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Song of the Day #6,300: ‘Yesterday’ – The Beatles

The #1 song on the Hot 100 the week of October 5, 1965, was a little tune called ‘Yesterday’ by a little band known as The Beatles. The track was not released as a single in the UK because the band felt it was more of a Paul McCartney tune than a proper Beatles release, but in the U.S. it topped the charts for four weeks.

Considering I wrote 40 Beatles Weekend posts back in 2009/10, I was sure I had already featured ‘Yesterday.’ But alas, I made it to Song of the Day #6,300 without posting one of the most beloved, famous, and oft-covered songs of all time.

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Song of the Day #6,299: ‘Moments to Remember’ – The Four Lads

Throwing back to the week of October 4, 1955, we find the usual crowd of repeat offenders atop the chart (I won’t bother listing them… they’ve all been shouted out repeatedly by now).

At the #5 spot that week, on its way to a peak at #2, was ‘Moments to Remember,’ a sleepy pop ballad by Canadian quartet The Four Lads. This song is tied with 1956’s ‘No, Not Much!’ as the foursome’s top-charting single.

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Song of the Day #6,298: ‘Crimes of Paris’ – Elvis Costello

Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1986…

#6 – Blood & Chocolate – Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello had such a good 80s run that my #6 album of 1986 was just his second-best release that year. I’ll get to the other one next week.

After a series of genre exercises (country, baroque pop, 60s soul, New Wave, Americana), Blood & Chocolate was a muscular rock-n-roll album, Costello’s first since 19878’s This Year’s Model. When Costello snarls out the album’s title in the opening moments of first track ‘Uncomplicated’ to the strains of an aggressive electric guitar, you know you’re in for a wild ride.

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Song of the Day #6,297: ‘A Matter of Trust’ – Billy Joel

Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1986…

#7 – The Bridge – Billy Joel

Billy Joel’s 10th studio album was his last truly great one. I find a lot to love on 1989’s Storm Front and 1993’s River of Dreams, but this album is special from start to finish.

OK, maybe ‘This is the Time’ is a bit of a speed bump among the album’s nine tracks, but you can’t beat up on the guy for writing a prom theme.

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Song of the Day #6,296: ‘Behind the Wall of Sleep’ – The Smithereens

Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1986…

#8 – Especially For You – The Smithereens

I didn’t hear The Smithereens’ debut studio album until several years later when the band played a free concert during my freshman year at the University of Florida. I liked what I heard at that show so much I picked up this CD the next day.

Especially For You is an alternative pop rock masterpiece, featuring one absolute banger after another. Lead singer/songwriter Pat DiNizio called the album “a greatest hits collection from a band nobody’s heard of” because they’d been writing and playing for five years before recording the album.

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