Super Oldies of the Week

What's an oldie? How old should a song be before it is considered an oldie? My friend’s kid who was born in the mid 1990s thinks any song released before 2005 is an oldie. Hardly so in my book.

Should the term oldie be applied to songs of a certain era or to songs that pass a certain numeric threshold based on the year it was released and first became popular?

For the purposes of the weekly top 10 that I turn into Plannine’s Classic Top 30 page, it seems that songs from the early 1980s or older qualify as an oldie. The current definition that I will use for an oldie is a song that is 20 years old or older.

Hence all music that was released and became popular in 1989 for me will be the defining point of what is an oldie. Certainly other people will think otherwise. This means popular tracks like Paul McCartney’s “My Brave Face,” U2’s “With or Without You” and Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” are all oldies. These records were released at least 20 years ago. Makes you feel old huh?

Here are my 10 favorite oldies of the week as submitted to Plannine’s site:

1. My Hawaii - The Rascals
2. Oh Boy - Buddy Holly
3. La La La La La - The Blendells
4. Jennifer Eccles - The Hollies
5. Orinoco Flow (Sail Away) - Enya
6. New Year's Day - U2
7. Nights Are Forever Without You - England Dan & John Ford Coley
8. The Lord's Prayer - Sister Janet Mead
9. One Tin Soldier - Coven
10. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - Gene Pitney

The oldest song on this list is Buddy Holly’s “Oh Boy” which came out in the 1950s. The newest is Enya’s “Orinoco Flow” which was a hit in 1988. Hard to imagine an Enya track as an oldie. The song is more than 20 years old. Yes, you are old.

England Dan and John Ford Coley, originally uploaded by lwb10463.

DAN SEALS

Sad to hear of the passing this week of country and pop singer Dan Seals. He was the “England Dan” of England Dan & John Ford Coley who had a string of soft rock pop hits in the mid to late 1970s. England Dan & John Ford Coley’s records included “Nights are Forever (Without You)”, “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight”, “It’s So Sad to Belong” and “Love is the Answer”. Dan Seals later went on to a solo country music career in the 1980s and early 1990s. He was the younger brother to Jim Seals of Seals & Croft fame. Rest in Peace Dan.