The next song to reach #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 by two different artists is ‘Lean On Me,’ which first topped the charts in 1972 for its writer, Bill Withers.
That soulful rendition wasn’t exactly crying out to be recreated, but that didn’t stop R&B group Club Nouveau from trying their hand at it in 1987. The quintet made their version of the track the lead single on their debut album, Life, Love & Pain.
Al Green’s 2003 album I Can’t Stop has shown up on Random Weekends twice before, both times in 2015. And both times, I used the space to comment that this isn’t an album I’ve ever actively listened to, but rather one I consider nice background music. I must have really meant it.
That seems like a rather lazy approach. Surely there is something interesting to say about this album.
Randy Newman has written a lot of songs for a lot of Disney movies. He’s received eight Academy Award nominations for his Disney songs alone, winning twice (for ‘If I Didn’t Have You’ from Monsters Inc. and ‘We Belong Together’ from Toy Story 3).
All of that work is excellent, but for my money the best Randy Newman soundtrack for a Disney film belongs to 2009’s The Princess and the Frog. That’s because the content is a perfect match for Newman’s New Orleans jazz-influenced style.
Here’s the tune that started me down the path of songs that have reached #1 by more than one artist. When recently writing about “songs I didn’t know were covers,” I featured the original recording of ‘Venus’ by psychedelic rock band Shocking Blue in 1969.
I am very familiar with the 1986 Bananarama hit and was surprised to learn that not only was the recording a cover, but that the original was a big hit in its own right.
The next two songs to become number one hits for more than one artist are both 80s covers of 60s hits. I guess there was something intriguing about hearing a new era’s production techniques applied to the music of the previous generation.
The first 80s song to accomplish the feat was Kim Wilde’s 1986 cover of The Supremes’ ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On,’ released 20 years earlier. The song was Wilde’s first and only #1 hit in the United States, while it was The Supreme’s eighth #1 in just two years.
Meet Me In Montauk 