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Song of the Day #5,182: ‘Say What You Say’ – Eminem

Today’s random weekend selection is a cut from Eminem’s 2002 album The Eminem Show, his fourth studio release and second straight to reach diamond status. This was Eminem’s biggest album, selling 27 million copies worldwide, and marks a time when he was basically the biggest name in the music industry.

‘Say What You Say’ is one of the less memorable tracks on The Eminem Show. A diss track about producer Jermaine Dupri on which Eminem splits verses with Dr. Dre, it has some clever lines but a forgettable chorus and little of the clever wordplay or heightened emotion that made Eminem a special talent.

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Song of the Day #5,181: ‘Cloudy’ – Simon & Garfunkel

Here’s a lovely track from Simon & Garfunkel’s 1966 album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, the duo’s third release and second to contain almost exclusively songs written by Paul Simon.

Today’s song, ‘Cloudy,’ was co-written by Simon and Bruce Woodley of the Australian folk quarter The Seekers. They recorded their own version of the track a year later. Woodley and Simon wrote three songs together, including ‘Red Rubber Ball,’ a #2 hit for American rock band The Cyrkle.

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Song of the Day #5,180: ‘That’s the Way’ – Katrina and the Waves

My final one-hit wonder is a band that probably doesn’t deserve the designation. Yes, Katrina and the Waves are known first and foremost for ‘Walking on Sunshine,’ but their catalog boasts a few other songs that can legitimately be described as hits.

Those songs include ‘Do You Want Crying?,’ which appeared on the same 1985 self-titled album as ‘Sunshine,’ and ‘Is That It?,’ which appeared on the follow-up album, Waves. It also includes 1997’s ‘Love Shine a Light,’ which beat ‘Sunshine’ on the charts in five countries (including the UK) and won that year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

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Song of the Day #5,179: ‘Angel Say No’ – Tommy Tutone

Here’s the rare case where a one-hit wonder’s second-biggest hit came before their breakthrough.

Power pop band Tommy Tutone is known for the 1981 hit ‘867-5309/Jenny,’ a song I remember fondly from my own childhood. I think I was one of the thousands of people who tried dialing the number to ask for Jenny. The press at the time was filled with accounts of homes and businesses having to change their numbers due to the influx of calls.

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Song of the Day #5,178: ‘Don’t Drop My Love’ – Anita Ward

I’m jumping from new wave to disco for my next one-hit wonder, but staying in 1979. That’s when former schoolteacher Anita Ward topped the charts in the U.S. and the UK with ‘Ring My Bell.’

The song was initially written about teenagers chatting over the telephone, but the lyrics were spiced up for Ward’s recording, with the title phrase taking on a suggestive metaphorical meaning.

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