Unlikely Song Duets

Some of the biggest songs in pop chart history feature collaborations between artists. You probably know songs by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men, Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson, and Beyonce and Jay-Z. All of these artists are superstars.* But what about songs where one artist is a star (or becomes one) and the other isn't quite on that level? That is the point of this post.

Before I share videos, there are a few rules. Both artists need to be listed in the credits. One of the obvious songs for this post would be “Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell. Although Michael Jackson sings the chorus, the song is credited only to Rockwell. Same with "Opposites Attract" by Paula Abdul. MC Skat Cat is wrongfully not listed.

I'm also only including songs that made an impact on the charts. Deep album cuts like a song by Taylor Swift featuring a random family member don't make a list. (I'm not aware of any song, but if there's a Taylor Swift-D'Andre Swift collaboration, it didn't make the cut.

Rihanna featuring Mikky Ekko - Stay

Rihanna performed at last year’s Super Bowl, has sold about 250 million albums worldwide, and has over 30 top 10 hits. Mega star! While Mikky Ekko is a very successful music writer, his singing career is probably best (and maybe only) known for Stay.

Coolio featuring L.V. - Gangsta's Paradise

The late Coolio won a Grammy for this song and sold nearly 5 million albums in the US. Plus, he performed the opening sequence to Kenan & Kel and has multiple television and film credits. Meanwhile, L.V. released five albums with one peaking at #59 on the R&B album chart, another reaching #100, and the remaining three not charting at all. 

Elton John, Kiki Dee - Don't Go Breaking My Heart

I learned that Kiki Dee released 22 albums. 22!! While she's had plenty of success in the U.K. and reached #12 in the American chart with the 1974 song I've Got the Music in Me, it's not fair to compare her success with the resume of Sir Elton John.

Lady Gaga featuring Colby O'Donis - Just Dance

Just Dance is Lady Gaga's first song and with Colby O'Donis having some success with his own first single with Akon just prior to this song, perhaps she or someone at the studio thought a different voice would give the song a little extra attention. Two relatively new artists coming together. Of course, Lady Gaga followed this up with Poker Face and never looked back on her way to mega-stardom with Grammys, an Oscar, and a Super Bowl halftime show. Meanwhile, Colby O'Donis may or may not have hooked up with Hulk Hogan's daughter on the Hogan family reality show. I should also mention that Just Dance gave me the idea for this post. 

Shaggy featuring RikRok - It Wasn't Me

This was a smash hit. Shaggy has two Billboard Music Awards and two Grammys, one for It Wasn't Me and another for his collaboration with Sting. He appeared on The Masked Singer in 2022 and toured with TLC, En Vogue, and Sean Kingston last year. Ricardo "RikRok" Ducent doesn't appear to have a Wikipedia page.

Sting featuring Cheb Mami - Desert Rose

Since I mentioned Sting, you may be familiar with his musical career. He also has an acting career including appearing in several episodes of Only Murders in the Building which I just started watching. When not being accused of murder on the show, he's done pretty well for himself. Born in Algeria, Cheb Mami released over a dozen albums between 1985 and 2006, though none appear to have significant sales in the United States. Is it fair to include someone with international success but not success in the US on this list? Maybe. For example, No Doubt won Grammys with Jamaican DJ/singers Bounty Killer on Hey Baby and Lady Saw on Underneath It All respectively. I should also mention that Cheb's music career seems to have ended after the 2006 album. He went to jail for doing some bad things in 2011 and later had to pay an artist for plagiarism.

Glenn Medeiros featuring Bobby Brown - She Ain't Worth It

The Hawaiian singer had a #12 song with 1987's Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You and his collaboration with Bobby Brown went to #1. Medeiros had five other singles reach the lower ranks of the charts between 1987-1990, the highest charting song being All I'm Missing Is You featuring Ray Parker Jr. (hold that thought) at #32 and released several albums. Then, he turned to education becoming a teacher, principal, and professor and earning a doctorate. I'm sure at least one student told him that she ain't worth it during a meeting in the principal's office! After New Edition, Brown embarked on a successful solo career with 8 top 10 hits including On Our Own from Ghostbusters II in case you were waiting for that Ray Parker Jr. connection. Of course, Brown also received enormous attention with his sometimes turbulent marriage to Whitney Houston. And this gives me the perfect opportunity to share this video of Brown meeting The Dalai Lama and getting introduced as Whitney's husband.

Olly Murs featuring Flo Rida - Troublemaker

This is another case of someone being successful internationally but not domestically. Olly Murs was on the UK version of The X Factor and has a string of hits there as well as numerous television appearances including as a judge on The Voice UK. His success hasn't transltaed to the United States where Troublemaker is his only top 40 song. Meanwhile, Flo Rida has so many songs over the last 15 years featured in films and commercials. You probably know a lot more of his songs than you think. 

A few others for your consideration:

Santana featuring Alex Band (from the band The Calling) - Why Don't You & I

Drake featuring Majid Jordan - Hold On, We're Going Home

I'm sure that I've missed others. Please feel free to add your suggestions in the comments section.

* While you probably wouldn't include Boyz II Men in this group, they won 4 Grammys and have 9 top 3 hits. Not too shabby!

Sean's Best & Worst Of 2016

I always find it odd when magazines, newspapers, websites, etc. share their best and worst of lists in November or early December. There's still an entire month that they can miss. Therefore, I'm proud to present my 2016 best of/worst of list with only 2+ days left of this year.

Best Television Show: O.J. Simpson

This has been a really strong class of new shows on network television. Designated Survivor, This Is Us, Speechless, The Good Place, and Pitch all earned season DVR passes. Game of Thrones, Veep, and Better Call Saul were also amazing this year. However, for me, O.J. Simpson was the best thing on television in 2016. Ezra Edelman created a 5-part documentary titled O.J.: Made in America that did an outstanding job of not only describing O.J.'s life but also the history of race relations in Los Angeles. The murders of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman weren't even really discussed until part three of the series. Meanwhile, FX aired The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Sure, John Travolta and Cuba Gooding Jr. were a bit over the top, but the acting of Courtney B. Vance, Sarah Paulson, and Sterling K. Brown as Johnnie Cochran, Marcia Clark, and Christopher Darden, respectively, was incredible. I highly recommend watching both of these.

Worst Show: The Great Indoors

This was a really tough call between Man With a Plan starring Matt LeBlanc or The Great Indoors with Joel McHale. I guess I'll go with The Great Indoors only because Man With a Plan supposedly takes place in Pittsburgh, so the few stock photos of my hometown gives it a bonus point. The Great Indoors features McHale as an outdoors writer who apparently has never been online. Meanwhile, he now works with millennials who never leave their computers. Hilarity does not ensue.

Best Movie I Saw In the Theater: Arrival

I saw a whopping three movies in the theater this year (in related news, I did not receive media credentials for the Oscars), the most I saw live in probably 5 years. Arrival was definitely the best and should receive a Best Picture nomination. This is a sci-fi film but without the action/adventure component of most films in this genre. It's more of a thinking person's film that kept me engaged. Plus, I'd probably watch a 2-hour movie of Amy Adams reading from a phone book

Worst Movie: Sausage Party

Yes, there are some funny moments but the ending was just a big "wtf did I just see?"

Best Song: Starboy

My rule is that the best song of the year has to be featured in one of my Friday video blog posts. In my mind, this comes down to three songs: DNCE's Cake By The Ocean remains catchy after being all over the place for the past year, but I think I would regret this selection in a few years. I also really like You Don't Get Me High Anymore by Phantogram, but I don't think anyone actually knows this song. Therefore, my winner is The Weeknd's Starboy even though I have no idea what the song is about.



Worst Song: Work by Rihanna featuring Drake

It's not that this song is bad; I just have no idea what Rihanna is singing in the chorus.



Best Blog: Josh's World

I honestly don't know how Josh does it. He produces quality blog posts nearly every day on a variety of topics from book and movie reviews to sports to politics and what's going on in his life. I'm looking forward to his posts next year when he becomes a new dad.

Worst Blog: Everybody Loves You

Alex is one of my favorite writers...but he hasn't published a new blog post since early September! I know life gets in the way of writing and I miss his posts. (Maybe this will encourage him to start writing again. Maybe?)

Best Podcast: Pop Culture Happy Hour

While I enjoy YaJagoff! Podcast and The Jonah Keri Podcast, NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour is my favorite. In this weekly podcast, Linda Holmes, Stephen Thompson, Glen Weldon (my personal favorite), and a special guest discuss one or two topics (generally a movie or TV show). Then, they conclude with a "What's Making Me Happy" segment where they each pick a book, podcast, show, etc. that they recommend. It's always an enjoyable listen. The Live PCHH with Kumail Nanjiani (of Silicon Valley) discussing romantic comedies was hilarious.

Worst Podcast: The Bill Simmons Podcast

I used to be a big Simmons fan devouring everything he wrote. He also put together some excellent podcasts with Chuck Klosterman, Malcolm Gladwell, and others. Now, however, it seems like every single podcast is him predicting NFL lines with Cousin Sal. This bit was old years ago.

Best Sports Moment: The Penguins winning the Stanley Cup!

What a run!

Worst Sports Moment: Pittsburgh Pirates

After seeing the Penguins win the Cup, I really should complain about any Pittsburgh sports teams. However, after three consecutive playoff berths including winning 98 games in 2015, the Pirates were a disappointing 78-83-1 in 2016.

Best Fantasy Sports Person: Me

Sorry Meat Loaf, but in fantasy sports, 2016 was the Year of Sean. I won my fantasy baseball league for the second time in three years after going 20+ years without a title. In fantasy football, I won 2 of the 3 leagues I'm in, and I'm also in the Championship of the Pittsburgh Bloggers Fantasy Football League this weekend. Not too shabby!

Best Book: The Hike by Drew Magary

I've enjoyed Magary's writing in Deadspin and the old Kissing Suzy Kolber for a long time and his books are also great. The Hike may be his best work. I'll let Washington City Paper give a quote:

“The Hike reads like a mix of The Odyssey and The Phantom Tollbooth, with the same humor Magary uses on Deadspin. . . . Along the way, Magary’s hero hunts for an enigmatic mastermind, encounters man-eating giants and monsters, and teams up with a talking crab. What starts out as a saga of suburban ennui quickly turns into gripping tale of survival.”

Worst Book: None

I didn't read enough books to have a worst book this year. I need to do better and read more in 2017.

Best Blog Post: (Tie) My Interview with Vinny Karpuszka & Donald Trump Is Going To Be President

My interview with Vinny, the Pittsburgh Penguins' gamenight DJ, was a lot of fun. The second one isn't particularly great; it's just that I was correct in my early March prediction that Donald Trump would win. This particular line seemed quite prophetic:

"Will Clinton be able to inspire the Democratic base and get enough Independents in Virginia, Florida and North Carolina to win the election? As of today, my guess is no."

Worst Blog Post: Shooting at Burger King

I blamed a Whopper for shooting someone.


Feel free to share your best and worst of 2016 in the comments below, and have a Happy New Year!

Brand New Sean Analyzes Song Lyrics

My friend Sista K recently posted on Facebook that Meghan Trainor's No "is my current jammmmm." Although we have similar taste in music, I have to disagree with Sista K on this one. This also seems like the perfect opportunity to bring back the Sean Analyzes Song Lyrics series.

One Call Away by Charlie Puth

I'm only one call away
I'll be there to save the day
Superman got nothing on me
I'm only one call away

Superman can fly, has X-ray vision, is faster than a speeding bullet, can leap tall buildings in a single bound, and is basically the greatest superhero of all time. However, apparently he has nothing on Charlie Puth. I guess Puth can do all this and is resistant to kryptonite.

No by Meghan Trainor (The reason behind this post.)

My name is no,

That's an unusual name. Is it short for a Nor'easter?

My sign is no,

Who even asks about signs anymore? Anyway, I'm familiar with the Zodiac system, and there's no such sign as no.

My number is no

Now this could be clever. No can be short for number like "This song is not going to be No. 1." I'm guessing that's not what Meghan is going for meaning that, like the Zodiac signs, no is not a number.

You need to let it go, you need to let it go

Oh, let go. I get enough "no" responses from my toddler.

Work by Rihanna

Work, work, work, work, work, work
You see me I be work, work, work, work, work, work
You see me do me dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt
There's something 'bout that work, work, work, work, work, work
When you a gon' learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, learn
Me na care if me tired, tired, tired, tired, tired, tired

When I typed Work Rihanna Lyrics into Bing, this is what appears. There is no way this is correct. Rihanna is incoherent by the end. It honestly just sounds like she's babbling. I need to let it go.

Love Yourself by Justin Bieber

For all the times that you rain on my parade
And all the clubs you get in using my name
You think you broke my heart, oh girl for goodness sake
You think I'm crying, oh my oh, well I ain't

I hate giving Justin Bieber credit, but this is a well written song. Except for one tiny thing. I can't get past ain't. It's not like sake and ain't rhyme. "I'm not" would work just fine here instead.

Cake in the Ocean by DNCE

I'll be Diddy, you'll be Naomi, whoa

I assume this is a reference to Naomi Campbell and not Naomi Watts or Naomi Judd, right? I guess there was something between Diddy and Campbell? If there was, it certainly wasn't as newsworthy (or song lyric worthy) as Diddy and J-Lo.

So what are your thoughts on Trainor's song? Yes or no?

Blogger Event at Fair Oaks Mall Recap

Let's go back to a time before Rihanna won the American Music Awards' Icon award. A time before the Minnesota Vikings led by QB Christian Ponder tied the Green Bay Packers led by Matt Flynn. I'm sure that people will remember both of these events for generations. Yes, let's go all the way back to last Wednesday when I wrote about my apprehension of going to a Northern Virginia blogger event. Well, I attended the event hosted by Andrea of the Real Housewives of Northern Virginia at Fair Oaks Mall and had a nice time. All of the bloggers were nice (some had even read my blog post) and the staff at Fair Oaks Mall were extremely generous. Plus, free food and drinks! Let's go to the recap.

I arrived at the mall just in time to be escorted to Champps for the first course. We had chicken tenders and chicken skewers, and I got my first opportunity to mingle. With other men, I can always use sports as a fall back conversation topic. With women, that doesn't always work. However, one of the first person I met was from Western Pennsylvania and is a Steelers fan. I figured this was a good sign.

Despite writing Sean's Ramblings for nearly nine (yes nine!) years, I have a hard time describing this blog. Most of the people I met have specific themes to their blogs like Amy of A Little Nosh, who writes about family-friendly recipes, and Gina of Money Wise Moms, who writes about family finance and frugal fun. My blog is all over the place and always has been. With all of the Mom bloggers in attendance, I felt the need to say that my blog involves fatherhood posts, which it does, but I also write about TV, pop culture, Pittsburgh sports, and so many other topics.

After Champps, we visited the new Michael and Sons Fun Zone and got to be the first people to explore the play area before the grand opening which occurred last Friday.

There seems to be more seating than the previous play area and there's only one entrance making it easier to track your child(ren). I also had the opportunity to speak with the designer who explained that the material used in the fun zone is anti-bacterial. That was a huge hit. In case you're wondering, yes, I went down the slide.

After more free food courtesy of Luciano Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria, we saw Santa and the Ice Princess at the mall's Ice Palace. While I was impressed with all of the work put into building the Ice Palace including a cool room with falling "snow," Santa really isn't my thing. I'm more of a Hanukkah Harry guy.*

I didn't sit on Santa's lap or tell him what I wanted for Christmas, so I just wished him a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Then, I approached the Ice Princess and asked her if people visit Santa and then completely skip her. She replied that many girls like to take pictures with her, but most boys pass since they can't get past the princess label.

Our final stop of the evening was dessert at Sbarro. More free food! Overall, I enjoyed the event and was glad that I attended. I met some fascinating people and even got a few parenting tips. The Fair Oaks Mall staff were terrific, and the new Fun Zone is going to be a big hit with kids and their parents. (There's a 100% chance my son will play at the Fun Zone this winter.)

Meanwhile, I'm excited to attend the next Northern Virginia event whenever that takes place, particularly if it involves free food!


* This is now two 1980s era Saturday Night Live references in the past three days. Clearly, I have not watched the show much in the past 10 years.


Fun Zone photo courtesy of Our Kids.

Call for Nominations (4th Annual Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament)

It’s that time of year again...Umbrella Day. Apparently, Umbrella Day is an annual “holiday” that occurs on February 10th. I can’t find much online about Umbrella Day, so I guess you can play the videos for Rihanna’s Umbrella or Bus Stop by The Hollies (an umbrella is featured prominently in the song) at the bottom of this post. It’s also time for the fourth annual Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament.



I started this little extravaganza in 2009 as a way to highlight some of the best blogs that cover and discuss Pittsburgh sports and to encourage collaboration between very talented writers. Although some people have taken this tournament way too seriously over the years, please note that this is designed for entertainment only.

I plan on starting the fourth annual tournament next week, but I wanted to set the ground rules and get some feedback about who should be included in this year's tournament. There will be 32 blogs in the tournament with the following blogs almost certainly in the field:

Behind the Steel Curtain
Blog 'n' Gold
Bob Smizik's Blog (see note below)
Empty Netters
Faceoff Factor
Igloo Dreams
Nice Pick, Cowher
PensBurgh
Pens Universe
Pitt Blather
Pitt Script Blog
Pittsburgh Sports and Mini Ponies
Puck Huffers
Raise the Jolly Roger
Rum Bunter
Steelers Depot
Steelers Gab
That's Church
The “Mc” Effect
The Steelers N' At
This Is Getting Old
Three Rivers Burgh Blog
Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke?

As you can tell, this is not 32 blogs. I have an idea about the remaining spots, but I’d like to hear who you think should be included. Please leave your suggestions in the comments section below or e-mail me at seanramblings at yahoo [dot] com.

Here are the ground rules and some notes about the tournament:

1. Blogs in the tournament must be in existence for at least one year as the bloggers in this tournament have paid their dues. While it’s easy to start a blog, it’s not as easy to stick with it. This is not to discourage the new bloggers out there. There are some great blogs that have only been around for a few months that should make the cut next year.

2. The blog must discuss Pittsburgh sports at least half of the time. Close counts.

3. The blog must be active and updated regularly. I don’t have a specific definition of regularly; however, if a blog follows a specific team during the season but has a three-month gap in posts during the off-season, it is not eligible.

4. The blog’s primary author cannot regularly write and get published in a newspaper. This is the Dejan Kovacevic Rule. I don’t want to diminish all of the work that Dejan and other writers/bloggers at the Post-Gazette, the Tribune-Review and other publications do but they also have much greater access to players, executives, etc. as well as resources for in-depth stories.

5. At least for now, when a blog wins once, it can’t win again. The Pensblog cruised to a relatively easy victory to become the first ever Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament Champion. Bucs Dugout edged out a victory to become the second champion while Pirates Prospects won last year. I like giving other blogs chances to win, so don’t freak out when you scan through the list of Pittsburgh sports blogs, and The Pensblog, Bucs Dugout and Pirates Prospects are missing. If there's a 10th annual Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament, maybe we'll bring back all the former champions.

6. I know that many people don’t like Bob Smizik, but he meets all of the eligibility qualifications. Plus, his posts generate more feedback and comments than nearly any other Pittsburgh sports blog. Yes, most of these posts focus on criticizing Smizik, and he’ll probably get knocked out in the first round again due to the anti-Smizik vote, but his blog is in.

7. I included Black Shoe Diaries, a blog dedicated to Penn State sports, as part of the tournament in 2010 due to the large number of Penn State fans in Western Pennsylvania. After receiving some comments stating that State College doesn’t equal Pittsburgh, I didn’t include BSD in 2011. Considering all of the Penn State coverage over the past few months, I’ve flip-flopped again, and I feel that BSD should be in.

Finally, the Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament is looking for sponsors. If you or your company/website want some extra exposure, please let me know. I'm certainly not above selling out for a worthwhile company or organization.

Thanks for reading and supporting the Pittsburgh sports blog community! I look forward to hearing your comments. In addition, thanks to Cotter for designing the incredible logo. Now, enjoy some umbrella songs.

I Am An Idiot Part 3

Welcome to the latest edition of Sean is an idiot. In part one, I left tickets to the Pittsburgh Steelers game in Virginia. In part two, I decided to throw salt at the tires of my car when it was stuck in snow. The tires were spinning quickly, so the salt flew back at me. I now present a new version of “I Am An Idiot.”

The DC area has had little rain over the past few months, so we certainly needed the 4-6 inches we received over the past few days. While I do not have the exact rainfall total, the rain was steady during rush hour on Friday afternoon. When I left my office to make the short walk to Metro, I checked my bag and noticed that my umbrella was not there. I couldn’t remember if I used the umbrella in the morning, so I figured I either left it in my car, home or office. On a normal day, the only time I would have needed the umbrella was waiting for the bus. However, I was going to Bethesda for dinner so I was sans umbrella for the evening. To reach my destination, I needed to take Bethesda’s free trolley and then walk a block or two. Since I had never used the trolley system, I got off about 5 blocks earlier than I should have, making the entire walk much longer than necessary. Did I mention that the rain was fairly heavy at the time, and I was walking without an umbrella or jacket? Naturally, by the time I arrived, I was soaked.

So here is why I am an idiot (this time) besides walking 5-6 blocks instead of just one. I needed to get something in my bag this morning, and what did I find? Of course, the umbrella. Apparently it was there the entire time, and I did not see or feel it with all of the papers and copies of the Express in my bag. I blame Rihanna.

Burritos, Penguins, Madden and Umbrellas

I have received a few questions about the status of the free burritos for a year from California Tortilla. I am now through seven burritos with 45 to go. My first three burritos were my favorite, the Blackened Chicken Caesar burrito. Then, I started to realize that maybe going for a burrito bowl would be healthier than the tortilla. Since then, I’ve had three varieties of the burrito bowl: Veggie, Blackened Chicken Caesar and Thai. I did have a regular Blackened Chicken Caesar burrito as my last meal before the Yom Kippur fast though. I’m now at the point that I’m not sure what burrito to try next. Any suggestions?

In honor of the first Pittsburgh Penguins game of the season tonight, I have added a new link on the side. Visit the best Penguins blog out there, fittingly titled, The Pensblog.

I finished my first season of Madden ’07 the other night with a horrifying defeat. I, as the Pittsburgh Steelers, lost in the Super Bowl to the Dallas Cowboys 24-17. Trailing 17-14, I got the ball to the Cowboys 1 yard line with 9 seconds to go and used my final time-out. It was third down, and I decided to trust the Ask Madden button, who told me to kick a field goal. In hindsight, I should have tried to throw a pass to Heath Miller, but I took the safe choice (thanks to Ask Madden) to make the field goal to get into overtime. After the kick-off, the Cowboys got the ball on their own 30 with 5 seconds to go. On the final play, Drew Bledsoe launched a pass to Terrell Owens. Playing a Quarter Man zone (I think), I accidentally switched from a defensive lineman to Ike Taylor making Taylor run about 10 yards towards the line of scrimmage. All alone, Owens caught the pass and scored the Super Bowl winning touchdown. What a terrible way to lose. I may fire Bill Cowher.

Finally, listening to Yahoo! Music today, I heard two versions the Rihanna’s song “Umbrella,” but neither one was by her. One was by Mandy Moore and the other by someone named Marie Digby. Why are there two remakes of this recent song so soon?