Monday, October 01, 2012

'Cher News' Presents Your All-Time Favorite Cher Songs (2012!): 50 - 41

Cher performing
We count down Cher's fans all-time favorite Cher songs.

'Cher News' asked you to vote for your top five all-time favorite Cher songs from her extraordinarily lengthy career. 'Cher News' received a horde of votes throughout the last couple of months from her fans who have voted either here on 'Cher News', by email, on Facebook, on Twitter and on 'The Official Cher Community'.

From chart-topping hits to hidden gems, and everything in-between, 'Cher News' will be counting down the top songs picked by you fans, in five articles spread across the whole of October - as we all wait for the release of Cher's brand new single.


With self-penned tracks, a B-side, a couple of hits and many surprising album tracks, let's take a look at numbers 50-41:

50. 'We All Sleep Alone'
The countdown begins with Cher's 1988 hit 'We All Sleep Alone'. Released as the second single from her platinum-selling 1987 self-titled album, this track was written and produced by Desmond Child, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora. It followed Cher's 1987 transatlantic top ten comeback single 'I Found Someone' – which we'll be seeing later - up the charts, with this one reaching a peak of number 14 on the US singles chart. The song was remixed in 1998 for inclusion on Cher's mega-selling multi-platinum album 'Believe'.


49. The Fall (Kurt's Blues)
Now, most casual Cher fans won't be familiar with this track. Written by Cher in 1994 as a tribute to late Nirvana front-man Kurt Cobain, the song was included on Cher's 2000 internet-only album release 'Not.com.mercial'. Cher has said that the song is her favorite on the entire album.


48. She's No Better Than Me
Perhaps one of the rarest Cher songs you'll see in this countdown is this 1966 B-side. Released on both the flip-side of Cher's US top 40 hit 'Alfie' and UK top 40 hit 'Sunny' - both released in the second half of 1966 - this was one of many songs penned for Cher in the 1960's by partner Sonny Bono.


47. Send The Man Over
The sole track you have chosen from Cher's 1977 unsuccessful album 'Cherished' is 'Send The Man Over' – also the B-side from the album's only hit, 'Pirate'. The album 'Cherished' is one of a handful of unsuccessful Cher albums of the mid-to-late 1970's that have not yet been released on CD. However, the albums are amongst the favorite of many of her most die-hard fans.


46.Living In A House Divided
A classic break-up song from Cher's back-catalogue – during a time when she was experiencing a real-life break-up with Sonny Bono - 'Living In A House Divided' was the first single lifted from Cher's 1972 album 'Foxy Lady'. The single just missed out on the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 22, whilst spending two months on the chart.


45. Our Lady of San Francisco
Another song written by Cher and included on her 2000 album 'Not.com.mercial' is this self-explanatory track which tells the story of a homeless woman.


44. I Threw It All Away
The first of two songs in this top 50 countdown taken from Cher's largely-unsuccessful 1969 album '3614 Jackson Highway' is track five of the album, the Bob Dylan cover 'I Threw It All away' – not the only Bob Dylan-penned track you'll spot in this list.


43. Does Anybody Really Fall In Love Anymore?
The first of quite a handful of tracks in this countdown from Cher's popular 1989 mega-selling album 'Heart of Stone' is this track – written again by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Desmond Child, but this time also with one of Cher's favorite songwriters, Diane Warren – one of the most popular female songwriters of all-time, who'll we'll be seeing much more of further on in this countdown. The song was covered by rocker Kane Roberts in 1991, charting at number 38 on the US Hot 100 chart.


42. Dixie Girl
Included as track seven on Cher's 1974 album 'Dark lady is our number 42 position, 'Dixie Girl'. The track, perhaps a surprise inclusion in the countdown, was given further exposure as the B-side of Cher's 1974 US top thirty hit 'Train of Thought'.


41. Classified 1A
Between the time that Cher scored her last US hit single of the 1960's with the top-ten 'You Better Sit Down Kids' and when Cher made a comeback in late 1971 with the number one smash 'Gypsies Tramps & Thieves ', she released a whole load of non-charting singles – this was one of them. Written by Sonny Bono for Cher to record, the song was released in May 1971. It was later included as a somewhat-bonus track on Cher's 2000 album 'Not.com.mercial'. Cher wrote, “I always felt that this was one of Sonny's best songs, we tried to put it out in the 70's, but were told by everyone that it was un-American. Well son, we'll let the public decide, babe.”


That's the first lot - numbers 50-41, the first ten tracks in the countdown. Now we'll wait for numbers 40-31, where you'll find one of Cher's US number 1 singles in the list plus – unbelievably – the only Sonny & Cher track (can you guess what it is?) in the whole countdown.

Meanwhile, here's a little something extra, the five songs that just missed out on inclusion in the countdown, numbers 51-55:

51. 'A World Without Heroes' taken from the 1991 album 'Love Hurts', plus the B-side of 'Save Up All Your Tears'.

52. The non-charting single 'I Paralyze' taken from it's identically-titled 1982 parent album,

53. 'Love & pain', the stunning ballad from 1979's Gold-certified album 'Take Me Home'.

54. Another ballad, 'Main Man', a cancelled single from Cher's self-titled album of 1987..

55. Cher's rendition – that came quite a bit before Rod's – of 'Reason To Believe', from her 1968 album 'Back Stage'.



40 - 41

30 - 21

20 - 11

10 - 1


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