Norah Jones “Don’t Know Why” wins 3 Grammys

Don’t Know Why Norah Jones

Writer(s): Jesse Harris (see lyrics here) Released: January 28, 2002 First Charted: May 25, 2002 Peak: 30 BB, 35 RR, 4 AC, 8 A40, 5 AA, 59 UK, 5 AU, 8 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 0.4 UK, 3.71 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.40 radio, 127.81 video, 679.38 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Singer/songwriter Geethali Norah Jones Shankar was born in 1979 in New York City. She was the daughter of Indian musician Ravi Shankar and American concert producer Sue Jones. She grew up with her mother in Texas after her parents separated in 1986. She had an affinity for the music of Billie Holiday and Bill Evans. In high school, she won Down Beat’s Student Music Award for Best Jazz Vocalist twice. She went to the University of North Texas to major in jazz piano. She met Jesse Harris when he and a group of musicians put on a cliic at the school. He later urged her to move to New York City to pursue music. SF She did so in 1999. She started performing with Harris, including the song “Don’t Know Why,” which he’d recorded for his own Jesse Harris & the Ferdinandos album in 1999. He “changed the key to fit her voice, added a drum beat, then recorded a demo of the song with Harris in October 2000.” SF The demo caught the attention of the jazz label Blue Note and they signed her to a record deal. Jones released her debut album, Come Away with Me, in 2002. The album’s blend of acoustic pop with soul and jazz became a surprise, slow-burning hit, reaching #1 on the Billboard album chart and racking up sales of more than 12 million in the U.S. alone. It won Grammys for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. Its lead single, “Don’t Know Why,” won Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Jones also won Best New Artist. As stated at Songfacts.com, “Many have enjoyed a latte at a coffee shop or filled in a crossword puzzle while…[‘Don’t Know Why’] plays as a mellow backdrop, but the lyric is anything but soothing. The singer is left catching teardrops in her hand when her lover is a no-show. According to…Harris, it's not autobiographical - he often writes songs about loss that have nothing to do with his personal life.” SF Resources: SF Songfacts Related Links: First posted 1/24/2026.

k.d. lang charted with “Constant Craving”

Constant Craving k.d. lang

Writer(s): k.d. lang, Ben Mink (see lyrics here) Released: April 27, 1992 First Charted: June 20, 1992 Peak: 38 BB, 29 CB, 17 GR, 17 RR, 2 AC, 15 UK, 8 CN, 38 AU, 8 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 16.5 video, 51.47 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Country singer/songwriter Kathryn Dawn “k.d.” Lang was born in 1961 in Alberta, Canada. She went to Red Deer College, became fascinated with Patsy Cline, and decided to become a professional singer. After she graduated in 1982, she responded to an ad posted by Jim Alexander. He was looking for a singer for his country-swing band. WK In the 1980s, lang released three albums with her band the Reclines and a solo album in 1987. On these albums, lang “was a country traditionalist with a difference…there was an intelligence and sly humor in her work that occasionally betrayed her history as a performance artist who entered the musical mainstream through the side door.” AM For her 1992 album Ingénue, lang “officially abandoned Nashville.” RD She transitioned from “a masterful and thoroughly enjoyable country singer” AM to “a far more introspective adult contemporary singer/songwriter.” AM The album’s lead single, “Constant Craving,” served as a great showcase for her new sound. As Billboard’s Larry Flick said, “There is no denying the rootsy, down-home quality of this wonderfully produced tune.” BB The song became her sole top 40 hit on the Billboard pop charts, effectively completing her transition from country to pop star. The song won a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and landed nominations for Song and Record of the Year. It helped lift Ingénue to platinum status – lang’s only album to do so – and garnered it a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Resources: AM AllMusic.com album review by Mark Deming BB Billboard (5/2/1992). “Single Reviews” by Larry Flick. Page 84. RD Robert Dimery (2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Quintet Publishing Limited: New York, NY. Page 688. TB Thunder Bay (2005). Albums: The Stories Behind 50 Years of Great Recordings. Thunder Bay Press; San Diego, CA. Page 267. WK Wikipedia page on k.d. lang Related Links: First posted 1/12/2025.

Clint Black “Killin’ Time” hit #1 on country chart

Killin’ Time Clint Black

Writer(s): Clint Black, Hayden Nicholas (see lyrics here) First Charted: July 15, 1989 Peak: 11 CW, 12 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 43.98 video, 60.4 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Country singer Clint Black was born in New Jersey in 1962. He signed to RCA Nashville and released his debut album, Killin’ Time, in 1989. The album produced four country chart-topping songs, including the title cut and “A Better Time,” which ranked #2 and #1 respectively on the Billboard year-end country chart. The Country Music Association awarded Black with the Horizon award for new and/or developing acts the same week that “Killin’ Time” hit #1 on the country chart. The song might be the album’s “most enduring and recognizable song, but it was also one of the last to be added to the record.” TB Black and guitarist Hayden Nicholas were driving around in the car and Black was expressing his frustration with the waiting time involved in album production. He said, “’This killin’ time is killin’ me.’ We looked at each other, our eyes got real big, and we knew we had a hook.” TR Nicholas ended up co-writing “Killin’ Time” with Black. Black said it took them about a month to finish the song. The first part came quickly, but then they got stuck on an ending to the chorus. Black finally came up with, “Just might find I’ll be killing time for eternity.” TB Black said “the record company was just over the moon about it” TB and it ended up the title of the album. Nicholas met Black before signing his record deal. Black had a gig in 1987 and wasn’t overly excited with the backup band he was playing with. However, the original guitarist ended up replaced by Nicholas Hayden and Black was blown away by his playing. TR They decided to record an eight-track demo together at the in-home studio at Hayden’s house and it was the resulting demo tape that got Black signed. TR Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Clint BLack TB TheBoot.com (7/11/2019). “Story Behind the Song: Clit Black, ‘Killin’ Time’” by Carena Liptak TR Tom Roland (1991). The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Pages 565-6. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 1/18/2023.

Aerosmith “Janie’s Got a Gun” charted

Janie’s Got a Gun Aerosmith

Writer(s): Steven Tyler, Tom Hamilton (see lyrics here) Released: November 8, 1989 First Charted: September 23, 1989 Peak: 4 US, 3 CB, 6 GR, 8 RR, 2 AR, 76 UK, 2 CN, 11 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 70.7 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The rock band Aerosmith formed in Boston in 1970. They released six studio albums in the 1970s, all of which have gone platinum. 1976’s Rocks was their highest charting album, reaching #3, while Toys in the Attic was their biggest seller generating nine million in sales in the U.S. They have some of the most celebrated album rock classics of all time in “Dream On,” “Sweet Emotion,” and “Walk This Way.” However, they hit hard times in the 1980s. Drug problems and internal conflicts led to the departures of guitarists Joe Perry and Brad Whitford. Both returned to the fold, but in 1985 it looked like the band would never come close to their glory days again. However, their fortunes changed when rap group Run-D.M.C. covered “Walk This Way,” taking it all the way to the top 10. The song featured Perry and singer Steven Tyler. Suddenly people cared about Aerosmith again. Their 1987 Permanent Vacation album sold five million copies on the strength of three top-20 singles. The follow-up album, Pump, was even more successful. On the strength of three top tens and a fourth top-40 hit, the album sold seven million copies and reached #5 on the Billboard album chart. The second of those top-10 hits was “Janie’s Got a Gun.” In an usual departure for the band, this wasn’t some feel-good party tune. Tyler saw a Time magazine article about handgun deaths in the United States and heard a woman talking about how often children are attacked by their parents. WK He put the ideas together to create a story of a young woman who shoots her father because he sexually abuses her. The video was shot by David Fincher, who later directed Se7en, and depicts the murder and subsequent crime scene investigation. SF The song earned them their first Grammy – for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 12/27/2022.

Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” topped the album rock chart

Free Fallin’ Tom Petty

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Bangles “Hero Takes a Fall” charted

Hero Takes a Fall The Bangles

Writer(s): Susanna Hoffs, Vicki Peterson (see lyrics here) First Charted: August 11, 1984 Peak: 59 AR, 10 CO, 96 UK, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1.3 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The all-girl group the Bangles formed in Los Angeles in 1981. They would reach massive commercial success in the mid-‘80s with the #1 songs “Walk Like an Egyptian” and “Eternal Flame” as well as the Prince-penned #2 song “Manic Monday.” However, they didn’t find fame immediately, getting started on an indie label and gaining an audience with college rock audiences before going mainstream. Originally known as the Bangs, they were formed by sisters Vicki (guitar) and Debbie Peterson (drums) with Susanna Hoffs (guitar) and Annette Zilinskas (bass). All four handled vocals. In 1982, they released an EP entitled The Real World. Annette left the band and was replaced by Michael Steele, from the all-female band the Runaways. It was this lineup which released All Over the Place, the band’s first full-length album, in 1984. The album “openly embraces the folk-rock and garage rock influences that fueled their earliest music” AMG although it also showed “some of their rough edges were already being buffed away.” AMG The lead single, “Hero Takes a Fall,” was written by Susanna and Vicki “about how arrogance can lead to downfall, especially in matters of the heart.” SF Vicki explained, “We were thinking along very classical lines of classical tragedies where there’s often a flaw to the hero…There’s often an Achilles heel, something that takes him down at some point, and we were interested in that concept.” SF Hoffs said, “When I look back on my writing relationship with Vicki I think that song was kind of a milestone in terms of our collaboration, where we just we sat down with an idea in mind to do something that had a good beat and would really be fun to play live. We ended up releasing it as a single and it got a lot of airplay on the college radio circuit. Having been playing on the club scene in LA, we started to kind of elevate from playing smaller venues up to small theaters.” SF Resources: AMG All Music Guide SF Songfacts Related Links: First posted 3/11/2023.