Category Archives: throwback weekends

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Song of the Day #5,426: ‘You Are the Sunshine of My Life’ – Stevie Wonder

Yesterday I noted that Stevie Wonder was the youngest person ever to have a #1 song on Billboard’s Hot 100. Today we throw back to the week of May 12, 1973, to feature Wonder’s third #1 hit, released a decade after that first one.

‘You Are the Sunshine of My Life’ was actually at #2 during the week in question, but it ascended to the top spot the following week. I’m highlighting it today because the song at #1 — ‘Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree’ by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando — was in the same position a month ago when I kicked off Throwback Weekends.

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Song of the Day #5,419: ‘Just Give Me a Reason’ – Pink feat. Nate Ruess

Today we throw back to the week of May 4, 2013, the most recent year I’ll cover in Throwback Weekends (at least until we hit 2024). Next week I’ll loop back around to 1963.

Pink’s ‘Just Give Me a Reason’ was the third single from The Truth About Love, one of the best albums of that year. The song was initially planned as a solo performance, with Nate Ruess of the band fun. as a co-songwriter, but Pink felt the track would work better as a conversation between two performers.

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Song of the Day #5,413: ‘Informer’ – Snow

Today we throw back to the week of April 24, 1993, and the most popular white reggae song of all time — Snow’s ‘Informer.’

This borderline incomprehensible track was written by the Canadian artist (real name Darrin Kenneth O’Brien) after he was jailed on charges of attempted murder. The song is a diatribe against the titular snitches who put him behind bars, and seemingly promises violent retribution (Snow pantomimes firing a gun in the video while singing “I lick he boom-boom down”).

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