Loading summary
Transcript63 lines
- [00:00]
Chris Melanphy
You're listening ad free on Amazon Music. Welcome back to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate Magazine about the hits from coast to coast. Chris I'm Chris Melanphy, chart analyst, pop critic and writer of Slate's why Is this Song Number One series. On our last episode, we talked about Second Chance hits, singles that did nothing or even flopped on the charts on first release before a catalyst, a movie, a boost in artist fame, a radio dj, a social meme turned them into smashes. Everyone from the Beatles to Prince, Guns N Roses to Taylor Swift has had one of these so called bring backs. And now in Part two, I'm about to count down a dozen of my favorite second chance hits. So before I run through these 12 second chance hits, as usual, when I start one of our periodic Hit Parade countdowns, a reminder that that this list is more art than science. As with my previous rankings of legacy hits or Billboard hits of the Year, chart data does factor in, but the end result is still largely subjective. Also, I'm not including on this countdown any Second Chance hit we've already discussed in depth on prior Hit Parade episodes, even though these songs would totally qualify. These are hits like UB 40s Red Red Wine, the subject of our pilot episode of Hit Parade, Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, discussed in depth in our posthumous hits episode, And kate bush's running up that hill, the touch stone for our tv tunes episode. For the full story on these massive Second Chance hits, please go back to these prior Hit Parade shows. Finally, one thing that makes Second Chance hits hard to compare is not all of them were issued the first time as actual standalone singles. Many started out as album cuts. So in general, in this ranking, songs that were issued as 45s and actually flopped on the Hot 100 the first time rank a bit higher than those that didn't begin their life as singles. In fact, that's the case with the song I've placed at number 12 on my countdown. It was an album cut before it was a hit. Actually, it was two album cuts, but this story is just too good not to include.
- [03:33]
Kevin Bendis
To talk about forever, but used to be don't count anymore.
- [03:40]
Chris Melanphy
In 1978, when Gary Guthrie was the program director for Louisville pop radio station WAKY, he noticed something uncanny. Two 70s superstars Neil diamond and Barbra Streisand had each recorded a version of the song you Don't Bring Me Flowers and issued them on their own separate LPs about six months apart.
- [04:09]
Kevin Bendis
You think I could learn how to tell you goodbye Cause you don't Bring.
- [04:22]
Chris Melanphy
Me Flowers But Flowers, a lament for a fading romance that Neil diamond himself co wrote, wasn't issued as a single by him or by Barbra Streisand. So Guthrie created his own. We asked Gary to send us a copy of his edited tape to play here on American top 40. So now at number one in place of the hit single, let's hear the fake duet that made it. Guthrie spliced Diamond's and Streisand's separate recordings of you Don't Bring Me Flowers. They had similar arrangements and were even sung in the same key. He combined them into a single duet. Given the primitive technology of the day, there were no computers, no pro tools. The ease with which these recordings blended was remarkable. You don't. Guthrie tried out his makeshift duet on the air and Waky was inundated with requests for the Phantom single. After the duet spread to other radio stations, word got back to diamond and Streisand themselves. They went into a studio together and re recorded Flowers as an actual nose to nose duet.
- [06:02]
Kevin Bendis
You're feeling alright.
- [06:06]
Chris Melanphy
The Result? A number one on Billboard's Hot 100 in December 1978, a DJ's activism had turned two deep cuts into a single smash second chance hit. While we're on the subject of cobbled together duets, the song I've placed at number 11 is by a pair of millennial hit makers with a lot of history as duet partners. Any. Abel Tesfay, better known as the Singer the Weeknd and Ariana Grande have sung together several times over the last decade. In 2014, the Weeknd scored his first ever top 10 pop hit as Grande's guest on her song Love Me Harder, a pulsating duet that peaked at number seven. Seven years later, when the Weeknd needed a boost for his top 10 single Save youe Te, he brought in Grande to turn the solo song into a duet that pushed Save youe tears to number one in May 2021. In a way that already made Save youe Tears a kind of Erzat symbol second chance hit, but not really a bring back hit. The single had never gone away while Abel was remixing it as a duet. The real second chance hit by the Weeknd happened just this year in 2023 with a song that originally dropped in 2016.
- [08:15]
Kevin Bendis
Baby Let Me Tell the Truth.
- [08:20]
Chris Melanphy
Die for you charted briefly in 2016 as an unpromoted album cut from the Weeknd's Starboy LP, it only reached number 43. Five years later, Die for you saw an increase in consumption after it went viral on TikTok as the subject of a series of Glow up videos showing off the video maker's most smoldering looks. All that social activity eventually pushed Die for you onto radio playlists in 2022 brought it back to the Hot 100 and by early 2023 pushed it into the chart's top 10. Which is when the Weeknd pulled in his not so secret weapon, Ariana Grande. A duet Reminds me remix of Die for you arrived in March of this year and lifted the song all the way to number one. You can think of the weekend's latest chart topper as a second chance twofer, a bottom up social phenomenon spurred by fans, followed by a good old fashioned top down promotional reboot at number 10. I have a Motown classic that strongly evokes the Detroit label's peak 60s SOU, which makes its chart peak in the early 70s a little strange. When Smokey Robinson and the miracles delivered their 1967 LP Make It Happen, it came packed with potential hits. Motown pulled two singles from the album the Love I Saw in you was Just a mirage reached number 20 and more love reached number 23. But the song that would turn out to be the most iconic was buried at the end of side two and it was co written by a teenager, young Motown hitmaker Stevie Wonder, who in 1967 was scoring big hits of his own.
- [11:09]
Kevin Bendis
Don't you know I was making love from a world all around yeah hey hey hey.
- [11:19]
Chris Melanphy
Wonder and his Motown co writer Hank Cosby passed this song to Smokey Robinson to complete the lyrics and the Miracles recorded it with its circus like melody. The group figured it would just be an interesting album closer the song the Tears of a Clown. It wasn't until three years later, when Smokey had split from the Miracles, that Tears of a Clown met its destiny. Motown's British division chose the track for release in the UK to celebrate the Miracle's success and fill a market gap while Smokey was on hiatus. Released In Britain in July 1970, clown already sounded like a throwback Motown classic and it topped the UK chart in September. That's when Motown's home office decided to try the single in America. Entering the Hot 100 in October 1970, the Tears of a Clown reached number one by December. It was the Miracle's first ever number one pop hit and the only one fronted by Smokey Robinson, who ironically had already left the group. A promotional reboot Second Chance hit had only affirmed Smokey's status as a Motown legend and helped ensure the label's continued relevance into the 70s and beyond. We'll be back momentarily. At number nine on my list is a hall of fame rock band. But as they were launching their career in the 70s, they had to try and try again with more than one bring back hit.
- [13:37]
Kevin Bendis
Sing with me Sing for the year Sing for the laughter Sing for the tear Sing a winner.
- [13:48]
Chris Melanphy
In 1973, Boston band Aerosmith kicked off their career with the instant AOR radio staple Dream on as a pop hit. However, Dream on was a flop in 1973, peaking at number 59. Aerosmith wouldn't crack the top 40 until 1975's Sweet Emotion, a number 36 hit. Building off the momentum of that hit, Aerosmith picked another track from their Toys in the Attic LP as a follow up single. The boogie rock proto rap jam Walk this Way. Believe it or not, Walk this Way missed the Hot 100 entirely in 1975. That may have been because an earlier Aerosmith hit was now belatedly catching on at top 40. Radio Dream on had re entered the Hot 100 in early 76 and climbed all the way to number six. It was Aerosmith's first top 10 hit and their first second chance hit. After two more singles in 76 came and went, Aerosmith decided to give Walk this way another try. Re released in the closing weeks of 76, by early 1977, Walk this Way climbed to number 10, Aerosmith's second second chance hit. It was also the last time Aerosmith would crack the top 10 for nearly a decade. Famously, in 1986, as we chronicled in our Def Jams edition of Hit Parade, Walk this Way was remade by rap trio Run DMC featuring Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith. That became the highest charting version of Walk this Way, peaking at number four in September 86. Between Aerosmith's pair of bring back hits, I give the edge to Walk this Way, which kept coming back over two decades. But Dream on deserves honorable mention. Shifting back in time to the 60s, number eight on my second chance hits list is an unlikely standard by a jazz legend. Actually, you could say all his 60s hits were flukes.
- [17:11]
Kevin Bendis
I can't tell, darling.
- [17:15]
Chris Melanphy
As we've noted in a couple of prior Hit Parade episodes, American icon Louis Armstrong was an unlikely hitmaker in 1964 when he ejected the Beatles from number one at the height of Beatlemania. His cover of the Broadway show tune hello Dolly made him a chart topper at age 62. As odd as that hit was, it wasn't the great Satchmo's unlikeliest Pop hit. Three years later, Armstrong was offered an orchestral pop ballad about the wonders of existence by producer Bob Feel and songwriter George David Weiss. They called it what a Wonderful World.
- [18:10]
Kevin Bendis
I see trees of green Red roses too.
- [18:19]
Chris Melanphy
Unlike hello Dolly on what a Wonderful World, Satchmo didn't play his signature trumpet. He only provided his distinctive, gravelly vocals. In 1968, World improbably became Armstrong's first and only UK number one hit. In America, however, World flopped, bubbling under the Hot 100 at number 116. The unlikeliest turn came two decades later, more than 16 years after Armstrong's death, when the song was revived by the 1987 Robin Williams military comedy film Good Morning Vietnam. Going out right now to a couple of guys on the road to Nat Trang. You know what I'm talking about. Hey, Mr. O', Malley. O'. Malley. You know the Irish Dolby twins?
- [19:20]
Kevin Bendis
They're out there.
- [19:22]
Chris Melanphy
Special song going out to you right now.
- [19:28]
Kevin Bendis
I see trees. So.
- [19:31]
Chris Melanphy
Reissued as a single in 1988, in the wake of the movie's success, Armstrong's what a Wonderful World entered the Hot 100 for the first time and climbed into the top 40, peaking at number 32. The song's second run established World as a modern day standard.
- [19:53]
Kevin Bendis
And I think to myself, what a Wonderful World.
- [20:04]
Chris Melanphy
Satchmo's posthumous hit got its second chance thanks to a movie. So did the song I've got at number seven on my list. But the gap between its two chances was much shorter and livelier. When Rhode island group John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band recorded The soundtrack to 1983's Eddie and the Cruisers. They were billed under the pseudonym Eddie and the Cruisers. The film was trying to sell its fictional story of a mysteriously disappeared rock star named Eddie Wilson. Some nights it's like Eddie's still alive.
- [21:05]
Kevin Bendis
You don't understand.
- [21:08]
Chris Melanphy
Not yet.
- [21:09]
Kevin Bendis
He died. The Cruisers died with him.
- [21:11]
Chris Melanphy
Released in the fall of 1983, Eddie and the Cruisers, the movie was a box office flop. Yanked from theaters after just three weeks on the Hot 100. Its single on the Dark side, recorded by Cafferty's band, but billed on the record sleeve and on the chart as Eddie and the Cruisers, could only get as high as number 64. It was off the chart before Christmas. 83. Two things happened in 1984 that changed the trajectory of both the song and the Beaver Brown Band. The movie made its debut on cable TV and became a word of mouth hit, drawing huge ratings in repeat viewings on the then young HBO channel and completely separately and coincidentally, the blockbuster return of a certain New Jersey rock star brought Bar band rock to top 40 radio. As we discussed in our Bruce Springsteen episode of Hit Parade.
- [22:27]
Kevin Bendis
You can't start a fight without a spark. This gun's for H even if we're just dancing in the dark.
- [22:38]
Chris Melanphy
Suddenly, the sound of the Beaver Brown Band, who strongly echoed the E Street Band, seemed ideal for the charts. In the late summer of 84, on the dark side was reissued, this time credited to John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, and it blew up re entering the Hot 100 and soaring to number seven by October, The Eddie and the Cruiser soundtrack cracked the top 10 and went triple platinum. Cafferty and Band actually scored two second chance hits from the LP. A ballad called Tender Years that had also briefly charted the year before, returned to the Hot 100 and reached number 31 in 1985. In the John Cafferty Eddie and the Cruisers story, you could see the gears of the industry turning, but the affection for the movie and its music was a bottom up phenomenon. That's even more the case with the song I've placed sixth on my second chance hits list, a very 21st century phenomenon that got social and crossed genres. At the turn of the 2000 and tens, Miguel Jontel Pimentel, who records as just Miguel, became a black radio and R B chart phenomenon. The title track of Miguel's All I Want Is you album cracked the top 10 on Billboard's R B chart and the next single was even bigger. Sure Thing topped the R b chart in May 2011. It also crossed over to the pop charts, briefly reaching number 36 at the time. Miguel spent the rest of the tens of scoring big R and B hits and medium sized pop hits such as 2012's superlative Adorn. Miguel's big pop crossover moment would come a full decade later when TikTok users started sharing a sped up version of sure Thing in their videos. In the TikTok era, sped up samples have become big business. Video makers like their songs with extra pep, As with the Weeknd's Die for your. Sure thing made a hot 100 return in 2022 and here's the unusual part became a pop radio smash. Radio stations, by the way, mostly played it at the normal speed. After rising on the Hot 100 for about six six months, sure Thing not only reached a new Hot 100 peak of number 11 in May of 2023, sure Thing became the most played song at top 40 radio, hitting number one on Billboard's pop airplay chart. Not Unlike Layla crossing from rock listeners to pop fans in 1972, in 2023, Miguel's second chance hit crossed him over with a whole new audience. We'll be right back. Heading into the top five of my countdown, I've got a unique case of a successful old hit that turned into two newer, slightly less successful hits. And yet the song became arguably more iconic. Confused? Maybe you've just seen a ghost first. We've got to go back before the era of rock and roll.
- [27:41]
Kevin Bendis
O my love, my darling I've hungered for your touch alone only time.
- [27:59]
Chris Melanphy
This is actor Todd Duncan in the 1955 movie Unchained, a prison drama that introduced the world to the song Unchained Melody. By the way, that's why this majestic ballad has that odd title. Unchained Melody went through several incarnations over the next decade. A version by band leader Les Baxter hit number one in 1955. After everyone from Jimmy Young to Roy Hamilton to Liberace took a pass at the song from 1955 to 1964. In 1965, the definitive version was issued by blue eyed soul duo the Righteous Brothers. Actually, it was the work of just one righteous brother, the higher voiced Bobby Hatfield. Bandmate Bill Medley didn't perform on the track. Hatfield produced the orchestral arrangement and did innovative things with the vocals, including adding some explosive high notes that amplified the drama. In the summer of 65, the Righteous Brothers Unchained Melody single reached number four on the Hot 100s. A very big hit. But post boomer generations don't think of this as a 60s song. They think instead of the early 90s. And that has everything to do with the 1990 movie Ghost.
- [29:56]
Kevin Bendis
So slowly and time can do so much.
- [30:06]
Chris Melanphy
The Patrick Swayze Demi Moore romantic drama 1990s top summer blockbuster prominently featured Unchained Melody. That sent the song back up the charts. However, there was a catch. Verve Records, the label that licensed the track for the Ghost reissue, only had the rights to issue it on vinyl 45 not the more popular cassette single that dominated the charts at the turn of the 90s. Also, the righteous Brothers earned less favorable royalties on the original version. So Bobby Hatfield, at age 50, went back into the studio to record a new 1990 Unchained Melody for Curb Records. Let's call it Bobby's Version. This happened when Taylor Swift wasn't even one year old. By the fall of 1990, the Righteous Brothers were competing against themselves on the charts. The Verve single on vinyl, fueled mostly by radio airplay, reached number 13 in its second chart run. The Curb single which received little airplay, nonetheless sold a million copies on cassette and CD, going platinum and peaking at number 19. Both songs were in the top 20 at the same time. In a parallel Universe where the 2 singles chart runs could have been combined, Unchained Melody likely would have been a top five or maybe even a number one hit. No second chance hit is quite like the Righteous Priority Brothers. Unchained Melody, the original, was a big hit. The return was a cultural phenomenon. In fourth place on My Second Chance Hits countdown is the US Breakthrough of the Thin White Duke, AKA Aladdin Sane, AKA Ziggy Stardust. Legendary as David Bowie was, it took several years to break him among young Americans.
- [32:43]
Kevin Bendis
Ground Control to Major Tom Take your protein pills and put your helmet on.
- [32:55]
Chris Melanphy
This is the original studio recording of Space Oddity, Bowie's psychedelic folk rocker about a lost astronaut dubbed Major Tom. The song had potential, but after signing a new record deal, Bowie felt he needed to re record it, which he did later in 69 check ignition and.
- [33:18]
Kevin Bendis
May God's love be with you.
- [33:27]
Chris Melanphy
This, the better known version of Space Oddity debuted in Billboard In August of 69, one month after the moon landing, and it bubbled under the Hot 100, peaking at number 124. But that would not be the last word on Major Tom or Bowie's last song about outer space. After David Bowie broke on the album chart in 1972 with LPS like Hunky Dory and the Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from Mars, RCA Records, Bowie's American label, decided to repromote his 1969 album under the title Space Oddity with new post Ziggy Stardust imagery and even a new video of Bowie miming the song in glam makeup. They reissued Space Oddity, the song on 45 and pushed it to American top 40 radio.
- [34:40]
Kevin Bendis
This is major time to Ground control. I'm stepping through the door and I'm floating in in the most peculiar way.
- [34:56]
Chris Melanphy
In early 1973, four years after it had been recorded, Space Oddity finally made the Hot 100, peaking at number 15. It solidified David Bowie's alien Persona and defined him in the public imagination. The reboot of Space Oddity did so well. A year later, RCA reissued Bowie's equally definitive single Changes, and they got it just outside the American top 40. In short, Second Chance hits made David Bowie's career on this side of the Atlantic. He turned and faced the strange and was rewarded for it. In third place on my ranking is a camp classic that overcame long odds to become a hit. Easy listening pop and soul singer Charlene Marilyn d', Angelo, later Charlene Duncan and finally just Charlene released her Motown debut album in 1976. At first, none of Charlene's mellow singles could break out of the 90s. On the Hot 100, It Ain't Easy Coming down reached number 97 and the follow up Freddy topped out at number 96.
- [36:42]
Kevin Bendis
Freddy There were clouds in your mind.
- [36:53]
Chris Melanphy
But a third single by Charlene was the kitschy Standout, a dialogue driven story song in which a hedonistic woman advises another workaday female friend not to envy all the sexy globetrot adventures the narrator has enjoyed in classic 70s me decade fashion. It was titled I've Never Been to Me.
- [37:18]
Kevin Bendis
But I ran out of places and friendly faces Because I had to be free I've been to paradise But I've never been to me.
- [37:34]
Chris Melanphy
In 1977, Charlene's I've never been to me peaked at number 97 again. Discouraged after a follow up album flopped, Charlene soon gave up recording entirely and moved to the uk. But her single had a long afterlife.
- [37:56]
Kevin Bendis
Hey, you know what paradise is? It's a lie, a fantasy we create about people and places as we like them to be. But you know what truth is.
- [38:07]
Chris Melanphy
In 1982, Scott Shannon, a DJ at a Tampa radio station, began playing I've Never Been to Me almost as a joke. But the response from listeners was unironically strong and Shannon quite seriously implored Motown Record Records to consider reissuing the single. Motown executives relocated Charlene, re signed her to Motown and re released I've Never Been to Me. The reissued I've Never Been to To Me single climbed all the way to number three in 1982. Listeners regarded the song as an earnest farewell to the excesses of the 70s. Charlene lasted long enough on her second go round with Motown to record a duet with Stevie Wonder. It made the R B chart.
- [39:22]
Kevin Bendis
Didn't.
- [39:23]
Chris Melanphy
Have to own a shiny and more than a decade later, I've Never Been to Me fulfilled its destiny as a drag anthem by soundtracking the opening scene of the adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the desert.
- [39:44]
Kevin Bendis
Into.
- [39:50]
Chris Melanphy
Charlene's second chance hit is a no joke major legacy, a career defined by a single hit. In second place on my list is a future Rock and Roll hall of Fame group's most beloved song. But it had to find its moment.
- [40:10]
Kevin Bendis
Since you gotta go oh, you better go now.
- [40:16]
Chris Melanphy
Go now, go now Birmingham based UK band the Moody Blues broke during the early years of the British invasion with the top 10 hit go now. That beat combo style single gave little indication of the Moody's future sound. Half of the band members turned over in the mid-60s, including new vocalist Justin Hayward and bassist John Lodge. In 1967, with the group suffering a lack of hits, the band's label invited them to try recording a classical rock hybrid album that would serve for the label as a showcase for stereophonic sound. The Moody's took them up on this offer and produced an original song cycle that they titled Days of Future Past. Tuesday Afternoon was the only top 40 hit from days of Future Past at the the time it was a number 24 hit in 1968. But the centerpiece of the LP was a much more dramatic ballad titled Nights in White Satin.
- [41:41]
Kevin Bendis
Nights in White Satin Never reaching the.
- [41:47]
Chris Melanphy
End at nearly six minutes, including a poetry interlude, Nights in White Satin was too long for pop radio. A severely edited three minute version was issued as a single in early 68 and it bubbled under the Hot 100 at number 103. So on the pop chart, a flop. But in those very early days of progressive FM rock radio, the song never really went away.
- [42:21]
Kevin Bendis
Yes, I love you.
- [42:28]
Chris Melanphy
In 1972, after years as a rock radio cut, a more judicious 4 1/2 minute edit of Nights in White Satin was issued by Decca Records. By then, radio programmers and record buyers were accustomed to progressives and psychedelic pop sounds. White Satin blew up on top 40 radio, scaling the Hot 100 and reaching number two in November. 72.
- [43:00]
Kevin Bendis
Thoughts they cannot defend Just what you want to be.
- [43:08]
Chris Melanphy
You might say the Moody Blues made a career out of their second chance hit. Their next album topped the album chart and they kept producing hits into the 1980s. In fact, the Moody's own the rare distinction of three top 10American hits in three different decades. In the 60s go now. In the 70s, Nights in White Satin and in the 80s, Your Wildest Dream.
- [43:38]
Kevin Bendis
Once upon a time. In your wildest dream.
- [43:48]
Chris Melanphy
This leaves just one second chance hit on my countdown. You might guess it's a holiday record and you would be correct. But maybe not the Christmas hit you're thinking of.
- [44:09]
Kevin Bendis
I don't want a lot.
- [44:12]
Chris Melanphy
I'm not ranking Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is you, which we devoted a whole hit parade episode to in 2019 when it belatedly topped the hot 100 a quarter century after it was first recorded. Here's the thing about Carrie's hit. It's not an archetypal second chance hit it. Carrie's Christmas classic wasn't released as a single in 1994, only an album cut. That was deliberate on the part of Carrie and Sony Music at the time. That's why all All I Want for Christmas Is yous didn't chart back then. It wasn't eligible for the Hot 100 in 1994. And really the story here is one of Billboard metrics catching up with Carrie's song. It really was always popular, no? The holiday standard I consider the ultimate second chance hit was a song recorded and released as a single in 1958. It didn't chart until 1960 at a just okay number 14. It lived in the background of a legendary career for six decades. It was revived in the streaming era and returned to the Hot 100 every Christmas starting in 2013, each year a little stronger. And this week in 2023, after four years of peeking at number two behind Mariah Carey's holiday hit, it's finally the number one song in America. Brenda Lee's Rockin around the Christmas Christmas Tree is an inspiring comeback story as we chronicled in 2021 on our chestnut Roasters episode of Hit Parade. Tree was recorded when the former Brenda May Tarpley was only 13 years old and it cracked the top 40 after she became a teen idol in 1960. Because holiday music didn't chart well in the in those days, Christmas Tree couldn't crack the top 10, not even at the height of Lee's fame. Look at her now. After a decade of steadily growing streams and and with a little help From a new 2023 music video in which the still rockin 78 year old Brenda Lip syncs to her 13 year old vocals, Rockin around the Christmas Tree has topped the Hot 100. It sets all sorts of chart records in the process. The longest climb to number one in chart history at 65 years. Lee the oldest chart topper ever at 78 years old, surpassing Louis Armstrong's 62 when he led with hello Dolly and the longest gap between number one hits 63 years between Christmas Tree and Lee's previous number one in 1960, I want to Be Wanted.
- [48:04]
Kevin Bendis
Passing by I Wanna Be Water.
- [48:11]
Chris Melanphy
Two years ago on Hit Parade, I bemoaned the fact that Brenda Lee's legendary career had been reduced to just one Christmas song. However, I openly wished that Lee could borrow a turn at number one from Mariah Carey, if only to validate the breadth of Lee's career. Now Brenda has done it, and if her recent live appearance on an NBC holiday special is any indication, Brenda doesn't seem to mind being associated with Christmas at all. At the Christmas it's in the spirit of the season and also the spirit of the Second Chance Hit the charts Reminder that it's never too late to be brought back. Brenda Lee showed us the new old fashioned way. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Hit Parade. Our show was written, edited and narrated by Chris Melanfi. That's me. My producer is Kevin Bendis. Kevin also produced the latest installment of our monthly Hit Parade the Bridge shows, which are available exclusively to Slate plus members. In our latest latest Bridge episode, I talked to Billboard writer and editor Andrew unterberger about why 2023 had so many second chance hits topping the charts. To sign up for Slate plus and hear not only the Bridge but all our shows the day they drop, visit slate.com hitparadeplus Derek John is Executive Producer of Narrative Podcasts and we had help from Joel Meyer. Alicia Montgomery is VP of Audio for Slate Podcasts. Check out their roster of shows@slate.com podcasts. You can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you get your podcasts, in addition to finding it in the Slate Culture feed. If you're subscribing on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find the show. Thanks for listening and I look forward to leading the Hit Parade back your way. Until then, happy holidays and keep on marching on the one. I'm Chris Malampi.