THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
225-Jennifer Holiday-And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.
1982-Number 32 single.
Best Bit-At 2.27.Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going’ is a song from the Broadway Musical ‘Dreamgirls’ with lyrics by Tom Eyen and music by Henry Krieger.
In the musical the song was sung by Jennifer Holiday who was portraying the character of Effie White a singer with the girl group ‘The Dreams.’The song was regularly staged to thunderous applause and many critics cited it as the highlight of the show.
In 2006 the musical was made in to a film starring Jamie Foxx, Beyonce and Eddie Murphy.In the film the song is performed by former American Idol winner Jennifer Hudson who also received critical acclaim for her rendition. Coincidentally both versions by Holiday and Hudson only reached a peak of Number 32 in the UK chart,Holiday in 1982 and Hudson in 2009.
‘Tear down the mountains,yell,scream and shout,like you can say what you want,I’m not walking out.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
226-Nat King Cole-Unforgettable.
1951-Has never charted,there was no UK chart until 1952.
Best Bit-At 2.21.In January 1964 Cole(see also best songs 988 and 327) made one of his final television appearances on The Jack Benny Program,he was introduced as ‘the best friend a song ever had.’
Unforgettable was written by Irving Gordon,his other hits include the ‘almost novelty’ songs ‘Mister Mississippi’ a hit for Patti Page and ‘Delaware’ recorded by Perry Como.Gordon has also been credited with writing the legendary baseball comedy routine performed by Abbott and Costello,’Who’s on First,’although others have also claimed authorship.
In 1991 musical director Joe Guercio had the idea of mixing Cole’s original 1951 recording with a new version recorded by Cole’s daughter Natalie.The remixed version reached Number 19 in the UK and at the ’34th Annual Grammy Awards’ won ‘Song Of The Year’
‘That’s why darling it’s incredible that someone so unforgettable thinks that I am unforgettable too.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
227-Rodney Franklin-The Groove.
1980-Number 7 single.
Best Bit-At 2.02.I always remember the very short lived dance craze ‘The Freeze’ which accompanied this song.It was invented by British DJ Chris Hill with the idea being that every time the music stops those on the dance floor have to freeze(the song has 11 breaks.) Needless to say it never caught on,but I hear there is a very similar game normally played by children called musical statues.
Rodney Franklin was born September 16th,1958 in Berkeley,California,he is an American Jazz Pianist and composer,he was professionally tutored from the age of six and cites Jazz legend Oscar Peterson as a major inspiration.
In 1978 at the age of twenty he signed a major record deal with CBS Records and ‘The Groove’ is taken from his second Album ‘You’ll Never Know.’The song was a hit at the height of the popularity of the ‘Jazz Funk’ genre and influenced future acts such as The Brand New Heavies and Shakatak.
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
228-Chaka Khan-I’m Every Woman.
1978-Number 11 single.
Best Bit-At 2.52.’Chaka,Chaka,Chaka,Chaka Khan,let me rock you Chaka Khan,that’s all I wanna do. Chaka Khan let me rock you,let me feel for you.’
Chaka Khan was born Yvette Marie Stevens in 1953 in Chicago,Illinois,U.S.Her breakthrough occurred in 1973 as lead singer with the Funk band Rufus.In 1978 she released her first solo Album ‘Chaka’ from which this song was taken.
I’m Every Woman’ was written by the husband and wife songwriting team of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson (see also best songs 703 and 359) who had already had success as writers for the Tamla Motown label in the 1960’s and 70’s.
In 1992 Whitney Houston recorded the song as part of the ‘Bodyguard’ soundtrack,it was released as a single and peaked at Number 4 in the UK in 1993.Houston’s mother Cissy had sang backing vocals on the Chaka Khan original and makes a cameo appearance in the songs video along with Khan and Valerie Simpson.
‘I can cast a spell of secrets you can tell, mix a special brew put fire inside of you.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
229-Noel Harrison-The Windmills Of Your Mind.
1969-Number 8 single.
Best Bit-At 1.39.Don’t worry if you can’t make head nor tail of these beautiful lyrics,they are meant to be a series of random thoughts.
The song was commissioned for the 1968 film ‘The Thomas Crown Affair.’ It was first offered to Andy Williams who turned it down,second choice Noel Harrison(1934-2013) who was the son of actor Rex Harrison later said he quickly forgot about the recording and it wasn’t until it’s great success(won the ‘Academy Award for Best Original Song) that he realised what he had achieved.
The music for the song was written by Michel Legrand(1932-2019,) with English lyrics by husband and wife songwriters Alan and Marilyn Bergman.The films producers wanted an original song to play over the scene where Steve McQueen(Thomas Crown) fly’s his glider while contemplating the major robbery he is planning to commit.
‘When you knew that it was over,were you suddenly aware that the Autumn leaves were turning to the colour of her hair.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
230-Beck-Loser.
1994-Number 15 single.
Best Bit-At 1.08.After many years of trying to incorporate ‘Rapping’ into his music Beck finally realised he was no good at it,which is the inspiration for this songs chorus.
Beck(see also best songs 879) was born,Bek David Campbell in 1970 in Los Angeles,California.During his formative years he would experiment with many different types of music which he would play to audiences wherever and whenever he could.On occasions when he saw people getting bored or losing interest he would make up nonsensical lyrics in order to try to attract their attention again,which explains the origins of the verses of this song.
Success finally came after Beck was introduced to record producer Karl Stephenson who on hearing his songs added his own ideas such as Sitar Guitar and samples and told him to drop the Rapping.
In the chorus Beck sings ‘Soy un perdedor,’ which is Spanish for ‘I’m a loser.’
‘In the times of Chimpanzees I was a Monkey,Butane in my veins and I’m out to cut the junkie.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

COMING NEXT THE BEST 230.

Well here I go,here I,here I go,yo
Dance in the isle when the Prince steps to it
The rhyme is a football y’all and I went and threw it
Out in the crowd and yo it was a good throw
How do I know?
Because the crowd went ‘HHAAOOO!’

THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
231-Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong-Summertime.
1958-Never released as a single in the UK.
Best Bit-At 0.27.Probably the best vocal pairing in the world ever. Surely even Simon Cowell and his X-Factor mates would be able to recognise that!
Between 1956-1957 the ‘First Lady of Song’ and ‘Satchmo’ recorded three Albums together,’Ella and Louis,’Ella and Louis Again’ and the Album this song is taken from ‘Porgy and Bess.'(see also best songs 944-767-702 and 286.)
The opera Porgy and Bess was adapted from the novel ‘Porgy’ written by DuBose Heywood and published in 1925.It tells of a crippled street beggar living in the black tenements of Charleston,South Carolina.
‘Summertime was composed by George Gershwin(see also best songs 286) (1898-1937) with lyrics by DuBose Heywood(1885-1940,) both died young so never knew of the success and significance of this song or the opera it was part of.
The lyrics are open to interpretation.It is a lullaby that could be sang as a mother to their child,or as a slave/nanny to a white baby.The nanny is telling the child that they are assured of a good life with parents to love them and wealth to protect them.The slave/nanny knows that she and her race have none of these privileges to look forward to.
‘Oh,your daddy’s rich and your ma is good lookin,’so hush little baby don’t you cry.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
232-Gary Numan-Cars.
1979-Number 1 single.
Best Bit-At 2.22.In Britain 33.3million people hold a driving licence,but there are only 30,000 active pilots,one of which is Gary Numan.
Numan has stated the song’s lyrics were inspired by an incident of road rage.’I was in traffic in London and had a problem with some people in front.They tried to beat me up and get me out of the car.I locked the doors and eventually drove up on the pavement and got away from them.It explains how you can feel safe inside a car in the modern world,it’s like your own little personal empire with four wheels on it.’
The song gave Gary Numan(see also best songs 772) his only hit single in America reaching Number 9 on Billboard.In the UK it was his second Number 1 single after the success of ‘Are Friends Electric.’
‘Cars’ was back in the chart again in 1987 this time reaching Number 16 thanks to the ‘E Reg Model’ mix and once again in 1996 this time peaking at Number 17 due to it’s use in an advertisement for ‘Carling Premium’ beer.
‘Here in my car I feel safest of all,I can lock all my doors,it’s the only way to live in cars.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
233-Rose Royce-Wishing On A Star.
1978-Number 3 single.
Best Bit-At 1.47.The ancient Greeks believed that Greek deities would look down upon the earth and as they did stars would sometimes slip down to the earth.Wishing at that moment would mean that these deities were watching and therefore they would hear your requests.
It was Edwin Starr who introduced the band that were to be re-named Rose Royce(see also best songs 533) to Norman Whitfield,their lead singer Gwen Dickey joined soon after and they started work on the ‘Carwash’ film soundtrack.
This songs writer,Billie Calvin had been a member of the Motown group Undisputed Truth in the early 1970’s a band assembled by Norman Whitfield(see also best songs 911-777-569-533-480 and 346.) Calvin sang backing vocals on Motown hits including the Diana Ross classic ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.’
Wishing On A Star was not a hit in America for Rose Royce,but The Cover Girls took their version to Number 9 in 1992.In the UK the Fresh 4 took their re-make to Number 10 in 1989,a version by Rapper Jay-Z made Number 13 in 1998 and ‘The X Factor UK 2011 Finalists’ which also included One Direction and JLS took their version to Number 1 with all profits going to the children’s charity ‘Together For Short Lives.’
‘I feel it’s time we should make up baby.I feel it’s time for us to get back together.’
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