I thought I’d bring this mini-series of numbers tunes to a close for now with one final set. As this is the last I’m adding in a bonus sixth song this week, in order not to leave out something I wanted to play. They are the usual odd mix, all linked by having a number in their title and because I like them. You can’t say fairer than that, can you!

I’m starting with one that I could have played for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, for which the theme was earworm songs. You’ll see what I mean, I think:

Seven Nation Army, by The White Stripes. They aren’t a favourite band of mine, but that insidious riff just gets into your head, doesn’t it, and I’ve always liked this song. It was released as a single in February 2003, ahead of its appearance on the band’s fourth album, Elephant, which came out on 1 April that year, but definitely wasn’t an April Fool! The single only peaked at #76 in the US, though it got to #1 on their Alternative Songs chart, doing enough to go Double Platinum in the process. It did much better here in the UK, where it reached #7 and went 4x Platinum. The album was their big breakthrough, getting to #6 in the US (2x Platinum), making the top ten in several other countries, including Canada and Australia, and best of all #1 in the UK, where it went 3x Platinum. It sold over 4m copies worldwide, 2m of those in the US and 900,000 in the UK. The band was unusual in that it consisted of just two members, who were siblings Jack and Meg White. They released two more albums after this, in 2005 and 2007, both of which were big chart successes, and then went into hiatus, pursuing other projects, until they disbanded in 2011.

This next one is a longtime favourite of mine:

Down To Zero was released as the opening track on Joan Armatrading’s third album, which was named after her, in July 1976. The album was her first to be successful in chart terms, reaching #12 in the UK, and it also made #67 in the US.  I bought it at the time and played it a lot: it is a lovely album, which was helped by the success of the first single taken from it, Love And Affection, which peaked at #10 in the UK. This song was also released as a single, in January 1977, but didn’t make the charts: she is, I think, very much an albums artist, and has had continued success here ever since. She has had six top ten albums, and sixteen that made the top forty, and as a singer-songwriter she is up there with the best for me.

Another of my favourites is up next. A slight cheat in the title of this one, but it was written by Prince, who had a penchant for using numbers when others might have used words. This is just far too good to leave out:

Nothing Compares 2 U is, as I said, a song written and originally performed by Prince, but Sinead made it her own. It was released as a single in January 1990, a couple of months ahead of the album on which it is included, I Do Not Want What IHaven’t Got. Both the single and the album were massive hits, topping the charts in Ireland, the UK, the US, and in countless other countries as well. The single has sold more than 3.5m copies, and the album more than 7m. In case you didn’t know, the tears are genuine: Sinead has said that she was thinking of her mother, who had died in a car accident in 1985, and with whom she had shared a troubled relationship.

Considering how much I like this band I really haven’t played them enough. This goes a little way towards putting that right:

3AM is a track on Matchbox Twenty’s debut album, Yourself Or Someone Like You, which was released in October 1996 and reached #5 in the US and #50 here. It has to date sold more than 15m copies worldwide, 12m of those in the US alone. A pretty good start for a band! This track was the third single taken from the album, and like the previous two it wasn’t deemed eligible to make the US charts, though it got to #1 on both Billboard’s Adult Pop Airplay and Adult Alternative listings, and reached #1 in Canada and #64 in the UK. It was written by Rob Thomas, Jay Stanley, John Leslie Goff, and Brian Yale while performing together in the early 1990s band Tabitha’s Secret and was first recorded by that band on its debut EP, Tabitha’s Secret? Its lyrics are inspired by Thomas as an adolescent having to live with a mother fighting to survive cancer: the video has some images which reflect that concern. It may not have been eligible at first to appear in the main Billboard chart (no physical release at that point) but later sales of over 3m more than compensated!

Going way back to my teenage years for this one:

The Electric Light Orchestra – aka ELO – released 10538 Overture on their eponymous debut album in December 1971: the album peaked at #32 in the UK and #196 in the US. This track then became their debut single in June 1972, reaching #9 in the UK and #5 in France. I’ve told before of my time seeing them play live. They put together a hastily convened tour in autumn 1972 to promote their hit single, and my uni was, I think, the first venue. It was, quite frankly, the worst concert I have ever attended. One of the roadies spent most of the gig lying on the stage trying to hold down Bev Bevan’s drumkit, which appeared to be making a bid for freedom, and they played for no more than three quarters of an hour before announcing that they had no more songs to give us. So, having already played this during the show, we got it again as an encore. Luckily for them they got their act together and went on to phenomenal success, but I wouldn’t have predicted it after that first show!

That would be it for a normal week, as that was the fifth tune, but I promised you a bonus extra one, didn’t I. How about something from one of the biggest names there ever was in rock music:

#9 Dream was first released as a track on John Lennon’s fifth solo album, Walls And Bridges, in September 1974 in the US and early October in the UK. The album was a #1 in both the US and Canada, and peaked at #6 in the UK. It then became the second single taken from the album, in December 1974, reaching #9 (of course!) in the US and #23 in the UK. The song came to Lennon in a dream: he has said that the song was just “churned out” with “no inspiration. That’s what I call craftsmanship writing, meaning, you know, I just churned that out. I’m not putting it down, it’s just what it is, but I just sat down and wrote it, you know, with no real inspiration, based on a dream I’d had.” So now you know how to write a successful song!

That’s all for today, and as ever I hope you found something in here that you liked. I’ll see you again in a couple of days, so until then have fun, and stay safe and well 😊