Felicia Denise's Blog, page 12
August 2, 2020
Song Lyric Sunday | “Safe in Your Arms” – Paula Cole
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Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.
This week’s theme is “Acquire/Collect/Gather/Secure.”
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Took a bit of searching my playlists come up with a second song for SLS, but when I decided on a variation of one of the prompts – TA DA! 
July 26, 2020
Song Lyric Sunday | “Show and Tell” – Al Wilson
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Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.
This week’s theme is “Different/Same.”
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A man wanting the woman he loves to feel the same way about him is the theme of Show and Tell.
Written by Jerry Fuller and first recorded by Johnny Mathis in 1972, the song went to #36 on the Easy Listening chart.
Less than a year later in September of 1973, R & B singer Al Wilson released a cover of the song and took Show and Tell to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for one week on January 19, 1974; it sold over two million copies and was named a Cash Box Number One Single of the Year. Billboard ranked it as the No. 15 song for 1974. Wilson’s version also made No. 10 on the Hot Soul Singles chart.
FUN FACTS:
Peabo Bryson had a No. 1 R&B hit with his version of the song in 1989. Bryson’s version did not chart on the Hot 100.
Jerry Fuller also wrote Travelin’ Man which was originally intended for Sam Cooke. Ricky Nelson recorded it instead and the record sold six million copies worldwide.
Fuller discovered Gary Puckett and The Union Gap in a San Diego bowling alley lounge. He wrote and produced the group’s hits Young Girl (a UK No. 1), Lady Willpower, and Over You.
Al Wilson died on April 21, 2008, of kidney failure, in Fontana, California, at the age of 68. He was buried at the Evergreen Cemetery in Riverside, California.
The video is from one of Wilson’s appearances on Soul Train.
Enjoy!
See my Song Lyric Sunday selection on Nesie’s Place.
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Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.
Show and Tell
by Al Wilson
Songwriters: Jerry Fuller
These are the eyes that never knew how to smile
Till you came into my life
And these are the arms that long to lock you inside
Every day and every night
Girl, and here is the soul of which you’ve taken control
Can’t you see I’m trying to show love is right
Oh, show and tell
Just a game I play, when I want to say
I love you
Girl, so show me, and tell me
That you feel the same way too
Say you do, baby
These are the hands that can’t help reaching for you
If you’re anywhere inside (anywhere inside)
And these are the lips that can’t help calling your name
In the middle of the night (middle of the night)
Oh, and here is the man that needs to know where you stand
Don’t you know I’ve done all I can, so decide
Oh, show and tell
It’s just a game I play, when I want to say
I love you
Girl, so show me, and tell me
That you feel the same way too
Say you do, say you do
Baby, baby, baby
Here is the soul of which you’ve taken control
Can’t you see I’m trying to show love is right
Ooh, girl
Show and tell
Just a game I play, when I want to say
Oh, I love you
Girl, so show me, and tell me
That you feel the same way too
Say you do, say you do, baby
Oh, show and tell
Just a game I play, when I want to say
Oh, I love you
Girl, so show me, and tell me
That you feel the same way too
Compiled from Genius Lyrics, Google, Wikipedia, Songfacts.com, and YouTube.
July 19, 2020
Song Lyric Sunday | “MacArthur Park” – Donna Summer
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Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.
This week’s theme is “Baking/Bread/Cake/Pie/Picnic.”
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After legendary songwriter Jimmy Webb wrote MacArthur Park, actor Richard Harris took the song to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and country music icon Waylon Jennings won a Grammy Award for his cover in 1969; but it was Disco Queen Donna Summer who introduced it to a new generation in the disco era and took the song to number one in November of 1978 and stayed there for three weeks. (This was yet another song that could be heard all over my college dorm! 
July 12, 2020
Song Lyric Sunday | “Boogie Wonderland” – Earth, Wind & Fire
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Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.
This week’s theme is “Air/Earth/Fire/Water.”
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Of course, when I think of the elements, the first thing to come to mind is legendary music icons Earth, Wind & Fire.
The group released Boogie Wonderland, a collaboration with the group I featured last week–The Emotions–in April of 1979. The song peaked at number 14 on the dance chart, number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 2 on the Hot Soul Singles chart. Boogie Wonderland was certified Gold in the US by the RIAA and Gold in the UK by the BPI.
FUN FACTS:
Boogie Wonderland was Grammy nominated in the categories of Best R&B Instrumental Performance and Best Disco Recording.
The song was covered by Brittany Murphy for the soundtrack to the 2006 movie Happy Feet.
In November 1978, EWF issued a compilation album entitled The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1. It rose to No. 3 on the Billboard Top Soul Albums chart and No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album was certified Quintuple Platinum in the U.S. by the RIAA.
Considered one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time, EWF has won numerous awards and honors including six Grammys, four American Music Awards, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, the Kennedy Center Honors, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
The official music video is just one big party!
July 5, 2020
Song Lyric Sunday | “Best of My Love” – The Emotions
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Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.
This week’s theme is “Best/Better/Good/Great.”
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I was 17 when I attended my first music concert in October of 1977–the Commodores World Tour at Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan! Brick House was their current hit and their opening act was The Emotions. I had the keys to my Mom’s gold Pontiac Catalina station wagon and it was loaded to the brim with siblings and friends.
June 28, 2020
Song Lyric Sunday | “The Sweetest Days” – Vanessa Williams
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Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.
This week’s theme is“Cool/Freeze/Heat/Melt.”
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The video for The Sweetest Days is shot in two different ways. The “romantic version” was shot in an apartment overlooking a city skyline while the “urban version” shows the singer walking in a park and through streets. They give the song a different feel but both supporting the same message that despite turbulent times, the warmth and security of love is always a safe haven, and the days we’re living now will one day be “the good old days.”
The song is the first single from Vanessa Williams’ third studio album of the same name in 1994 and was written by the same team who previously penned Save the Best for Last for Williams.
The Sweetest Days reached No. 18 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 3 on the US Adult Contemporary Charts.
FUN FACTS:
As an actress, Williams enjoyed success on both stage and screen, receiving an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture for her portrayal of Teri Joseph in the film Soul Food (1997).
Vanessa’s best-known television role is that of Wilhelmina Slater on Ugly Betty (2006–10), for which she was nominated three times for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
Williams’ paternal great-great grandfather was William A. Feilds, who was born a slave, would go on to serve as an African-American legislator in the Tennessee House of Representatives.
Williams was the first African American recipient of the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984 in September 1983. Several weeks before the end of her reign, however, a scandal arose when Penthouse magazine bought and published unauthorized nude photographs of her. Williams was pressured to relinquish her title, and was succeeded by the first runner-up, Miss New Jersey 1983, Suzette Charles. Thirty-two years later, in September 2015, when Williams served as head judge for the Miss America 2016 pageant, former Miss America CEO Sam Haskell made a public apology to her for the events of 1984.
See my Song Lyric Sunday selection on Nesie’s Place.
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Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.
The Sweetest Days
by Vanessa Williams
Songwriters: Philip Edward Galdston / Jon Lind / Wendy Waldman
You and I in this moment,
Holding the night so close,
Hanging on, still unbroken
while outside the thunder rolls.
Listen now you can hear my heart beat
warm against life’s bitter cold.
These are the days.
the sweetest days we’ll know.
There are times that scare me.
We’ll rattle the house like the wind,
both of us so unbending.
We battle the fear within.
All the while life is rushing by us.
Hold it now and don’t let go.
These are the days.
the sweetest days we’ll know.
So, we’ll whisper a dream here in the darkness.
Watching the stars till their gone.
And when even the mem’ries have all faded away,
these days go on and on.
Listen now, you can hear my heartbeat.
Hold me now and don’t let go.
(These are the days, )
ev’ry day is the sweetest day we’ll know.
(These are the days, )
Compiled from Genius Lyrics, Google, Wikipedia, Songfacts.com, and YouTube.
June 24, 2020
June 21, 2020
Song Lyric Sunday | “Take a Letter, Maria” – R.B. Greaves
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Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.
This week’s theme is“Maria/Marie/Mary.”
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Even though it’s about infidelity, this upbeat song with a Latin flair was a dance favorite and quickly gained airplay reaching number two on Billboards Hot 100. Released in September of 1969, Take a Letter, Maria was certified gold in early December of the same year. It would go on to sell nearly three million copies.
So many songs about broken marriages leave you crying in your beer or scarfing down Ben & Jerry’s. R.B. Greaves doesn’t seem too broken up over his… since he asks Maria out to start a new life!
The video is from a 1969 television performance… yes, it’s lip-synced, but check out that dicta-phone!
FUN FACTS:
R.B. Greaves is Sam Cooke’s nephew. He had one more US Top 40 hit: Always Something There To Remind Me. That one, written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, reached #27 in 1970.
Take a Letter, Maria was kept from the #1 spot by Wedding Bell Blues by The 5th Dimension.
The song was recorded at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio using house musicians, including Donna Jean Thatcher on vocals (later Donna Jean Godchaux of the Grateful Dead).
Greaves was one of several Atlantic artists sent to Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, but the first to have a hit there.
See my Song Lyric Sunday selection on Nesie’s Place.
Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.
Take a Letter, Maria
Written and sung by R.B. Greaves
Last night as I got home, about a half past ten
There was the woman I thought I knew, in the arms of another man
I kept my cool, I ain’t no fool, let me tell you what happened then
I packed some clothes and I walked out, and I ain’t going back again
So take a letter Maria, address it to my wife
Say I won’t be coming home, gonna start a new life
So take a letter Maria, address it to my wife
Send a copy to my lawyer, gotta start a new life
You’ve been many things but most of all a good secretary to me
And it’s times like this I feel you’ve always been close to me
Was I wrong to work nights to try to build a good life
All work and no play has just cost me a wife
So take a letter Maria, address it to my wife
Say I won’t be coming home, gonna start a new life
So take a letter Maria, address it to my wife
Send a copy to my lawyer, gotta start a new life
When a man loves a woman it’s hard to understand
That she would find more pleasure in the arms of another man
I never really noticed how sweet you are to me
It just so happens I’m free tonight, would you like to have dinner with me
So take a letter Maria, address it to my wife
Send a copy to my lawyer, gotta start a new life
Compiled from Genius Lyrics, Google, Wikipedia, Songfacts.com, and YouTube.
June 14, 2020
Song Lyric Sunday | “Leaving on a Jet Plane” – John Denver
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Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click .
The theme for Song Lyric Sunday this week is “Jack/John.”
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Leaving on a Jet Plane was Peter, Paul and Mary’s biggest (and final) hit, becoming their only No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. The song also spent three weeks atop the easy listening chart.
But their version was a cover.
John Denver was a member of the Chad Mitchell Trio when he wrote and released the song on his 1966 studio album John Denver Sings with the title Babe, I Hate to Go. After his producer convinced Denver to change the title, Peter, Paul and Mary recorded the song in 1967 for their Album 1700 and released it in 1969.
Denver also recorded the song for his 1969 debut album Rhymes and Reasons, and again for his first greatest hits compilation but never attained the chart success with the single as the folk song group.
FUN FACTS:
The song also topped the charts in Canada, and reached No. 2 in both the UK Singles Chart and Irish Singles Chart in February 1970.
Leaving On a Jet Plane was used in commercials for United Airlines in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Denver claimed that he wasn’t a prolific or systematic songwriter – he wrote songs when they came to him. Some of his popular songs took months to complete, but Leaving on a Jet Plane took him just a few hours to finish.
On one of his BBC radio specials, John Denver said: “This is a very personal and very special song for me. It doesn’t conjure up Boeing 707s or 747s for me as much as it does the simple scenes of leaving. Bags packed and standing by the front door, taxi pulling up in the early morning hours, the sound of a door closing behind you, and the thought of leaving someone that you care for very much. I was fortunate to have Peter, Paul and Mary record it and have it become a hit, but it still strikes a lonely and anguished chord in me, because the separation still continues, although not so long and not so often nowadays.”
Forgive me but I got a bit carried away and posted John’s version, Peter, Paul and Mary’s version, and a video of Denver and the group singing together!
Enjoy!
See my Song Lyric Sunday selection for Nesie’s Place!
~~~
Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.
Leaving on a Jet Plane
by John Denver
Songwriter: John Denver
All my bags are packed
I’m ready to go
I’m standin’ here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin’
It’s early morn
The taxi’s waitin’
He’s blowin’ his horn
Already I’m so lonesome
I could die
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
‘Cause I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
There’s so many times I’ve let you down
So many times I’ve played around
I tell you now, they don’t mean a thing
Every place I go, I’ll think of you
Every song I sing, I’ll sing for you
When I come back, I’ll bring your wedding ring
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
‘Cause I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
Now the time has come to leave you
One more time
Let me kiss you
Then close your eyes
And I’ll be on my way
Dream about the days to come
When I won’t have to leave alone
About the times, I won’t have to say
Kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
‘Cause I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
But, I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
Compiled from Google, Lyric Find, Genius Lyrics, Wikipedia, and Songfacts.com
June 7, 2020
Song Lyric Sunday | “Mr. Big Stuff” – Jean Knight
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Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.
The theme for Song Lyric Sunday this week is “Big/Large/Little/Small/Tall/Tiny.”
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Mr. Big Stuff was a huge crossover hit for R&B singer, Jean Knight in 1971. The song spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Soul Singles chart and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart.
FUN FACTS:
Mr. Big Stuff went double platinum and was the No. 1 Soul Single of the year.
It became one of Stax Records’ more popular and recognizable hits.
Mr. Big Stuff was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the 1972 Grammy Awards.
Knight performed the song on Soul Train on December 11, 1971 during its very first season and that’s the video performance I’m featuring today! So 70s – check out how high her hair is!
