500 words a day on whatever I want
Remarks: What an earworm! This was ringing in my head mercilessly the other week. It was the best-selling song in the UK in 1982 and a number-one hit throughout the Anglosphere except in Canada where it only went to #2. They are a one-hit wonder in the US, but in the UK this was [ ]
Remarks: Wow. I have not heard this in ages. It came out in 2000, going to #81 on the US R B chart. That was back when most of my music was on CDs (compact discs). I still have most of my CDs but no easy way to play them since at least 2022. I came [ ]
Remarks: This is my favourite Olivia Rodrigo song so far. It came out in May 2026 and in the first two months hit the top ten on pop charts throughout the Anglosphere, #5 in her native US, and #2 worldwide. So far. The video makes the song deeper still. See also: songs: the 2020s [ ]
Remarks: The year 1976 not only gave us Muskrat Love and the best song ever, but Disco Duck too! It went to #1 on the US pop chart and was a top-ten hit throughout the Anglosphere. . See also: songs: the 1970s also 1976: Diana Ross: Love Hangover Starland Vocal Band: Afternoon Delight Lyrics: [Intro: [ ]
Benjamin Netanyahu (1949- ), aka בִּנְיָמִין בִּיבִּי נְתַנְיָהוּ, aka Bibi, has been prime minister of Israel off and on for about 19 of the past 30 years: 1996 to 1999 2009 to 2021 2022 to present (2026) He faces voters on October 27th 2026 for the first time since the massacre of October 7th 2023, [ ]
The Economist wrote this in 2014: “Japan has about 500,000 non-naturalised Koreans, some of whom have come in the past couple of decades but many of whose families were part of a diaspora that arrived during Japan’s imperial era in the first half of the 20th century. They have long been targets of hostility. After [ ]
Remarks: This came out in the summer of 1963. It was the number one song on the US R B chart for four weeks. It is still a great song. It was written by Holland-Dozier-Holland, the same who wrote nearly every number-one hit sung by the Supremes. Linda Ronstadt covered this song in 1975. Martha Reeves [ ]
Remarks: Fifty years ago today, shortly after the Bicentennial, this was the number one song on the US pop chart, from July 10th to 23rd 1976. It was a top-20 hit throughout the Anglosphere. The band won a Grammy the following year for Best New Artist and then never had another hit. The songwriter, [ ]
Some songs I have posted about the US: 1939: Billie Holiday: Strange Fruit 1964: Sam Cooke: A Change Is Gonna Come 1965: Barry McGuire: Eve of Destruction 1968: Dion: Abraham, Martin and John 1969: Jimi Hendrix: The Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock. 1977: The Eagles: The Last Resort 1977: Schoolhouse Rock!: The Great [ ]
James Earl Jones reads the most famous part of Frederick Douglass s speech given on July 5th 1852. The Declaration of Independence, signed on July 4th 1776, said all men were created equal, but the war only freed White Protestant men of property. US history since then can be read as the slow, uncertain liberation of [ ]
Remarks: This came out in 1976 reaching #3 on the US R B chart and the top-40 on pop charts throughout the Anglosphere. It is one of those songs that I assumed I had already posted. I especially love the long version (posted above) where the violins come in at the 4:31 mark. See also: songs: [ ]
Remarks: Aged British rocker Roger Waters of Pink Floyd and Palestinian singer Mona Miari reimagine Comfortably Numb from Pink Floyd s album The Wall (1979). They flip a song of personal despair into one of hope for Gaza, which plays itself in the video in all of its bombed-out, betented horror. The Arabic parts of the [ ]
Remarks: This is my favourite Cher song not counting I Got You Babe (1965). It went to #1 on the US pop chart in 1974. She did not have another number-one hit till 24 years later Believe (1998). That must be some kind of record. The video above comes from 1973 when she sang [ ]
Remarks: Wow, they hardly ever make songs like this anymore. It is, by far, my favourite Olivia Dean song so far. It is not her best known song, but after nine months it has already reached the top-40 on pop charts across the Anglosphere. It is based on a sample from a 1971 song, [ ]
Remarks: This came out in the summer of 1970, reaching the top 3 on pop charts throughout the Anglosphere. It is one of those sad songs that sound happy. Because Cracklin Rosie is not a real woman. She is a store-bought woman , a poor man s lady a bottle of wine. Cracklin Rosé was a [ ]
Remarks: This came out in 1983 and it is still a great song. And it is not just me: right now, on May 24th 2026, it is the number one song in the whole world according to Billboard s Global 200. The video above has been seen over 2 billion times! Baby Shark watch out! See also: [ ]