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Song of the Day #5,764: ‘Jolene’ – Beyoncé

Continuing my countdown of the songs on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter…

#19. ‘Jolene’

A Beyoncé cover of one of country’s most iconic songs — Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ — should be a reason to celebrate. And this one is certainly a fun listen.

I do wish Queen Bey had delivered a faithful interpretation, though, rather than rewrite it as a rebuke to the woman trying to split up a marriage. The vulnerability, jealousy, and insecurity of the original is refreshingly, relateably human. This is a song that should have no room for bravado.

Or maybe flipping the script in that way is just the thought-provoking exercise an album this adventurous needs. I can see both arguments.

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Song of the Day #5,763: ‘Protector’ – Beyoncé

Saddle up for two weeks of Cowboy Carter! Over the next ten weekdays, I’ll count down my favorite tracks from Beyoncé’s latest opus, the second act of a planned trilogy.

While Act I, 2022’s Renaissance, explored 1970’s Black disco and house music, this chapter has been marketed as the pop star’s “country” album. It is that, to a degree, but it’s a lot of other things as well. Cowboy Carter finds Beyoncé at her most adventurous and playful when it comes to exploring different genres.

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Song of the Day #5,762: ‘Suspicion’ – Terry Stafford

It’s fun to throw back to the first few months of 1964 and see the full force of Beatlemania. The week of April 11 that year, for example, found ‘Can’t Buy Me Love‘ and ‘Twist and Shout‘ in the #1 and #2 spots, respectively. ‘She Loves You,’ ‘Please Please Me,’ and ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ also appeared in the top ten.

A week earlier, the Fab Four occupied every one of the top five slots, so kudos to the man who broke that stranglehold this week by making it to #3. That was singer-songwriter Terry Stafford, whose recording of ‘Suspicion’ gave him the biggest hit of his career.

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Song of the Day #5,761: ‘Wanted’ – Perry Como

Throwing back to the week of April 10, 1954, we find Perry Como atop the Billboard singles chart with ‘Wanted,’ a song that would spend two months in the #1 spot and become the best-selling track of that year.

‘Wanted’ was the eighth of 11 #1 hits for Como between 1945 and 1958, and he had 36 other top ten releases during that span. I guess he was his era’s Drake.

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Song of the Day #5,760: ‘End of Beginning’ – Djo

Closing out the latest installment of ‘What the Kids are Listening To,’ we find Taylor Swift at #10 with ‘Cruel Summer,’ the hit that just keeps on hitting. This marks 46 weeks on the Hot 100 for the song that first appeared on 2019’s Lover before getting a single release a few years later.

We are just a week away from the release of Swift’s next album, The Tortured Poets Department, and I expect she’ll have quite a few new songs on this chart (as in a whole album’s worth) shortly thereafter.

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