TERRY HOKNES - My All Time Favorite Songs and Music - Billboard chart data plus my personal chart data plus youtube video and historical facts and trivia

TERRY HOKNES - MY FAVORITE SONGS OF ALL TIME ! hoknes@hotmail.com

181	ROY WOOD	THE SONG	1975
182	CREAM	BADGE	1969
183	URIAH HEEP	BIRD OF PREY	1970
184	PRISCILLA WRIGHT	MAN IN A RAINCOAT	1955
185	TERRY HOKNES	IMAGE OF LOVE LOST	1992
186	BEATLES	BABY YOU'RE A RICH MAN	1967
187	KLAATU	OLDER	1978
188	PAUL McCARTNEY & WINGS	LISTEN TO WHAT THE MAN SAID	1975
189	CULTURE CLUB	TIME	1983
190	TIFFANY	COULD'VE BEEN	1988
191	YES	CHANGES	1983
192	SHANIA TWAIN	UP	2002
193	SMITH	COMING BACK TO ME	1970
194	ROLLING STONES	HAVE YOU SEEN YOUR MOTHER BABY	1966
195	TERRY HOKNES	BITTERSWEET	1993
196	BEATLES	I WANT YOU (SHES SO HEAVY)	1969
197	ROY WOOD & WIZZARD	SEE MY BABY JIVE	1973
198	PEBBLES	GIVING YOU THE BENEFIT	1990
199	YES	LEAVE IT (ACAPELLA)	1983
200	BEATLES	THANK YOU GIRL	1963

ROY WOOD - THE SONG (1975)

Album: Mustard (1975)

I had been a huge fan of ELO for a while and knew of Roy Wood one of the founding members. On February 14th 1985 at age 14 (grade 9) I flipped through the bargain bin of records at the Kresge's Department Store in Midtown Plaza shopping mall in Saskatoon and found this new sealed album Mustard priced at 99 cents. The first time I heard this album that night I knew I had found a masterpiece and Roy Wood would be the first act to ever debut at #1 on my daily favorite music groups chart on that valentines day. (I declare this to be Roy Wood day). I flew to New York 17 years later to see Roy Wood 3 times in concert and got to meet him backstage 2 times. I have posted some of those video performances I filmed on www.youtube.com

February 1985 - this would have been one of my favorite songs but not documented.

February 18th 1990 - my #10 favorite daily song for 1 day at age 19 while living in the monastery at St. Peters College in Muenster, SK for 1st year university celebrating the 5th anniversary of Roy Wood day.

May 3rd 2002 - my #1 favorite daily song for 10 days right after at the time that I met Roy Wood in person when I was 31 in New York while I was living in Dalmeny, SK.

February 14th 2010 - my #10 favorite daily song for 35 days at age 39 living at Ave M South married to Valerie now for 2.5 years celebrating the 25th anniversary of Roy Wood day.

Mustard is the second solo album by Roy Wood, who wrote and produced every track and painted the cartoon-style cover. It was completed and released about the same time as he disbanded his group Wizzard. He played all the instruments, and contributed all vocals apart from guest appearances by Annie Haslam, Phil Everly, ex-Move & Wizzard bassist Rick Price, and co-engineer Dick Plant. "Look Thru’ The Eyes of a Fool" (1975) and "Any Old Time Will Do" (1976) were released as singles, though like the album, neither made the charts

CREAM - BADGE (1969)

Album: Goodbye Cream (1969)

My mother had bought this album when it came out before I was born ! By 1984 at age 13 I loved this album and I had voted Badge as one of the top 10 greatest songs of all time that year. A perfect pop/rock song by George Harrison and Eric Clapton. There's something melancholy about it that draws me to this song even though its actually fairly upbeat.

"Badge" is a song performed by Cream, written by Eric Clapton and George Harrison. It was included as a track on Cream's final album, Goodbye. Peaking at number 60 on Billboard's Hot 100, "Badge" was a minor hit after its release as a single in April 1969. The single was much more successful in the United Kingdom, where it reached #18

URIAH HEEP - BIRD OF PREY (1971)

Album: Salisbury (1971)

Uriah Heep is my all time favorite heavy metal group and I consider them to be the last of my all time favorite bands to be discovered from 1980-1990. The lead singer of Uriah Heep since 1986 is Bernie Shaw who is from Saskatoon, SK who actually was in a band with my friend Doug Hergott.

September 23rd 1996 - my #4 favorite daily song for 85 days at age 25 on the road with Marilyn now for 3 years.

Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969 and are regarded as one of the seminal hard rock acts of the early 1970s. Uriah Heep's progressive/art rock/heavy metal fusion's distinctive features have always been massive keyboards sound, strong vocal harmonies and (in the early years) David Byron's operatic vocals. Twelve of the band's albums have made it to the UK Albums Chart (Return to Fantasy reached No. 7 in 1975) while of the fifteen Billboard 200 Uriah Heep albums Demons and Wizards was the most successful (#23, 1972). In the late 1970s the band had massive success in Germany, where the "Lady in Black" single was a big hit

PRISCILLA WRIGHT - MAN IN A RAINCOAT (1955)

My grandparents had the 78 rpm record of this released in 1955 - I later had the collection and learned this song by the amazing 14 year old Canadian singer who had a radio show at the time with her father called "Pops and Priscilla".

I'm still amazed this song made the top 20 on the radio back then as it is so dramatic and a bit sad/melancholy. But the innocence of the time and the haunting melody make this song so effective to listen to.

October 19th 1989 my #1 favorite daily song. This is one of the oldest recordings ever to be my favorite song.

Priscilla Wright (born August 14, 1940 in London, Ontario) is a Canadian singer.

Wright had a hit in the United States at the age of 14 with the song "Man in the Raincoat" in 1955. It sold over half a million copies in the U.S. and hit #16 on the Billboard Singles Chart. Following this she spent 14 years singing with the Ontario group Moxie Whitney, and sang with The National Press and Allied Jazz.

In 1991, she signed to Attic Records after a hiatus and released the album When You Love Somebody. In 1993 she was nominated for a Juno Award for Most Promising Artist

TERRY HOKNES - IMAGE OF LOVE LOST (1992) Opus #777 lyrics by Philip Murray

In 1992 age 21 I went and packaged up very first official release album on cassette called COOL ALL OVER. It featured all my original songs and a weird bunch of genres. It was reviewed in an issue of the SOMA newspaper in 1992 by Brent Pomeroy. He liked the musicianship but thought the vocals need work. The album was recorded primitively on a new 4 track cassette tape recorder I had bought and recorded this album while renting at 314 Cumberland Ave

I wrote my first song in 1982 at age 11 in Grade 6. I would sporadically write 18 few songs over the next 4 years. Starting with my 19th song (Opus #19) I began writing on a very regular basis starting in December 1986 in Grade 11 at Aden Bowman. This included writing over 58 songs with my best friend Nels Krauss over the period of 1986-1992. I wrote 97 songs in 1987 and then 215 songs in 1988. By the time I graduated high school at age 17 I was up to Opus #268. I wrote another 178 songs in 1989. By the time I celebrated my 19th birthday I was up to Opus #524. At that time I was in first year University living in Muenster, SK in residence at St Peters College at the monastery. I met a poet from New York named Philip Murray who I collaborated with writing music to his words 91 songs in total. I wrote my 1000th song the week I turned 25 in January 1996.

THE BEATLES - BABY YOU'RE A RICH MAN (1967)

Album: Magical Mystery Tour (1967)

I had the Magical Mystery Tour album at age 10 by late 1981 or might have got it for Xmas 1981 as I have recordings of myself singing along with the album in summer 1982 at age 11 with my sister Leslie age 9.

Baby, You're a Rich Man" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and recorded in 1967 by The Beatles. It was also used as the B-side of their 1967 single "All You Need Is Love" New mixes of the song were made available on the compilation albums Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine Songtrack.

Two song fragments were combined to create "Baby, You're a Rich Man". The verses from "One of the Beautiful People" by John Lennon were combined with Paul McCartney's previously unaccompanied "Baby, you're a rich man …" chorus. Two songs were combined in a similar fashion to make "A Day in the Life", and "I've Got a Feeling". Walter Everett writes that the song "asks an unnamed Brian Epstein what it's like to be one of the 'beautiful people.'"

The song opens in what appears to be the key of G in Mixolydian mode, a G chord moving to ♭VII/I (Fadd9/G) on "now that you know who you are", all over an G pedal (sustained harmonic tone). Soon, however, the song moves to the key of C major and becomes reminiscent of "Norwegian Wood" with its use of non-Western sounding gamak melodies on the clavioline. Pollack considers a notable feature in the refrain ("Baby you're a rich man") to be the bass move from C to G via a ♭III (B♭).

KLAATU - OLDER (1978)

Album: Sir Army Suit (1978)

I discovered Klaatu on March 21st 1985 (Klaatu day) age 14 in Grade 9 with the album Hope. I quickly went out and bought all their albums in 1985. I might have bought them all at Nudon Book & Records shop at 1111 Louise Ave across from McDonalds. (I bought at least 100 albums there between 1984 and 1988. Unfortunately I had no daily song charts during the first run of promotion in 1985 to show my first appreciation for the individual songs. I performed this song live with my band The Shade in 1993.

March 20th 1989 - my #9 favorite daily song for 1 day at age 18 the year after graduating high school on the celebration of Klaatu day 4th anniversary.

Sir Army Suit is the third and antepenultimate album recorded by the Canadian progressive rock band Klaatu. It was different from their two previous albums, 3:47 EST and Hope, adopting more of a pop feel (with one song, "Juicy Luicy", being a disco song). Many of these songs were hold-overs from early demos the band made pre-fame and were revived because band member John Woloschuk had spent a year writing and arranging the "Hope" album leaving him artistically drained. The band's other main songwriter, Dee Long, picked up the ball with many new compositions and ultimately co-produced and engineered the record while the band's regular producer, Terry Brown, was busy working with Rush and Max Webster.

An animated video was released for the album's opening track, "A Routine Day," one of six animated song videos created for the group's ambitious, but never completed, Happy New Year, Planet Earth half-hour animated special. This is the only original Klaatu album whose cover was not painted by Ted Jones; the cover of Sir Army Suit was painted by Ian Thomas Band keyboardist Hugh Syme, mainly known for album cover work with Rush. The cover represented the first crack in the group's notorious anonymity since all three members appeared on the back cover (the front cover features a self-portrait of Hugh Syme and, ironically, Klaatu's previous graphic artist Ted Jones).

PAUL McCARTNEY & WINGS - LISTEN TO WHAT THE MAN SAID (1975) hit #1

Listen to What the Man Said" is a hit single from Wings' 1975 album Venus and Mars. The song featured new member Joe English on drums, with guest musicians Dave Mason on guitar and Tom Scott on soprano saxophone. It was a #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US; as well, it reached #1 in Canada on the RPM National Top Singles Chart. It also reached #6 in the UK, and reached the top ten in Norway and New Zealand and the top twenty in the Netherlands. The single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over one million copies.

"Listen to What the Man Said" was recorded in early 1975 by Wings during their New Orleans sessions for Venus and Mars. It was a song which McCartney had high hopes for, but early recordings didn't seem to live up to the song's potential. After Mason added guitar overdubs, the band was still dissatisfied. However, once Scott recorded the sax solo, the band was satisfied. Although several takes of the solo were recorded, the very first take was the one that was used.

Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine called "Listen to What the Man Said" "a typically sweet and lovely melody." Paul Nelson of Rolling Stone Magazine called it "deliciously catchy" and "as fine an example of slick, professional entertainment and carefully crafted 'product' as has ever hit the airwaves." Author John Blaney described the song as "a slice of radio-friendly pop" and "a joyous celebration of love and life, bouyed by Linda's equally exuberant backing vocals..." Benitez described the song as "another great example of McCartney-style pop, a bouyant and optimistic song about love where words and music are wedded together. Authors Roy Carr and Tony Tyler not about the song that "artful and sensitive production elevate what was originally a piece of inconsequential whimsy into what can only be described as High Pop," also describing the song as "likeable" and "hummable." Author Chris Ingham described the song as "superior pop." The song was also included on the greatest hits compilations All the Best! and Wingspan: Hits and History. However, it was not included on the first Wings compilation, Wings Greatest

CULTURE CLUB - TIME (1983) hit #2

Time (Clock of the Heart)" is a song by the British band Culture Club, released as stand-alone single in most of the world and as the second single from their debut album Kissing to Be Clever in North America. Following on the heels of the number-one UK hit, "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me", "Time (Clock of the Heart)" peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart. In the U.S., the song matched the number-two peak of its predecessor on the Billboard Hot 100.

In Europe and United Kingdom, it was a stand-alone single, released in November 1982. For this market, its first inclusion on a Culture Club album was on their 1987 compilation, called This Time: The First Four Years.

The music video has been released in two versions. The only difference was a scene where the group is watching TV, along with vocalist Helen Terry. In one version, a Christmas tree is shown. In the other, the tree is removed. This was because of the date of release for certain markets. The "Christmas" version (which is on the 2005 DVD "Greatest Hits"), was for European countries and the "regular version" was for the other markets, where the song was released in spring 1983.

Like many of the songs composed by George at this time, the lyrics interrogate the pleasure and shame inherent in taboo homosexual relationships. The song can be interpreted as both a seduction piece, and a lament, for Jon Moss, the band's drummer, with whom George was romantically involved

TIFFANY - COULD'VE BEEN (1988) hit #1

Could've Been" is the third single released from Tiffany, the debut album of American teen-pop singer Tiffany.

The song was discovered by Music Industry Insiders Don McGovern and Brad Schmidt when they stumbled into a Hungry Tiger Restaurant in Thousand Oaks, California and heard a local performer, Lois Blaisch singing the song. Then McGovern and Schmidt brought the song to Record Producer George Tobin and encouraged Tobin to record the song... The song is a slow ballad about the love that "could've been so beautiful, could've been so right." Both Tiffany's label, MCA Records, and her manager, George Tobin, felt concern that she was not old or mature enough to handle a song with such emotional depth. In the end, Tiffany convinced them that she could, and the song was recorded and put on her debut album, becoming its third single.

The B-side to the single of "Could've Been" was the track "The Heart of Love."

For the music video, music video stations played a live version of "Could've Been" where fans sang along to Tiffany's performance.

The song has Mandy Moore's version for the film, "A Walk to Remember" it is also featured in the movie's soundtrack

Country singer Carrie Underwood covered the song on American Idol.

YES - CHANGES (1983)

Album: 90125 (1983)

I discovered Yes in 1984 with their hit Owner Of A Lonely Heart but it was their 2nd new single Leave It that had my intrigued. I bought the album new at a Mac's Convenience store in about May 1984 on Ruth Street and they had a record promotion and also had a Yes plastic drink cup I got as well. Over the next 7 months I would buy every Yes album. So I learned their first 15 years of material all in 1984 just as I was entering high school. Yes would quickly become my 2nd favorite band of all time. I saw Bill Bruford live in concert in 1992 and chatted with him for a moment. My wife bought tickets to see Yes in 2008 in Toronto but the concert was cancelled due to Jon Anderson's vocal problems. We flew to New York in 2011 to see Jon Anderson solo in concert. Members of Yes are my favorite musicians ever including Rick Wakeman, Trevor Rabin, Steve Howe and Chris Squire.

Changes" is a song by the progressive rock band Yes, from their 1983 album, 90125. It reached number 6 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart in 1984. The basic musical and lyrical structure of "Changes" was written by Yes guitarist Trevor Rabin, prior to his joining the band. Once Rabin joined the band, additional music and lyrics were contributed by singer Jon Anderson and drummer Alan White for the version that would appear on 90125. All three are credited as writers on the album

SHANIA TWAIN - UP (2002)

Album: Up (2002)

I became a fan of Shania from the day she released her first country single in Canada in Summer 1993 when I was 22. When she hit superstardom in 1995 I became a Shania fanatic for the next 10 years. Eventually I had 10 T-shirts and a poster shrine in my office at Eastview and had 3 copies each of all her CD's. I have seen her live in concert 5 times including: Canadian Country Music Awards Calgary 1998 and all 4 shows she did in Saskatoon, SK at SaskPlace on June 4th 1998 (her 3rd live show ever!), March 29th 1999, June 9th 2004 and June 11th 2004 (I had front row seat). She released her 4th CD Up on November 18th 2002 and I bought 62 copies at A&B Warehouse the day it came out as pre-sells that I sold on ebay. Performing on the road with Marilyn we listened to the Up CD everyday on the road for 10 months.

Up!" is a song by Canadian singer Shania Twain. It is the title track and second country single from her 2002 album of the same name. The song was written by Twain and her then-husband, Mutt Lange. "Up!" was originally released to North American country radio on January 6, 2003. "I'm Not in the Mood (To Say No)!" was to be released to pop radio alongside "Up!" but this release was cancelled. It was released as a Double A-Side single with "When You Kiss Me" to the UK on November 17, 2003. And finally as the sixth and final single to Europe on March 8, 2004. Although "Up!" only made top 10 in Canada and Hungary, it was still included on Twain's 2004 Greatest Hits package, as a fan favorite. At the 2004 Juno Awards, "Up!" was named Country Recording of the Year

SMITH - COMING BACK TO ME (1970)

Album: Minus Plus (1970)

November 17th 1987 - my #1 favorite daily song for 20 days at age 16 in Grade 12 living in Ruth Street. At the time this was the first song to ever stay at #1 for 20 days - a super long period with the quick turnover rate I had listening/learning new music.

November 21st 1989 - my #4 favorite daily song for 4 days at age 18 living at the monastery at St Peters College for 1st year University in Muenster, SK.

Smith were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1969 They had a blues-based sound and scored a Top 5 hit in 1969 with a cover of the Burt Bacharach song "Baby It's You", featuring Gayle McCormick on lead vocals. This disc sold over one million copies between July and October 1969, out-charted popular versions by the Beatles and the Shirelles, and received a gold record awarded by the R.I.A.A. The group evolved from "The Smiths" (not to be confused with later English band "The Smiths"), which featured two of the same members, and had attempted a hit single with "Now I Taste The Tears", produced and arranged by Ron Budnik. "Tears" was a brooding, foreboding sounding record that didn't chart well. When the band didn't succeed, McCormick, who had started her career singing songs by Tina Turner, Etta James and others, was added as a front woman and lead vocalist. The group were then discovered by 1960s rocker Del Shannon in a nightclub in Los Angeles. Shannon arranged "Baby It's You" for the group and got them signed to the ABC-Dunhill Records label.

Smith released an album titled A Group Called Smith, which spent 11 weeks in the Top 40 album listings of the since-called Billboard 200 record chart. On the album, vocals were split amongst Rich Cliburn, Jerry Carter and McCormick. Smith recorded a second album titled Minus-Plus with lesser success. Smith's version of "The Weight" was included on the epochal Easy Rider soundtrack because The Band's version, which appeared in the movie, was not available for contractual reasons. Most of their material consisted of covers of popular rock and R&B tunes. The band broke up after a couple of albums, although their singles "What Am I Gonna Do" (co-written by Carole King) and "Take a Look Around" made the middle of the charts. The band's hit "Baby It's You" was also featured in Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse film, Death Proof.

THE ROLLING STONES - HAVE YOU SEEN YOUR MOTHER BABY (1966) hit #2

Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" is a song by the English rock and roll band The Rolling Stones. It first appeared as a single in September 1966 and was included as the opening track on the British version of their 1966 compilation album Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass).

Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the song was recorded in the late summer of 1966 during early sessions for what would become their Between the Buttons LP. It is famous for its horns arrangement (arranged by Mike Leander; this is the first Rolling Stones song to feature brass) and is one of the earliest songs to use feedback from the guitars. The Stones have said that they were unhappy with the final cut, bemoaning the loss of the original cut's strong rhythm section.

It was released as a single in September 1966 simultaneously in the United Kingdom and the United States (a first for the band), and reached #5 and #9 on those country's charts, respectively.

The single is famous for its cover featuring the band dressed in drag. Peter Whitehead's promotional film for the single was one of the first music videos. A fan favourite, the song appears on many hits compilations and was recorded for the live album Got Live If You Want It!.

The track was released on the 2002 compilation album, Forty Licks with the abbreviated title of "Have You Seen Your Mother Baby?".

It has not been played live by the Stones since the 1966 Tour (it was only ever played live by the Stones over a span of 12 days); however, Mick Jagger performed it in New York in 1993 during his only solo show promoting the album Wandering Spirit.

TERRY HOKNES - BITTERSWEET (1993) Opus #859 lyrics by Brent Pomeroy

THE BEATLES - I WANT YOU (SHE'S SO HEAVY) (1969)

Album: Abbey Road (1969)

I don't remember when I got Abbey Road but it was likely in 1982 at age 11. I recorded my sister Leslie singing a serious but then turns funny version of this song in about 1990 when she was 18.

I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is a song by The Beatles, from their album Abbey Road. It was written by John Lennon, but credited to Lennon–McCartney.

This song is an unusual Beatles' composition for a variety of reasons, namely its length (nearly 8 minutes), few lyrics (basically the title is the lyric, aside from two more phrases; only 14 different words are sung), 3-minute descent through repeated guitar chords (a similar arpeggiated figure appears in another Lennon contribution to the album, "Because"), and abrupt ending. It is one of the last songs that the Beatles mixed as a group, on 20 August 1969. Lennon wrote the song about his love for Yoko Ono.

The song was rehearsed several times during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions; the basic track and John's guide vocal (which is used in the master) were recorded at Trident Studios on 22 February 1969, shortly after filming for the film ended. Lennon played the lead guitar, as George Harrison stated:

It's very heavy. John plays lead guitar and sings the same as he plays. It's really basically a bit like a blues. The riff that he sings and plays is really a very basic blues-type thing. But again, it's very original sort of John-type song.

ROY WOOD & WIZZARD - SEE MY BABY JIVE (1973)

Album: Wizzard's Brew (1973)

Roy Wood was in The Move (1966-1971) and then ELO (1971-1972) and then leader of Wizzard (1973-1975) meanwhile releasing solo songs. I had been a huge fan of ELO for a while and knew of Roy Wood one of the founding members. On February 14th 1985 at age 14 (grade 9) I flipped through the bargain bin of records at the Kresge's Department Store in Midtown Plaza shopping mall in Saskatoon and found this new sealed album Mustard priced at 99 cents. The first time I heard this album that night I knew I had found a masterpiece and Roy Wood would be the first act to ever debut at #1 on my daily favorite music groups chart on that valentines day. (I declare this to be Roy Wood day). I flew to New York 17 years later in 2002 to see Roy Wood 3 times in concert and got to meet him backstage 2 times. I have posted some of those video performances I filmed on www.youtube.com I became a fan of The Move and Wizzard in May 1985 at age 14.

February 20th 2002 - my #6 favorite daily song for 21 days at age 31 living in Dalmeny, SK celebrating 17th anniversary of Roy Wood day in preparation of going to see him in concert next month in New York.

See My Baby Jive is a song by the British glam rock band Wizzard. Written and produced by Roy Wood, See My Baby Jive was the second single by Wood's band and their first to reach number one in the UK, spending four weeks at the top of the chart in May 1973. The record is deeply indebted to Phil Spector's Wall of Sound. ABBA later acknowledged its influence on their first major international hit "Waterloo" the following year. A cover version by Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids was released in 1977.

PEBBLES - GIVING YOU THE BENEFIT (1990) hit #4

Giving You the Benefit (Of the Doubt)" is a number-one R&B single by Pebbles from her second album Always. The song reached number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and spent three weeks at number-one on the R&B chart, becoming one of her biggest singles.

The lyrics, written by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Pebbles's then-husband Antonio "L. A." Reid, who also jointly composed its music, are from the point of view of a woman who suspects that her boyfriend is not being faithful to her. She notes that she can easily make things difficult for him. But she explains that she has chosen not to do so in the hope that he will realize he has done her wrong and return, and make things up to her.

Perri A. Reid, formerly known as Pebbles (born Perri Arnette McKissack, August 29, 1964) is an American dance-pop and urban contemporary singer-songwriter.

"Pebbles," a childhood nickname, had an early brush with industry success in the early 1980s as a backup singer for percussionist/band leader Bill Summers and the funk outfit Con Funk Shun, helping to co-write "Body of Lover", one of the band's biggest hits. In 1987 she scored her first breakthrough with Pebbles, her self-titled solo debut for MCA Records. "Pebbles" yielded a Platinum-plus album featuring the hits "Girlfriend" and "Mercedes Boy" (which Pebbles wrote), both Top Five Pop and #1 R&B smashes. The videos for both songs, featuring Pebbles’ signature modern glam style, were in heavy rotation on MTV, VH1 and BET. During this time Pebbles married L.A. Reid, who would co-found LaFace Records with Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds. Pebbles also sang background vocals on Paula Abdul's album Forever Your Girl in 1988.

In 1990 Pebbles released Always, a well-received set that included the Top Five hit "Giving You the Benefit", "Always", and "Love Makes Things Happen". The latter song, featuring Babyface, was a Top 20 Pop & R&B hit and remains a Quiet Storm staple.

Through Pebbitone, her production company, Pebbles transformed the music industry with her discovery and development of TLC. Under Pebbles' guidance as a producer, director, marketing chief, and image maker, this Grammy-award winning super group recorded 1992’s quintuple platinum debut album Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip

YES - LEAVE IT (ACCAPELLA) (1983)

Album: 90125 (1983) CD bonus track

December 25th 1991 - my #6 favorite daily song for 6 days at age 20 in 3rd year University learning it from the Yesyears CD box set I bought new for $80 at the religious book store on 21st Street.

January 10th 1992 - my #4 favorite daily song for 8 days. Re-entering just 3 weeks after its first top 10 run on my chart and during my 21st birthday.

Leave It" is a song by English rock band Yes. It appears on their 1983 album, 90125. There were repeated single issues, most backed with remixes of the song or an a cappella version. The original version was occasionally placed as the B-side of "Owner of a Lonely Heart", and on another instance, the original version was found on a 12-inch single with another A-side track, "City of Love". The song has the distinction of being the only track from 90125 virtually unaltered from the version recorded by Squire, Rabin, White and Kaye before Jon Anderson rejoined

THE BEATLES - THANK YOU GIRL (1963)

Album: Past Masters 1 (1987)

B side of From Me To You in 1963. I first heard it on the US album release The Beatles Second Album (1964) around 1982 at age 11.

Thank You Girl" is a song by The Beatles and released as the B-side of "From Me to You", which was recorded on the same day (5 March 1963). While not released on an LP in the United Kingdom until Rarities in 1978, the single was featured as the second track on The Beatles' Second Album in the United States. As the B-side to "Do You Want to Know a Secret?", it hit #35 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1964.

Originally titled "Thank You, Little Girl", the song was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney as a tribute to the band's many female fans. McCartney said, "We knew that if we wrote a song called, 'Thank You Girl', that a lot of the girls who wrote us fan letters would take it as a genuine 'thank you'. So a lot of our songs were directly addressed to the fans." Written “eyeball to eyeball", a phrase Lennon and McCartney would later use to describe their early formulaic writing sessions, "Thank You Girl" demonstrates how they were able to produce a song from scratch by working in total partnership. Lyrically, Ian MacDonald suggests that Lennon probably wrote the first line of each verse, allowing McCartney his flair for word play and inner-rhyming in completing it.