Poptime
Herein, I collect and count down my favorite pop, rock, r&b and hip hop singles released between the time I was born (1/74) and right this minute. Ordering is pretty loose and arbitrary until I reach the top 10 or so, when rankings will really mean something.I'm limiting myself to things that have actually charted in the Billboard Hot 100 (or Billboard subcharts or foreign equivalents when applicable). Otherwise, trying to narrow a list down to 101 songs would be border on impossible.
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#73
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Artist: Bill Withers
Song: Lovely Day
Year: 1977
Highest Chart Position: #30 (Billboard Hot 100)A few of Bill Withers’ songs had seeped into my consciousness before I knew who sang them or how old they were; specifically “Lean on Me” and “Ain’t No Sunshine”. Mostly, they came by way of movie soundtracks or easy listening radio. But then, in 1999, The Gap started a new ad campaign (the style of which they’re still using nearly 10 years later), and their first commerical “Khaki Soul” featured a funky, very soulful disco-sounding track that didn’t sound old, but incredibly modern. I had no idea what it was or who was singing it, but I had to own it immediately. When I found out it was a moderate 1977 hit for Bill Withers, I put everything together and realized I definitely had to own one of his “best of” albums, if not actually the albums that these songs I liked a lot had come from.
Well, I bought that “best of” album and several of his individual records and I can safely (and sadly) say that Withers remains one of the most overlooked talents of the 1970s, and only seems to garner attention when someone somewhere at an ad agency or the music director for a film reintroduces him to the public every five or ten years. I’m just glad I was paying attention at one of those times.
