Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.

The theme for Song Lyric Sunday this week is “Duets.”

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If I Never Knew You is sang by Jon Secada and Shanice over the end credits of  Disney’s 1995 animated feature film, Pocahontas. It was the second single released from the movie soundtrack after Vanessa Williams’ pop and R&B rendition of the Academy Award-winning Colors of the Wind.

The song was originally developed for the prison scene where Pocahontas visits Captain John Smith before he is sentenced to death for the alleged murder of Kocoum, Chief Powhatan’s warrior whom Pocahontas was supposed to marry. Composer Alan Menken decided it had to be cut because he felt that it slowed the pace of the movie and too closely followed another song.

If I Never Knew You charted on the U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles and U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, reaching #8 and #24, respectively. It also reached #51 on UK charts.

FUN FACTS

• • Performed by Mel Gibson (Captain Smith) and Judy Kuhn (singing voice of Pocahontas), If I Never Knew You was added to the tenth anniversary edition of Pocahontas in 2005, fully animated and integrated as a viewer option on the DVD.
  • In 2001, If I Never Knew You was covered by Michael Crawford and Sherie Rene Scott for The Disney Album.
  • Jon Secada has written songs for Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, and Jennifer Lopez. He has toured with Luciano Pavarotti and recorded duets with Jim Brickman, Olivia Newton John, and Frank Sinatra, as well as winning two Grammys for his own music releases.
  •  Also an actress, Shanice became the first black performer to star in the role of Eponine in the musical Les Misérables on Broadway in 1997.  She also starred in the made-for-TV movie One Special Moment, an adaptation of Brenda Jackson’s 1998 novel of the same name. Shanice and her husband of twenty years, actor/comedian Flex, starred in their own reality show Flex & Shanice, for three seasons on OWN.

Filmed in New York City, the music video features Shanice and Secada performing the song with clips of Pocahontas being projected on buildings behind them.

I could listen to this song on endless repeat. And, maybe I have! 😀 😀 😀 😀

Enjoy!

See my Song Lyric Sunday selection for Nesie’s Place!

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Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.

Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.

The theme for Song Lyric Sunday this week is “Written or sung by Tom/Dick/Harry or including one of these names in the lyrics.”

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Although she was responsible for writing the bassline and intended to play it on record, Genius of Love co-writer and lead singer, Tina Weymouth, had to wake up the assistant engineer – he was asleep under the console – when her right arm seized up in a terrible cramp during the abbreviated 1981 recording session. “Chris (Frantz) was mad, but I really couldn’t play; my hand wouldn’t even close. So we did what we had to do. These things happen.”

Genius of Love became a commercial success and reached number one on the Billboard Disco Top 80 chart, number two on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard), and number thirty-one on the US Billboard Hot 100.

The lyrics and video imply that the singer is in jail although why she’s imprisoned is not explained. The singer tells her fellow inmates about her boyfriend whom she describes as the “genius of love”.

FUN FACTS

• • Genius of Love was the first song I danced to with my late husband, Dennis.
  • The lyrics pay tribute to many notable African-American musicians and singers, including George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Smokey Robinson, Bob Marley, Sly and Robbie, Kurtis Blow, Hamilton Bohannon, and James Brown.
  •  In May 2016, a version of the song by Tinashe was used in a television advertising campaign for Target Corporation.
  •  Frank Zappa, in an interview with MTV, mentioned that the music video was his favorite at the time, due to it being “animated and clever.

Enjoy!

See my Song Lyric Sunday selection for Nesie’s Place!

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Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.

Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.

The theme for Song Lyric Sunday this week is “Bottom/End/Middle/Side/Top.”

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Coming in third in American Idol’s season 5 didn’t stop Elliott Yamin from climbing the charts after leaving the talent variety show.

Less than a year later, Yamin’s 2007 self-titled debut album–later renamed Wait For You–debuted at number one on the Billboard Independent Albums, number three on the Billboard 200, and included the Top Twenty single, Wait For You.

My selection is from Elliott’s second album, the 2009 Fight for Love.

This Step Alone is the eleventh of the album’s dozen songs, and while not released as a single, it still garners consistent airplay on adult radio stations.

The song is about a couple whose paths go in two different directions. He tried to stay hopeful but always knew she’d walk away. Still, it doesn’t keep him from wanting her by his side.

FUN FACTS

• • On May 16, 2007, Yamin performed his hit single, Wait for You, on the American Idol Season 6 Top 3 results show. The song jumped 60 spots on iTunes in a few hours as well as from 80 to 31 on the Billboard Hot 100. Following the performance, sales of his self-titled album increased, jumping 47 spots on the Billboard 200, from 67 to 20.
  •  Elliott’s celebrity in Japan has outshone his U.S. fandom since almost from the beginning of his solo career. All of his music receives special releases in Japan and he was named one of the Best 3 New Artists (International) by the 23rd Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards along with Leona Lewis and Flo Rida.
  • Dropping out of high school in his sophomore year, Yamin later achieved a high school GED while working at Foot Locker (in their management program), a pharmacy, and as an on-air disc jockey for local R&B radio station WCDX/Power 92 FM, using the name E-Dub before auditioning for American Idol.
  • A history of ear infections as a child and eardrum replacement surgery at 13 left Yamin with 90% hearing loss in his right ear. He was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at the age of 16 and wears an insulin pump to help him manage his diabetes.

Enjoy!

See my Song Lyric Sunday selection for Nesie’s Place!

~~~

Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.

Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.

The theme for Song Lyric Sunday this week is “La.”

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I thought of this childhood jingle while my children were still here for the holidays. They dared me to use it. You’d think they’d know better by now.  😀 😀 😀

While the origins of this SLS selection are obscure, some evidence places its roots with vaudeville and theatre acts of the late 19th century and early 20th century popular in immigrant communities.

The indefinitely repetitive John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt shares many characteristics with My Name Is Jan Jansen, a song that can trace its origin to Swedish vaudeville in the late 19th century.

I remember my mom singing this song with my siblings and me and I sang it with my children, not to mention, we all sang it at school, summer camp, and while just hanging out with friends. The last line of the song was always La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. Imagine my shock and surprise when Google searches led me to lyrics that included Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da.

I was flabbergasted!

Gobsmacked!

Confused!

Subsequent searches were absolutely and completely useless… until I clicked on a random link for children’s songs and I found my lyrics–of course, with no explanation or details.

I grew up in Michigan, and don’t know if the lyrics are regional or generational… but I found videos for both sets of lyrics.

Which lyric did you grow up singing?

FUN FACTS

• • By the mid-20th century, the song appears to have already become widely known.
  •  Versions of this song also appear in other languages, such as the Spanish rendition, Juan Paco Pedro de la Mar.
  • John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt is the name of Robin Williams’ character in the 1995 movie, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.
  • A 1941 Milwaukee Journal article also refers to the song, with the same alternate spelling of “John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith“.

The first video is by The Boogers. Their version uses this week’s prompt–La–and is just as silly as their name.

The second video is a Muffins Song and I didn’t include it for it’s alternate lyrics, but for the DANCING!

Lyrics are in the videos!

Enjoy!

See my Song Lyric Sunday selection for Nesie’s Place!

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Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.