The final playlist of 2022. It will be a little different as I plan a special playlist for Monday and will hang on to new tracks until next Friday.

“Man at C&A” – The Specials
“Our Lips Are Sealed” – The Go-Go’s
Terry Hall, one-time frontman for The Specials, died a week ago. I’ve listened to a fair amount of Specials music over the years, but his passing had me reading up on their history. In the process I learned that despite being their lead singer, he didn’t write any of their songs until their second album. This was the first, a fitting track for the times about nuclear war. I also didn’t realize how many of their songs were covers, including my first favorite, “A Message to You Rudy.” FTR, my all-time fav Specials song is 1984’s “Free Nelson Mandela.”

I also did not know until last week that Hall co-wrote “Our Lips Are Sealed” with Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go’s. The two had a brief affair while The Specials and Go-Go’s toured together, and this is the lasting result. The first release off The Go-Go’s Beauty and the Beat, it hit #10 in the US. Hall recorded a version with his second band, Fun Boy Three, and took it to #7 on the UK charts (The Go-Go’s version only made it to #47 over there).

“The Rubberband Man” – The Spinners
“Mamma Can’t Buy You Love” – Elton John
Thom Bell also passed last week. He was a third of the Mighty Three with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff that pretty much created the Philadelphia Sound of poppy R&B. He is most famous for his work with The Stylistics and The Spinners, especially the later, who saw their biggest pop chart success while in the studio with him. I learned this week that Bell also produced this 1979 comeback hit for Elton John, his first top 10 hit in over three years. The Spinners are there, too, on background vocals. No idea why I never heard his influence in this track; it’s unmistakable.

“late night skate” – Trust Fund
Feels right for this time of year without being holiday-ish.

“Snowman, Snowman (Sweet Potato Nose) – The Jaynetts
I recently signed up for writer Dan Epstein’s newsletter, or at least the free posts. Those free posts tend to be about old songs. Here he wrote about this wonderful little winter track from 1963.

“17 Days” – Prince
When the girls had the flu last month they missed a few days of school and a couple social events. I told them about the time I had the flu the worst I’ve ever had it, just after New Year’s 1998. I missed a KU game and going to see Prince. S said that I must have really been sick if I didn’t go to a KU game. I told her missing the Prince concert was a far bigger deal, as I never got to see him live. It’s not the same experience, but thank goodness we can find videos like this and remember how great the man was.