Tag Archives: Cher

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Song of the Day #6,496: ‘Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)’ – Cher

The Righteous Brothers stayed at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of April 19, 1966, with ‘(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration.’ That song would surrender its perch the following week.

At #2 was Cher’s ‘Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),’ a track written by Sonny Bono and released on her sophomore solo album, The Sonny Side of Chér. This was the highest-charting song of Cher’s solo career until her trio of #1 hits in the 70s with the increasingly problematic titles ‘Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves,’ ‘Half-Breed,’ and ‘Dark Lady.’

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Song of the Day #5,967: ‘Believe’ – Cher

Our next 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee is unquestionably a pop culture legend. Cher has been eligible for inclusion in the Hall since 1991 and yet, remarkably, was nominated for the first time this year.

That’s despite being the only solo artist in history to have #1 hits (on any Billboard chart) in each of the last seven decades. Only The Rolling Stones have matched that feat, and as Cher said, “it took four of them to be one of [her].”

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Song of the Day #5,747: ‘Dark Lady’ – Cher

When Cher was last featured on Throwback Weekends, it was for her #1 hit ‘Half-Breed,’ which topped the charts in October of 1973. The video for that song found her dressed in a bikini and a Native American headdres.

Given that history, I was a little nervous when I saw that her next release, which reached #1 the week of March 23, 1974, was titled ‘Dark Lady.’ Fortunately, though the no-longer-acceptable word “gypsy” does appear a few times in the song, it’s nowhere near as bad as I feared.

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Song of the Day #5,651: ‘Run Rudolph Run’ – Cher

Per tradition, this week I’ll turn the blog over to a handful of Christmas songs, and take some time off from blogging to spend with my loved ones. I’m going with newly recorded songs this year as a change of pace.

Kicking things off is a track from Cher’s new Christmas album (titled, appropriately, Christmas).

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! See you in the New Year!

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Song of the Day #5,573: ‘Half-Breed’ – Cher

In the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 the week of October 6, 1973, is a throwback weekend selection that has not aged well. The song is ‘Half-Breed,’ Cher’s second of four career #1 hits, and it’s about as cringeworthy as its title suggests.

To be fair, the lyrics paint a sympathetic portrait of a woman with a white father and Cherokee mother, decrying the racism that mixed-race children face from both sides. But should a pop song about this topic have been written and performed by people without a drop of Native American blood?

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