Titanic soundtrack hit #1

Titanic (soundtrack) James Horner (composer)

Released: November 18, 1997 Peak: 116 US, 13 UK, 111 CN, 111 AU Sales (in millions): 12.0 US, 1.0 UK, 30.0 world (includes US and UK), 36.56 EAS Genre: film score

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. Never an Absolution Distant Memories Southhampton (3/14/98, 55 BA, 22 AC) Rose Leaving Port Take Her to Sea, Mr. Murdoch Hard to Starboard Unable to Stay, Unwilling to Leave The Sinking Death of Titanic A Promise Kept A Life So Changed An Ocean of Memories My Heart Will Go On (CELINE DION) (12/8/97, 12 BB, 110 BA, 19 GR, 19 RR, 110 AC, 3 A40, 12 UK, 16 CN, 14 AU, 6 DF Hymn to the Sea (JAMES HORNER/ CELINE DION)

Rating: 4.215 out of 5.00 (average of 18 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: There have certainly been iconic instrumental themes associated with movies in the past – who doesn’t know the mencing thump from Jaws or the majestic sweep of Star Wars? Still, no full-fledged movie score has been more successful than James Horner’s Titanic. Much like “director James Cameron’s 20th-century melodrama,” AZ the soundtack became a commercial juggernaut the likes of which no one had seen before. Horner’s Academy-winning “score is grand, without falling into typical melodrama, and delicately romantic, without being sickly sentimental; it offers genuine emotion and excitement, with the haunting vocals of Norwegian singer Sissel providing a nice counterpoint to Horner’s blend of strings, vocals, orchestras, and synthesizers.” AM “And what can we say about Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On; would ‘ubiquitous’ suffice?” AZ The song “may feel a little like an afterthought, especially after experiencing Horners wrenching, affecting score, but its heart is in the right place.” AM The song bears the unique distinction of propelling two albums to the top of the charts. It wasn’t surprising that Dion’s Let’s Talk about Love topped the charts, but “Titanic was the first soundtrack to reach the No. 1 slot on the Billboard charts in two decades.” AZ If that wasn’t enough, the song also pushed both albums to 30 million in sales globally. “Nevertheless, it is Horner’s instrumental work and its whirlwind of emotions that makes the score of Titanic a voyage worth repeating.” AM “Horner’s combination of synths, chorale, and orchestra perfectly underscores the action…It’s a finely honed piece of Hollywood craftsmanship from a composer who has tackled more musically adventuresome projects in his career.” AZ

Reviews: AM AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine AZ Amazon.com review by Jery McCulley Related DMDB Links: First posted 4/28/2010; last updated 7/17/2025.

On This Day (1948): T-Bone Walker “Call It Stormy Monday” charted

Call It Stormy Monday T-Bone Walker

Writer(s): Aaron Walker (see lyrics here) Released: November 1947 First Charted: January 24, 1948 Peak: 5 RB, 4 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1.27 video, 16.40 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Aaron Thibeaux “T-Bone” Walker is often called “the father of electric blues.” SS He “deeply influenced virtually every guitarist during the decade following World War II” SS with his blend of blues and jazz guitar. UP As early as 1935, he experimented with a protype of an amplified guitar. SS He went fully electric in 1939. SS B.B. King said, “Musically, he was everything I wanted to be.” SS Walker was born in Linden, Texas in 1910. He grew up “steeped in the northeast Texas blues scene” SS learning from legends such as Leadbelly and Blind Lemon Jefferson. He worked with legends such as Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Cab Calloway, and Charlie Christian. He made his recording debut in 1929 but it was “Call It Stormy Monday,” recorded nearly two decades later, “that made him a legend.” SS King said, “I especially loved ‘Stormy Monday’…’cause it’s the true-life story of a workingman.” SS The lyrics explore the sadness he feels each day of the week. “As if the classic lyrics sung so smoothly by Walker weren't enough…his sophisticated, jazzy electric guitar work introduced a whole new element into blues guitar playing, both in his single string soloing and his memorable chording.” BH It is “one of the most influential records not only in blues history, but in guitar history.” BH “It became a song that virtually every blues band had to know; in fact, it was also required learning for countless jazz, soul, pop, and rock performers who may have had no other blues songs in their entire repertoires.” BH “Stormy Monday” was one of the first five inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and only the second blues song inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for T-Bone Walker BH Blues Hall of Fame by Jim O’Neal UP University of Pittsburgh “Voices Across Time: Call It Stormy Monday” SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 68-70. WK Wikipedia First posted 9/7/2023.

 

Kenny Wayne Shepherd “Blue on Black” charted

Blue on Black Kenny Wayne Shepherd

Writer(s): Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Mark Selby, Tia Sillers (see lyrics here) Released: April 7, 1998 First Charted: January 24, 1998 Peak: 78 US, 8 AA, 16 AR, 12 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 52.1 video, 48.96 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: In the wake of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s death in 1990, several white blues artists emerged during the nineties as possible heirs to his throne. The most successful of these was Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Born in 1977 in Shreveport, Louisiana, he began seriously playing guitar at age 7 after meeting Vaughan. Shepherd released his first album, Ledbetter Heights, in 1995 when he was 18 years old. That album gave him a top-10 mainstream rock hit with “Déjà Voodoo,” but he found even greater success with 1997’s Trouble Is, an album which produced four top-10 hits on the mainstream rock chart. The most successful of these – and the biggest hit of Shepherd’s career – was “Blue on Black.” The song not only reached #1, but was ranked as Billboard’s top rock track of 1998. GN It was also Shepherd’s only chart hit on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching #78. Shepherd wrote the song with the husband-and-wife team of Mark Selby and Tia Sillers. Shepherd and Selby had the music down and then Sillers (who also co-wrote Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance”) came up with the idea for the lyrics. She noticed Shepherd’s shirt, which was blue on black. As he said, “if you mix those two colors together, black consumes the blue.” WK It became a “powerful metaphor for a one-sided or broken relationship.” SF Billboard magazine described the song as a “widely appealing meld of brooding southern rock, searing blues guitar and alt-country touches.” WK The heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch recorded the song for their 2018 album And Justice for None. A single was released which featured Shepherd as well as Queen guitarist Brian May and country singer Brantley Gilbert. It also reached #1 on the mainstream rock chart and was a #66 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Proceeds were given to the Gary Sinise Foundation, which aids veterans and first responders. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Kenny Wayne Shepherd SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 12/23/2022.

Today in Music (1948): Mahalia Jackson charted with “Move on Up a Little Higher”

Move on Up a Little Higher Mahalia Jackson

Writer(s): Rev. William Herbert Brewster (see lyrics here) First Charted: January 24, 1948 Peak: 21 US (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 8.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.93 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The Reverend William Herbert Brewster composed “Move on Up” almost as a sermon in which he built up the imagery of a “Christian climbing the ladder to heaven.” WK It was originally intended for one of his religious pageants or passion plays. WK However, the song also had a strong undercurrent about civil rights for “black Americans’ gradual ascent to economic and social power.” TM The reverend acknowledged that “There were things that were almost dangerous to say, but you could sing it.” TM When it came to singing it, the task was put to Mahalia Jackson, “The Queen of Gospel.” She was born in New Orleans in 1911 and, at age 16, moved to Chicago where she joined a Baptist church choir. She also listened to blues recordings by Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and others. SS In 1929, she met Thomas A. Dorsey, a composer often heralded as “The Father of Gospel Music.” Over the next decade and a half, she toured singing his songs. While she gained a name for herself, it was after signing to Apollo in 1947 that she gained her greatest fame. In her hands, “Move on Up” transcended the boundaries of gospel music and thrust itself upon the secular world as well. The recording “transformed her career, and the history of gospel.” SS It found an audience with whites and blacks alike, making royalties of $300,000 in its first year of release, unheard of for a gospel song. SS It has reportedly become the best-selling gospel song to date. NRR The song starts out setting up “the story from earth to heaven” SS before relating “Mahalia’s meeting with all of the heroes of the Bible, as well as family members and friends.” SS Her singing was accompanied only by the standard church instruments of piano and organ, but her “delivery has the rhythm of preaching and the force of a lightning storm.” TM She blended “the vocal styles of blues singers, such as Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey, with the heartfelt emotion and commitment common to traditional gospel singing.” NRR Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Mahalia Jackson NRR National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress The Full National Recording Registry SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 193-5. TM Time magazine (10/24/2011). “All Time 100 Songs” WK Wikipedia.org First posted 1/24/2012; last updated 3/31/2023.

Savage Garden “Truly Madly Deeply” hit #1

Truly Madly Deeply Savage Garden

Writer(s): Darren Hayes, Daniel Jones (see lyrics here) Released: March 3, 1997 First Charted: April 6, 1997 Peak: 12 BB, 15 BA, 12 GR, 13 RR, 111 AC, 2 A40, 4 UK, 11 CN, 18 AU, 19 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, 1.2 UK, 2.22 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.7 radio, 532.33 video, 478.86 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Savage Garden was a pop duo consisting of singer Darren Hayes and instrumentalist Daniel Jones which formed in Australia in 1993. The name was inspired by the works of author Anne Rice, FB best known for Interview with the Vampire. They “weren’t part of a cultural wave, and they didn’t belong to any particular genre or scene.” SG “They were two faintly anonymous-looking white guys…and there was nothing especially outwardly interesting about them…The duo made lighter-than-air earworms that would simply become a part of your environment.” SG They only released two albums before splitting in 2001. Their first album, a self-titled release in 1997, went seven times platinum and generated the hits “I Want You” (#4 BB), “To the Moon and Back” (#24 BB), and “Truly Madly Deeply” (#1 BB). Hayes wrote the latter song (originally called “Magical Kisses”) about his wife, but it didn’t have a chorus initially. He eventually came up “with a bit about wanting to stand with you in the mountain, to bathe with you in the sea, to lay like this forever until the sky falls down.” It is “a perfectly composed piece of sentimental gibberish.” SG He rewrote the lyrics in a café the night before the duo was set to record it in the studio FB and retitled the song “Truly Madly Deeply,” after a 1990 Anthony Minghella film. Hayes only wanted to put it on the album as a bonus track but the duo’s producer, Charles Fisher, knew it was a hit. SG Not only did the song top the Billboard Hot 100, but it proved to be a monstrous success on the adult contemporary chart. It set a record, spending 123 weeks on that chart. Two years later, Savage Garden broke their own record when “I Knew I Loved You” spent 124 weeks on the chart. RC Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Savage Garden FB Fred Bronson (2007). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (4th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 861. RC Rod Couch (2015). The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era: 1955-2015. Page 312. SG Stereogum (5/23/2022). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan WK Wikipedia First posted 4/23/224.