Songoftheday 8/29/23 - He was looking to the sky and as he asked if I would come along, I started to realize that everyday he finds just what he's lookin' for...

 

 

"Ordinary Day" - Vanessa Carlton

from the album Be Not Nobody (2002)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #30 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 8

 

Today's song comes from singer/songwriter Vanessa Carlton, who charmed the hearts of America with her piano-heaven opus "A Thousand Miles", which reached the top ten on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in the spring of 2002.  Carlton's follow-up single was another self-written song, "Ordinary Day", written while she was still a teenager. The lyrics tell of first love when the guy can't do wrong and pursues the dreams she never thought to materialize. This is all under a a 6/8-time with a production from Ron Fair that brings enough emotional punch without becoming overblown. While it's not as immediate as "Thousand Miles", its naive youthful attitude rewards on more repeated listens. And Carlton got back to the pop charts with this effort, with a music video directed by the same guy (Marc Klasfeld) as the previous iconic clip...

"Ordinary Day" became Carlton's second, and as far last, top-40 hit on Billboard's Hot 100 in October of 2002 (probably more hindered by lack of a commercial single's sales points). On the radio, the song peaked at #9 on the Mainstream Top-40 airplay chart and hit #29 on the older-skewing Adult Top-40 format. Internationally, the single made the top-40 in New Zealand at #17, and was a minor hit in the United Kingdom at #53. 

A third and final single from the Be Not Nobody album, "Pretty Baby", got enough pop radio love to rise to #21 on the Mainstream Top-40 chart, but failed to reach the other formats or hit the Hot 100. (It deserved better.) Perhaps interest was more swayed to her collaboration (well, singing backup with credit) with the alternative rock band Counting Crows on a remake of Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" that was nicer than it had a right to be, which went to to #5 on both the Adult Top-40 and Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio charts, and almost reached the Hot 100 Top-40 at #42.

Vanessa returned in 2004 with her sophomore effort on A&M Records, Harmonium. The lead single from the record, "White Houses", in which she attempted to broaden the sonics with some heavier drums while tackling the tricky subject of young female sexuality. Though the song reached the top-40 on the Mainstream Top-40 (#25) and Adult Top-40 (#27) radio charts, it stalled down at #86 on the Hot 100. And with the album, which came in at #33 on the Billboard 200 sales tally but only sold a fraction of her debut, and she left the label by the next year. During that time, another collab remake - this time with the Korgis' "Everybody Got To Learn Sometime" with Italian singer Zucchero, made the French top-40 at #39. 

 

Surprisingly, Carlton's next move was to promoter/producer Irv Gotti's the Inc. label off of Motown Records, a decidedly hip-hop brand. Produced by uber-songwriter Linda Perry and Third Eye Blind's Stephen Jenkins, Heroes & Thieves was in my eyes her best album as a whole. The first single from the set, "Nolita Fairytale",with a music video that took the piss from her "Thousand Miles" clip, got to #26 on the Adult Top-40 radio chart, followed by "Hands On Me", which stopped at #30 there, her most recent airplay list appearance.  

After a four year break, Vanessa reemerged on yet another label, the usually compilation master Razor & Tie, for Rabbits On The Run, which came in at #62 for a single week on the Billboard 200 in 2011. After a holiday EP Hear The Bells, Carlton left them as well.

Since then, the singer has been on the indie label Dine Alone, releasing two more studio albums, an EP, and a couple more collections. Her most recent full-length, Love Is An Art, came out in 2020, with the second single, "Future Pain", the most streamed from it. 

(6/10)

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Here's Vanessa appearing on a televised sports concert in 2002...

Up tomorrow: California band plays a bit of limbo.