I never really got into Beck. And I don’t know why.

I have made a point to try to listen to his music, and some of it was okay. But, it did answer the first question I had when I first heard about an artist named “Beck.”

My first thought was “Jeff Beck?” Well, it didn’t take long for me to answer that question with a resounding “no.”

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I like old songs. I also like even older songs. Put them together and you got something great. Well, I like it.

Perry Como took “Til The End of Time” to the top of the charts in September 1945, and spent nine weeks there. Here’s a live performance from 1956.

Would you rather hear the actual hit recording? Here you go.

Now, are you thinking that song sounds familiar, but not because it was such a smash hit in the ’40s? Well, maybe you know the melody as something else.

Hey, you got three for one tonight. Or three out of one. You got something.

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I hated “The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia” from the first time I heard it. There is just so much wrong with that song, I don’t know where to begin.

Now, to be fair, I never really blamed Vickie Lawrence for the song, even though she recorded it. Her husband wrote it, and he was a bit older than her — nine years older — so he was calling the shots. She was young and inexperienced in the music industry, and wasn’t really a singer, being a regular on the Carol Burnett Show.

Gosh, I hate that song.

Yeah, I’d rather watch her listen to Tim Conway’s Elephant Story.

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I love Weird Al.

Same song, music from the album. Official video.

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Bo Diddley wasn’t the first artist to use the beat in his self-titled song, but it became known as the “Bo Diddley” beat anyway.

A lot of songs use that beat, including a few before Bo Diddley. But did any do it better?

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Remember Wild Cherry? Vanilla Ice before Vanilla Ice. And a group.

Oh, and they never tried to steal a David Bowie or Queen song and claim it was original.

In fact, Vanilla Ice’s first single was a cover of Wild Cherry’s only Top 40 hit. And, true to form, Vanilla Ice didn’t credit the songwriter. This wasn’t some bass line where he added an extra note and claimed as his, this was the full song. I just don’t know about some people.

But I do know that in 1976, this song was huge.

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Some songs are just plain huge. In the summer of 1945, four different versions of “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe” hit the Billboard top ten. Bing Crosby, Tommy Dorsey, and Judy Garland all went top ten with the song, but it was Johnny Mercer, who co-wrote the song, that took it to Number One in July 1945, where it spent seven weeks in the top spot.

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I’m amazed how many people either didn’t know how to wash their hands, or just didn’t.

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I love Weird Al.

Same song, but just the audio from the album. Official release.

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This rapper names Nelly (not his real name) had a hit so big that I heard of it. Seeing as how I don’t normally listen to rap music — there are different genre that aren’t my taste, and rap is one of them — for me to be familiar with a song means it was a pretty big hit. Or I was extremely unlucky. Or both.

Anyway, this Nelly dude has done some things away from music, some good, some bad. The good includes supporting leukemia patients and bone marrow transplants, and helping to fight hunger.

He also set up some scholarships, but did it in the name of a criminal, so that’s good, with some bad thrown in.

The outright bad include not paying taxes.

The questionable include rape allegations. He wasn’t charged, so…

Anyway, he’s had some big hits, including this one.

Like I said, not really my style.

Oh, and does the intro sound more like a Neil Young song, or a Nancy Sinatra song?

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Usually on Wednesday Nights, for a while at least, I’ve featured songs by artists that only had a single really big hit — defined as a Billboard Top 40 hit. That sometimes gives the impression these artists are “One Hit Wonders.” And many times they are, but sometimes, it’s an artist that is in no way whatsoever what one could seriously call a “one hit wonder.”

Part of the reason is my criteria is a Billboard Top 40 hit. Some artists are known for songs that either weren’t released as singles, or if they were, didn’t achieve singles chart success, despite their talents. Or, were successful on other charts, either in the U.S. or in other countries.

This is an odd one of sorts. The artist had exactly three songs chart. They also had exactly two singles chart. Told you it was odd.

This song was a huge hit (3 weeks at number 1) in the late Fall of 1958, but the next song to chart only hit the Hot 100 for a single week at number 98 in February 1959. The next month, the flip side of the second single charted for a one week, at number 91. So, two singles, three songs on the chart.

But the other thing odd about this is the artist, The Teddy Bears, didn’t have a long career. But the individual members? They did okay, for the most part.

The lead singer, Annette Kleinbard, changed her name to Carol Conners and had some songwriting success, co-writing “Theme To Rocky” (and got an Oscar nomination), “Hey Little Cobra,” “With You I’m Born Again,” and more. And she’s raised money for Wounded Warrior Project. She’s done okay.

Marshall Leib became a music producer and had some success with that, including being music coordinator on a few films in the 1970s and 80s. He did okay.

The other guy? That was Phil Spector, who has done alright by himself. Well, if you ignore the whole murder conviction thing. And his being a major asshole. But career-wise, he’s done alright.

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Old songs are great. Well, not all old songs, but those by great artists stand the test of time. This song first appeared in the 1944 Abbott and Costello movie “In Society” and hit number one when Les Brown and Doris Day took it to the top of the charts in early 1945. It spent seven weeks atop the chart.

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I love Weird Al.

I know, I always start Friday Night Open Thread with that sentence, and not much else. So, why the something else tonight?

No reason at all. Well, maybe to point out why I do that. In these subsequent two paragraphs, I haven’t added any value with what I’ve written. So, when I go back to using just that one short sentence next Friday night, you’ll understand that there’s really nothing more to add. I love Weird Al.

Do you have something you’d like to share? A link? A joke? Some words of wisdom? A topic to discuss? It’s our nightly Open Thread, and you have the floor.

I never really got into The Presidents of the United States of America. Nor the band by the same name. [rimshot]

But, for the most part, they’re okay. And so’s the band. [rimshot]

Do you have something you’d like to share? A link? A joke? Some words of wisdom? A topic to discuss? It’s our nightly Open Thread, and you have the floor.