SotD82 - Part 12

Inspired by our series of articles looking back at music released 30 years ago, Jimmy Hunter takes a step further back in time to give us some more Songs of the Day from 40 years back, SotD82...

Find Jimmy's other SotD82 articles here

A thought struck me the other day: if my parents were writing articles like these when they were my age, it would be 1987 and they’d be writing about music in 1947. When you think of it that way it seems bizarre because, in 1987 I would not have had any interest in reading about / listening to music from 1947.

But it’s an aging population and, when you venture into some modern discotheques, it’s not unusual to hear (disco) records from 1979 remixed for the 21st century. Yes, it’s odd.

And talking of odd [You always are!! – Ed] the first of this week’s selection seemed very odd at the time. Captain Sensible, you may or may not remember was a member of The Damned so that, dear reader, is why the release of his version of Happy Talk, from the musical South Pacific, was quite bizarre. Successful, but odd.




Re-released to mark the launch of the TV series of Fame, Irene Cara had another go with the title record and this time round, it was an instant hit and spending several weeks atop the charts. Despite what Wikipedia says, this did not happen in 1980. Very catchy, very hooky, it’s not a bad record but I always viewed her, perhaps unkindly, as a Donna Summer wannabe. She chose to not reprise her film role in the TV series and I wonder if things could’ve been different for her if she had. Almost certainly, Flashdance would not have happened. [Here's the 1982 extended version of Fame at no extra cost - Ed]




To me, summer 1982 was a long, warm summer. The year I left school, started college and a part time job, I spent many an afternoon in the garden listening to the wireless and one of the many songs that inhabit my memory of that time is Shalamar’s A Night To Remember. I’m a Shalamar fan, admittedly and memories linger of winter ‘81/’82 at the ice rink flailing about to Uptown Festival. Like Chic, a very identifiable sound.




To round off, I gave myself a serious earworm with this one [and now so have I - Ed]. Iko Iko was a hit for Natasha in the summer of ’82 but not the Belle Stars (more of them later) who released their version around the same time. A record originally released by The Dixie Cups in 1965, the record has been covered by many artists and some have done more than one version. I have no idea why this one sticks in my mind but it does. Enjoy!!!