Hi, everyone. Welcome to this week’s edition of Music Monday.

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

The Cars released their fifth studio album, Heartbeat City, in March 1984. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 four months later. My favorite track is the third single which features lead vocals by bassist Benjamin Orr, who died in 2000. It became the band’s highest charting single, peaking at #3 on Sept 29, 1984. I loved the video, too, which was directed by actor Timothy Hutton and featured Ocasek’s girlfriend at the time, Paula Porizkova (the couple married in 1989 and separated two years before Ocasek’s death in 2019). My other favorite song by the group, “Good Times Roll”, peaked just outside the Top 40 at #41 in May 1979.

Top: The Cars 1984 album. Bottom: The band circa 1984 (L-R): Benjamin Orr, David Robinson, Ric Ocasek, Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

One of my favorite movies is turning 40 years old. “All Of Me” starring Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin-who just celebrated birthday #85 on September 1-was released Sept 21, 1984. Directed by Carl Reiner, the film is named for the 1931 pop & jazz standard that was first made famous by Billie Holiday in 1941. Frank Sinatra and Willie Nelson also recorded well known covers of the song-1948 and 1978, respectively-but for the film, it is Joe Williams version recorded specifically for the movie (he previously recorded it with Count Basie in 1953) that plays during the closing credits while Martin & Tomlin share a fabulous dance together. Their enjoyment & fun in that moment comes across in what is probably the best scene in the entire movie.

Lily Tomlin and Steve Martin in “All of Me”. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Another of my favorite songs is from 30 years ago but was one I did not discover until probably a decade or more later. I was on a road trip to New England and at the part of I-95 when I was losing my NY radio stations, I scanned around and discovered The Gin Blossoms. Specifically the track I heard that day was the second release from their second studio album, 1992’s New Miserable Experience. They may be better known for the first single, “Hey Jealousy”, which peaked at #25 in October 1993. That is the same position the second release reached on the Hot 100 in February 1994, two months after the song’s writer & band cofounder, Doug Hopkins, died by suicide more than a year after being dismissed by the group for addiction issues. The Gin Blossoms may be another rock & roll band with a tragic story but one of their best songs endured to find me that day in the car.

Gin Blossoms in a circa 1992 publicity photo for A&M Records (L-R): Robin Wilson, Bill Leen, Douglas Hopkins, Jesse Valenzuela and Phillip Rhodes. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

The Cars:  “Drive” (1984, written by Ric Ocasek).  

Joe Williams: “All Of Me” (1984, arranged by Billy May. Written by Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons).

Gin Blossoms: “Found Out About You” (1993, written by Doug Hopkins).

Stay safe & well.