PoetryMine Poetry Mine

They come from out of nowhere,
those we never heard of before,
and grab our attention as if morphed from thin air.
But to remember them for long is a difficult chore,
after just a short time you may hear of them no more.

They’re the one-hit wonders of momentary fame
who hit the charts once, then out goes the flame.
Perhaps a single artist, or a group with a band,
they have us singing and humming their hit.
“What a great song” we say, thinking it’s especially grand,
but once we admire them, they get on their horse and quit.

Some come up with a novelty song, and if they’ll only admit,
deliberately short-lived to cash in on humor or the latest fad,
then pocket their money and scoot, with never a minute sad.
Many one-hit wonders land on the charts number one,
while others have been quite close, not at all far away.
The tunes are generally catchy, the listening lots of fun,
come on ‘fess up, you’ve sung along while you sway.

Some older one-hit titles you’re sure to recall to this day,
even a few of the artists and words, though a bit tougher,
if I tried to sing one today, the song would surely suffer.
There was a time we wondered “Who Let the Dogs Out?”,
but do you really remember it was the Baha Men?
“Don’t Worry Be Happy” sang Bobby McFerrin sans pout,
“Tainted Love” totaled what Soft Cell was about back then.

In 1991, Right Said Fred sang “I’m Too Sexy” but never again.
Vanilla Ice crowed about their “Ice Ice Baby”,
you may remember that one, but it’s only a maybe.
“Come On Eileen” begged Dexys Midnight Runners,
and each of The Cardigans was a downright “Lovefool”
ready to keep their girl if it meant hiring gunners,
while “My Sharona” kept The Knack in a drool.
Meredith Brooks sang about a “Bitch”, think she was cruel?
“Sugar, Sugar” fattened up The Archies account at the bank
and Joan Osbourne was just “One Of Us” to be quite frank.

The “Eye of the Tiger” temporarily put Survivor on the tunes map,
but they might not have made it at all if it was the teeth instead.
4 Non Blondes asked “What’s Up” when their voice made us nap,
and “The Final Countdown” by Europe was something to dread.
The Wheatus song “Teenage Dirtbag” made many faces turn red,
Los Del Rio rose to numero uno and short fame with “Macarena”
and gave birth to a dance craze that would overflow any arena.
Lipps, Inc. found a temporal high ranking with “Funkytown”,
and “Play That Funky Music” put Wild Cherry there before them.
“What is Love?” is the rhetorical question Haddaway laid down,
while EMF sang “Unbelievable” and turned it into a musical gem.
“Rock Me Amadeus” steered Falco to the top, hands on the helm,
in agreement with New Radicals that “You Get What You Give”,
and Spandau Ballet sung that’s ”True”, a guidepost by which to live.

Billy Joe Royal crooned “Down in the Boondocks” and found
he was fortunate that’s the side of town he was born in.
His single hit shot up the charts with a lightning bound,
and stayed there awhile before becoming a has-been.
OMC’s “How Bizarre” was their one and only hit spin,
Semisonic opened and closed fame with “Closing Time”,
the distance back down the ladder equal to their climb.

There have been many more one-hit wonders in music annals,
and it may seem sad how fast they rose only to quickly fall.
But that one trip led them through very lucrative channels,
so we really shouldn’t feel sorry for them, no not at all,
that one hit lined their pockets with enough money to enthrall.
And don’t forget, some planned it like that from the start,
write the song, sing it, grab the loot, and happily depart.