Bonnie Raitt’s Nick of Time wins Grammy for Album of the Year

Nick of Time Bonnie Raitt

Released: March 21, 1989 Charted: April 15, 1989 Peak: 13 US, 51 UK, -- CN, 58 AU, 4 DF Sales (in millions): 5.6 US, -- UK, 5.9 world (includes US and UK) Genre: blues-rock

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. Nick of Time (9/16/89, 92 BB, 10 AC, 82 UK, 1 DF) Thing Called Love (3/18/89, 11 AR, 15 DF) Love Letter (6/24/89, 49 AR, 35 AC, 73 CN, 16 DF) Cry on My Shoulder (37 DF) Real Man (19 DF) Nobody’s Girl (34 DF) Have a Heart (2/3/90, 49 BB, 3 AC, 16 CN, 19 DF)) Too Soon to Tell (38 DF) I Will Not Be Denied (37 DF) I Ain’t Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again The Road’s My Middle Name (32 DF) Total Running Time: 42:31

Rating: 4.113 out of 5.00 (average of 20 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About Bonnie Raitt Blues-rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist Bonnie Raitt was born in 1949 in Burbank, California. She got her start playing with Mississippi Fred McDowell at the Philadelphia Folk Festival and as an opening act for John Hammond at the Gaslight Café in New York. Word spread about her performance after she was seen by a reporter from Newsweek. She signed a record deal with Warner Bros. and released her debut album in 1971. Raitt established herself as “an exquisite interpretive singer and formidable guitarist who’d long ago honed her bluesy chops.” AZ She became “a reliable cult artist, delivering a string of solid records that were moderate successes and usually musically satisfying.” AM They were “generally superb, commercially underachieving recordings.” AZ No Overnight Sensation However, in the mid-‘80s her career “looked to be heading for the graveyard.” RD when her ninth album, Nine Lives, failed to reach the top 100 on the Billboard album chart and Warner Bros. dropped her. She signed with Capitol Records and made one of the greatest comebacks in music history. Tenth album Nick of Time, was “the watershed moment in Bonnie Raitt’s recording career, the sound of a survivor finding new focus and purpose in her art after nearly 20 years.” AZ She combined her “usual gourmet spread of smart cover choices with her own candid songs.” AZ They “resonated with her persona as a tough, smart, but ultimately tender woman.” AZ Don Was Most telling, however, was her decision to collaborate with producer Don Was. “The pairing seemed a little odd, since he was primarily known for the weird hipster funk of Was (Not Was) and the B-52’s’ quirky eponymous debut, but the match turned out to be inspired. Was used Raitt’s classic early-‘70s records as a blueprint, choosing to update the sound with a smooth, professional production and a batch of excellent contemporary songs.” AM “In this context, Raitt flourishes; she never rocks too hard, but there is grit to her singing and playing, even when the surfaces are clean and inviting.” AM It “catapulted a feisty rock tomboy into a new station that made her as admired by female fans as the stage door johnnies who’d long loved her rock technique.” AZ Grammy Surprise Raitt shocked the music industry when Nick of Time won the Grammy for Album of the Year in February 1990. She also picked up Grammys for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance (for the album) and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (for the title cut). That propelled the album up the charts, where it reached #1 more than a year after its release and went on to sell more than 5 million copies. It was a great comeback album that made for a great story, but the record never would have been a blockbuster success if it wasn’t for the music, which is among the finest Raitt ever made. She must have realized this, since Nick of Time served as the blueprint for the majority of her ‘90s albums.” AM “Nick of Time” “She knocked one over the fence with the opening track,” AZ, “the album’s title track” RD “which smoothly sets heartache to a toe-tapping beat.” RD It is “a moving confession of a boomer’s anxieties about age, death, and the impermanence of love.” AZ Other Songs “While she only has two original songs here, Nick of Time plays like autobiography, which is a testament to the power of the songs, performances, and productions.” AM Her cover of John Hiatt’s Thing Called Love is “a rowdy tune that would fit easily on modern ‘new country radio.” RD “Raitt honky-tonks her way through the powerful Love Letter,” RD one of two songs originally written and performed by Bonnie Hayes. The other was Have a Heart. All three songs reached one or more Billboard charts.

Resources: AM AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine AZ Amazon review by Sam Sutherland RD Robert Dimery (2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Quintet Publishing Limited: New York, NY. Page 627. Related DMDB Links: Last updated 12/3/2024.

50 years ago: Cliff Edwards charted with “When You Wish Upon a Star”

When You Wish Upon a Star Cliff Edwards with the Ken Darby Singers & Victor Young’s Orchestra

Writer(s): Leigh Harline (music), Ned Washington (words) (see lyrics here) First Charted: February 17, 1940 Peak: 10 US, 11 GA, 15 HP (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 13.2 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “When You Wish Upon a Star” may be the most recognizable of the Disney classics, and there have been many. The song was introduced in the animated Disney film, Pinocchio, by Cliff Edwards. He lent his voice to the character of Jiminy Cricket and crooned the sentimental ballad about the power of dreams. It won the Academy Award for Best Song and while that feat became run-of-the-mill for songs from Disney films in the 1990s (five times from 1989 to 1999), it would take nearly 50 years after “When You Wish Upon a Star” before another Disney song accomplished the feat. Edwards was a popular star in the 1920s and ‘30s known as Ukulele Ike. He worked in vaudeville, musical comedy, and film in the beginning of the sound era, but his career was in decline when he landed the part of Jiminy Cricket. His recording of “Star” was one of the first taken directly from a soundtrack and given a commercial release. NRR He was accompanied on the recording by Victor Young & His Orchestra as well as the Ken Darby Singers. PM Edwards’ “natural tenor and clear falsetto make the song a classic.” NRR Ned Washington and Leigh Harline wrote the song. Washington, the song’s lyricist, was prolific in writing songs for films while Harline served as a Disney staff composer. SF The song’s message about making dreams come true resonated; it would later become the theme for the Walt Disney Company, SB used in promotional campaigns for Disney’s theme parks. The first 7 notes of the melody are even used as the horn signal for the ships on the Disney cruise line. SF The song topped the jukebox charts for eight weeks and ranked among the year’s top sheet music sellers. TY Edwards’ version was one of four to hit the charts in 1940. His take on the song peaked at #10 while Glenn Miller took it to #1 and Guy Lombardo had a #5 hit. Horace Heidt also got to #12 with it. PM In 1960, Dion & the Belmonts charted with a top 30 version of the song. HT Chet Atkins, Rosemary Clooney, Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Billy Joel, and Olivia Newton-John are among the other artists to record the song. Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Cliff Edwards JA David A. Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 211. NRR National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress The Full National Recording Registry SB Songbook1.wordpress.com SF Songfacts.com TY Don Tyler (1985). Hit Parade 1920-1955. New York, NY: Quill. Page 104. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. Pages 146, 635. HT Joel Whitburn (2009). Top Pop Singles 1955-2008 (12th edition). Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. First posted 2/17/2013; last updated 10/4/2021.

Today in Music (1940): Glenn Miller hit #1 for the first of 13 weeks with “In the Mood”

In the Mood Glenn Miller

Writer(s):Andy Razaf, Joe Garland (see lyrics here) First Charted: October 7, 1939 Peak: 113 US, 5 GA, 9 HP, 13 UK, 120 AU (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 1.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 42.38 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “In the Mood” is “one of the best known musical themes of the World War II era” NRR and one of the big band era’s most recognizable songs. It was the biggest hit of 1940 WHC and of Miller’s career. The song, however, went through several others’ hands before it ended up with Miller. Joseph “Wingy” Manone, a New Orleans jazz trumpeter and bandleader, wrote and recorded a song in 1930 called “Tar Paper Stomp”. Thanks to copyright laws of the day, a song not written down and registered with the copyright office was fair game. WK Tin Pan Alley composers Joe Garland and Andy Razaf arranged “In the Mood” based on Manone’s song and the Edgar Hayes’ Orchestra recorded it in 1938. WK The song ended up in Artie Shaw’s hands, but the more-than-eight-minute arrangement was too long for him to record. SF Glenn Miller then arranged the song to include the famous tenor sax battle WK with solos by Tex and Al Klink as well as trumpeter Clyde Hurley. PM Chart purists debate the song’s true peak position. Miller’s “In the Mood” topped the jukebox list for 13 weeks, but it never hit the top 15 on the sheet music chart, which was generally considered the true mark of a song’s success at the time. WK The song enjoyed a chart life beyond the big band era. In 1953, Johnny Maddox went to #16 with it and Ernie Fields revived it for a #4 hit in 1959. At the end of the Beatles’ 1967 #1 hit “All You Need Is Love” the orchestra plays a snipet of “In the Mood”. SF Bette Midler had a minor hit with it in 1974. In 1977, Ray Stevens had a top 40 hit with a novelty version of the song in which he performed it bar-for-bar in clucking chicken sounds. That version was credited to the Henhouse Five Plus Two. In 1989, Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers’ #11 hit “Swing the Mood” fused “In the Mood” into a medley with early rock and roll hits. Resources: JA David A. Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 101. NRR National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress The Full National Recording Registry SF Songfacts.com TY Don Tyler (1985). Hit Parade 1920-1955. New York, NY: Quill. Page 98. WHC Joel Whitburn (1999). A Century of Pop Music. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. Page 59. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. Page 309. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 10/7/2011; last updated 8/16/2022.