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Song of the Day #5,510: ‘The Morning After’ – Maureen McGovern

The week of August 4, 1073, saw Maureen McGovern’s recording of ‘The Morning After’ reach the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100, where it would remain for two weeks. This was McGovern’s first single and her only career #1.

‘The Morning After’ was the love theme of the disaster film The Poseidon Adventure, and was performed in the movie by the ship’s singer (Carol Lynley played the role but Renée Armand dudded her vocals). McGovern released her own version of the track several months after the film came out. The song won Best Original Song at that year’s Academy Awards.

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Song of the Day #5,509: ‘So Much in Love’ – The Tymes

Throwing back to the week of August 3, 1963, we find the R&B vocal group The Tymes in the #1 spot of the Billboard Hot 100 with their song ‘So Much in Love.’ This doo-wop treasure spent exactly one week at #1.

‘So Much in Love’ was The Tymes’ debut single. Their follow-up release, ‘Wonderful! Wonderful!,’ made it to #7 but they never reached the top ten in the U.S. again. It was a different story in the UK, where they went relatively unnoticed through the 60s but scored a #1 hit in 1975 with ‘Ms Grace.’

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Song of the Day #5,508: ”Til I Whisper You Something’ – Sinéad O’Connor

Six years separated Sinéad O’Connor’s fourth and fifth studio albums, with Faith and Courage dropping in 2000, exactly a decade after I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got.

O’Connor suffered plenty of personal and professional turmoil during those ten years, but she managed to emerge from it with what I consider her best album. A strong case can certainly be made for The Lion and the Cobra and I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got — and those are her career-defining albums, no doubt — but song for song I find this one even better.

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Song of the Day #5,507: ‘John I Love You’ – Sinéad O’Connor

Sinéad O’Connor’s fourth studio album came on the heels of her disappointing third effort and the firestorm of controversy surrounding her pope-bashing Saturday Night Live appearance. And while 1994’s Universal Mother didn’t do well enough commercially to make it a proper comeback, it was certainly an artistic triumph.

A subdued and intimate collection of mostly piano-based ballads, Universal Mother was O’Connor’s most personal album to date. As she told the music magazine Mojo, the album “was the first attempt to try to expose what was really underneath a lot of the anger of the other records.”

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Song of the Day #5,506: ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” – Sinéad O’Connor

Two years after the massive success of I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, Sinéad O’Connor blew up her career in spectacular fashion.

Critics and audiences were perplexed by her third album, 1992’s Am I Not Your Girl?, a collection of cover versions of standards. This is the sort of album artists usually put out deep into their careers, often to satisfy a contractual obligation. It’s certainly not what you expect from the follow-up to a ground-breaking and star-making release.

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