Now, here you go again - you say you want your freedom

Continuing my trip up the list of the most streamed songs for each year.  

1977 : Dreams - Fleetwood Mac

Another song off Rumours - and another one I'm not sure if I ever knew it was a single (this was the follow-up single to "Go Your Own Way"), but here it is checking in at a lengthy 4:18.  I wouldn't have guessed it was the winner this year, but I'm not surprised to see this one taking it - TikTok went mad for your guy on his skateboard and I have to admit it is a pretty cool video.

Wikipedia has a lot on the trauma that the group were going through at the time - and Stevie Nicks took herself away from it all to noodle down the basis of this track.  She played it to the rest of the band who immediately went "meh" about it but Lyndsey Buckingham did some more noodling and got people on board.  And well, it's been quite successful over the years.  In the UK, it's charted in '77 (getting to #24 - it's highest position), '11, '20, '21 and '22.  But they went mad for it in the US, with it getting to #1 in '77 (their only chart topping single) and also getting to #12 in '20.

And who's had the highest charting version of this song in the UK?  Why, obviously it's The Corrs - I'd forgotten they'd done a version in '97 which spent 10 weeks in the charts and got to #6.  And, surprisingly, it's not awful.  Deep Dish also did a version in '06 which charted at #14 in the UK (very average) and Jolyon Peitch (who? - but it's a nice summery version) charted in Australia in '21.  secondhandsongs.com offers up Paul Hardcastle (disappointingly normal), Black Shakespeare (a nicely reggae tinged version), Gabrielle Aplin & Bastille (at least they've tried something different with it), The Kills (an interesting lo-fi version), Vanessa Carlton (who has made some awful covers in her time, but here she simply adds nothing to it) and Pomplamoose (who I listened to for their name only, but it's a very boring version).

So what was the competition like from the UK charts this year?  The best selling tracks of the year were Wings' "Mull Of Kintyre", David Soul's "Don't Give Up On Us", Julie Covington's "Don't Cry For Me Argentina", Leo Sayer's "When I Need You" and David Soul's "Silver Lady" - not the best selection, but I'm pleased to say I don't remember either of those David Soul tracks.  Other tracks that jump out from the charts are Boney M's "Daddy Cool", Rose Royce's "Car Wash", Heatwave's "Boogie Nights", David Bowie's "Sound and Vision", ABBA's "Knowing Me, Knowing You" and "The Name Of The Game", Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke" (a very fine track indeed), Eagles' "Hotel California" (that must have been up there as well, surely?), The Sex Pistols' "God Save The Queen" and "Pretty Vacant", Donna Summers' "I Feel Love", Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better", Queen's "We Are The Champions", Bee Gees' "How Deep Is Your Love" and (last and probably least) The Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band's "Floral Dance".  

It's nice to see some decent tracks in there, but I should point out that the two bands that had the most hits in this year were Boney M and Showaddywaddy, so it wasn't necessarily music's finest hour.  The US year end charts tells us that the best selling single over there was, somewhat surprisingly, Rod Stewart's "Tonight's The Night" and another track from the top ten is Thelma Houston's version of "Don't Leave Me This Way", which is interesting because Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes' version was a top ten hit in the UK in the same year.  Apart from that, there's very little that jumps out but it's nice to see some of the names in there - Hall & Oates, Steve Miller Band and Foreigner all take me back. 

I don't think I'd have put Dreams in my top ten guesses of the year's winner but I'm happy enough for it to have it - it's a very fine track indeed which manages to be of its time, but it also hasn't dated.

1976 - Better cover versions, but still terrible haircuts
1978 - An unexpected win with an interesting selection of reasons for winning