Songoftheday 9/15/19 - I was young and didn't have no where to run, I needed to wake up and see what's in front of me...
from the album II (1994)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #21 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 10
Today's song of the day comes from the pop/soul vocal group from Philadelphia, Boyz II Men, whose sophomore effort II had spun off two massive pop hits in America, both reaching #1 with "I'll Make Love To You" spending a record-breaking (at the time) and "On Bended Knee" topping the list for another six. For their third release from the set the Boyz went back to their roots, putting out the boppin' mostly acappella album lead track "Thank You" (some instruments were added to the radio edit). Written by the bandmates Michael McCary, Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris, and Shawn Stockman, along with producer Dallas Austin, the song was a lively tribute to their fans, and since they've had success with like-sounding "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday" and "In The Still Of The Nite", that this seemed like a hat trick. I was wrong...
"Thank You" stopped short of the pop top-20 in March of 1995, though it still did well enough to place in that year's Hot 100 year-end list at #94. On Billboard's R&B chart, the song peaked at #17. Internationally, the single reached the top-40 in New Zealand (#17), the UK (#26), France (#27), Canada (#32), and Australia (#33). As great and tight a song this was, and it was a fave on the album for me, it worked better as an album starter than a stand-alone radio single. I would've loved to have seen them put out the Tony Rich composition "I Sit Away" or even more daringly the street-rock "U Know" instead (or "Water Runs Dry" earlier).
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
Here's the group on a live TV appearance (I think it's Arsenio or the Late Show but I'm not sure)...
And lastly, live on VH1 Honors a year later...
Up tomorrow: Blues-rocker revives a top ten hit that was a rock legends swan song for a "chick movie".
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