THE HIT HAMMER: Connie Francis' "My Heart Has A Mind of Its Own"

Connie Francis' "My Heart Has A Mind of Its Own"

(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please refer to the "Poor Little Fool" post.)

Connie Francis - "My Heart Has A Mind of Its Own"

Hit Number 1: September 26, 1960

Stay at Number 1: 2 Weeks

I've been idle a long time from this blog. I moved from Kansas up to Minnesota, so I've been dealing with a lot with the move. That's where I've been. And the first review I'm making since moving to Minnesota, is from a familiar face that has already shown up once in this blog. Connie Francis hit #1 with the somewhat fun, but easily forgettable "Everybody's Somebody's Fool", and she hit the top spot again with the more laid back "My Heart Has A Mind of Its Own". And it's a slightly better song.

The key thing about this song is how Francis delivers it. Look, "selling" a song is not always a good thing. Sometimes if someone tries to sell the hell out of a song, it gets kind of ridiculous. It's almost like they're acting as more of an actor than a, you know, musician. But Francis does well on "My Heart Has A Mind of Its Own". It's a song about someone who is almost helpless, because they know that a particular person isn't good for them, but they keep finding themselves attached to them. Francis does in fact sell the song, but the selling sounds natural. It doesn't sound forced at all, it seems to come to her naturally. That's really the only way to sell a song. It drives me crazy when someone spills globs of emotion all over some sad or helpless song, and it just makes the song worse. That doesn't happen on "My Heart Has A Mind of Its Own". Everything fits together pretty well here. And we're still not done with Connie Francis. We will see her one more time in this blog.

GRADE: 7/10

JUST MISSED:

Sam Cooke's classic song "Chain Gang" peaked at #2 behind "My Heart Has A Mind of Its Own". It's a 9. Check it out!