This week's featured artist went on to great success in television after her brief music career, and as I was doing my weekly half-assed research, I realized that outside of the video for this week's tune I have never seen her on any of her television shows or in any movie. Though I have seen an episode or two (or a hundred) of the TV show that her first TV series gave life to: none other than The Simpsons, which just recently completed its thirty-third season.
Tracey Ullman was born in Slough, England in 1959 and from an early age showed a talent for entertaining people. She began her career performing in a number of musicals, before getting her break on a BBC soap opera. She made her first album in 1983 and met with some success which eventually led to her first TV show, The Tracey Ullman Show, on Fox. By then her music career was over, but she would go on to appear in two more highly acclaimed television series, a number of movies, many plays and musicals, and several guest appearances on other shows. She has won seven Emmys, a Golden Globe, and a host of other awards that aren't on the casual fan's radar. Her music career was relatively brief, as she only released two albums, which spawned eight singles, before turning her full attention to acting. Ullman continues to perform on stage and screen, having appeared in two movies in 2020, and two television series in 2021.
"They Don't Know" was the second single released from Ullman's 1983 debut album, the humorously entitled You Broke My Heart in 17 Places. The single would reach #2 in the U.K. and #8 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100. The album peaked at #14 on the U.K. Albums Chart and #34 here in America.
Fun Fact: "They Don't Know" was the second single Ullman recorded, and years later when asked if she'd do anything differently for her career, she responded that she would have quit making music after she recorded "They Don't Know." Yes, it's that good.
As my regular readers (both of you) know, I have an extreme fondness for a) female vocalists, and b) good Top 40 pop and "They Don't Know" is a) sung by a female vocalist, and b) an exemplar of the best of what Top 40 pop has to offer. Ullman channels 60's girl groups both vocally and musically and turns in one of the catchiest songs the 1980's had to offer. Every time I listen to it, even almost forty years since the first time I heard it, it reminds me not only of why I've devoted so much of my life to pop music, but also why it's been worth every minute. It's an absolute gem of a song.
Lyric Sheet: "So I don't mind if they don't understand/When I look at you and you hold my hand/'Cause they don't know about us/And they've never heard of love..."
Enjoy (be sure to stick around for the cute cameo at the end):
Republican = Traitor
Peace,
emaycee
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