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The Songfactors' Choice Top Ten #197

This week there is 4 song sneeding facts.

A Forest - The Cure (1980)

Head Over Heels - Tears For Fears (1985)

Dreams - The Cranberries (1993)

Gloria - Patti Smith (1975

If you have any info on any of the songs mentioned anywhere in this thread, please feel free to post your knowledge here. Submissions on songs will be collated and sent to the main site and you will receive credit for your contribution.

Rock On Songfactors :bow: :bow: :bow:

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Head Over Heels - Tears For Fears (1985)

Wikipedia "Head over Heels" is a song by the British pop/rock band Tears for Fears. It was the band's tenth single release in the United Kingdom (the fourth taken from their second LP Songs from the Big Chair) and eighth UK Top 40 hit, peaking at #12 in July 1985. In the USA, it was the third single from the album and continued the band's run of hits there, peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. A limited edition four-leaf clover shaped picture disc was issued for the single's release in the UK.

Background

"Head over Heels" had been developed nearly two years prior as part of a segue with the song "Broken", which was previously a stand alone B-side to the 1983 "Pale Shelter" single. As the two songs share the same piano/synth motif, "Head over Heels" eventually came to be sandwiched in between two bookend parts of "Broken" in live performances. This placement carried over to the final track listing of the Big Chair LP, with a studio recording of "Broken" preceding "Head Over Heels" and a live reprise of "Broken" following it.

The song features Roland Orzabal on lead vocals.

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Meanings

It is basically a love song and one of the most simple tracks that Tears for Fears have ever recorded. It is a love song that goes a bit perverse at the end.

—Roland Orzabal

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Song versions

"Head over Heels" has seen only two official remixes since its release.

The 12" version was titled the "Preacher Mix" and is an extended remix of the entire "Broken/Head Over Heels/Broken" medley. The mix was done by producer Chris Hughes and features an unusual spoken word intro in which Roland Orzabal recites lyrics from the song "I Believe" in the style of a preacher. This mix is notable as it contains the only released studio recording of the "Broken" reprise (the version on the Songs from the Big Chair album is a live recording).

The 7" remix was done by David Bascombe and notably ends in a cold stop after the "time flies" lyric, instead of the segue into the reprise of "Broken" found on the album.

[edit]

B-side

"When in Love with a Blind Man" is a short song that served as the b-side to the "Head over Heels" single. It features bassist Curt Smith on vocals.

This song predates a track called 'The Working Hour' from the Big Chair album. The motif is identical; it's something Ian (Stanley) came up with which I later put melody and lyrics to. It was recorded in The Wool Hall and was the b-side to 'Head over Heels'.

—Roland Orzabal

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Music video

The promotional clip for "Head over Heels", filmed in June 1985, was the fourth Tears for Fears clip directed by famed music video producer Nigel Dick. It is centered around Roland Orzabal's attempts to get the attention of a librarian (played by a Canadian model), while a variety of characters (many played by the rest of the band) take part in shenanigans in the library. The final scene shows Orzabal and the librarian as an older married couple. The video was filmed at the Emmanuel College Library in Toronto, Canada.

The absurdity of the music video was highlighted in a 2008 literal music video. The new video replaced the original lyrics with lyrics that better reflected the video's contents, such as "What's happening with that monkey?/What is with this gas mask?/This is a strange library."

"Head over Heels" was featured prominently in the 2001 cult classic Donnie Darko. According to director Richard Kelly on the DVD commentary, the scene in which the song was used was written and choreographed specifically with the song in mind.

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Cover versions

"Head over Heels" has been covered by the following artists:

American Christian rock band Kids in the Way, on their 2005 album Apparitions of Melody.

American experimental folk singer Samamidon, on his 2007 album But This Chicken Proved False.

Most recently, southern California's freeform Bargain Music has covered the song. This version finds vocalist Josh alone with an acoustic guitar playing the entire song solo. It is also track #7 on their new album American Born.

Australian electro pop band Rogue Traders sampled pieces of the song on their 2007 single In Love Again. Some of these pieces were also used in an Australian television advertisement on Channel 10 for the Australian drama Neighbours in mid 2007, helping to revamp the show.

American Pop punk band New Found Glory on their second "Movie Song" cover album From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II.

Relient K also covered this song on their 2007 summer tour as an introduction to their song "In Love With the 80s," which mentions the band in the line "And my favorite band will always be Tears for Fears."

The X-ecutioners with DJ Cash Money and Marvelous Marvin use the intro to the song in the song Ugly people be quiet on their 2003 album Scratchology.

American pop singer Katy Perry covered this song in late October 2008.

Johnny Goudie and Joseph King have covered the song at their joint concerts, and Goudie has also played a solo acoustic version.

P. Diddy sampled the song on the 2006 Press Play album track "Testimonial (Intro)".

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"Gloria:In Excelsis Deo"

Patti Smith Group

Written by Van Morrison.

Released by The Them as the b-side of the single "Baby Please Don't Go" on November 6th 1964. It was later released as the A-side.

Patti Smith released her cover called "Gloria:In Excelsis Dio" on her debut album, "Horses" in 1975. The single was released in 1976 with "My Generation" as the B-side. It's `produced by John Cale.

Bill Janovitz said in Allmusic:

The beauty of the original is that Van Morrison needs only to speak-sing, in his Howlin' Wolf growl, "I watch her come up to my house/She knocks upon my door/And then she comes up to my room/I want to say she makes me feel all right/G-L-O-R-I-A!" to convey his teenage lust. The original Latin meaning of the name is not lost on Morrison. Them never varies from the three chords, utilizing only dynamic changes to heighten the tension.

From allmusic:

Bearing probably the most famous opening line of the entire American punk scene -- "Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine" being every bit as corrosive a start as "I am an Antichrist/I am an anarchist" -- Patti Smith's complete re-imagining of the '60s garage classic "Gloria" both sums up her entire persona and sets a standard that was so hard for the next generation of punks to live up to that most of them didn't even try. More poetic than Jim Morrison, and far less prone to idiotic drunken rambling as well, Smith was the first mainstream rock and roll poet to deserve both sides of the appellation: the song's first section, Smith's own "In Excelsis Deo," features some haunting imagery, but it's also so rhythmically interesting that the shifts into and out of Van Morrison's cocksure strut "Gloria" are utterly seamless. Further, Smith performs the oldie with more intensity, humor and openly sexual hunger than anyone since Morrison himself back in the days of Them, helped immensely by her stellar band, almost certainly the best group of musicians ( Television was their only real competition) to unite under the rubric of punk.

From Wikipedia:

Van Morrison has remarked that he wrote the song, "Gloria" while he performed with the Monarchs in Germany in the summer of 1963, at just about the time he turned eighteen years old.[5] He started to perform it for audiences at the Maritime Hotel when he had returned to Belfast and joined up with the Gamblers to form the band Them. He would ad-lib lyrics as he performed, sometimes stretching the song to fifteen or twenty minutes in duration. After signing a contract with Dick Rowe and Decca, Them went to London where they had a recording session at Decca Three Studios in West Hampstead on 5 July 1964, including "Gloria" as one of the seven songs recorded that day. The members of Them were Van Morrison, vocals, Billy Harrison on guitar, Alan Henderson on bass, Ronnie Millings on drums and Patrick John McCauley on keyboards. Rowe brought in session musicians Arthur Greenslade on organ, Jimmy Page on guitar, and Bobby Graham on drums as Rowe considered the Them members as too inexperienced. There remains some dispute about whether Millings and McCauley were miked up but Alan Henderson contends that Them constituted the first rock group to use two drummers on a recording.

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"A Forest"

The Cure

Written by Robert Smith and included in his 1980 album "Seventeen Seconds", the second Cure's LP.

Also released as the only single from this album in March; it was their first single to reach the charts (peaked at #30 in the UK) with "Another Journey by Train" as the B-side and also their first 12" vinyl, a maxi-single with a longer version than the original song on the album.

From wikipedia:

The lyrics tell a vague story about a man looking for a girl in a forest. He hears her calling for him, and as he chases her, he suddenly stops and realizes that he is lost and that the girl is not there. The song is fairly upbeat compared to the other material on the album, and Lol Tolhurst's machine-like steady beat together withSimon Gallup's minimalistic bassline gives this nervous chase more depth and keeps the song on the edge of a frantic groove until the end.

Though not their biggest hit, it is regarded by many fans and critics as one of the best examples of The Cure's sound, particularly their use of chorusing effects. The song is also notable for securing the band its first slot on BBC's Top of the Pops.

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"A Forest"

The Cure

Written by Robert Smith and included in his 1980 album "Seventeen Seconds", the second Cure's LP.

Also released as the only single from this album in March; it was their first single to reach the charts (peaked at #30 in the UK) with "Another Journey by Train" as the B-side and also their first 12" vinyl, a maxi-single with a longer version than the original song on the album.

From wikipedia:

At the 1981 Rock Werchter festival in Belgium, when The Cure weren't that famous yet, they played their set while Robert Palmer waited for his turn.

Robert Smith: "We'd only been on for about a half an hour and everything was running late so Robert Palmer's road crew started motioning to us to stop. This bloke ran on and said 'If you don't stop playing, we're gonna pull the plug'. Simon immediately walked to the mike and shouted 'F**k Robert Palmer! F**k rock'n'roll!' and we started playing a really slow version of 'A Forest' which lasted about 15 minutes.

It was f**king brilliant. Unfortunately, when we finished, they threw all our stuff off the back of the stage ..."

(note: Simon shouted 'F**k Robert Palmer! F**k rock'n'roll!' after they played 'A Forest' not before.

And it seems it lasted 'only' 10 minutes (see source))

(source: video of the performance on youtube

Robert Smith quote from "The Cure: Ten Imaginary Years")

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Sorry I didn't get in here sooner to thank you all for those facts and tell you how completely awesome you are for gathering them :D

So... Shannon, edna and Farin from the bottom of my little fishie heart I thank you :bow: :bow: :bow:

and moving right along we have....

The Songfactors' Choice Top Ten #198

This week there is 2 songs needing facts.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Andy Williams (1963)

Please Come Home For Christmas - Eagles (1978)

If you have any info on any of the songs mentioned anywhere in this thread, please feel free to post your knowledge here. Submissions on songs will be collated and sent to the main site and you will receive credit for your contribution.

Happy Holidays everyone :hippie:

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"Please Come Home For Christmas"

Eagles

Written by Charles Brown and Gene Redd, released for the first time in 1960, performed by Charles brown. It's a classic. The Eagles recorded it as a single for Christmas 1978 and it reached #18 in the charts. The b-side was "Funky New Year".

:help:

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"Dreams"

The Cranberries

Written by Noel Hogan and Dolores O'Riordan.

released as a single and also as a track of their first album "Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?", in April 1993.

According allmusic, "Dreams," is a brisk, charging number combining low-key tension and full-on rock

Backing vocals by Mike Mahoney.

:help:

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Thank you edna for those facts. Your quite good at this stuff :bow: :bow: :bow:

The Songfactors' Choice Top Ten #199

This week there is 3 songs needing facts.

Expresso Love - Dire Straits (1980)

Dirty Water - Standells (1966)

I Don't Want To Know - Fleetwood Mac (1977)

If you have any info on any of the songs mentioned anywhere in this thread, please feel free to post your knowledge here. Submissions on songs will be collated and sent to the main site and you will receive credit for your contribution.

As always the Songfish thanks you :bow: :headphones:

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"Dirty Water" is a 12-bar blues song composed by Ed Cobb and first recorded by the California rock and roll band The Standells in 1966. It is considered a classic of garage rock.

The song debuted April 30, 1966, on the Cash Box charts and peaked at #8. It reached #11 on the Billboard singles charts on June 11. It was the band's first major hit single.

The song is a paean to the city of Boston and its then-famously polluted Boston Harbor and Charles River

Dirty Water was also the title of the Standells' most successful LP, their only nationally charting album. This LP charted on both Billboard and Cash Box magazines' charts, peaking at #52 and #39, respectively, during the summer of 1966.

The song was produced by its writer, Ed Cobb, and was originally issued on the Tower label, a subsidiary of Capitol Records.

The Boston Red Sox baseball team is well-known for playing the song immediately following home victories, a tradition that began in the 2001 season. But the tradition started when the Boston Bruins ice hockey team began playing the song following victories in 2000. The surviving Standells have performed the song at Fenway Park from atop the Green Monster.

Source: Wiki

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Thank you Laurie and edna :bow: :bow: :bow:

I'm so far behind if I was my boss I'd fire me :crazy:

The Songfactors' Choice Top Ten #200

This week there are 3 songs needing facts..

Sexy Boy - Air (1998)

You Give Love A Bad Name - Bon Jovi (1986)

Free Your Mind - En Vogue (1992)]

If you have any info on any of the songs mentioned anywhere in this thread, please feel free to post your knowledge here. Submissions on songs will be collated and sent to the main site and you will receive credit for your contribution.

As always the Songfish thanks you :bow: :bow: :bow:

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"Sexy Boy"

Air

Written by Jean-Benoît Dunkel and Nicolas Godin.

Performed by the French duo Air.

A track from their debut album, Moon Safari, it was released in February 9, 1998.

Godin and Dunckel formed the duo -inspired by Serge Gainsbourg- in 1995.

Allmusic says:

"Sexy Boy" is the song that single-handedly put not only Air, but the French dance music scene as a whole, on the UK and US radar in late 1997. A simple but addictive combination of a killer fuzztone riff that wouldn't sound out of place on a '60s garage rock single, pitch-manipulated vocals (nope, that's not guest singer Beth Hirsch, who appears on several other tracks on Moon Safari, but Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin themselves providing the breathy, sexy female-sounding vocals both on the dreamy, elliptical verses and the pounding, hook-filled chorus) and a groovy '70s-style electric piano solo, "Sexy Boy" is that rarity, a song that's suitable for both a crowded dancefloor, where the assertive but not overpowering bassline takes lead, and quiet late-night headphone listening, when space rock touches like the sonar-like pings and rippling vintage synth whooshes reveal themselves. It's a truly marvelous single, possibly the best five minutes of the entire "electronica" era.

It was featured the UK TV series "Queer as Folk" and in the movie "10 Things I Hate About You".

Franz Ferdinand and Nena covered thsi song and French singer Françoise Hardy co-wrote and sings with them "Jeanne", the fifth song of the US CD -with 4 versions of "Sexy Boy" -.

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"You Give Love A Bad Name"

Bon Jovi

Written by Jon Bon Jovi, Ritchie Sambora, Desmond Child and Jack Ponti.

A single from the album "Slippery When Wet" with "Raise Your Hands" as the B-side. It was released in July 1986.

The song is written about a nameless woman who has jilted her lover. It was originally written for the band Loverboy but the song was recorded by Bon Jovi. The track was released as the first single from the hard rock album Slippery When Wet and hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 29, 1986, Bon Jovi's first number one hit.

The song was written with several catchy repeated lines and associated hooks to appeal to mainstream audiences including the chorus as well as several bridges.

The album version of the song ends with the title being repeated until it fades.

(Wikipedia)

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"Free Your Mind"

En Vogue

Written by Denzil Foster/Thomas McElroy.

Released as a single in September 1992. Preformed by the all-girls group En Vogue and also a track of their album Funky Divas. It went to #8 on the Billboard Charts and was in the Top 40 for 16 weeks. It reached #16 in the UK.

From Wiki:

"Free Your Mind" was released due to the 1992 uprising that took place in Los Angeles,California from April 29 to May 4, 1992 following the acquittal of the police officers who had beaten Rodney King.

The song is known for its award-winning music video, directed by Mark Romanek. "Free Your Mind" used the chorus line of a George Clinton song with his permission.It was certified gold by the RIAA in late 1992. It is one of several songs to feature all four members of the group on lead vocals.

The opening line: "Prejudice, wrote a song about it. Like to hear it? Here it go!", is adapted from a line originally used by David Alan Grier's character Calhoun Tubbs from FOX's In Living Color.

On January 21, 1993, En Vogue performed the song on a sixth-season episode of the NBCsitcom A Different World (where they guest-starred as Vernon Gaines' nieces).

Janet Jackson included the video in the Countdown of her twenty-five favorite videos of all-time at number eleven.

The track has been included in Les Mills' most recent BodyVive class.

The guitar and bass tracks for the song were written and recorded by guitarist Jinx Jones.

The song was covered by The Band on their 1996 album High on the Hog.

It was nominated in 1993 for the Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group and Best Music Video, Short Form.

The video, directed by Mark Romanek, won the MTV Awards for the Best Choreography, Best R&B and Best Dance Video.

MTV Video Music Awards 1993

Video of the Year,Best Group Video,

Best R&B Video (won)

Best Dance Video (won)

Viewer's Choice Award

Best Direction – Mark Romanek

Best Choreography – Travis Payne, Frank Gatson, and Lavelle Smith (won)

Best Cinematography – (nominated)

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Thanks Levis I will add that to the facts from last week :D

And again, thanks to everyone that helps to gather the facts each week. :bow: :bow: :bow:

The Songfactors' Choice Top Ten #201

This week there is 5 songs needing facts.

Summertime Blues - The Who (1970)

Radio Free Europe - REM (1981)

After Midnight - J.J.Cale (1971)

Cry Me A River - Julie London (1955)

Even The Losers - Tom Petty (1979)

If you have any info on any of the songs mentioned anywhere in this thread, please feel free to post your knowledge here. Submissions on songs will be collated and sent to the main site and you will receive credit for your contribution.

As always the Songfish thanks you. :guitar:

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Radio Free Europe - REM (1981)

"Radio Free Europe" is a song by American alternative rock band R.E.M. "Radio Free Europe" was released as R.E.M.'s debut single on the short-lived independent record label Hib-Tone in 1981. The song features "what were to become the trademark unintelligible lyrics which have distinguished R.E.M.'s work ever since."[1] The single received critical acclaim, and its success earned the band a record deal with I.R.S. Records. R.E.M. re-recorded the song for its 1983 debut album Murmur and a live performance at Larry's Hideaway, Toronto, Canada, from July 9, 1983 was released on the 2008 Deluxe Edition reissue of that album. The re-recording for I.R.S. became the group's first charting single, peaking at number 78 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song is ranked number 379 on Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Cry Me A River - Julie London (1955)

"Cry Me a River" is a popular American torch song, written by Arthur Hamilton and first published in 1953. The song's first release and most famous recording was by actress/singer Julie London in 1955. A sultry performance of the song by London in the 1956 film The Girl Can't Help It helped to make it a million-selling blockbuster (#9 US/#22 UK).

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