By Frank “Smokin” Truat
The summer Olympics wrapped up this past weekend, with two weeks of Olympic events passing us by in a flash. For those Olympic fans who watched a ton of the events, it was great to see our country take the lead in the Olympic competitions. For me, the summer Olympics comes at a time when watching television is at an all-time low. The first week I was down at the Jersey Shore. Between the beach and all the evening activities, hanging out in the room watching television never happened. The second week back home was a catch-up week, working late making up for work lost while I was on vacation. In general, with daylight hours, until at least 8 pm, by the time I sat in front of the television, I was beginning to doze off. I was able to DVR the opening and closing ceremonies and I am about half-way through the kind of bizarre opening ceremony. I always listen to the music that comes out of each of the Olympics, and so far in the 2024 Olympics, I watched Lady Gaga sing in French while dancing on some steep steps. I always wonder when an American artist sings in a foreign language if they are really pronouncing all the words right. I would never know especially since I took Spanish in high school, but even if they sang in Spanish, I would be at a loss. I heard some heavy metal, opera and classical tunes, even the can-can, made famous in America by Shop-Rite I believe! Two popular tunes that have come from former Olympics were “Give It All You Got” by Chuck Mangione and “One Moment In Time” by Whitney Houston, an instrumental and a vocal. Chuck’s song was for the Winter Olympics that took place in Lake Placid, and he performed it live at the Closing Ceremonies. The song peaked at number 18 on the Hot 100 chart. It almost won a Grammy but lost out to fellow Olympic composer John Williams with the score to “The Empire Strikes Back.” Whitney’s song was quite the opposite having been written for the Summer Olympics in Seoul, a vocal performance peaking at number five. Like Mr Mangione, Whitney’s song was nominated for a Grammy in the motion picture or television category. She lost to Phil Collins with “Two Hearts” from the British comedy-drama “Buster.” She also lost to Tracy Chapman in the “Pop Female Vocalist” category. Tracy won for “Fast Car,” a song given a re-birth by Luke Combs who also performed it with Tracy, a dream come true for Luke and the most unforgettable performance of any awards show. Whitney did give one of her best all time live performances at that 1989 Grammy ceremony when she performed the song live. I guess I’ll have to wait until February of 2026 for the next Olympics, my favorite, the winter Olympics. At least I know I’ll be indoors watching a lot of television then!
