Next is "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) by Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer, #1 from November 18 - December 1, 1979.
Always loved "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)". Love how it starts slow and then eventually builds up into a dance song. Kind of like Donna's "Last Dance".
"No More Tears" I don't think I've ever heard this one before. Give me Ozzy Osbourne's "No More Tears" any day of the week over this.
There were 4 released versions of No More Tears. The versions on the two 7" singles differed slightly however, with different mixes and slightly different background vocal arrangements. 1) 45 Sony 2) 45 Casablanca No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) 3) On The Radio Extended version No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) 4) Streisand Wet album version Barbra Streisand / Donna Summer - No More Tears (Enough is Enough) (Extended Version)
This was a monster single, one of the first I distinctly recall following the progress of on American Top 40. Streisand and Summer were both near or at their career peaks, so a duet between the two was almost guaranteed to be enormous. I've always thought it was very adventurous for a disco chart topper, with that wonderful ballad intro transitioning into a stomping dance floor burner. One of the great breakup songs of the '70s, along with "You're So Vain" and "I Will Survive" from earlier this year. When Streisand and Summer tell you to eff off, you eff off.
As big as this song was? You must be an 80s child or something. I prefer the Donna Summer 12" single mix, as presented on Donna Summer's "On The Radio" comp. Yes, there are two mixes, and I do not like the hit single mix.
This is not the single mix, BTW. This is the "Donna Summer" mix. The hit mix, what I call the "Babs mix", is much tamer and does not have the extra keyboards.
Here's another of my chart series from 1979. This 'uns from Feb. As usual, the most impactful songs, the ones I personally prefer, are highlighted. Chic's last week of its 6 week run at No. 1. US Top 40 Singles For The Week Ending February 3, 1979 TW LW TITLE Artist (Label)-Weeks on Chart (Peak to Date) 1 1 LE FREAK –•– Chic (Atlantic)-15 (6 weeks at #1) (1) 2 3 Y.M.C.A. –•– The Village People (Casablanca)-16 (2) 3 4 DA YA THINK I’M SEXY? –•– Rod Stewart (Warner Brothers)-7 (3) 4 6 A LITTLE MORE LOVE –•– Olivia Newton-John (MCA)-11 (4) 5 2 TOO MUCH HEAVEN –•– Bee Gees (RSO)-12 (1) 6 5 MY LIFE –•– Billy Joel (Columbia)-14 (3) 7 9 EVERY 1’S A WINNER –•– Hot Chocolate (Infinity)-13 (7) 8 11 FIRE –•– The Pointer Sisters (Planet)-13 (8) 9 10 SEPTEMBER –•– Earth, Wind and Fire (ARC)-12 (9) 10 20 I WILL SURVIVE –•– Gloria Gaynor (Polydor)-8 (10) 11 13 LOTTA LOVE –•– Nicolette Larson (Warner Brothers)-11 (11) 12 16 I WAS MADE FOR DANCIN’ –•– Leif Garrett (Scotti Brothers)-13 (12) 13 14 NEW YORK GROOVE –•– Ace Frehley (Casablanca)-17 (13) 14 15 SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT –•– Barry Manilow (Arista)-8 (14) 15 17 GOT TO BE REAL –•– Cheryl Lynn (Columbia)-10 (15) 16 18 SHAKE IT –•– Ian Matthews (Mushroom)-12 (16) 17 19 SOUL MAN –•– The Blues Brothers (Atlantic)-9 (17) 18 26 HEAVEN KNOWS –•– Donna Summer with Brooklyn Dreams (Casablanca)-4 (18) 19 21 NO TELL LOVER –•– Chicago (Columbia)-7 (19) 20 8 HOLD THE LINE –•– Toto (Columbia)-18 (5) 21 22 DON’T HOLD BACK –•– Chanson (Ariola America)-13 (21) 22 29 BLUE MORNING, BLUE DAY –•– Foreigner (Atlantic)-7 (22) 23 24 THE GAMBLER –•– Kenny Rogers (United Artists)-14 (23) 24 25 DON’T CRY OUT LOUD –•– Melissa Manchester (Arista)-12 (24) 25 7 OOH BABY BABY –•– Linda Ronstadt (Asylum)-13 (7) 26 12 YOU DON’T BRING ME FLOWERS –•– Barbra Streisand & Neil Diamond (Columbia)-15 (1) 27 28 TAKE ME TO THE RIVER –•– The Talking Heads (Sire)-14 (27) 28 30 HOME AND DRY –•– Gerry Rafferty (United Artists)-10 (28) 29 31 BABY I’M BURNIN’ –•– Dolly Parton (RCA)-9 (29) 30 36 SHAKE YOUR GROOVE THING –•– Peaches and Herb (Polydor)-7 (30) 31 32 SHATTERED –•– Rolling Stones (Rolling Stones)-8 (31) 32 33 LOVE DON’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE –•– Rose Royce (Whitfield)-9 (32) 33 38 DANCIN’ SHOES –•– Nigel Olsson (Bang)-8 (33) 34 23 PROMISES / WATCH OUT FOR LUCY –•– Eric Clapton and His Band (RSO)-17 (9) 35 37 ONE LAST KISS –•– The J. Geils Band (EMI-America)-12 (35) 36 39 LADY –•– Little River Band (Harvest)-5 (36) 37 44 EVERY TIME I THINK OF YOU –•– The Babys (Chrysalis)-5 (37) 38 43 WHAT YOU WON’T DO FOR LOVE –•– Bobby Caldwell (Clouds)-7 (38) 39 27 WE’VE GOT TONITE –•– Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band (Capitol)-15 (13) 40 41 YOU THRILL ME –•– Exile (Warner Brothers / Curb)-11 (40) THIS WEEK’S DROPS 51 40 YOU NEED A WOMAN TONIGHT –•– The Captain and Tennille (A&M)-9 (40) 53 35 (Our Love) DON’T THROW IT ALL AWAY –•– Andy Gibb (RSO)-17 (9) 57 34 SHARING THE NIGHT TOGETHER –•– Dr. Hook (Capitol)-21 (6) POWER PLAYS 41 62 WHAT A FOOL BELIEVES –•– The Doobie Brothers (Warner Brothers)-3 (41) 42 42 I DON’T WANNA LOSE YOU –•– Daryl Hall and John Oates (RCA)-9 (42) 43 47 YOU CAN DO IT –•– Dobie Gray (Infinity)-7 (43) 44 45 DANCING IN THE CITY –•– Marshall Hain (Harvest)-9 (44) 45 48 SING FOR THE DAY / RENEGADE –•– Styx (A&M)-5 (45) 46 50 STORMY –•– Santana (Columbia)-5 (46) 47 54 HAVEN’T STOPPED DANCING YET –•– Gonzalez (Capitol)-5 (47) 48 61 CRAZY LOVE –•– Poco (ABC)-3 (48) 49 57 I JUST FALL IN LOVE AGAIN –•– Anne Murray (Capitol)-2 (49) 50 58 YOU MAKE ME FEEL (Mighty Real) –•– Sylvester (Fantasy)-4 (50) DEBUTS THIS WEEK 82 — DOG AND BUTTERFLY –•– Heart (Portrait)-1 (82) 84 — ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD –•– Dr. Hook (Capitol)-1 (84) 86 — FOUR STRONG WINDS –•– Neil Young (Reprise)-1 (86) 87 — FOR YOU AND I –•– 10cc (Polydor)-1 (87) 88 — BUSTIN’ LOOSE (Part 1) –•– Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers (Source)-1 (88) 89 — OH HONEY –•– Delegation (Shady Brook)-1 (89) 90 — SURVIVOR –•– Cindy Bullens (United Artists)-1 (90)
As he only had one Top 40 hit (No. 28, in 1991), he won't really come up in this discussion. He had 4 Hot 100 hits total, but only one made the top 30. Ozzy Osbourne discography - Wikipedia
It's not my favorite, either, but not an irritant, like, say, Rod Stewart's disco song, "Do Ya Think I'm Disco" or the crush of Bee Gees disco-infused singles, which kept many good (and better) songs out of the top spot.
I vividly remember an Us magazine article at the time it was hitting, that suggested that recording them was like herding cats together in a room - and had a doctored photo of Ms. Summer at an airport lounge holding an album which had Ms. Streisand's pic on it. And (according to the article) the herding was done by the song's main writer, Paul Jabara. Given the labels on which they recorded, it was split between them: Babs' label put out the 7" 45, Donna's ish'd the 12" single.
I wonder how much of that article was truth and how much was fiction. I do know that there was a lot of negotiation between the two camps. Two totally opposite production and management teams and styles. It's no wonder there were two mixes. Streisand's mix was better for her core audience, and Summer's mix was geared more for her audience. But, you can plainly hear which one was meant for the hi-nrgy disco crowd.
I know what you mean about that first part . . . Us, at the time, had a reputation as a bargain-basement People . . . and whose fact-checking seemed to be up there with the National Enquirer. I do, however, recall that article as clearly as if it were published yesterday. If I had to choose - having heard both mixes (the "Summer mix" 12" single was in the summer camp collection in my final year there) - I'll take Babs' . . .
No More Tears - I have zero recollection of this song, and I was a very big fan of AT 40 around this time. Maybe I've just blocked it from my memory since Babs doing disco is pretty much equivalent to a root canal. It hurts, but not as much as you'd expect.
In a book I read about Barbra it was mentioned that despite the success of her music her son never liked any of her records. However it was this collaboration with Donna Summer that he was head over heels for. Played it constantly. He also got a kick out of getting to meet Donna, he was a huge fan of hers.
No More Tears I'm really not a fan of Barbara Streisand. She has a technically good voice, but I don't like her diva "look at me sing" way of singing, and I don't like the personality her voice conveys. OTOH, I think Donna Summer is great. And I like the personality I hear in her voice. So, it's kind of maple syrup and vinegar here for me. But, that's way more disgusting than the way this sounds. I mean, it actually works with the two of them. Donna de-Streisands Streisand a little. And I really like the chord progression of the ballad-style intro part of the song. It sounds different. The disco part is a little boring, sort of disco-by-the-numbers, though. Like they put way more effort into the ballad-style intro part. I disliked and ignored the song when it was popular. But, now I really like the ballad-style intro.
Glad to meet someone here who shares my exact opinion of Streisand! But I did grow to kinda like this song. It was pretty unavoidable, both on the radio and in the clubs, and it always got my toes tapping. Not a great piece of popular art, but catchy and danceable.
What a great song. Although I remember this song being really big I had forgotten about it and seldom hear it anymore. At the time I thought that Streisand was such a much better singer on the first part and Summer on the later, hearing it now I think Streisand was a few leagues above Summer on both parts.
The song really doesn't do Summer any favors. I agree that Streisand comes off much better on it, although Summer certainly isn't bad. It's just not quite in her wheelhouse. Can you imagine Streisand singing "Dim All The Lights", "Last Dance" or "She Works Hard For The Money"?
I've finally completed (for now...) my Spotify playlist of the #1 hits of the '70s: The Billboard US #1 Hits of the '70s, a playlist by sunspot42 on Spotify I tried to go for single mixes when they were available and didn't sound too awful. Some of these are definitely more compressed than others - nothing I can do about that I'm afraid. A few tracks were completely missing in any form, I think around 5 in total. Not bad, considering how spotty Spotify's coverage can be. Of course, that's today. Tomorrow a dozen more could go missing. We aren't quite done counting down all of the #1s of the '70s here, so don't listen thru to or look at the end of this list if you're afraid of a couple of spoilers. I already knew what the last #1 of the '70s / first #1 of the '80s was, although its predecessor was something of a surprise (only because I thought it came a year or so later).
