Songoftheday 10/5/19 - Time on my hands since you been away, boy I ain't got no plans no no no no...
from the album My Life (1994)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #22 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 6
Today's song of the day comes from R&B singer Mary J. Blige, who landed her fourth top-40 pop hit with the lead single from her critically acclaimed sophomore album My Life, "Be Happy" at the end of 1994. At that time, the record was so big that two other cuts from the set that weren't released as singles in the U.S. started to get airplay at urban radio stations, so much that they eventually made the top-40 on the airplay portion of the R&B chart in Billboard magazine. Title track "My Life" made it to #14 and spent 34 weeks on the airplay list, while "Mary Jane (All Night Long)" rose to #37 there as well. The latter became Mary's first top-20 hit in the UK at #17 (where it was put out commercially) and her first top-40 in New Zealand at #33. The second official single in the States would be a cover of a ballad first recorded by the band Rose Royce for the movie Car Wash in 1976. Released as the second follow-up to their #1 pop hit "Car Wash", "I'm Goin' Down" was written by Norman Whitfield, and climbed to #10 on Billboard's R&B chart and #70 on the pop Hot 100...
Blige's version, which doesn't attempt to transform the song into something else , lets the lyrics speak for themselves with slow and non-showy production from Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs and Chuck Thompson. And without the stigma of standing in for a prostitute from the movie, "I'm Goin' Down" simply lets Blige's voice carry it through...
Blige's cover of "I'm Goin' Down" climbed into the American Top-40 in April of 1994. The song did better on urban stations, climbing to #13 on Billboard's R&B singles. Internationally, the song peaked at #12 in the UK.
The next single release in the States contained two radio hits, with both reaching the charts. "You Bring My Joy", the "side one" of the single, climbed to #57 on the pop Hot 100 and #29 on the R&B chart, while "I Love You" had enough airplay to get to #65 pop.
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Here's Blige performing the song live at the Apollo in New York City...
And finally, here's the remix on the single...
And finally, Mary appearing on Letterman to sing "I'm Goin' Down"...
Up tomorrow: British new wave band questions timing.
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