Songs By Ten Singers Born On This Date

Apparently, June 26th was a great day to be born if you wanted to grow up to become a popular singer and/or musician. All ten of the artists in this small collection share a birthday today. Help them celebrate by listening to one of their best-known songs. And enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Ariana Grande ft. Mac Miller  ~  “The Way”  (Ariana turns 24 years old today.)

2)  OneRepublic  ~  “I Lived”  (Ryan Tedder, the band’s lead singer, is celebrating his 38th today.)

3)  Gretchen Wilson  ~  “When I Think About Cheatin’”  (As of today, Gretchen has been alive for 44 years. Congrats, redneck woman!)

4)  Big Bill Broonzy  ~  “Backwater Blues”  (This blues legend would be 124 years old if he were alive today. Unfortunately, he passed away at age 65, a whopping 59 years ago!)

5)  The Sundays ~  “Summertime”  (Harriet Wheeler, the lead singer for The Sundays, turns 54 today.)

6)  The Clash  ~   “Should I Stay Or Should I Go?”  (Mick Jones, co-lead singer of The Clash and the main vocalist of this classic tune, is 62 years old as of today.)

7)  Berlin  ~  “Take My Breath Away”  (Terri Nunn, Berlin’s lead singer, celebrates her 56th today. Happy birthday!)

8)  Billy Davis, Jr. & Marilyn McCoo  ~  “You Don’t Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show)”  (This husband-wife duo produced some great R&B and soul music in the mid-1970s and beyond. Today, Billy is celebrating his 79th birthday with his wife of nearly 50 years. Yep, it’s still Marilyn!)

9)  Patty Smyth & Don Henley  ~  “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough”  (One of the great duets of the past 25 years, this song pairs birthday girl Patty Smyth – who turns 60 today – and Eagles alum Don Henley, who turns 70 next month.)

10)  Chris Isaak  ~  “Wicked Game”  (Hard to believe this modern classic is now 27 years old. Even harder to believe its singer turns 61 today!)

Remote Control Songs, Vol. 1: “Stop” & “Play"

Here begins a new 3-part series featuring songs with words commonly found on a TV, VCR, DVD, or BluRay remote control in their titles. First up, "Stop" and "Play" Songs. Next time, "Fast Forward" and "Pause" Songs. And because, apparently, it's such a common theme in popular songwriting, "Rewind" Songs will get their very own post. Ready...set...enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Krizz Kaliko  ~  “Stop The World”

2)  Wild Cherry  ~  “Play That Funky Music”

3)  OneRepublic  ~  “Stop And Stare”

4)  Neil Diamond & Shirley Bassey  ~  “Play Me”

5)  Fatback Band  ~  “(Are You Ready) Do The Bus Stop”

6)  iamamiwhoami  ~  “Play”

7)  The Glitch Mob  ~  “We Can Make The World Stop”

8)  Shannon  ~  “Let The Music Play”

9)  The Smiths  ~  “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before”

10)  Björk  ~  “Play Dead”

11)  Radiohead  ~  “Stop Whispering”

12)  Kansas  ~  “Play The Game Tonight”

13)  Luther Vandross  ~  “Stop To Love”

14)  Miriam Bryant  ~  “Push Play”

15)  Don Henley ft. Dolly Parton  ~  “When I Stop Dreaming”

16)  Backstreet Boys  ~  “Quit Playing Games With My Heart”

17)  Eels  ~  “Last Stop: This Town”

18)  Paramore  ~  “Playing God”

19)  New Edition, Whitney Houston, LaToya Jackson, Herb Alpert, Toni Basil, Andraé Crouch, Nancy Reagan, et al.  ~  “Stop The Madness”

20)  Rascal Flatts  ~  “Play”

Songs By People Named Hillary & Donald

For some strange reason, there's been a lot of talk about people named Hillary and Donald of late. Can't figure out why. Anyway, here's a bunch of songs by people who share their names. If you reach the end of the post, you might even hear "tunes" (that's putting it politely) by Hillary and Donald themselves. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Hilary Duff  ~  “Chasing The Sun”

2)  Donald Fagen  ~  “New Frontier”

3)  HillaryJane  ~  “Chimneys”

4)  Donald  ~  “Over The Moon”

5)  Hilary  ~  “Kinetic”

6)  Donald Lawrence & The Tri-City Singers  ~  “Encourage Yourself”

7)  Hillary Lindsey  ~  “This One’s For The Girls”

8)  Donald-D  ~  “Notorious”

9)  Hilary Hahn  ~  “Grand Caprice On Schubert’s Der Erlkönig, Op. 26”

10)  Donald Malloy  ~  “Storms”

11)  Hillary Reynolds Band  ~  “Crossing The Line”

12)  Donald Rubinstein  ~  “Love Of Mine”

13)  Hillary Scott & The Scott Family  ~  “Thy Will”  (In case you were wondering, yes...that IS the "lady" from Lady Antebellum!)

14)  Donald Cumming  ~  “Game Of The Heart”

15)  Rachel Hillary  ~  “Hollow Soul”

16)  Donald Byrd  ~  “Blackbyrd”

17)  Celtic Woman ft. Lynn Hillary  ~  “My Lagan Love”

18)  Childish Gambino  ~  “So Into You”  (Birth name: Donald Glover)

19)  Hillary McBride  ~  “Brave”

20)  Donald Richards  ~  “Nevertheless I’m In Love With You / Tenement Symphony”

21)  Hillary Capps  ~  “Love Love Love”

22)  Donald O’Connor  ~  “Make ‘Em Laugh”

23)  Hilary Weeks  ~  “Beautiful Heartbreak”

24)  Don Henley  ~  “Heart Of The Matter”  (Birth name: Donald Hugh Henley)

25)  Hilary Pradia  ~  “Pretty Girl Anthem”

26)  Donald Brown  ~  “Take The A-Train”

27)  Hillary Keane  ~  “Klutz”

28)  Don McLean  ~  “Vincent”  (Birth name: Donald McLean III)

29)  Hillary Rodham Clinton & Rosie O’Donnell  ~  “The Telephone Hour”

30)   Saturday Night Live Cast ft. Donald J. Trump  ~  “Hotline Bling Parody”

Songs About Reading

Here's a new three-part series for you about the hilariously misnamed "3 R's." That's right – we'll be exploring first Songs About Reading, then Writing, and then Arithmetic. School is in session...enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Gordon Lightfoot  ~  “If You Could Read My Mind”

2)  Midnight Oil  ~  “Read About It”

3)  The Killers  ~  “Read My Mind”

4)  Stevie Wonder  ~  “As If You Read My Mind”

5)  Brian McKnight  ~  “Can You Read My Mind?”

6)  Professor Green ft. Emeli Sandé  ~  “Read All About It”

7)  Don Henley  ~  “Johnny Can’t Read”

8)  Meat Loaf  ~  “Read ‘Em And Weep”

9)  Lauren Christy  ~  “You Read Me Wrong”

10)  Robert Plant & Alison Krauss  ~  “Please Read The Letter”

11)  Concrete Blonde  ~  “Jenny I Read”

12)  Mary Chapin Carpenter  ~  “Read My Lips”

13)  La Dispute  ~  “Woman (Reading)”

14)  Tim McGraw  ~  “If You’re Reading This”

15)  Jimmy Fallon  ~  “The Doors Sing ‘Reading Rainbow’”

It's About Time! Vol. 6: Months

We're back to this "Time" series again, are we? Yes. We are. And we're beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, believe it or not. This collection of songs includes tunes with "Month" or "Months" in their titles. Next up, "Years." After that, the DRAMATIC CONCLUSION! But I won't spoil that one for you. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Vern Gosdin  ~  "A Month Of Sundays"

2)  Bloc Party  ~  "One Month Off"

3)  Yellowcard  ~  "One Year, Six Months"

4)  Portishead  ~  "Seven Months"

5)  Alpha Rev  ~  "Colder Months"  (Skip to 2:05 if you don't want to hear the backstory behind the song.)

6)  The New Basement Tapes ft. Elvis Costello  ~  "Six Months In Kansas City"

7)  Split Enz  ~  "Six Months In A Leaky Boat"

8)  Neck Deep  ~  "I Couldn't Wait To Leave 6 Months Ago"

9)  Falling Here  ~  "Three Months"

10)  Liza Anne  ~  "The Colder Months"

11)  Kaleb Nation  "Four Months"

12)  Tinyfish  ~  "Nine Months On Fire"

13)  Don Henley  ~  "A Month Of Sundays"

14)  Fever Dreamer  ~  "A Month Of Sunshine"

15)  Nazareth  ~  "This Month's Messiah"

16)  Death From Above 1979  ~  "Black History Month"

17)  Arcade Fire  ~  "Month Of May"

18)  The Posies  ~  "Plastic Paperbacks" / "Flavor Of The Month"

19)  Vanessa Redgrave  ~  "Lusty Month Of May"

20)  James Blake  ~  "Give Me My Month"

Popular Songs Of 1985, Vol. 2

Okay, here's the second and final installment in this nostalgic collection of 30-year-old hit songs. How many of these do you remember?  ~  JH

1)  Stevie Wonder  ~  "Part-Time Lover"

2)  Phil Collins  ~  "One More Night"

3)  Cyndi Lauper  ~  "All Through The Night"

4)  New Edition  ~  "Cool It Now"

5)  Chicago  ~  "You're The Inspiration"

6)  'Til Tuesday  ~  "Voices Carry"

7)  DeBarge  ~  "Rhythm Of The Night"

8)  Duran Duran  ~  "The Wild Boys"

9)  Eurythmics  ~  "Would I Lie To You?"

10)  Corey Hart  ~  "Never Surrender"

11)  Don Henley  ~  "The Boys Of Summer"

12)  Katrina & The Waves  ~  "Walking On Sunshine"

13)  Murray Head  ~  "One Night In Bangkok"

14)  Sting  ~  "If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free"

15)  Heart  ~  "What About Love?"

16)  Bryan Adams  ~  "Summer Of '69"

17)  Julian Lennon  ~  "Too Late For Goodbyes"

18)  Teena Marie  ~  "Lovergirl"

19)  David Lee Roth  ~  "California Girls"

20)  Bruce Springsteen  ~  "Born In The U.S.A."