don’t Wanna Know,’ a song that spent eight weeks in the second spot, never able to overtake Usher. Even when ‘Yeah!’ fell out of #1, it was replaced by another Usher track, ‘Burn,’ while Winans remained at #2. This guy must hate Usher.

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Song of the Day #5,775: ‘Without You’ – Mariah Carey

Throwing back to the week of April 23, 1994, we have repeats in the #1 and #2 spot with R. Kelly’s ‘Bump N’ Grind’ and Ace of Base’s ‘The Sign,’ respectively.

In the third spot that week was 90s hitmaker Mariah Carey with her cover of Badfinger’s ‘Without You.’ The original didn’t make much of a commercial splash but it did spawn two hit versions.

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Song of the Day #5,769: ‘Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)’ – Phil Collins

Forty years ago today, Phil Collins’ power ballad ‘Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)’ reached #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the first of three weeks. The song was written for the Taylor Hackford film Against All Odds, and is probably the most memorable thing about it.

Collins was nominated for the Best Song Oscar for this song, the first of three career nominations. He would eventually win for his work on 2000’s animated Tarzan, but he lost this one to Stevie Wonder’s ‘I Just Called to Say I Love You.’

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Song of the Day #5,768: ‘T.S.O.P. (The Sound of Philadelphia)’ – MFSB ft. The Three Degrees

Throwing back to the week of April 20, 1974, the #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 was ‘TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia),’ a disco instrumental by soul band MFSB, a Philly-based group comprised of more than 30 musicians. Vocal group The Three Degrees show up to deliver the song’s only words, the repeated phrase “Let’s get it on, it’s time to get down.”

This track was written as the theme song for Soul Train, and became the first TV theme to ever reach #1. Four more repeated the feat, and rather than give those away here I’ve made a note to do a week on them after I finish with Cowboy Carter.

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