"SOS" by Cher

After her stint in the second film installation of "Mamma Mia" featuring the music of ABBA, Cher secretly embarked on a new record project covering nothing but ABBA songs. The result is her new album "Dancing Queen" featuring this delightful version of "SOS," one of my favorite ABBA songs (I really appreciate that she did not try to reinvent it, but let it sound like ABBA).

But it is the video that is truly special: while Cher is absent, the sense of empowerment and unity for women is a moving, beautiful message (witness all the different ages, sizes, shapes, and colors of beauty). It's no surprise that Cher created this message as she has always been a vocal critic of leaders and the Republican party who are anti-women and who look for ways to continually strip women of rights and equality. I do not follow people's social media accounts because I am a busy man, but please take a look at her Twitter feed because it is representative--sometimes hilariously so--of her no BS attitude while actually being quite a political voice of reason.

And if anyone is thinking "Why Cher?", I will let Mark Bego, Cher's biographer fill you in: "No one in the history of show business has had a career of the magnitude and scope of Cher's. She has been a teenage pop star, a television hostess, a fashion magazine model, a rock star, a pop singer, a Broadway actress, an Academy Award-winning movie star, a disco sensation, and the subject of a mountain of press coverage." I would like to point out that she has also won a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Cannes Film Festival Award, a special CFDA Fashion Award, and a Kennedy Center Honors prize, among several other honors. She has sold 100 million records worldwide to date, becoming one of the best-selling music artists in history. And get this: she is the only artist to date to have a number-one single on a Billboard chart in each decade from the 1960s to the 2010s.

So there.

https://www.cher.com

Currently listening to...

..."Stars" by Cher.

From a 1975 album entitled "Stars," this title track was written by Janis Ian. Cher is an icon and some would say she has turned into a caricature of herself. Over the years, her vibrato has increased, perhaps contributing to the idea of caricature. But during the 70s, she was an actual, viable recording artist (for the edification of those who were not alive then). Although this album did not do well commercially, it was warmly received by reviewers and fans. I had this album in 1975, and this track stood out for me. Ostensibly about the perils of celebrity, the lyrics are touching and poignant.

I was never one for saying what I really feel
Except tonight I'm bringing everything I know that's real

Stars they come and go
They come fast
They come slow
They go like the last light of the sun
All in a blaze
And all you see is glory

Hey, but it gets lonely here
When there's no one here to share
You can shake it all away if you will hear my story

Some people ask for fame like athletes in a game
We break our collarbones and come up swinging
Some of us are downed, some of us a crowned
And some are lost and never found

But most have seen it all
They live their lives in sad cafes and music halls
They always come up singing

Some make it when they're young
Before the world has done its dirty job
Later on someone will say you've had your day,
And now you must make way

But they will never know the pain of living
With a name you've never owned
Or the many years forgetting
What you know too well
That the ones who get the crown
Have been let down
Yet try to make amends
Without defending
Perhaps pretending
You never saw the eyes
Of grown men of twenty-five
That follow as you walk
And ask for autographs
Or kiss you on the cheek
But you never can believe
They really love you

Some make it when they're old
Perhaps they have a soul
They're not afraid to bear
Or perhaps there's nothing there

Stars they come and go
They come fast
They come slow
They go like the last light of the sun
All in a blaze
And all you see is glory

But most have seen it all
They live their lives
In sad cafes and music halls
They always come up singing
Singing
Singing
Singing

http://www.cher.com/