One Hit Wonders

When Irish eyes are smiling Sure it's like a morning spring. In the lilt of Irish laughter, You can hear the angels sing. When Irish hearts are happy, All the world seems bright and gay. And when Irish eyes are smiling, Sure, they steal your heart away. There's a tear in your eye, and I'm wondering why, For it never should be there at all. With such power in your smile, sure a stone you'd beguile, So there's never a teardrop should fall. When your sweet lilting laughter's like some fairy song, And your eyes twinkle bright as can be, You should laugh all the while and all other times smile, And now smile a smile for me. Chorus: When Irish eyes are smiling Sure it's like a morning spring. In the lilt of Irish laughter, You can hear the angels sing. When Irish hearts are happy, All the world seems bright and gay. And when Irish eyes are smiling, Sure, they steal your heart away.

Happy Saint Patricks day to all of the Irish massive from the Lion of Lebanon. To Be Sure To Be Sure, tis going to be a grand old day!

I actually went to my Irish mates house last night and watched: The Boondock Saints in preparation for this auspicious occasion. For those who haven’t seen the Boondock Saints, it’s a great show, although very violent!

For those who are wondering if I have taken my medication this morning, yes I have I will be productive soonest. The exert above might be the second most famous piece of Irish music in the world, behind Sunday Bloody Sunday.

The topic of music came up yesterday when my good friend Kerry Arrow, big up, suggested that I talk about music.

I thought that this was a grand topic of discussion, more specifically if we look at the hits, and the one hit wonders, and how they changed the world!

One of my favourite songs of all times is the Gambler by Kenny Rogers. Not only can the adages in the song be applied to gambling, but to life in general.

Below is the chorus of the song. The chorus in particular can be applied to life in general, if one opens his mind to it.


You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em, Know when to walk away and know when to run. You never count your money when youre sittin at the table. Therell be time enough for countin when the dealins done.

After that, country music died down a bit with the wider international audience not getting exposure to the medium.

Then came that doos Billy Rae Cyris. Now anyone whos name is Billy Rae should suggest the lyrical competencies of the man His song Achy Breaky Heart was not rocket science, but it really appealed to the masses.

I think the reason the song became such a hit was that it appealed to the masses. The tune appealed to the ladies while the lyrics appealed to the men.

Lets not even go onto music writers and drugs, cause that is a whole new post for a whole new day!

One of the biggest tunes hitting the waves these days is Lady GAGA’s Poke Her Face. You might be a bit confused when you hear the opening and have visions of the lead singer of Boney M running around in spandex. And you wont be far wrong. The opening bit of the song is actually a sample of Ma Baker.

However, Lady GA GA is a genius. And Poke Her Face is one of the better tunes around. Like the gambler there are very few songs around about punting and poker in particular. Now that there is Poke Her Face, people can stop playing The Gambler on repeat on poker evening and alternate between the two.

Not everything in the music world is what it seems, look at Michael Jackson. Yes YES I know, I do find it very hard to go through a post without mentioning the King of Pop, I’m a fan, get over it.

We digress. Most of us know Boney M as a black group. Yes or No? However, the black people are not the singers.

The group was started by German Frank Farian who was a schlager singer. He wasn't happy with the choice of material his record company wanted him to sing. He went into the studio in December 1974 and recorded the song single "Baby Do You Wanna Bump?", which was a monotonous dance track, singing the repeated "Do you do you wanna bump?" in a deep voice (entirely studio created) as well as performing the high female chorus vocals in his falsetto voice. The record came out, credited to "Boney M." Frank Farian had been watching an Australian detective show, where the lead character was called Boney, and Farian decided that this would make a good name for a group, and added the M.

He then found the front men of the group, the black ‘singers’ and told them to lip sync while he sang! To attract attention, he would dress the group in JADE outfits and put them in haish positions on the CD covers.

Other notable “one hit wonders” include the Survivor classic “Eye of the Tiger”, the song is a die hard classic in the Lebanese community because of its popularity in the Rocky movies. I have been trying to work out why the Lebs love Rocky because he is actually Italian, and not Lebanese. Then someone suggested that its because in the movies, Rocky is just as thick as some of the Lebs, which is a very plausible explanation.

To end of, because this is becoming a very long post, this is my Top Ten favourate “one hit wonders” of all time

1) Achy Breaky Heart – Billy Rae Cyris
2) Eye of the Tiger – Survivor
3) F da Police – NWA
4) Jump Around – House of Pain
5) Tarzan Boy – Baltimora
6) Please Don’t Go – Haddeway
7) Boom Boom Boom and Wiggle Wiggle – Outhere Brothers
8) Pass the Toilet Paper – Jerky Boys
9) One night in Bankok – Murry Head
10) Cotton Eye Joe-Rednecks