Songoftheday 3/5/20 - Don't be so hard on yourself those tears are for someone else, I hear your voice on the phone I hear you feel so alone...
from the album Seal (1994)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #33 (three weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 7
Today's song of the day comes from British pop singer/songwriter Seal, whose second self-titled album in 1994 had already spun off a top-40 single in "Prayer For The Dying", as well as the #1 Grammy-winning waltz-ballad from Batman Forever, "Kiss From A Rose". When the latter was first released and didn't get much attention, another single followed, "Newborn Friend", which hit the top-40 in New Zealand at #24, but missed the top-40 in the UK at #45 and only "bubbled under" the pop Hot 100 at #109 at the close of 1994. However the remixes of that track were big in the clubs, causing it to spend two weeks at #2 on Billboard magazine's Dance chart, his biggest hit there. Another worthy track released as a fourth single, "I'm Alive", didn't get much attention however. After the success of "Kiss From A Rose"'s resurrection in the summer of 1995, the album was given new "life" on radio and the decision to release yet another single was made in favor of the ballad "Don't Cry", a waltz-like ballad much like the #1 hit that even delved deeper into the pain of the person the protagonist was singing to....
"Don't Cry" became Seal's fourth American Top-40 pop hit in February of 1996. The song was huge on "easy listening" radio, spending a week at #3 on Billboard's Adult Top-40 radio chart, while hitting #4 on the Adult Contemporary format chart and spending over ten months on the list. It also was a minor R&B hit at #71. Internationally, the single was a big success in Canada, peaking at #6, while stalling out at #51 in the singer's home of Britain. At the MTV Music Awards "Don't Cry" was nominated for Best Male Video, which went to Beck for "Where It's At".
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Here's the radio edit of the song with better sound...
Next up, Seal appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno...
and finally, live in Paris in 2005...
Up tomorrow: a now-fallen pop legend is making religious comparisons.
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