2007: Top 25 Albums

First posted 1/8/2021.

Dave’s Music Database: Top Albums of 2007

Based on a combination of year-end lists and overall status in Dave’s Music Database, these are the top 25 albums of 2007: Radiohead In Rainbows LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Raising Sand Rihanna Good Girl Gone Bad Bruce Springsteen Magic Kanye West Graduation High School Musical 2 (TV soundtrack) M.I.A. Kala Arctic Monkeys Favourite Worst Nightmare Alicia Keys As I Am Arcade Fire Neon Bible Eagles Long Road Out of Eden Foo Fighters Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace Norah Jones Not Too Late Burial Untrue The White Stripes Icky Thump The National Boxer Leona Lewis Spirit Miranda Lambert Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Britney Spears Blackout Michael Bublé Call Me Irresponsible Linkin Park Minutes to Midnight Mika Life in Cartoon Motion Spoon Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Josh Groban Noel Resources and Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: “Top 25 Albums by Year” Dave’s Music Database: “Other Year-End Album Awards”

Don Tyler: Top 1000+ Songs, 1900-1955

The Top 1000+ Songs from 1900 to 1955 According to Don Tyler

Author Don Tyler published Hit Parade 1920-1955 in 1985. It featured more than 800 songs, organized by year and listed by song title with the songwriters indicated. In 2007, he expanded the work in Hit Songs, 1900-1955 – this time with over 1200 titles. Between the two works, he cited more than 1400 titles. They are listed here in alphabetical order by song titles followed by the songwriters, the highest-ranked version of the song in Dave’s Music Database, and the year of its release. Click here to see other lists from critics and individuals and here to see other lists from publications and/or organizations.

A

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
A – You’re Adorable (The Alphabet Song)	Sid Lippman, Buddy Kaye, Fred Wise	Perry Como & the Fontane Sisters with Mitchell Ayres Orchestra	1949

B

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

C

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

D

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

E

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

F

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

G

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

H

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

I

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

J

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

K

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

L

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

M

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

N

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

O

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

P

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

Q

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

R

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

S

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

T

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

U

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

V

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

W

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

X

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

Y

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

Z

SONG	WRITER(S), m = music, w = words	Performer with Highest Rated Version	Year
Song	Songwriters	Artist	Year

Resources/Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: lists from critics and individuals Dave’s Music Database: lists from publications and/or organizations Don Tyler (1985). Hit Parade 1920-1955. Quill – William Morrow: New York, NY. Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. First posted 12/3/2022.

50 years ago: The Music Man opened on Broadway

The Music Man Meredith Willson (music & lyrics)

The Musical

Opened on Broadway: December 19, 1957 Number of Performances: 1375 Opened at London’s West End: March 16, 1961 Number of Performances: 395

Cast Album

Charted: February 24, 1958 Peak: 112 US Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Genre: show tunes

Soundtrack

Charted: August 11, 1962 Peak: 2 US, 14 UK Sales (in millions): 0.5 US Genre: show tunes

Songs on Cast Album: Main Title/ Rock Island Iowa Stubborn Ya Got Trouble Piano Lesson If You Don’t Mind My Saying So s Goodnight, My Someone Ya Got Trouble s Seventy Six Trombones Sincere The Sadder But Wiser Girl for Me Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little Goodnight Ladies c Marian the Librarian My White Knight c Being in Love s Gary, Indiana s The Wells Fargo Wagon It’s You c Shipoopi * Lida Rose/ Will I Ever Tell You? Gary, Indiana Till There Was You Goodnight, My Someone s Seventy Six Trombones s Finale c * Track comes right before “Till There Was You” on soundtrack. c indicates song that appears only on cast album. s indicates song that appears only on soundtrack. Singles/Hit Songs: As was common in the pre-rock era and early days of rock and roll, songs from musicals were often recorded by artists not associated with the musical and released as singles. Here are some of the most notable hit singles resulting from the show: “Till There Was You” – Anita Bryant (#30, 1959), Valjean (#100, 1962)

Rating: 4.478 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings for cast album and soundtrack combined) Awards (Cast Album and Soundtrack): (Click on award to learn more).

About the Show: “The original Broadway cast of Meredith Willson’s most successful musical was headed by Robert Preston, who played the part of Harold Hill, a conman” R-C “intent on swindling the good people of River City, IA, by selling them on a fictitious boys' band.” R-S “Willson concentrates on percussive effects and rapid-fire spiels for Preston, though the musical standout is Barbara Cook as Marian the Librarian. Highlights of this perennial hit show include Seventy-Six Trombones and Till There Was You.” R-S “Coming along in the summer of 1962, four and a half years after the Broadway opening, the film version of The Music Man appeared in an era when Hollywood was more likely to be faithful to stage musicals, rather than dramatically altering them, as had been the practice in the past. R-S The movie version “found Robert Preston re-creating his starring role as conman Professor Harold Hill…and some minor roles were also filled by the Broadway originals. More important, Meredith Willson’s score was rendered intact, the only change being a revision of the song My White Knight into Being in Love.” R-S “The major casting change was the substitution of Shirley Jones, who had a box-office track record, for Barbara Cook, who did not, in the role of Marian the librarian. Cook may have been preferable, but Jones handled the part well, too.” R-S “Musically, the big change had to do with scale; the Broadway pit orchestra and original cast were replaced by a vast Hollywood orchestra and chorus, and musical director Ray Heindorf made the most of the larger effects on songs like ‘Seventy Six Trombones’.” R-S “Still, the music fan who already owned a copy of the original Broadway cast recording didn’t really need to plump for the original motion picture soundtrack, which didn’t keep the album from racing up the charts…as the film became one of the year’s top grossers. But it remains true; unless you are a Shirley Jones fan or want to hear future Andy Griffith Show co-star and film director Ronnie Howard sing Gary, Indiana with a lisp, stick to the Broadway version.” R-S

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Meredith Willson R-C William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide (cast album) R-S William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide (soundtrack) First posted 5/19/2011; last updated 12/23/2021.

50 years ago: Sam Cooke “You Send Me” hit #1

You Send Me Sam Cooke

Writer(s): Charles “L.C.” Cooke (see lyrics here) Released: September 7, 1957 First Charted: October 14, 1957 Peak: 13 US, 12 BS, 11 DJ, 2 HP, 13 CB, 14 HR, 16 RB, 29 UK, 12 CN, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 5.0 radio, 9.5 video, 125.63 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: In many ways, Sam Cooke was “the most important Black musician of the late fifties and early sixties.” AH “Without him it’s doubtful…we would have the genre of soul as we know it today.” AH As a teenager in Chicago in the 1940s, he performed in gospel groups. Eventually he became the lead singer of the Soul Stirrers, a group dating back to 1926, and became “one of gospel music’s greatest stars.” SS By 1956, producer Bumps Blackwell was convinced that Cooke needed to go solo as a secular artist. His first recording session in New Orleans produced the ballad “Lovable.” It was released under the name Dale Cook so as to not tarnish his image as a gospel singer, but fans quickly figured out who it really was. It sold 15,000 copies and failed to chart. SS Cooke decided it was time to go all in with his own name and a new sound. He sent a six-song demo to Blackwell of himself accompanied only by a guitar. One of the songs was “You Send Me.” SS After they went into the studio to record it, Specialty record executive Art Rupe was “furious…declaring that instead of the exciting gospel-fired singer he’d been expecting, he was getting a bland white-style balladeer.” SS He was also “horrified” by the song featuring white backing vocalists. AH Blackwell and Cooke left Specialty for Keen Records, a label started just four months earlier. “You Send Me” was released as a single. So that Specialty wouldn’t get any of the royalties, the songwriting credit was given to Cooke’s brother. A Detroit DJ named Casey Kasem (later the host of syndicated radio show American Top 40) helped break the song to mainstream white radio SS and it soared to #1. It became Cooke’s “most famous number and the one that is still most closely associated with him.” DJ Resources: AH Andrew Hickey (2021). A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs: Volume 2. Pages 109-119. DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 223. SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 618-9. Related Links: First posted 8/6/2023.

 

Alicia Keys hit #1 with “No One”

No One Alicia Keys

Writer(s): Alicia Keys, Kerry Brothers Jr., George M. Harry (see lyrics here) Released: September 11, 2007 First Charted: September 8, 2007 Peak: 15 US, 114 BA, 12 DG, 16 RR, 9 AC, 9 A40, 110 RB, 6 UK, 2 CN, 3 AU, 5 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 11.0 US, 1.2 UK, 13.61 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.8 radio, 745.2 video, 735.29 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Keys told Billboard magazine “This is one song that just wrote itself. A lot of the snogs didn’t happen like that. It was one of the last songs I wrote. I needed to say this. It’s full force, classical yet vintage, desperate yet triumphant. I want people to feel my soul.” BB She told MTV News Canada that the song is about “the way that so many things are around you all time to try to distract you” WK in relationships. While Keys sometimes had a tendency “towards bloat, overstuffing her songs and albums with not particularly original ideas; she’s pared down her vision since, becoming both more disciplined and more eccentric.” DS With “No One,” however, she created “perhaps the most straightforward, even basic pop this decade has seen, are so obvious as to convert even the most chart-skeptical.” DS Popjustice called it one of her best singles to date. WK Digital Spy’s Alex Fletcher called it a “simplistic yet beautiful, fluttering, piano-tinkling ballad.” WK Paste’s David Mead said it “showcases a new depth and width to the tone of her voice.” WK It was the most-listened-to song on American radio in 2008 with 3.08 billion listeners, SF as evidenced by the song topping multiple Billboard pop and R&B-oriented charts. For the week ending December 29, 2007, Keys became the first artist in the history of the R&B/hip-hop charts to have songs at #1 and #2 (“Like You’ll Never See Me Again”) without help from any duet partners or featured artists. SF The song did well internationally as well, hitting #1 in Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Hungary, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and Turkey. SF Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Alicia Keys BB Billboard (9/08). “All-Time Hot 100” DS Don’t Stay Up Too Late (blog) SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Last updated 8/6/2023.