Daily Dirt for Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025
Romeo’s Tune is a song that I personally recommend you listen to even though you’ve probably never heard of it or forgotten about it. Welcome to The Daily Dirt’s Vol. 1,378: Three Thoughts for Today.
1. And now, welcome to the 1980s the last stop on our three-decade tour of songs classified as one-hit wonders.
The naiveté of the 1960s and the maturation of the 1970s have vanished. The one-hit wonders of the 80s have a distinct flavor all of their own, far more lyrical depth and a style/attitude never heard or seen in either of the preceding decades.
1. Dexys Midnight Runners’ Come On Eileen (1982): Kevin Rowland, the lead singer, finally quit the band to pursue a solo career. That obviously didn’t work out. But at least eh gave us Come On Eileen before exiting.
2. Murray Head’s One Night in Bangkok (1984): Murray Head, whose real name was Murray Seafield St. George Head, went on to have a somewhat prosperous acting career. However, this song will always be a part of our memories of him.
3. Steve Forbert’s Romeo’s Tune (1980): This song is deserving of an award for its lyrics alone if there was one from this decade. To this day, Romeo s Tune remains a great, great anthem of the era.
4. Jeff Healey Band’s Angel Eyes (1989): This song is included in the iconic Patrick Swayze/Sam Elliott film Road House.
5. Nena’s 1983 book 99 Luftbaloons: There are German and English versions. Choose the German.
6. Gregory Abbott’s Shake You Down (1986): Smoooooth
7. Boy Meets Girl’s “Waiting for a Star to Fall” (1988): The song’s singers, George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, also composed Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”
8. Edge of a Broken Heart by Vixen (1988):Before becoming Vixen in the mid- 80s, the all-girl glam rock band was known as Diaper Rash.
9. Katrina and the Waves’ 1983 single “Walking On Sunshine”: Neither Katrina Leskanich nor the other members of the Waves could ever hope to equal the success of their one and only number one single.
10. Roseanne Cash’s 1981 song “Seven-Year Ache” was her only pop/rock hit, despite the fact that Johnny Cash’s daughter had several country songs.
Particular recognition
- Where Everybody Knows Your Name by Gary Portnoy: Yep, the theme from Cheers (1983)
- Baby I Lied by Deborah Allen (1983)
- We re Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister (1984)
- Key Largo by Bertie Higgins (1982)
- Mickey by Toni Basil (1981)
2. Did you know (Part 461)
- That a man s haircut in Norway averages $64.50 in U.S. funds.
- That the average price of a gallon of gas in Illinois to start this week was $3.40, compared to the national average of $3.14.
- That the average price of a new 2025 car is currently around $48,000, according to several media outlets.
- That U.S. households with children average spending $331 a week on groceries. Without kids, it is $270.
- That according to the Motion Picture Association, the highest-grossing leading actors of all-time are: Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr. and Zoe Saldana. All in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
3. Believe it or not, the following desserts are the real deal in the following ports around the world:
- In Taiwan, the combination of pork and ice cream is popular. It s often served on rice or buns. (Seems a cone would work, too.)
- In China, you can get something called snow frog fat . The end result is a glutinous texture I m pretty sure I ll take a hard pass on. Reportedly, it is sweet, chewy and light . It s the chewy part that worries me, but hey, it s a frog, right?
- In the Philippines, we could try halo halo . It includes crushed ice, sweet beans, fruit, yam, flan, jellies and sometimes even corn or cheese all topped with evaporated milk. This offering at least has a chance of me trying it. Slim, but a chance nonetheless.
- In Japan, we could try squid ink ice cream. This jet black ice cream called ikasumi is infused with squid ink. I m told it has a briny, oceanic flavor reminiscent of seafood pasta. Pass.
- In Turkey, there is an item called tavuk gogsu . It s essentially a sweet milk pudding mixed with shredded chicken breast. Must be a cousin to that pork-and-ice cream mixture in Taiwan.
Steve’s Daily ThoughtI had read that having a sizable patient base is necessary for becoming a successful doctor.
Every day, Steve Eighinger contributes to Muddy River News. With children, the grocery number sounds incredibly low.
