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Song of the Day #6,377: ‘Say You, Say Me’ – Lionel Richie

Like yesterday’s Throwback Weekend song, the #1 hit the week of December 21, 1985, was written for a movie. In this case, the film was White Nights, a Cold War drama starring Gregory Hines and Mikhail Baryshnikov about a pair of dancers trapped in the Soviet Union.

I vaguely remember the film as a solid piece of mid-80s adult entertainment. I imagine the studio was chasing the success of another music-based drama, 1983’s Flashdance. The film had a decent pedigree, with Taylor Hackford directing and Helen Mirren and Isabella Rossellini in supporting roles.

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Song of the Day #6,376: ‘Let’s Do It Again’ – The Staple Singers

Throwing back to the week of December 20, 1975, we find KC and the Sunshine Band atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘That’s the Way (I Like It),’ enjoying a return to #1 a month after it first made it.

At #2, a week before it claimed the top spot, was ‘Let’s Do It Again’ by The Staple Singers. This was the second #1 hit for the R&B quintet, following 1972’s ‘I’ll Take You There.’

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Song of the Day #6,375: ‘The Christmas Song’ – Brad Paisley

I’ll be dedicating next week’s blog posts to Christmas music new and old, so I’m getting a head start today by featuring a track from Brad Paisley’s recently released Christmas album, Snow Globe Town.

This is Paisley’s first studio release in eight years, a long dry spell for a guy who put out an album every other year between 1999 and 2017. I’d welcome a new set of originals from Paisley, but I guess this is better than nothing.

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Song of the Day #6,374: ‘Close to You (Live)’ – Frank Sinatra

Sixteen years ago today, I posted Frank Sinatra’s 1957 recording of ‘Close to You’ to commemorate my parents’ wedding anniversary. ‘Close to You’ is the title song of the first Sinatra album my father gave my mother, and marks the beginning of not just their love affair with each other, but their joint love affair with Sinatra.

That was their 44th anniversary, a praiseworthy milestone if not a distinctive one. Well, today they are married for 60 years… now that’s a cause for celebration!

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Song of the Day #6,373: ‘Wanderlust’ – Mark Knopfler

As a follow-up to my Dire Straits deep dive, I wanted to acknowledge the solo career of Mark Knopfler, the band’s lead guitarist, lead vocalist, and sole songwriter.

After Dire Straits broke up, Knopfler went on to record 10 solo studio albums and three EPs, in addition to continuing the soundtrack work he’d been doing since 1983’s Local Hero. His soundtrack for The Princess Bride is a personal favorite, and one that hits harder this week after director Rob Reiner’s horrible death.

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