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Song of the Day #5,854: ‘Free Fallin” – Tom Petty

Tom Petty writes songs that sound like big hits, even if it turns out they weren’t — at least not when they were released. I think of all the artists I’m covering over these three weeks, he has the most bona fide classics that never came close to reaching #1.

Consider this list of songs: ‘Breakdown,’ ‘American Girl,’ ‘Listen to Her Heart,’ ‘Refugee,’ ‘Here Comes My Girl,’ ‘The Waiting,’ ‘You Got Lucky,’ ‘Don’t Come Around Here No More,’ ‘Rebels,’ ‘I Won’t Back Down,’ ‘Running Down a Dream,’ ‘Learning to Fly,’ ‘You Don’t Know How It Feels.’

Forget #1… none of those songs even cracked the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. Are you kidding me?

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Song of the Day #5,853: ‘I Get Around’ – The Beach Boys

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.

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Song of the Day #5,852: ‘Hernando’s Hideaway’ – Archie Bleyer

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.

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Song of the Day #5,851: ‘Stand’ – R.E.M.

R.E.M. went from college rock indie pioneers to one of the most popular rock bands in the world, eventually selling more than 90 million albums globally. But they never managed to place a single atop the Billboard Hot 100.

The band did score a #1 in Canada with ‘Bang and Blame’ and another in Norway with ‘Supernatural Superserious.’ And in the Netherlands, ‘Losing My Religion’ made it to #1. But in the good old U.S. of A., four hits between 1987-1991 stalled out in the top ten.

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Song of the Day #5,850: ‘I Can See For Miles’ – The Who

It’s not a surprise to me that today’s featured artist never had a #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. But I’m including The Who in this series because it is a surprise that only one of their songs even reached the top ten. And that they never scored a #1 hit in their native UK, either.

In general, The Who just hasn’t had the staying power of other classic 60s and 70s rock bands. Despite being very influential on a whole generation of musicians, they seem to have faded in the general consciousness.

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