Can you name the artist and song:
Funny how I find myself in love with you
If I could buy my reasoning, I’d pay to lose
One half won’t do
Last Song: “Sexy Eyes” by Dr. Hook from Sometimes You Win (1980)
Great job Craig (@cdennis0130) and Scorpion (@DianneR16469208)!!!
I got up and took your hand
And we both began to dance to the music
Ooh, your magic cast a spell
It didn’t take long till we fell
Welcome back as we conclude this week’s countdown. If you missed the previous songs, you can go back and check out 40-31, 30-21, and 20-11. This has been an interesting week. There have been some great songs, and some I could have gone without listening to again. But, today is going to be the best of the bunch. So, let’s return to the week ending May 24, 1980, and check out the top 10 songs of the week.
What a way to start! In my opinion, this is one of the signature songs of the ’80s. The synthesizers and guitarmake the song instantly recognizable. Even though this song was technically released in 1979, this is a totally ’80s classic.
Christopher Cross began the decade and his career with his incredible self-titled debut album. This is one of the songs that helped make it so successful. This is one of my favorite songs by him. It doesn’t hurt that Michael McDonald is on here with the backing vocals. This is probably Christopher Cross’ most rockin’ song.
This is a really good song by Linda Ronstadt. I know the Eagles were her band early on in the ’70s. They were no longer with her at this point, and were actually on the verge of a breakup themselves around this time, but this song sounds a lot like the Eagles. This was a cover of a 1965 Top 10 hit by Little Anthony & The Imperials.
We have a ’70s leftover here. I do like this song a lot. It’s a fun Funk/Disco tune. But, this would be more at home in the ’70s. It’s better than any of the songs that are on the radio these days.
Here is a great guilty pleasure. If I post this song on Facebook, it gets a ton of hits, likes and comments. Ambrosia was a very good soft rock band of the late ’70s/early ’80s. They have nice music to chill too.
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Here is another ’70s leftover. Dr. Hook was another popular act of the mid-to-late ’70s. This is another soft rock band. I was familiar with this song as well as “When You’re In Love with a Beautiful Woman“.
Now, let’s see what was topping some of the other charts this week. The rock chart was not in existence yet. And with all the soft rock and ballads on this countdown, there may not have been enough rock songs to have a top 40 list.
The #1 Country song was “Starting Over Again” by Dolly Parton
Topping the Dance chart was “A Lover’s Holiday”/”The Glow of Love”/”Searching” by Change
The best Adult Contemporary tune was “The Rose” by Bette Midler
The #1 R&B song was “Let’s Get Serious” by Jermaine Jackson
And the #1 album was Against the Wind by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
Now…on with the countdown…
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This is my pick of the day. I love this duet. Kenny Rogers and Kim Carnes sound so good together. This song was written by David Ellingson and Kim Carnes. They presented it to Kenny Rogers and he was going to do it as a duet with somebody else. But, Kenny said, “why don’t you and I do it?” It would become a #3 smash hit, and a #1 hit on the Country charts.
Here is Air Supply’s big breakthrough hit in the States. Air Supply was the ultimate soft rock group of the ’80s. They were very consistent.
As we approach the #1 song, we have yet another classic ’80s song. There are some songs that really helped define the musical landscape of the decade, and this is one of them. On paper, you would think I would be sick of this song. But, I still love it so much! And I like the Pseudo Echo cover version of this song even more. That song has more of a rock edge than a disco sound, and still has that classic ’80s sound.
We have arrived at our #1 song. And we have another classic! This song was a #1 hit for 6 straight weeks. I don’t think I listened to the radio too much back then, but I do remember this getting played a lot. I love the guitar work in this song. And how can you not love Debbie Harry?!? I think this is a great way to end the countdown. In a ballad heavy countdown, we end with a rocker.
Well that wraps up this week’s countdown. I hope you enjoyed it. Man, oh man, The Force Awakens next week! To celebrate, we are going to countdown the biggest songs of the week that the original Star Wars opened. Yes, we are going to be rebels,and return to the week ending May 28, 1977. I am debating making it a ’70s week next week on Return to the ’80s.
So, let me know what you think of this week’s countdown, and let me know if you would like a ’70s theme for Remember That Song and the Quote of the Day. Until then, Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars.
Welcome back to this weeks Countdown! If you missed the previous songs, you can still check out songs 40-31 and 30-21. This is a good day if you like lite rock and classic rock. And there is one huge surprise, a history making moment for Return to the ’80s. So, let’s get to it, and Return to the week ending January 5, 1980. On with the countdown!
This was singer/songwriter, J.D. Souther’s biggest hit, which would peak at #7. Souther was best known as a songwriter who wrote some of the Eagles biggest hits. He was also influenced by Roy Orbison, which is pretty obvious with this song. I had actually thought that this was a cover of a Roy Orbison song. But, this was an original song.
I really like this one. I thought Pablo Cruise was a person – possibly a Spanish relative of Tom Cruise. I was wrong. Pablo Cruise is a pop/rock band out of San Francisco that formed in 1973. So, this was a nice little discovery for me. Pablo Cruise is still around, and mainly tour in California.
Here is an awesome, pre-soundtrack era Kenny Loggins tune. I don’t want to go back and check right now, but if I’m not mistaken, Michael McDonald has been involved at some point in every countdown we have covered so far. Here is his contribution – backing vocals for this song. He and Loggins also co-wrote this gem. “This Is It” won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male.
We have arrived at an historical moment for Return to the ’80s! I actually found a Prince video where it is actually Prince singing! I don’t need to substitute this with another song this time. If you are curious, I probably would have gone with “Brand New Lover,” my favorite Dead or Alive song.
And this isn’t a bad Prince song to have. I had never heard of this one, and I don’t think it’s bad. I like a lot of Prince’s early music. So, hurry up and listen to this before Prince discovers that this slipped through the cracks, and is available on the internet.
I love this Jefferson Starship song. This was off of the 1979 album Freedom at Point Zero, which was the first for the new lead singer, Mickey Thomas. This was also the first album after Marty Balin and Grace Slick left the group. Grace Slick would rejoin the band on the next album in 1981, Modern Times. I think this was a great song to kick off the new era of Jefferson Starship.
Here’s another discovery for me that I kind of like. This song has that classic late ’70s/early ’80s Lite Rock sound.
Oh yeah!! Here is a great rocker by Foreigner! This was the title track of Foreigner’s third album. I think we all know somebody who likes to play head games, so we can totally relate to this song.
This is a nice song by the Eagles, which was written by Don Henley and Glenn Frey. This title track would eventually reach up to #8 on the charts.
I had always thought of Smokey Robinson as an oldies singer. But, it seems like he’s been on an awful lot of our countdowns of the ’80s. This is a good R&B song. I thought I had heard it before. Why does this sound familiar? Oh yeah! It was covered by Huey Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow. Yes, that Gwyneth Paltrow, now famous for her uncoupling from Chris Martin. They covered the song for the 2000 film Duets. I’ll take the Smokey version.
This is one of my favorite songs by the Australian group, Little River Band. In the ’80s, I had heard of the Little River Band, but did not know any of their music. Then, while on liberty in Bahrain during Operation Desert Shield, I bought a 90 minute mix tape which included a song by the Little River Band called “As Long As I’m Alive.” I instantly fell in love with that song. So I went back, and bought the full Little River Band tape that this song was on – Get Lucky (1990), and I also bought their Greatest Hits album. “Cool Change” is on that Greatest Hits album, and I still listen to it quite a bit.
That wraps up today’s list. I am actually enjoying the songs this week. I hope you are too. We’ll be back tomorrow to wrap up the countdown. See you then!
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