The Motown Top 250 Countdown (#210-206) & This Week's Statistics

Hello, my friends, old and new! The weekend is almost gone, which means that our countdown and our statistics are overdue: Let's not waste any more time!

At #210 we find The Jackson 5 and their #1 hit (US Pop & US R&B) The Love You Save. When Berry Gordy signed the Jackson 5 to Motown, his intention was for the group to open with three Number One singles. Following I Want You Back and ABC, The Love You Save completed the feat in less than a year - and Gordy's songwriting team, the Corporation, didn't even have to change the formula. Said the Corporation's Deke Richards, "The only difference was we just had to come up with a new punch and groove for the beginning and a new, different structure for the verse." Explained his teammate Fred Perren, "There was a little play between Jermaine and Michael, we always tried to get that in there. We had a little list of things, a checklist."

A fourth #1 would follow (I'll Be There), as well as two #2 hits, making The Jackson 5 the most successful act of the early 70s. Billboard ranked The Love You Save as the #16 song of 1970, one slot behind the Jackson 5's ABC. The opening exclamation, "Stop!", and the foot stomps that complement the rhythm during the latter part of the song are allusions to the 1965 number-one Motown single by The Supremes, Stop! In the Name of Love. The Jackson 5 essentially replaced The Supremes as Motown's main focus in the early 1970s.

The Love You Save features side vocals of Jermaine Jackson singing alongside Michael in the final "Stop! The love you save may be your own", beside Marlon, Tito, and Jackie. The song's lyrics feature Michael and Jermaine warning a "fast" girl to slow down and "stop!", because "the love you save may be your own!" It was written and produced by The Corporation (Berry Gordy, Alphonzo Mizell, Freddie Perren and Deke Richards.) Here it is:

At #209, My Mistake (Was to Love You) is a song recorded as a duet by Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye which was the second single released off the singers' duet album Diana & Marvin in February 1974. One of the original songs featured on that album, My Mistake (Was to Love You) was written by Gloria Jones and Pam Sawyer, the team responsible for the Gladys Knight & the Pips' classic If I Were Your Woman. Pam Sawyer was also the co-writer (with Michael Masser) of the Diana Ross hit Last Time I Saw Him which dropped out of the Top 40 just prior to the Top 40 debut of My Mistake (Was to Love You) in March 1974: Sawyer would subsequently co-write (with Marilyn Mcleod) Diana Ross' 1976 #1 hit Love Hangover. The narrative of My Mistake (Was to Love You) outlines how two lovers' relationship fell apart because the man, according to the woman, felt as if "a girl loves you, you only call them weak", while the man admits that he let his lover "slip through, like grains of sand". The song peaked at #15 on the Billboard R&B singles chart and #19 on the Billboard Hot 100. Here it is:

At #208 is Stevie Wonder and Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday, a 1969 soul song written by Ron Miller and Bryan Wells. The song continued Wonder's success on the pop charts. It reached #7 on the US pop chart (#5 R&B) and become Wonder's ninth Top 10 single of the 1960s. The single fared even better on the UK chart where it reached #2 in November 1969, and at that time, it was Wonder's biggest UK hit. It also made the top 10 in Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Canada, and #11 in Australia.

At the time the song was released, Wonder was going through some vocal problems and was required to wait before recording a song. Due to this, instead of making Wonder record new ones, it was decided to release songs that he had recorded years earlier, and this song was one of them (it was recorded 2 years earlier):

The song had been first recorded, in 1966, by blue-eyed Motown soul singer Chris Clark:

The song was later reworked into an unusual, electronic version by Jennifer Rush on her 1985 Movin' album:

At #207 are The Temptations with Runaway Child, Running Wild, a 1969 hit single produced by Norman Whitfield and written by Whitfield and Barrett Strong. The single was the second of their psychedelic soul phase and it featured all five Temptations - Dennis Edwards, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin, and Otis Williams - trading verses and harmony lines. Runaway Child, Running Wild paints a tale of a young boy (presumably a preteen) who runs away from home after being punished for playing hooky. The boy wanders the dark streets alone, eventually realizing he cannot survive on his own, but cannot find his way home, and ends up lost, frightened by strangers, unfamiliar landmarks, and his own thoughts. "Runaway child runnin' wild," the Temptations tell the boy during the chorus, "you better go back home/where you belong".

The Temptations alternately express and depict his fears, with the tension of the record building to a climax over the first five minutes of the record. At this point, the vocals fade out, and the record briefly gives voice to its young protagonist, who cries desperately for his mother before fading into the mix. Runaway Child then segues into an extended instrumental passage, during which Earl Van Dyke's organ, Joe Messina's electric guitar, and Dennis Coffey's distorted wah-wah pedal guitar take center stage for four minutes. After the instrumental builds the song up to a second climax, the track is stripped to a bassline and repeating hi-hat figure, and The Temptations return to the mix to issue one final admonition to the runaway: "Listen to your heart beat/it's beating much too fast/go back home/where you belong".

The single version of Runaway Child only features the first five minutes of the song, fading out before the instrumental section begins. It was a big US hit (#1 R&B, #6 Pop). This is the longer, album version:

Here are The Temptations performing a shortened version on TV:

Earl Van Dyke, who performs the prominent organ solo during the instrumental section of The Temptations' track, recorded his own instrumental version of Runaway Child, Running Wild, which was released as a single the same year:

Finally for today, at #206, it's Diana Ross with Remember Me. Written and produced by the husband-and-wife songwriting-production team and recording duo of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, the 1970 single was a top 10 hit in the UK and Canada. In the US it peaked at #10 (R&B) and #16 (Hot 100):

This is a TV performance:

British singer Kim Wilde recorded a disco version of the song for her 2011 album, Snapshots:

Now, let's continue with last week's statistics; I will give you the usual weekly and all-time lists, but, before that, here's our countdown of the top 20 cities with the most visits in the last two years. If you don't see your own city in the top 20, feel free to ask about its placing in the comments' section, I'll be happy to give you the exact position of your city. Let's continue with positions #10-#06.

At #11 there was Houston and at #10 we find another Texan city, Dallas, the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, which is the fourth most populous metropolitan area in the United States. The city's population ranks ninth in the US and third in Texas after Houston and San Antonio.

Dallas is one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States and the largest inland metropolitan area in the United States that lacks any navigable link to the sea. For the rest of the world, Dallas became a household word with the very popular TV show that ran from 1978 until 1991. This is its theme:

The song that I'm dedicating to our friends from Dallas is simply called Dallas and it's by The Flatlanders. There may be no more iconic image of the city than when Jimmie Dale Gilmore sings, "Did you ever see Dallas from a DC9 at night?" Much like the history of the song itself, which was a complete flop upon its release in 1972 before going on to be considered a classic, that image is fraught with contradictions: Dallas is a gem, but it's also cruel and garish, a "woman who'll walk on you when you're down" or "a rich man with a death wish in his eye." Which is just the thing: When you love it and even when you hate it, you have to admit it's a hell of a city. Here is the song:

At #9 is yet another city from the United States, the capital of the country itself: Washington, D.C.Founded after the American Revolution as the seat of government of the newly independent country, Washington was named after George Washington, first President of the United States and Founding Father. The Washington metropolitan area, of which the District is the principal city, has a population of over 6 million, the sixth-largest metropolitan statistical area in the country.

The city contains dozens of important landmarks, the most prominent of which are the White House, the United States Capitol, the United States Supreme Court Building, the Smithsonian, the Library Of Congress, and many others.

The song that I dedicate to our D.C. friends is by Washington, D.C., native Tarica June, who tackles her city's skyrocketing gentrification on the cool track But Anyway. But Anyway is built on samples of songs by Eric B. and Rakim, P.M. Dawn and Suzanne Vega. This is it:

The city at #8 is also in the United States: Atlanta is the capital and most populous city of the US state of Georgia. It is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, home to 5.8 million people and the ninth-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Atlanta was founded as a transportation hub at the intersection of two railroad lines in 1837. After being mostly burned to the ground during the American Civil War, the city rose from its ashes to become a national center of commerce and the unofficial capital of the "New South". The burning of Atlanta was one of the key scenes in the most celebrated movie of Classic Hollywood, Gone With The Wind. This is the scene:

The song that I dedicate to our friends in Atlanta is one that I especially like: it's called Imaginary Lover and it was a big US hit in the late 1970s for Atlanta Rhythm Section. Here it is:

The only non-American city in today's list is the city at #7 and it's the beautiful city of Paris, in France. After Athens, the city in which I'm living in for many years (which is in the top 5) Paris is the city out of the top 20 that I know best. I've been there dozens of times, not as a tourist, but as a guest of people who actually lived there and had known the city intimately. If it weren't for my mediocre knowledge of the French language, I would feel absolutely at home there. And the food!...

The name "Paris" is derived from its early inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe, who inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. By the end of the Western Roman Empire, the town was known as Parisius, a Latin name that would later become Paris in French. Christianity was introduced in the middle of the 3rd century AD by Saint Denis, the first Bishop of Paris: according to legend, when he refused to renounce his faith before the Roman occupiers, he was beheaded on the hill which became known as Mons Martyrum (Latin "Hill of Martyrs"), later "Montmartre", from where he walked headless to the north of the city; the place where he fell and was buried became an important religious shrine, the Basilica of Saint-Denis, and many French kings are buried there.

Clovis the Frank, the first king of the Merovingian dynasty, made the city his capital from 508. As the Frankish domination of Gaul began, there was a gradual immigration by the Franks to Paris and the Parisian Francien dialects were born. By the end of the 12th century, Paris had become the political, economic, religious, and cultural capital of France.

Paris is often referred to as The City of Light (La Ville Lumière), both because of its leading role during the Age of Enlightenment, and more literally because Paris was one of the first European cities to adopt gas street lighting. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of Europe's major centers of finance, commerce, fashion, science, music, and painting. In 2013–2014, the Paris Region had the third-highest GDP in the world and the largest regional GDP in the EU.

The song that I dedicate to our friends in Paris is a timeless song that I love, by an artist who's emblematic of this city. It's Juliette Gréco with the 1951 song, Sous le Ciel de Paris:

Finally, for today, we go to the United States once more for the city at #6, which is Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, as well as the most populous city in the New England region. The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area home to a census-estimated 4.8 million people in 2016 and ranking as the tenth-largest such area in the country.

Boston is one of the oldest cities in the United States, founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan settlers from England. It was the scene of several key events of the American Revolution, such as the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston. Upon US independence from Great Britain, it continued to be an important port and manufacturing hub as well as a center for education and culture. The city has expanded beyond the original peninsula through land reclamation and municipal annexation.

The Boston area's many colleges and universities make it an international center of higher education, including law, medicine, engineering, and business, and the city is considered to be a world leader in innovation and entrepreneurship, with nearly 2,000 startups. The city has one of the highest costs of living in the United States as it has undergone gentrification, though it remains high on world livability rankings.

On this occasion, there were many songs that I could choose from: The song that I finally chose to dedicate to our friends in Boston is a lovely hit from the mid-1970s, Please Come to Boston by Dave Loggins. This is it:

Here are this week's Top 10 countries:

1. the United States

2. Greece

3. the United Kingdom

4. Canada

5. Australia

6. Germany

7. France

8. Brazil

9. Russia

10. Italy

Here are the other countries that graced us with their presence since our last statistics (alphabetically): Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Austria, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Cambodia, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, FYR Of Macedonia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Namibia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Sint Maarten, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Zambia. Happy to have you all!

And here's the all-time Top 10:

1. the United States = 30.0%

2. France = 21.3%

3. the United Kingdom = 12.6%

4. Greece = 7.0%

5. Russia = 2.4%

6. Germany = 1.8%

7. Canada = 1.7%

8. Italy = 1.2%

9. Turkey = 0.89%

10. Cyprus = 0.81%

That's all for today, folks. Till the next one!

Last Summer (2013)

Hello, my friends, old and new! There was a different story scheduled for today, but then I watched this film - and it really resonated with me. It is not often that a film immerses you in its reality and persuades you of its truth. 2013's Last Summer, a no-budget 70-minute film that takes place in rural Arkansas in its entirety, did... (The discussion includes spoilers, so, if you're spoiler-averse, watch the movie found at the bottom of the page and read later.)

"You're not dumb," Luke was told by his mother when he was a young boy. "You're just a slow learner." His mother long dead, Luke is now in summer school and his kindly teacher warns him "You don't want to have to go back and re-do another year." When she asks him about his summer, he responds with "Spending a lot of time with Jonah," "my boyfriend", he clarifies - and it comes out perfectly naturally - no defiance, no shame, just a matter-of-fact acceptance of his situation and his feelings.

When the teacher asks, "How long you been together?", his answer is "Forever. We've known each other since we were four." The obligatory question "Your families know?" follows, to which he answers "More or less. Nobody really talks about it." "And they're fine with it?" she presses on. "Why wouldn't they be?", again, as if it's the most natural thing. Then and there, I knew that the movie would be special.

Luke admires Jonah: "He's gifted." "He's good at everything." Jonah, an adopted child, feels the same: "The truth is, I idolize him. I think he's perfect. I think I would give up everything for Luke."

Director Mark Thiedeman captures moments where tactile images mirror the boys' emotions - their sneakers rubbing together, the way they grasp hands or even eat sandwiches. Ambient sounds - birds, rain, and a train whistle - heighten the emotions between the boys, as do light, shadows, and reflections. Jonah and Luke express their sentiments about love and each other in ways that truly resonate in this extraordinary, beautifully realized film.

So, what moves the plot forward? A simple and oh-so-common fact, in Jonah's words, "Some people feel so comfortable in one place, and others feel trapped." Luke feels comfortable in their small town. Jonah feels trapped. He's going away to college in the fall. This is their last summer together...

Yet, Jonah is afraid: afraid of losing Luke and afraid of this radical change in his life. "Please tell me not to go," he desperately begs Luke. The latter refuses to give in. He knows that his lover's happiness waits for him elsewhere - and he will not stand in the way of his lover's happiness. Luke's final words in the film are narrated, for our sake, and they're revelatory:

"Jonah read me a line from a book he was reading. It said, 'Happiness serves little purpose, except that it makes unhappiness possible.' I once asked my dad how you know you've found the right person, and he said, 'You just know. You find someone you don't mind being around, going places with, watching a movie, sleeping next to... Someone who isn't like you, someone who makes you better, who you forgive for being different, or not seeing the world the way you see it.'"

He continues: "We'll try, see if things can last. But things don't last. He'll meet other people, much more interesting than me. And they'll love him." These are the film's final words and by the end of this speech my eyes were filling up...

The film is a labor of love for writer-director-editor-co-producer Mark Thiedeman - and this being only his second feature film - his work is remarkable. The film's beautiful soundtrack contains melodies by Beethoven and Schumann, while I was also impressed by David Goodman's evocative cinematography. Deb Lewis and Roben R. Sullivant are fine as Luke's teacher and Jonah's mother respectively, while Sean Rose paints a very good picture of the conflicted Jonah. But it's Samuel Pettit, as Luke, who steals the show. Heis Luke - and he manages to portray emotions even beyond those that exist in the screenplay.

This lovely, little film won Mark Thiedeman the best director prize at the Little Rock Film Festival. It received great reviews, yet no distributor picked it up. It's such a shame that this great film was only seen at festivals...

Here's an enthusiastic review by Indiewire's Ryan Lattanzio: "Heavy on visuals with a screenplay that could probably fill mere pages, Last Summer hypnotizes you with its sleepy lull as director Thiedeman locates emotions in objects, entangled body parts and bucolic scenery rather than character, dialogue, and drama. Smeared with impressionistic imagery, droplets of water trickling down window panes and uncomfortable facial close-ups, the film resembles a collection of old dusty Polaroids. The influence of Terrence Malick or early Lynne Ramsay can be felt."

"Light on traditional narrative machinery, this could have been a short film. But its prolonged spell, deeply felt long after the film is over, would not have been as effective. Last Summer sustains that pit-in-the-stomach feeling throughout, and the anxiousness and uncertainty of being so young and so small and not knowing where you're going. This is a sweet surprise."

Here's the film's official trailer:

This is the whole film:

The Motown Top 250 Countdown (#215-211) & This Week's Statistics

Hello, my friends, old and new! The weekend is here, which means it's time for our countdown and our statistics: Here we go!

At #215 we find the amazing Stevie Wonder with the beautiful ballad, Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer. It was featured on his album Where I'm Coming From (1971). The song describes a failed relationship using the metaphor of changing seasons. Although it wasn't a hit single, the song, co-written by Syreeta Wright, rightfully remains one of Stevie Wonder's most popular ballads to this day. Here it is:

He performed a version of the song on Michael Jackson's Memorial Service on July 7, 2009, his voice cracking with emotion as he called out his friend's name during the song's final refrain, "Why didn't you stay?" He prefaced his performance by saying, "This is a moment that I wished that I didn't live to see come."

The song was covered by Joan Baez on her 1975 album Diamonds and Rust:

A portion of this song was also remade by Lauryn Hill on Hip-Hop artist Common's Retrospect For Life, found on his 1997 album One Day It'll All Make Sense:

At #214 there is a duet by Marvin Gaye with Tammi Terrell, a 1968 single called Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing. The song - written and produced by regular Gaye/Terrell collaborators Ashford & Simpson - became a hit within weeks of release eventually peaking at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the R&B chart, as well as a top 10 hit in Canada.

Aretha's version won the 1974 Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance:

Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing was also recorded by Elton John and Marcella Detroit for John's 1993 album Duets:

At #213 we find The Temptations with the 1971 hit single, Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are). Something of an early ancestor to the "diss songs" prevalent in hip-hop music towards the end of the 20th century, Superstar is an attack at two former Temptations members, David Ruffin (who had been fired back in 1968) and his cohort Eddie Kendricks (who quit the act in early 1971 and negotiated a Motown solo deal).

Kendricks quit the group amidst conflicts and tension between him and his bandmates, Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin, and after being denied the opportunity to record a solo album of classic-styled soul as a reprieve from Norman Whitfield's psychedelic soul recordings, which he detested. He had continued his friendship with Ruffin following his firing in 1968, and by mid-1971 was making public statements blaming his departure on his problems with Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin. Kendricks pointed out the failure of It's Summer, the first single not to feature Kendricks' vocals, as evidence that the group was faltering without him, and Ruffin told the press that he was considering starting a new singing group with Kendricks, then-current Temptations lead singer Dennis Edwards, and, once his health improved, Kendricks' good friend Paul Williams (another founding member of the Temptations who was forced to quit the group in 1971 because of failing health).

Ruffin and Kendricks' statements did not please the rest of the group or Whitfield. The song Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are) had begun its life as a song Whitfield and lyricist Barrett Strong were writing about one of Whitfield's former friends, a producer whom Whitfield thought had become too standoffish after achieving success. By the time the song was completed and being recorded by the Temptations, however, Otis Williams had had it reworked so that it was "about David [Ruffin] and Eddie [Kendricks]". Here it is:

The song was also covered by The Undisputed Truth:

At #212 it's Stevie Wonder again, with his 1970 hit single, Heaven Help Us All. The song, which was composed by Ron Miller, showcased a departure from Wonder's earlier works by displaying an earthier, gospel-infused sound, and continued Wonder's string of Top 10 singles on the pop charts reaching #9 on the Hot 100 singles chart and #2 on the R&B:

This is from Stevie Wonder's "Message of Peace" concert at the United Nations. With him are Freddie Jackson, BeBe Winans, and Stephanie Mills:

Here is the incredible Ray Charles performing the song at The Monastery Of Ettal in Germany, 1979:

Stevie had two songs today, but so did Marvin Gaye. At #211 we find Little Darling (I Need You), a 1966 single written and produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland. Similarly conceived with the same musical background as their previous collaboration, How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You), the song has the singer declaring to his woman to stay beside him promising her that he'll be "(her) number-one fool."While it reached the top 40 of the US Top R&B Singles chart peaking at #16, it did not perform as well on the pop charts, peaking at #47:

The Flirtations covered the song in 1971:

... And the Doobie Brothers covered the song in 1977:

Now, let's continue with last week's statistics; I will give you the usual weekly and all-time lists, but, before that, here's our countdown of the top 20 cities with the most visits in the last two years. If you don't see your own city in the top 20, feel free to ask about its placing in the comments' section, I'll be happy to give you the exact position of your city. Let's continue with positions #15-#11.

At #15 we find Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria and the second-most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Founded by free settlers from the British Crown colony of Van Diemen's Land on 30 August 1835, in what was then the colony of New South Wales, it was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837. It was named "Melbourne" by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke, in honor of the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. It was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria, to whom Lord Melbourne was close, in 1847, after which it became the capital of the newly founded colony of Victoria in 1851. During the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, it was transformed into one of the world's largest and wealthiest cities. After the federation of Australia in 1901, it served as the nation's interim seat of government until 1927. Additionally, it was the host city of the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Kylie Minogue is a native daughter of Melbourne - and while she will certainly get a full presentation soon (as a Gay Icon), today she will provide the song I dedicate to Melbourne, her most successful song, Can't Get You Out Of My Head (2001):

At #14 is a city from the United States, the country that has the most cities in the twenty. Philadelphia is the largest city in the US state and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the sixth-most populous US city. William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city in 1682 to serve as the capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia played an instrumental role in the American Revolution as a meeting place for the Founding Fathers of the United States, who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 at the Second Continental Congress, and the Constitution at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787.

Philadelphia is the birthplace of the United States Marine Corps, and is also the home of many US firsts, including the first library (1731), hospital (1751), medical school (1765), national capital (1774), stock exchange (1790), zoo (1874), and business school (1881).

There are many songs about the city to choose from; from Elton John's chart-topping Philadelphia Freedom to Bruce Springsteen's Oscar-winning The Streets Of Philadelphia. I have a soft spot, however, for another song that was also featured on the movie Philadelphia- and was Oscar-nominated. It's Neil Young's Philadelphia:

For the city at #13, we travel to the West Coast of the US. San Francisco is one of the five cities in this list that I've actually visited - and a lovely city it is. Before the AIDS crisis it used to be the gay capital of the world, is it still? It is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is also the fourth-most populous city in California and the thirteenth most populous in the United States.

San Francisco was founded on June 29, 1776, when colonists from Spain established Presidio of San Francisco at the Golden Gate and Mission San Francisco de Asís a few miles away, all named for St. Francis of Assisi. The California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856. After three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a major port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. It then became the birthplace of the United Nations in 1945. After the war, the confluence of returning servicemen, significant immigration, liberalizing attitudes, along with the rise of the hippie counterculture, the Sexual Revolution, the Peace Movement growing from opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War, and other factors led to the Summer of Love and the gay rights movement, cementing San Francisco as a center of liberal activism in the United States.

San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) is a song written by John Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas and sung by Scott McKenzie. It was written and released in June 1967 to promote the Monterey Pop Festival. It peaked at #4 in the US, while it went all the way to the top of the charts in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, and Norway:

We move north for the city at #12, more specifically to Canada and its largest city, Toronto. Indigenous peoples have traveled through and inhabited the Toronto area, situated on a broad sloping plateau interspersed with rivers, deep ravines, and urban forest, for more than 10,000 years. After the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase, when the Mississaugas surrendered the area to the British Crown, the British established the town of York in 1793 and later designated it as the capital of Upper Canada. During the War of 1812, the town was the site of the Battle of York and suffered heavy damage by US troops. York was renamed and incorporated as the city of Toronto in 1834 and became the capital of the province of Ontario during Canadian Confederation in 1867.

Toronto is an international center for business and finance, as well as a prominent center for music, theatre, motion picture production, and television production.

There are many famous musicians hailing from Toronto, the most famous recording artist on the planet right now, Drake, among them. But the song I want to dedicate to Toronto comes from a less famous, but certainly more eclectic Toronto band, the Cowboy Junkies. Their cover of the Velvet Underground's Sweet Jane is very inspired. It was also used on the soundtrack of Oliver Stone's controversial film, Natural Born Killers. Here it is:

Finally, for today, we go south once more for the city at #11, which is Houston. Houston isis the most populous city in the state of Texas and the fourth most populous city in the United States.

Houston was founded by land speculators on August 30, 1836, at the confluence of Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou (a point now known as Allen's Landing) and incorporated as a city on June 5, 1837. The city is named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas and had won Texas' independence from Mexico at the Battle of San Jacinto 25 miles (40 km) east of Allen's Landing. After briefly serving as the capital of the Republic in the late 1830s, Houston grew steadily into a regional trading center for the remainder of the 19th century. The arrival of the 20th century saw a convergence of economic factors which fueled rapid growth in Houston, including a burgeoning port and railroad industry, the decline of Galveston as Texas' primary port following a devastating 1900 hurricane, the subsequent construction of the Houston Ship Channel, and the Texas oil boom. In the mid-20th century, Houston's economy diversified as it became home to the Texas Medical Center - the world's largest concentration of healthcare and research institutions - and NASA's Johnson Space Center, where the Mission Control Center is located.

The city has a population from various ethnic and religious backgrounds and a large and growing international community. Houston is the most diverse metropolitan area in Texas and has been described as the most racially and ethnically diverse major metropolis in the US.

The song that I chose to dedicate to our friends in Houston is one that actually gives a shout out to the city: At the beginning of the song, Bell introduces himself and the Drells as being from Houston, Texas. It is, of course, the classic #1 Tighten Up, by Archie Bell & the Drells. This is it:

Here are this week's Top 10 countries (I give a special mention to Vietnam, which, for a 2nd week in a row, is found in the top 10):

1. the United States

2. the United Kingdom

3. Greece

4. Vietnam

5. Canada

6. Germany

7. Australia

8. France

9. Russia

10. Brazil

Here are the other countries that graced us with their presence since our last statistics (alphabetically): Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Austria, Azerbaijan, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bermuda, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Guam, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, US Virgin Islands, and Zambia. Happy to have you all!

And here's the all-time Top 10:

1. the United States = 29.8%

2. France = 21.5%

3. the United Kingdom = 12.7%

4. Greece = 6.9%

5. Russia = 2.4%

6. Germany = 1.8%

7. Canada = 1.7%

8. Italy = 1.2%

9. Turkey = 0.90%

10. Cyprus = 0.83%

That's all for today, folks. Till the next one!

The Motown Top 250 Countdown (#220-216) & This Week's Statistics

Hello, my friends, old and new! The weekend is here, which means it's time for our countdown and our statistics: I have something special for you in the latter. More in a minute...

At #220 we find All of My Life by Diana Ross, a top 10 hit single in the UK, included in the album Touch Me in the Morning, which was released in 1973 and was a top 5 hit in the US (#1 R&B). Here it is:

The song was written by Michael Randall. Another song of his that was included in this album was Leave A Little Room. It's a nice song, so I thought I'd play it. I chose to play the version by the 5th Dimension, one of Record Man's favorite groups:

At #219 is another classic by Marvin Gaye. This time it's Too Busy Thinking About My Baby, which he released as a single in 1969, Marvin' second biggest hit of the 1960s after I Heard It Through the Grapevine. Too Busy Thinking About My Baby peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, and remained at the number one position on Billboard's Black Singles Chart for six consecutive weeks, from the weeks of, June 7 until July 12, 1969 with sales totaling 1.5 million copies The single was the top-selling R&B single of the year. It was also a top 5 hit in the UK.

The song was written by Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong, and Janie Bradford. It was first recorded by The Temptations as a track on their 1966 album Gettin' Ready. Eddie Kendricks sings lead on the recording, which was produced by Whitfield. Whitfield produced Gaye's version as well. These are The Temptations with the original version:

At #218 is a song called Who's Lovin' You. This song made the rounds at Motown, with The Miracles, The Supremes, and The Temptations all recording their own versions of it. Being written by Smokey Robinson, it was only natural that the original version was by his group, the Miracles, in 1960. It was the B-side to the Miracles' absolute classic, Shop Around. This is what I call value-for-money! Here it is:

Surprisingly, it was young Michael Jackson who absolutely nailed it, delivering a beyond-his-years lovelorn performance on the track with the Jackson 5. This is it:

At #217 we find The Temptations and their 1973 opus, Masterpiece. The song, almost 14-minutes-long, was one of the 15 US R&B #1 singles that The Temptations had in their illustrious career. It was also a #7 hit on the Hot 100. The song's architect, Norman Whitfield, titled the song Masterpiece because he felt it was a perfect blending of strings, horns, rhythm players, voices, studio tricks, and sweetening elements. However, the word 'masterpiece' does not appear in the song's lyrics, which do not point to anything obvious from which to draw a title. As with their Whitfield-produced hit from the previous year, Papa Was a Rollin' Stone, the Temptations do not make their first appearance until after a long instrumental section. This added to already building tension between the group and Whitfield and led some music writers to start referring to the Temps as "the Norman Whitfield Choral Singers". It would be their last Top Ten pop hit with Motown Records, and, not counting their collaboration with Rod Stewart in 1991, their last Top Ten pop hit at all.

Finally for today, at #216, is a song from 1970 called Mama's Pearl, by The Jackson 5. The song came after 4 consecutive #1 singles, starting from the first single they ever released. Mama's Pearl peaked at #2 and so did their next single, which means that their first six singles made the top 2 in the US. Not bad at all...

The song was also a #2 R&B hit, as well as peaking at #25 in the UK. It was written, produced, and arranged by The Corporation (Berry Gordy, Alphonzo Mizell, Freddie Perren and Deke Richards) who were responsible for many of Motown's biggest hits. The song, while sung mostly by Michael featured cameo spots from brothers Jermaine and Jackie. According to a Jackson biographer, Mama's Pearl was originally called Guess Who's Making Whoopie (With Your Girlfriend). Producer Deke Richards reportedly had the lyrics and title changed to preserve Michael Jackson's youthful, innocent image.

This is the original version:

Here is a live version, in a medley with The Love You Save:

Now, let's continue with last week's statistics; I will give you the usual weekly and all-time lists, but, instead of commenting on them, I'll try something new. This blog has been alive for 28 months now and since August 1, 2016, I also have data concerning the visiting cities. So, that's almost 2 years' worth of data. I want to honor these cities, so I decided on a small countdown, the top 20 cities with the most visits in the last two years, presenting five each week and dedicating a song to each one. If you don't see your own city in the top 20, feel free to ask about its placing in the comments' section, I'll be happy to give you the exact position of your city. Let's begin with positions #20-#16.

At #20 we find Sandton, an affluent area situated in the Johannesburg Municipality, Gauteng, South Africa. The name comes from the combination of two of its suburbs, Sandown and Bryanston. In 1969 Sandton was promulgated as a municipality in its own right but lost its status as an independent town after the re-organization of South African local governments. Despite this, Sandton is still unofficially earmarked as a distinct region of the city and operates as a macro-suburb.

An important event took place in Sandton in the 1960s: The Rivonia Trial derives its name from the locality of Liliesleaf Farm within the Sandton suburb where many of the Black freedom fighters such as Nelson Mandela were captured by the South African state and subsequently tried for treason. Therefore, I've decided to dedicate to all our friends in Sandton the song Free Nelson Mandela by The Special A.K.A. (1984). Unlike most protest songs, the track is upbeat and celebratory, drawing on musical influences from South Africa. The song peaked at #9 on the UK Singles Chart and was immensely popular in Africa. Here it is:

At #19 is a city from the United States, the country that has the most cities in the twenty. Charlotte is the most populous city in the US state of North Carolina. Located in Piedmont, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. Between 2004 and 2014, Charlotte was ranked as the country's fastest-growing metro area, with 888,000 new residents. Wilbert Harrison was one of Charlotte's illustrious native sons. His biggest hit was the million-seller Kansas City, but, obviously, this is not the song that I chose. I dedicate to my friends in Charlotte, Harrison's other big hit, Let’s Work Together from 1970. Harrison's version was a top 40 US hit and the song was later a hit for Canned Heat and then for Bryan Ferry as Let's Stick Together. here it is:

For the city at #18, we travel to Australia. Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Port Jackson and sprawls about 70 km (43.5 miles) on its periphery. The city includes the amazing Sydney Opera House, a tourist landmark of international importance.

Samuel Falson (born 8 November 1982), better known by his stage name Sam Sparro, was born in Sydney. He is also openly gay - and will be the subject of one of our future stories. His biggest hit was Black And Gold in 2009, a top 10 single and platinum record in the UK, as well as a gold record in Australia and Italy and a Grammy nominee. This is the song that I dedicate to our friends from Sydney:

We return to the US for #17, to one of the most musical cities in the United States. After all, it's the city of origin of our current Motown Countdown. Detroit is the most populous city in the US state of Michigan, the largest city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of Wayne County. It is best known as the center of the US automobile industry, and the "Big Three" auto manufacturers General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler are all headquartered in Metro Detroit.

Detroit's diverse culture has had both local and international influence, particularly in music, with the city giving rise to the genres of Motown and techno, and playing an important role in the development of jazz, hip-hop, rock, and punk music. I could dedicate to our friends in Detroit any of the songs of the Motown Countdown, but that would be lazy. So, my Detroit friends, I dedicate to you Panic In Detroit (1973) one of the great songs by one of my favorite artists of all-time, David Bowie. Here it is:

Finally, for today, the city at #16 is one of the most famous cities in Europe: Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany, as well as the second most populous city proper in the European Union behind London and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union. First documented in the 13th century, Berlin is a world city of culture, politics, media, and science. During the period between the two World Wars, Berlin was also the gay capital of the world. I fully advise you to read Christopher Isherwood's Christopher And His Kind, which fully chronicles the gay atmosphere of Berlin in the early 1930s.

The song that I chose to dedicate to our friends in Berlin is one that I love a lot, Drowning in Berlin, a top 10 hit single in the UK in 1981 by the Mobiles. This is it:

Here are this week's Top 10 countries:

1. the United States

2. Greece

3. the United Kingdom

4. Canada

5. Italy

6. France

7. Germany

8. Australia

9. Brazil

10. Vietnam

Here are the other countries that graced us with their presence since our last statistics (alphabetically): Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Bermuda, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Ghana, Guyana, Hong Kong, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Macau, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar (Burma), the Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Happy to have you all!

And here's the all-time Top 10:

1. the United States = 29.6%

2. France = 21.7%

3. the United Kingdom = 12.7%

4. Greece = 6.9%

5. Russia = 2.4%

6. Germany = 1.8%

7. Canada = 1.7%

8. Italy = 1.2%

9. Turkey = 0.91%

10. Cyprus = 0.84%

Before I leave you, let me congratulate my French friends for their amazing win at the World Cup Final, which I've been watching as I was writing this. I'm a multi-tasker.

That's all for today, folks. Till the next one!