Parade

Not every song has to be released as a single to sustain an iconic legacy. Some tracks that remained strictly album cuts have been widely recognized as being among the greatest songs ever recorded.

In 2024, Rolling Stone published its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Ranked alongside beloved classics like The Temptations’ 1972 hit “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” at No. 334 and Neil Young’s 1970 track “After the Gold Rush” at No. 323, Billy Joel’s 1977 masterpiece “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” secured the No. 325 spot.

American singer-songwriter Judy Collins, American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and American singer, songwriter and pianist Billy Joel attend a party to celebrate the release of ‘Biograph,’ Dylan’s career retrospective box set, held at the Whitney Museum of American Art, in New York City, New York, November 13, 1985.

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“Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” was released on September 29, 1977, as a key track on his breakthrough fifth studio album, The Stranger. Despite never being issued as an official single, the song was quickly recognized by critics and fans as something extraordinary. Eventually, the track was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling over 1 million digital copies.

Written by Joel, “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” tells the story of two old friends reconnecting over wine at a local Italian eatery. During their dinner, the pair reminisce about high school memories, lost romance and the relentless passage of time. Lines like “Oh, we lost touch long ago / You lost weight, I did not know / You could ever look so nice / After so much time” capture the poignant nostalgia of youth, resonating deeply with listeners across generations.

Spanning over seven minutes, the rock suite transitions seamlessly from a gentle, piano-driven arrangement into an upbeat rock-and-roll anthem before returning to its quiet origin. This multi-movement structure creates a vivid sonic narrative that mirrors the nostalgia in its lyrics.

Nearly five decades since its release, “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” remains an undisputed staple of classic rock. In the digital era, the album track continues to build its legacy, accumulating over 94 million streams on Spotify alone.

Related: 1969 Iconic Ballad, Written by Burt Bacharach, Is Still a Powerful Hit 57 Years Later

In 1984, Michael Landon began the final chapter of an extraordinary run as one of television’s most familiar faces.

Highway to Heaven premiered on NBC on Sept. 19, 1984, 42 years ago today. The fantasy drama became Landon’s third and final television series after his long runs on Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie. It was also the only one of the three set in the present day.

Created by Landon, Highway to Heaven starred him as Jonathan Smith, an angel sent to Earth to help people in need. Victor French, who had previously worked alongside Landon on both Little House and Bonanza, played former police officer Mark Gordon, who discovers Jonathan’s true identity and joins him on his assignments. Landon personally chose French for the role.

The idea came to Landon during an ordinary drive through Beverly Hills.

“I was driving through Beverly Hills to pick up my kids on a Friday night, and people were honking at each other,” Landon told The Los Angeles Times in 1988. Watching the anger around him made him wonder why people couldn’t spend that same energy simply being nice to one another.

NBC executives weren’t immediately convinced. They reportedly worried that the premise could make the show an easy target for critics, but Landon was so confident in it that he offered to make a second pilot without pay if the first failed with test audiences.

He didn’t need to.

Highway to Heaven finished its first season as the No. 19 show on television and remained among the Top 25 for each of its first three seasons. It ultimately ran for five seasons and 111 episodes, with Landon directing most of the episodes and French directing many of the others.

Its ending also marked the end of an era for Landon. When Highway to Heaven concluded in August 1989, it brought his roughly 30-year relationship with NBC to a close. French had died from lung cancer that June at just 54, two months before the final episode aired. Landon died of pancreatic cancer in July 1991, also at age 54, less than two years after Highway to Heaven aired its finale.

But 42 years after its premiere, Highway to Heaven isn’t finished yet.

According to Deadline, FOX has ordered a new television version of the series for the 2027-28 season from Friday Night Lights and Parenthood producer Jason Katims, Amblin Television and Michael Landon Productions. The contemporary reimagining will retain the original show’s premise of a “probationary angel” sent to Earth to earn his wings by helping others.

“Highway to Heaven has always been about connection, compassion and the idea that small acts can have big ripple effects and make a lasting difference,” Landon’s widow Cindy Landon said of bringing the series to a new generation.

More than four decades after Landon first took Jonathan Smith down that highway, his final TV series is getting another journey.

Related: Beloved NBC Drama, With 97% Rotten Tomatoes Score, Just Named the Greatest Sports TV Show of All Time

Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas is returning to New Jersey hours later than planned after two passengers required urgent medical care, setting off a chain of itinerary changes for thousands of travelers.

The Oasis Class ship was sailing back toward Cape Liberty in Bayonne, New Jersey, when it turned around early Friday, September 18, and headed toward Nassau, Bahamas. According to a letter Royal Caribbean sent to guests onboard, the ship’s medical staff determined that two passengers needed urgent medical attention, and both were successfully debarked to receive additional medical care.

Reports indicate one of the medical emergencies involved a critically ill 7-year-old child. A second passenger reportedly became ill as the ship was making its way toward Nassau. Royal Caribbean has not publicly disclosed the nature of either medical emergency or provided an update on the passengers’ conditions.

The unexpected detour means Oasis of the Seas is now expected to arrive at Cape Liberty at approximately 2 p.m. on Sunday, September 20, roughly eight hours after its originally scheduled 6 a.m. arrival. Disembarkation is expected to begin around 2:30 p.m.

For travelers currently aboard the ship, Royal Caribbean is advising anyone who arranged their own flights home to rebook departures for no earlier than 6 p.m. Sunday. The cruise line said it will reimburse airline change fees of up to $200 per person for domestic flights and $400 per person for international flights. Guests without an existing internet package are also being offered 60 minutes of complimentary Wi-Fi per stateroom to contact airlines, hotels, family or friends.

Related: Royal Caribbean’s Newest Cruise Ship Is Getting a Very Special Send-Off for Its U.S. Debut

What This Means for the Next Oasis of the Seas Cruise

The delay isn’t only impacting guests currently aboard.

Travelers scheduled to embark on the ship’s next seven-night Bahamas cruise from Cape Liberty on Sunday, September 20, have been assigned new check-in times approximately seven to eight hours later than originally scheduled and are being instructed not to arrive at the terminal before their updated time.

The itinerary is changing, too. Oasis of the Seas was originally scheduled to depart Cape Liberty and spend Monday at sea before visiting Port Canaveral, Florida, on Tuesday, followed by Perfect Day at CocoCay and Nassau.

Royal Caribbean has now dropped the Port Canaveral stop from the upcoming sailing, according to reports. Instead, the ship is expected to sail directly toward the Bahamas and arrive at Perfect Day at CocoCay earlier than originally planned, at approximately 7:45 a.m. Wednesday, September 23.

While an eight-hour delay can create a major headache for travelers dealing with flights, hotels and other post-cruise plans, medical emergencies can require cruise ships to alter course to get passengers to shoreside care. Cruise Lines International Association’s Passenger Bill of Rights specifies that passengers aboard applicable oceangoing member ships have access to full-time professional emergency medical attention until shoreside medical care becomes available.

Royal Caribbean acknowledged the disruption in its communication to passengers and thanked them for their patience, noting that the company would take the same measures if they or a loved one were in a similar situation.

Parade reached out to Royal Caribbean for additional comment.

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Related: Royal Caribbean Now Lets Booked Passengers Bid on Pool Deck Casitas

If you’ve ever seen a historical movie or TV show, it’s quite amazing how wildly different parenting was “back in the day” than it is now. We have popular parenting styles such as gentle parenting and authoritative parenting, as well as helicopter parents who hover or those who practice FAFO parenting. Caregivers have much more say and interest in their children than they used to, back when moms and dads used wet nurses, frequently beat their kids and lived by the concept that “children should be seen and not heard.” Hence the olden term “child rearing” and not “parenting.”

But even at the start of the 20th century, when parents started to be more interested in caring for the health of their children, caregivers found ways to follow doctors’ recommendations at the time that would appall parents today. While that could refer to so many things, we’re specifically talking about the invention of baby cages, which hung out of apartment windows in big bustling cities like New York and London. 

Yep, you read that right: In an effort to make sure their babies got all of the developmental needs they could—without having to chaperone them in doing so 100 percent of the time—some parents put their babies in wire crates high above densely populated streets below. Even First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, long before she entered the White House with her husband, Franklin D. Roosevelt, used this wild parenting invention (much to her neighbors’ chagrin). 

Read on as we dive into the history of baby cages, why they were invented, how parents in 1920s-1930s New York City and London used them, and why we don’t have them today (though that might be obvious).

Related: The Entertainment Studio Store That Vanished 25 Years Ago—and What Replaced It

What Were 1920s Baby Cages? And How Did They Work? Jan. 27, 1934: An infant inside a baby cage, which the East Poplar borough council in London proposed to fix to the outside of their tenement windows, so that babies could benefit from fresh air and sunshine.

Fox Photos/Getty Images

According to the blog Ephemeral New York, the Buffalo Courier reported in 1913 that the baby cage was invented by Mrs. Robert C. Lafferty. In an article with the headline, “Put Your Baby in a Bird-Cage,” the newspaper reported that “in the crowded sections of the big cities the ‘baby brigade,’” could be seen out and about with babies in prams or carriages to help children get the “open air and sunshine” they needed, developmentally.

But whether that was the mother, a nurse or another caregiver, this practice meant that “if a baby is to thrive” and get these two important things, then “somebody must constantly stand guard” over the baby when out and about in the city. And since many of them lived in apartments, this was really the only way to get open air. That is, until baby cages came about.

Mrs. Lafferty’s invention was a “cage-like contraption” that stuck out of an apartment window, very similar to the way modern-day air conditioners do. There was a platform that was affixed to the windowsill, and there were bars on either side of the front part of the cage that attached to the top of the window frame to hold it steadily in place. All around the cage was wire small enough to prevent a baby’s head or limbs from being able to fit through it.

A U.S. patent image for a “Portable Baby Cage” filed on July 19, 1922, in Spokane, WA, by Emma Read shows a similar metal wire baby cage with a bar on the bottom of the cage for stability (instead of side bars). It also had a slanted covered “roof” so that rainwater could slide off and so it could protect the baby inside from any falling debris such as bird poop or things from the apartments above. 

The patent was granted in 1923 but expired in 1940. Read wrote in the patent that she created the invention due to the “great many difficulties” there are in “raising, and properly housing babies and small children in crowded cities,” at least in terms of keeping them healthy, per The Daily Mail.

Why Did Parents Put Babies Outside Windows? The ‘Airing Out’ Medical Trend

Norman Smith/Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

As The Keene Sentinel reported, this concept of “airing out” your babies came from Dr. Luther Emmett Holt’s book The Care and Feeding of Children, published in 1894.

In the book, he first states that, when it comes to a baby’s nursery, “the air should be kept as fresh and as pure as possible.” Holt shared that if you need to heat the baby’s room, it should be by open fire because “the ordinary hot-air furnace of cities has many objections”—though it wasn’t nearly as “bad as steam heat from a radiator in the room.”

But then Holt really gets into this “airing” idea in the chapter titled after this concept. He recommends starting to air out the room the baby is in as early as one month old, even when it’s cold out, for 15 minutes at first, working your way up by increments of 10 minutes until you get to four or five hours a day.

Why? Well, Holt believed that “fresh air is required to renew and purify the blood, and this is just as necessary for health and growth as proper food.” He also wrote that “the appetite is improved, the digestion is better, the cheeks become red and all signs of health are seen.”

Now, this isn’t to say that Holt was completely wrong. In fact, the idea that fresh air is good for infants never went away and is one of the reasons why you still see babies sleeping outside in strollers (or prams) in Nordic countries, per the BBC. 

According to the Women’s Health and Menopause Center, taking your babies outside has many benefits related to fresh air, sunlight and more. They report that exposing babies to nature, from fresh air to dirt and grass, can strengthen their immune system. And as Dr. Lin Day—a parenting expert from the UK and the founder of a few baby-focused websites—wrote on Toddler Sense, fresh air has “high levels of negative ions that can have a positive impact on brain function, mood and well-being.” She also called fresh air and natural sunlight “priority foods for the brain and body.”

Related: 15 Iconic 1950s Inventions That Changed the World

Why Eleanor Roosevelt Suspended Her Daughter in a Chicken-Wire Cage

As the New York Post reported, Eleanor Roosevelt “was a fan of the baby cage” and put one in her window in her East 36th Street apartment in Manhattan after her eldest daughter, Anna, was born in 1906. She had six children in total, and her second, James Roosevelt II, was born the next year in 1907. 

In Chapter Five, titled “A Woman,” in her 1961 autobiography, Roosevelt wrote that the winter he was born, following into 1908, was “one of the times in my life which I would rather not live over again.” She found it hard to find food that “agreed” with James, the new baby, and they no longer could put the two babies together in one room like they had planned, because when he would cry, it would set Anna off as well. 

This is when she writes that she “had a curious arrangement out of one of my back windows for airing the children,” and goes into describing her baby cage. It was “a kind of box with wire on the sides and top.” Roosevelt reveals that when Anna was put in the cage or crate for her morning naps, she’d often weep “loudly,” which caught the attention of neighbors, who complained and threatened to call the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Roosevelt wrote that she was “shocked” by this outrage because she just thought she was “being a most modern mother.” She said that she knew about what experts at the time wrote regarding fresh air and “airing” them out, so she thought she was doing the right thing. She then learned that “sun is more important than air” and the cage was in the shady part of the building. She also noted that she later learned babies should not be crying that long anyway, and it’s best to find the root cause for the “prolonged crying.” 

So with that, she stopped using the baby cage (for the same reason she started using them in the first place: because of the medical advice of the time).

Related: Historian Says This Gaming System Was the ‘Most Iconic’ Invention of the ’90s

How London’s Chelsea Baby Club Popularized the Trend in the 1930s

Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

Even though the baby cage was patented and created in the United States, the concept crossed overseas and took off in England. Even though it was never a very popular item in American cities like New York, people in the densely populated city of London ran with it. 

As The Daily Mail reported, the East Poplar borough council in the 1930s—when these took off in London—“proposed to fix the cages to the outside of some of their buildings.” And the Chelsea Baby Club distributed these cages to people with babies who lived in high buildings with no gardens.

Again, even though this concept never took off or was used for long in the United States, a 1953 video from the British Pathé shows these cages in action in London a couple of decades after they were introduced. On YouTube, it’s titled, “The Baby Cage: A Penthouse for a Baby?” Another video found on the newsreel archive site shows another baby cage on a balcony in Hampstead, London, in 1949.

Related: 10 Things From the 1960s That Kids Today Will Never Understand

When and Why Did Baby Cages Disappear? A young child steps out onto his family’s baby cage in their apartment at Holly Hill, Hampstead, London, in 1948.

Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images

With all that said, no injuries or deaths were ever reported, according to All That’s Interesting. And the baby cages weren’t recalled or banned like other dangerous baby or children’s products. Instead, they just fell out of popularity pretty quickly in America, and then the same thing happened in London. 

Apartment ventilation got better, elevators came more into fashion (which allowed more parents to take their babies on walks in strollers) and people, as a whole, just came to the consensus that it was kind of a crazy idea to hang babies out of windows. 

And that’s pretty much what most people think when they see and hear about these wire baby crates today. Because, again, it’s such a wild idea to put children in something hanging outside of a window like an AC unit. Even though no child was harmed by the use of baby cages, and AC units rarely fall out of apartment windows, per WATE 6 On Your Side, statistically, the more you do something, the higher the chances are for failure or accidents. And with something as risky as precious children chilling outside of a high-rise apartment window, it makes sense that people didn’t want to continue taking their chances.

In their place, though, exist similar concepts like catios (cat patios) that people have outside of windows. Though it’s mostly people with property who want to give their indoor cats access to the outdoors safely and ethically, and less so outside apartment windows. 

Plus, people still hang out on their fire escapes all of the time in New York City for some fresh air. And cities like Chicago are known for their patio balconies behind apartment buildings. The concept that getting fresh air is good for you has never gone away; we’ve just found safer ways to do it.

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Related: In 1979, ‘Star Wars’ Made a Boba Fett Toy Too Dangerous to Sell to Kids—45 Years Later, One Sold for $1.3 Million

At 92, Pat Boone is setting the President straight. While he’s always supported Donald Trump, Boone recently shared a video on Instagram in which the singer has some pretty harsh words for the Commander-in-Chief.

With more than 30 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, Boone is one of the most popular performers of the 1950s. The early rock star eventually shifted focus to the gospel genre, which earned him six Grammy nominations for Rapture (1971), The Pat Boone Family (1972), Something Super Natural (1977), Just the Way I Am (1980), What I Believe (1985), and 16,000 Faves (1986). 

The lifelong conservative was a close friend to Republican president Ronald Reagan, revealing to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute, “He and Nancy, Shirley and I were friends before he was governor. Our kids were in school together.” Of course, his conservative political ties didn’t end there. 

Fast forward to the Trump presidency, and Boone is a well-known supporter of 47 and the MAGA point of view. But his recent sharp critique of POTUS has people talking. 

On Friday, September 18, Boone posted a pointed clip on Instagram, captioning his video with a serious statement about (and to) Trump, “I’ve known and supported President Trump for many years, and I offer these thoughts in the spirit of friendship and concern. Sometimes the strongest thing a leader can do is say less, listen more, and let his actions speak for themselves.” 

Boone spoke softly, but critically, in the post, saying directly to Trump, “It’s been a while since I spoke to you or about you. But really, I feel like I am your friend; I voted for you back when you were running for President. And you were calling people names in the debates, and I cautioned you that you should not be doing something that makes you sound like a schoolboy on the playground. If you want to be president, you should sound like a president and be presidential.”

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And yes, before the 2016 election, Boone did in fact speak out against Trump’s name-calling, telling Larry King, “I said to him during the nominating process, Donald, if you would quit calling names, quit calling your opponents names, get a tape of Reagan when he was debating Mondale and Jimmy Carter. He could state his case very firmly, sometimes with a little humor. But with respect for the opponent.” 

A decade later, Boone still has the same thoughts on Trump’s brash, often boastful style. 

“Well, you did not take my advice much at the time, but you’ve done a lot of things in the meanwhile. However, right now I feel like you’re very tired…I think you’re wearing out and feeling the pressure and expressing yourself in ways that are not becoming to you; they’re not presidential. So may I recommend something very highly? That you be quiet. That you quit talking about the things that you want people to be proud of. Let them discover those things for themselves.”

He continued, addressing Trump’s well-known issues with the press: “And also, please be polite to women and quit calling names. And I would like to suggest that for the press to try something, to not say anything at all about you for a couple of days. Don’t even come to a press conference. Of course, you’re not wanting many of them to be there anyway. So let it be empty so there’s nobody to ask you any questions. Nobody to hear what you want to say or possibly brag about.” 

Before ending the clip, Boone referenced former POTUS Reagan again, adding, “The deafening roar of silence may convince you that being like Ronald Reagan and using a sense of humor as well as being very polite and respectful will get you more hearers, better reporting, more support while there is still time.”

Dancing With The Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba is sharing her thoughts after the two newest professional dancers were the first two eliminated from season 35.

The two-night premiere saw first-time pros Adele Zaikman and Hailey Bills be eliminated alongside their respective partners, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives‘ Conner Leavitt and Love Thy Nader star Sarah Jane Nader.

Zaikman joined the show after winning the DWTS spin-off The Next Pro while Bills was on the dance troupe last season and previously competed on DWTS: Juniors in 2018.

When the coincidence was pointed out to Inaba shortly after the premiere wrapped, she shared her thoughts on the two newbies being the first to leave the ballroom this season.

“Somebody just pointed out to me that it was the two new pros that were eliminated tonight, which is sad.” she told E! News. “But also, this is part of their process. They are going learn so much from what happened, not that that was the intention of it all.”

“But I think it’s going to be great, because I think both of them have so much potential,” she continued. “And Hailey’s been here for a while, she’s been on this dance floor. She knows what’s up. They just had a rough night.”

RELATED: DWTS’ Adele Zaikman Breaks Silence After Shocking First-Episode Elimination

Of the current professional dancers on the cast, Bills’ aunt Jenna Johnson and Ezra Sosa were also eliminated first on their inaugural season.

Zaikman and Bills will now perform with the dance troupe for the rest of the season and will make social media content with the rest of the “Eliminated Pros” online—a fan-favorite tradition from the last few seasons.

DWTS airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and Disney+.

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On November 20, 1983, ABC aired the TV movie The Day After, starring Jason Robards, JoBeth Williams, and Steve Guttenberg.

Two decades after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the film depicts a nuclear war between the United States and Russia, showing the devastating aftereffects of the attack and a scary, post-apocalyptic world.

Due to the timeliness of the subject amid the Cold War, the TV movie drew more than 100 million viewers in 39 million households. Despite being accused of sensationalizing nuclear war, it earned 12 Emmy nominations and won two.

It also reportedly helped prevent a nuclear war in real life, at least according to the film’s director Nicholas Meyer.

“It certainly changed one person’s mind on the subject, and that person just happened to be the President of the United States,” he told Yahoo! in 2023. “Ronald Reagan wrote about watching the movie in his memoir. His biographer, who spent three years in the White House, said the only time he ever saw Reagan flip out was after seeing the movie. Ultimately, it sent Reagan into such a tailspin that he signed the [Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty], the only treaty that ever resulted in the physical dismantling of nuclear weapons.”

Now, more than 40 years later, it remains one of the highest-rated television films in U.S. history, beating the viewership of Super Bowl XXI and Super Bowl XXVIII. And the anti-war message of the movie is more important than ever, as Meyer revealed he is trying to make a new version.

“And by the way, I’ve tried over the last couple of years, intermittently trying to get a new version of the movie made. A global version,” he explained. “And I’ve been to all the streamers. And nobody wants to do it now any more than they wanted to do it then.”

The film also starred a young John Lithgow and Amy Madigan.

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives stars Layla Taylor and Miranda Hope are clapping back at claims that they’re “jealous” of their co-star Taylor Frankie Paul.

The drama started when influencer Emma Ellis posted a TikTok video featuring Hope’s ex-husband, Chase McWhorter, trying to kiss her.

In the comment section, Paul posted a photo that read, “I’m kind of jealous,” prompting Hope to respond with a meme that read, “B–h, you on some weird s–t.”

Taylor also replied to Paul’s comment, writing, “The double standard is insane.”

After the exchange started making waves online, Paul defended herself in an Instagram comment and took jabs at her two former friends.

“Their jealously [sic] is embarrassing at this point because I was talking about Emma aka my girl crush. I’ve mentioned that multiple times on her page,” Taylor wrote, clarifying her initial comment. “Maybe Miranda and Layla can call to privately apologize for THIS too.”

“Doesn’t discount phone calls at 1 am, asking him to go on a podcast with you, inviting him over,” Hope replied, detailing Paul’s friendship with McWhorter. “If I did that with Dakota, I’d end up in a ditch somewhere. Once again, it’s about the principle.”

“Trying to make it about jealousy is so laughable; I wouldn’t wait up for that apology call,” she added.

Taylor also chimed in, writing, “Jealous of the girl who only has 8 hours of supervised time with her kids? Don’t wait up on the call, love.”

RECENT: Taylor Frankie Paul Allegedly Failed Multiple Drug Tests

Taylor was referencing recent reports that Paul’s parenting time had been reduced by a judge after she allegedly failed multiple court-ordered drug tests.

According to TMZ, the reality star allegedly failed multiple court-ordered drug tests within the last 60 days amid custody battles with ex-husband Tate Paul and ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen. Paul shares two children with Tate and her youngest child with Mortensen.

Per sources who spoke with the outlet, the court subsequently ordered Paul to have eight hours of parenting time each week—four hours with her two oldest children with Tate and four hours with her youngest child with Mortensen.

The substances allegedly involved have not been disclosed. However, TMZ reports that at least one of the substances is not commonly available as a prescription medication.

The alleged reduction in Paul’s parenting time comes just months after a judge expanded her parenting schedule to one weekday and alternating weekends, all of which were unsupervised.

Paul had previously temporarily lost custody of her youngest son amid domestic violence cases involving Mortensen.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of domestic violence, help is available 24 hours a day through the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.

Unless you’re a folk music aficionado, Jackson C. Frank is likely the most beloved singer-songwriter you’ve never heard of. Simon & Garfunkel’s Paul Simon produced Frank’s first and only album in 1965, before he vanished into obscurity, dying penniless and homeless in 1999. But Frank’s music continues to influence pop culture to this day.

Frank’s self-titled album was a commercial flop, but it has since inspired countless musicians, from John Mayer to Adam Duritz of Counting Crows, both of whom have regularly covered his music at their own shows. Frank’s songs have also been featured in popular TV shows, from This Is Us to Shrinking, and the 2019 blockbuster Joker.

In the ’90s, music writer Jim Abbott tracked down Frank at a facility for unhoused people in Queens, New York. He told The Guardian it was “populated by drug addicts and hookers and, for some reason, had this gigantic sand pit in the middle of the lobby that you had to walk around.” He added, “It’s very hard to weird me out. This did.”

Nevertheless, Abbott and Frank developed a friendship, which Abbott detailed on Rockabilly Greg’s podcast in 2023. Years after the musician’s death, Abbott published a book in 2014 titled Jackson C Frank: The Clear Hard Light of Genius. Re-released as an updated version in 2026, the book examines the sad spiral of one of music’s most promising talents from the 1960s.

Jackson C. Frank Was Haunted by the Fire He Survived in 1954

Frank struggled with the emotional anguish and physical hardship that he endured after a tragic experience at age 11, when a furnace exploded at his school near Buffalo, New York. According to The Guardian, 15 of his classmates burned to death in the 1954 fire, and Frank was burned on more than 50 percent of his body. Calcium buildup from the burns deformed his joints, which doctors tried to fix by “repeatedly breaking key bones.”

The lasting physical pain and the survivors’ guilt he carried were too much to bear, with Abbott telling the outlet, “He had no psychological help to deal with it all. So, in his mind he lived his whole life in that fire.”

Frank received a massive insurance payout due to his injuries, but Abbott said he spent it all on cars and guitars, which he’d learned to play in the hospital. Abbott explained, “He felt it was blood money. He didn’t want it.”

In 1965, Frank used some of his money to head to London and wound up collaborating with folk artists including Simon, recording songs like Blue Runs the Game, which would be seen years later as incredibly influential and groundbreaking. Simon & Garfunkel actually recorded their own rendition of Blue Runs the Game in 1965, which was later featured in Ken Burns’ PBS documentary series The Vietnam War.

“It’s a perfect song,” Duritz told The Guardian. “The melody is fantastic and there’s not a wasted word in the lyrics. That song has become a huge part of my life.”

When his own music career floundered, Frank returned in the ’70s to New York, where he married and welcomed two children, including a son who died one day after his birth, the outlet reported. Abbott says his wife eventually threw Frank out and forbade him from contact with her and their daughter.

How Did Jackson C. Frank Die?

In 2023, another fan of Frank’s work, filmmaker French director Damien Aimé Dupont, released a documentary named after Frank’s most-covered song, Blue Runs the Game.

Featuring interviews with Frank’s old friends and colleagues, they described a vibrant and gifted songwriter who eventually couldn’t escape the haunting memories of his past. He wound up living on the streets, often out of touch with reality, unable to manage the paranoid schizophrenia he was diagnosed with in his 20s.

Abbott told The Guardian that Frank died at a Massachusetts shelter at age 56, from a combination of pneumonia and a heart attack. Though he did not know it at the time of his death, he has become a legend in the world of modern folk music.

Since his death, other music that Frank wrote and recorded has been uncovered. An album of 67 songs called The Complete Recordings of Jackson C. Frank is available online.

If you were there in 2006, you’ll remember when Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” was released and how it truly went, well, crazy. The combined duo of Danger Mouse’s spare electro beats, soulful strings, and CeeLo Green’s powerful vocal delivery made for a unique sound that was touching yet still ready for the dancefloor. It was the kind of song that felt like it came from nowhere and suddenly was everywhere – and nearly two decades later, it still sounds like nothing else.

Now, the duo that gave us one of the defining songs of the 2000s is finally coming back to the stage.

CeeLo Green and Danger Mouse have announced the “To Whom It Still Concerns Tour,” a nine-date North American run kicking off November 5 in San Francisco and wrapping November 28 in Chicago. The tour also includes stops in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Detroit, Boston, Silver Spring, Toronto, and New York. The Atlanta homecoming show on November 10 feels particularly poetic given that the city also lends its name to the duo’s newly released third album.

Atlanta, released this past March, marked Gnarls Barkley’s first music together since 2008’s The Odd Couple – an 18-year silence broken first by the single “Pictures” and now by a full record that Green has described as their “third and final album.” The tour, then, feels like both a celebration and a possible farewell.

Ladies and Gentlemen, after 18 Years, We’re excited to announce the Gnarls Barkley “To Whom It Still Concerns” 2026 US and UK Tour is coming to a city near you with special guest @duckwrth and @SoGallant Pre-Sale begins now. Tix on sale 9/24 https://t.co/WPDrqX5mbn pic.twitter.com/3g8tNZrwow

— Gnarls Barkley (@gnarlsbarkley_) September 18, 2026

Green’s statement on Instagram about the tour captures that bittersweet spirit perfectly: “These songs are the silver lining to an otherwise sad story. Come, and let’s celebrate together the beautiful madness of it all.”

Tickets go on sale to the general public Thursday, September 24 at 10 a.m. local time. Artist presale begins Wednesday, September 23, but fans must register by Sunday, September 20 at 10 p.m. ET to access it.

Eighteen years is a long time to wait but it looks like Gnarls Barkley is finally ready to make us dance again.

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When you’re traveling, dressing for changing temperatures can be tricky, especially when you’re trying to pack light. The right layers can help you stay comfortable without taking up too much valuable suitcase space, while also making it easier to create multiple looks with the pieces you pack.

As someone who covers shopping and travel for outlets like Editorialist, Coveteur, Martha Stewart Weddings and Harper’s Bazaar, I’ve learned that versatile layers are some of the hardest-working pieces you can pack. These packable layering pieces for travelers over 50 are easy to wear under or over what you already have and help keep you warm without overpacking.

Related: 8 Best Carry-On Essentials for Travelers With Pets

A Long-Sleeve Fitted Top ANRABESS Women Long Sleeve Shirts Ribbed Fitted Tops

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These slim-fitting long-sleeve tops are essential layering pieces that help make cold-weather styling so much easier. The close-to-the-body fit works well under sweaters and jackets without adding extra bulk.

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For extra warmth that no one has to see, layer this thermal camisole underneath your everyday tops and sweaters. The sleeveless design also keeps your arms free of excess fabric, so you can pile on additional layers comfortably.

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These relaxed drawstring cargo pants leave enough room to sneak a thin base layer underneath when temperatures drop. The drawstring waist and roomy silhouette make them comfortable, while the cargo style gives them a more unique twist than a typical pair of travel pants

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Related: 8 Wrinkle-Free Packing Essentials Every Over-50 Traveler Needs

A Funnel-Neck Jacket Megfie Jackets for Women Vintage Trench Coat Funnel Neck Cropped Jackets

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This lightweight trench coat style jacket is an easy and stylish extra layer to throw over a sweater versus a bulkier coat. The funnel neck adds a little extra coverage around your neck and elevates any simple outfit.

Get it on Amazon An Oversized Sweater LILLUSORY Women Oversized Warm Cozy Knit Sweater

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The oversized shape makes this sweater especially easy to pull over a tee or button-down without feeling constricting. It’s also roomy enough to wear with leggings or slim pants, making it an easy piece to add or remove as temperatures change.

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Related: 8 Minimalist Carry-On Finds For Travelers Over 50

A Long Skirt BTFBM Long Skirts for Women

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A silky skirt is an easy way to create multiple outfits without taking up much room in your suitcase. Wear it with a lightweight top on warmer days, then add tights and a sweater when temperatures drop.

Get it on Amazon Merino Wool Base-Layer Pants 100% Merino Wool Base Layer Women’s Pants

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These merino wool pants are the ultimate layering staple since you can wear them alone or underneath roomier pants on chilly days. They add warmth without a lot of bulk, and you’ll be glad you packed them when temperatures drop.

Get it on Amazon An Oversized Cotton Shawl Wrap

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Available in so many colors, this oversized wrap is easy to dress up or down and adds an extra layer of warmth without another bulky piece of clothing. Drape it over your shoulders with any outfit or even use it as a blanket on a chilly plane.

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The 20th century was filled with great music in all different genres, from rock and blues to soul and pop. But there were some songs that had a stronger impact than others, both on the music industry and the world itself.

At the end of the 20th century, the American performing rights organization, Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), composed a list of what it declared to be the “Top 100 Songs of the Century.” The list was based on “the most played songs on American radio and television,” as the organization defined it.

In the sixth spot on the list is a song that came out in 1968 from soul legend Otis Redding. The song, called “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” is a true classic, but it also has extra significance due to the fact that Redding recorded it three days before his untimely death in a plane crash in 1967. He co-wrote the song with Steve Cropper as well.

The song was released the year after his death, and it became the first posthumous No. 1 hit in America. “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” also peaked at No. 3 in the U.K., South Africa, and New Zealand. It took the fourth spot on the yearly Billboard top songs chart.

Redding’s hit track earned him two posthumous Grammys as well, for Best R&B Song and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.

Related: 1967 No. 1 Hit Song, Performed by the Turtles, Among “Greatest Songs of the 1960s”

The legacy of “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” only grew over the years after its release. By 1999, it was the sixth most-played song of the past century. The five songs reportedly played more than Redding’s hit were “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” “Stand By Me,” “Yesterday,” “Never My Love,” and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” in the top spot.

Along with “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” Redding also had many other hits during his lifetime. This includes “Try a Little Tenderness,” “Respect,” and “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now),” among others.

Related: 1997 Folk-Rock Song, Written by Bob Dylan, Among ‘Greatest Rock Song Lyrics of All Time’

President Donald Trump has officially denied three major news outlets access to the White House.

On Friday, Sept. 18, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that, “effective immediately,” he plans to ban CNN, MS NOW (formerly MSNBC), and Politico. All three media organizations have said journalists were denied entry to the White House as of Saturday, Sept. 19.

The 80-year-old president claimed that the outlets are no longer welcome “as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS! Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America,” he wrote in his post. “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

An MS NOW reporter and cameraperson, as well as CNN journalists, attempted to enter the White House on Saturday, Sept. 19, but were not allowed in, the outlets reported. A spokesperson for Politico shared an internal memo with People from Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Greenberger.

“A few minutes ago, our colleague Cheyenne Haslett attempted to enter the White House to do her job as a POLITICO reporter,” the memo stated. “Secret Service denied her entry to the complex and confiscated the pass that allows her access to the White House.”

All three outlets released statements vowing not to back down and to continue fighting for journalists’ rights to report on the Trump administration.

“CNN’s mission to report on the U.S. government will continue regardless of any attempts to restrict physical access to the White House and other government buildings, or any other attempts to impede our journalism,” CNN wrote in a statement on X. “We have a right under the U.S. Constitution to do our reporting without hindrance or interference from the government and this ban is an illegal assault on this fundamental right.”

“We will not be deflected from our duty to hold the government and other public bodies to account, and we will continue to report on the actions and processes of this administration without fear or favor,” the statement continued. “CNN stands fully behind our White House team.”

While MS NOW took to Instagram captioning the post, “MS NOW has now been denied access to the White House, one day after Trump said he was banning MS NOW, CNN and Politico from the White House.”

Adding, “The White House belongs to the American people, and the decisions made inside are funded by our tax dollars. MS NOW intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy.”

Whether you’ve had to look up the word’s definition for yourself or you’ve had to explain what it meant to a parent or friend, we have almost all likely come in contact with the term “gaslighting.” While it might seem like the buzzword of the moment, it is a real thing and goes deeper than just lying. 

“Gaslighting is a manipulative tactic used to minimize, demean or disregard a person’s thoughts and feelings,” Dr. Michele Leno, PhD, LP, a licensed psychologist as well as the founder and owner of DML Psychological Services, PLLC, told Parade in a previous article.

If someone is a gaslighter, they’re trying to make you question your reality and what you know to be true in order to benefit their own narrative. They want to invalidate your feelings and your lived experiences, so they engineer lies even if you were there and heard things differently with your own two ears. 

This form of manipulation can be difficult to wrap your head around, let alone handle on your own. Sometimes you have to just ignore the person, but how do you deal with a gaslighter if you can’t just avoid them or their tactics? Well, we have a psychologist-approved, five-word phrase that you should never say to a gaslighter, and some examples of what to say instead. 

Related: 9 Tactics High-Level Gaslighters Use That Most People Miss

The 5-Word Phrase To Avoid Saying to a Gaslighter, According to a Psychologist

There are some things you should never say to a gaslighter so as not to give them fuel, enable them or put yourself in an even harder position in terms of dealing with them. In a previous article detailing genius phrases to shut down gaslighting, Dr. Leno shared that one phrase you should never say to a gaslighter is “You’re right, it’s my fault.” And yes, that means not even saying it to be sarcastic.

“A gaslighter will take it seriously and use it against you for years to come,” she explained at the time. “Never take responsibility for a gaslighter’s behavior just to keep the peace.”

It can unfortunately be easy to fall into this trap of taking the blame for whatever they’re trying to fault you for. They can be very coercive and very good at manipulating people, especially if they’re a high-level gaslighter. And the whole point of gaslighting is to make you question your very truth and reality. 

“Gaslighting leads to people feeling such a sense of uncertainty that they begin to question their reality, their memories, their experiences and their emotions,” Dr. Michele Goldman, PhD, a psychologist and Hope for Depression media advisor, told Parade in that same article. “This does not occur overnight. True gaslighting is a subtle form of manipulation that occurs over a period of time—weeks, months and even years—and results in a person no longer having a strong sense of self.”

But again, it’s imperative that you don’t admit fault, even if you’re just doing it to placate them, because it will have the opposite effect in the long run. 

Related: You Won’t Hear Emotionally Intelligent People Use This 1 Phrase With Friends, Psychologist Says

What To Say to a Gaslighter Instead

So what do you say instead? You, of course, don’t want to escalate the conflict with them, but you also don’t want to use a peacekeeping phrase. Well, Dr. Goldman had the perfect response to use instead of “You’re right, it’s my fault”:

“I will accept responsibility for my role in this. I would appreciate it if you would take responsibility for your own role in this.”

If you are partially at fault for the conflict—or if you said some mean or petty things while arguing—instead of fully taking responsibility, you’re acknowledging your part in the situation while also asking them to share the blame for what they did as well. But all without pointing fingers.

Related: You Won’t Hear High-Level Thinkers Using This 1 Phrase, Psychologists Say

Another phrase that Dr. Leno likes to suggest to shut down gaslighters is “I know that’s not true.” This is especially good to use in situations where you have done nothing wrong and are feeling backed into a corner to say it’s your fault. 

Up Next:

Related: Use This Phrase When You Need a ‘Healthy Way To Agree To Disagree,’ Psychologist Says

Sources:

• Dr. Michele Leno, PhD, LP, is a licensed psychologist as well as the founder and owner of DML Psychological Services, PLLC.
• Dr. Michele Goldman, PhD, is a psychologist and Hope for Depression media advisor.

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With the beautiful weather outside, it only makes sense that you’re taking more walks. If you’re hitting the pavement a lot as we close out summer and head into fall, then you’ll want to invest in dependable footwear. Some of our favorite comfortable styles stem from Macy’s sales section, because they’re long-lasting and budget-friendly. We’re currently eyeing the Clarks Cloudsteppers Solevana Style LaceUp Sneakers, which are 30% off now.

The sneakers originally cost $95, but have been reduced to $67 when the code BEST is applied. You can shop for the footwear in six colors, ranging from minimalist to slightly more bold: light blue, navy, off-white, pale green, beige, and light pink,. The classic colors are perfect for those who want an everyday shoe that matches with nearly every outfit, while hues like pink are fun for a bolder pop of color.

Clarks Cloudsteppers Solevana Style LaceUp Sneakers, $67 (was $95) at Macy’s

Courtesy of Macy's

Shop at Macy's

The sizes range from 5 to 12, including half sizes, with medium and wide widths available. Some size and color combinations have already sold out though, so interested customers shouldn’t wait too long before snagging their preferred pair.

Shoppers said that the sneakers are true to size, but sometimes Clarks shoes do run large, so we recommend utilizing the available size chart for best results. The style features a 1.625-inch flat heel, classic lace-up closure and a round toe. The upper is made of nubuck (which is leather), while the outsole is synthetic. 

Due to the material, it’s advised to spot clean the sneakers to ensure they keep their quality. The best part about this design is that the insole consists of soft foam layers underneath the foot that provide instantaneous comfort, whether you’re walking for long periods or just heading to the store. The leather is perforated so that the shoe is breathable and your feet won’t overheat — which is especially helpful during the summer. 

Shoppers described the sneakers as “very supportive,” “comfortable,” “super soft,” and “cloud-like.” Some customers who need extra arch support may want to invest in orthotics that can be placed in the shoe, because they’re fairly flexible. Reviewers wear them with both light and heavy socks, so you can easily wear them all year-long. 

Related: Macy’s Festive New Christmas Comforter Sets Will Instantly Level Up Your Holiday Decor

Make your strides as comfy as possible with shoes that you can count on. These lightweight Clarks sneakers are so affordable and available in so many colors that you can even shop for a few pairs. Add them to your shoe collection while they’re 30% off at Macy’s!

Don’t miss future deals! Sign up for Parade Picks to receive our commerce team’s curated selection of discounts and sales, twice a week.

Receiving a high cholesterol diagnosis from your doctor can feel overwhelming, frustrating and deeply discouraging—especially if you already feel like you are eating a balanced diet.

For millions of adults, opening those lab results and seeing high numbers creates immediate panic about heart health, heart attacks and long-term vitality. Navigating the endless sea of conflicting nutrition advice often adds to that stress. Should you eliminate entire food groups? Cut out carbs completely? Go strict vegan? Or force yourself onto an intense regimen that leaves you feeling hungry and dissatisfied every single day?

Related: The 5-Minute Afternoon Habit Cardiologists Swear by To Undo the Damage of Sitting All Day

When bad cholesterol (LDL) creeps into dangerous territory, it silently builds up in your arteries, raising your risk for serious cardiovascular events. That lingering uncertainty can leave you feeling powerless over your own body. However, taking control of your health doesn’t require extreme starvation or completely abandoning the foods you love. Cardiologists emphasize that daily nutrition plays a massive role in shifting those numbers, and one targeted, under-the-radar eating plan stands out for its unique ability to deliver results quickly.

If you want to lower your LDL cholesterol without jumping onto the latest fleeting wellness trend, there’s a practical, evidence-based strategy that top medical experts say truly works. Here is how this lesser-known approach works and why heart doctors urge patients to try it.

🩺SIGN UP for Parade’s health newsletter with expert-approved tips, healthy eats, exercises, news & more to help you stay healthy & feel your best self💊

Why Layering Specific Foods Outperforms Standard Eating Plans

When panic sets in after a high lab reading, many people turn to popular low-carb or keto meal frameworks. Unfortunately, these high-fat choices often backfire, causing LDL numbers to spike even further. Cardiologists emphasize that shifting toward a plant-focused model is far safer and more effective.

Dr. Frank Y. Han, MD, a cardiologist at OSF Healthcare, previously told Parade that “the most well-studied diets for cholesterol reduction are the vegetarian diet, portfolio diet and the Mediterranean diet—three ways of eating that prioritize eating plant-based foods.”

Related: ‘I’m an Oncologist—This Is the First Thing I Check on Every Food Label’

Among these choices, the portfolio diet holds a distinct advantage because it functions like a financial investment strategy. Instead of strictly focusing on what you must eliminate, this strategy encourages you to systematically layer four key cholesterol-lowering food groups—soluble fiber, plant sterols, soy protein and nuts—to unlock a compound reduction effect.

Emphasizing the power of this plant-centric approach, Dr. Jeremy Pollock, MD, a cardiologist at the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center, previously told Parade that “vegan or plant-based diets have been shown to be most effective for lowering cholesterol by as much as 15 to 20%.”

However, he also cautioned against common dietary mistakes that can quietly sabotage your progress.

“Eating foods that are high in saturated and trans fats, sugar and refined carbs increases your LDL cholesterol, and not eating fruits and vegetables, which contain fiber that can help your body flush out cholesterol, can also be detrimental to your cholesterol level,” he warned.

How Fiber and Healthy Fats Lower Your Numbers

The secret behind this approach comes down to how these specific foods interact with your digestive system. Soluble fiber acts like a sponge in your digestive tract, binding to cholesterol particles and flushing them out before they ever reach your bloodstream.

Dr. Debbie Rinde-Hoffman, MD, a cardiologist with Tampa General Hospital Heart & Vascular Institute, previously told Parade that starting your day with a fiber-rich meal actively helps modify LDL cholesterol. Additionally, replacing saturated fats with healthy plant-based fats helps raise protective HDL cholesterol while driving down harmful LDL levels.

Related: Pharmacists Are Begging People To Stop Taking Ibuprofen This Way

Making these strategic dietary adjustments can yield noticeable lab improvements in as little as four to twelve weeks. Combined with regular daily movement and limiting processed foods, this structured approach offers a clear, manageable path toward taking charge of your cardiovascular future.

Adapted from Parade’s “Want To Lower Your Cholesterol? Cardiologists Say This Is the Best Diet To Follow” by Emily Laurence Sardinha and “The One Thing to Do Every Single Day If You Want to Lower LDL Cholesterol, According to Cardiologists” by Beth Ann Mayer

Up Next:

Sources

• Dr. Frank Y. Han, MD, cardiologist at OSF Healthcare

• Dr. Jeremy Pollock, MD, a cardiologist at the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center
• Dr. Debbie Rinde-Hoffman, MD, a cardiologist with Tampa General Hospital Heart & Vascular Institute

Sometimes it takes a wrong turn to stumble onto the right song.

Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr. Bojangles” began in a New Orleans jail, where the young troubadour found himself after being arrested for public intoxication one night in the mid-1960s. There, Walker met an older street performer who called himself “Mr. Bojangles”– not after the famed dancer Bill Robinson directly, but as the sort of generic name itinerant entertainers sometimes adopted. The man told stories, including one about the death of his beloved dog, then lightened the suddenly somber mood by getting up and dancing for the other men in the cell. 

“He jumped up, and started clapping a rhythm, and he began to dance,” wrote Walker in his 1999 memoir Gypsy Songman. “I spent much of that long holiday weekend talking to the old man, hearing about the tough blows life had dealt him, telling him my own dreams.” 

Walker never forgot him.

“On a night when the rest of the country was listening to The Beatles, I was writing a 6/8 waltz about an old man and hope. It was a love song,” Walker wrote. “In a lot of ways, Mr. Bojangles is a composite. He’s a little bit of several people I met for only moments of a passing life. He’s all those I met once and will never see again and will never forget.”

The result was one of country-folk music’s most vivid character studies: a portrait of a drifter whose battered life, grief and irrepressible instinct to perform are revealed in just a few verses. Walker recorded the single version at Phillips Recording in Memphis on June 7, 1968, and Atco released it later that month.  

It hardly looked like an obvious commercial proposition. Walker himself later remembered being told the song was too long and that its subject matter–an aging drunk and his dead dog–hardly fit radio convention. His own recording peaked at only No. 77 on the Billboard Hot 100.  

But “Mr. Bojangles” quickly proved bigger than any one recording. In fact, a string of top-tier artists eagerly covered it not long after its release.

Harry Nilsson and Neil Diamond both recorded it in 1969, John Denver followed in 1970, and Bob Dylan cut his own version that year during the sessions surrounding New Morning. Nina Simone brought her unmistakable interpretation to the song in 1971. Its reach was already extensive — folk, pop, country and soul singers all seemed able to find something of themselves inside Walker’s deceptively simple story.  

Then the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band changed everything.

“Driving home one night, I heard the tail end of this song on the radio,” The Dirt Band’s guitarist/vocalist Jeff Hannah later told Grammy. “There was no back-announcing on FM, so we had no idea who or what it was. I pulled the car over to listen, and my eyes just welled up. The song really moved me.”

The next day at rehearsal in Long Beach, CA, Hannah told the band about this beautiful tune that he had heard and that he thought the band ought to record. The rest was history.

Their 1970 recording transformed “Mr. Bojangles” into a major pop hit, eventually climbing to No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971. Decades later, that version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2010–a recognition reserved for recordings of lasting historical or qualitative significance. For millions of listeners who grew up with 1970s radio, it was the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s version that made “Mr. Bojangles” feel as familiar as an old friend.

Sammy Davis Jr. took the song somewhere else again. He made “Mr. Bojangles” a signature part of his stage act, performing it for years and helping blur the line between the song’s fictionalized drifter and generations of real-life entertainers who understood the compulsion to keep performing no matter what life had handed them.

“This song,” said Davis Jr. to a 1985 audience in Germany, “I could not do a show without including this song. I certainly wouldn’t do a show here without including it. It’s very special to me.” 

Walker’s song ultimately attracted recordings by well over 100 artists, among them Harry Belafonte, Dolly Parton, Bobbie Gentry, Chet Atkins and King Curtis.  And that range may be the best evidence of what made “Mr. Bojangles” endure. The song is specific enough to feel completely real — the jail cell, the dog, the worn-out dancer — but open enough for singers from wildly different traditions to inhabit it. Underneath the memorable waltz is something elemental: grief briefly transformed into joy.

Even Walker seemed surprised by the life the song took on. What began as a story about one man encountered during one strange night ultimately gave its writer financial freedom and became the song most closely associated with him. When Walker died in 2020 at 78, “Mr. Bojangles” remained central to nearly every account of his extraordinary career.  

Fifty-eight years later, people are still singing about that dancer in the New Orleans jail.

And somewhere inside every version, Mr. Bojangles gets up and dances again.

Related: 1968 Soft Rock Song, Written by Michel Legrand, Ranked Among the Greatest Songs in Movie History 

In 2003, beloved Three’s Company star John Ritter died suddenly at just 54 years old after suffering an acute aortic dissection. More than two decades later, his widow, actress Amy Yasbeck, is opening up about the medical misdiagnosis she says contributed to his death.

“John was sadly misdiagnosed on the night he passed away,” Yasbeck told Fox News Digital in a new interview.

Ritter became ill on Sept. 11, 2003, while working on the ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules. According to Yasbeck, doctors initially believed the actor was suffering a heart attack after he arrived at the hospital with chest pain.

“And they didn’t do any imaging, but he looked like the guy — right age, right weight, everything — to have a heart attack, and he had chest pain,” she recalled. “So they just started loading him up with blood thinners and stuff.”

But Ritter was actually suffering an aortic dissection, a tear in the inner layer of the aorta.

“And this is sad because it was the opposite,” Yasbeck continued. “It wasn’t a block in his heart, it was a tear in his aorta, so everything they did that night led to what eventually happened.”

Following Ritter’s death, Yasbeck filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging his aortic dissection had been misdiagnosed. In 2008, a jury found in favor of the two physicians who remained defendants in the case.

Ritter’s death ultimately led Yasbeck to establish the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health, which works to increase awareness of thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections and improve their detection and treatment.

Yasbeck told Fox News Digital that Ritter’s experience has even become a kind of shorthand among some medical professionals.

She recalled recently accompanying a friend experiencing chest pain to a hospital, where staff told her they were ordering a CT scan to check for “the John Ritter thing.” The medical staff apparently had no idea they were speaking to Ritter’s widow.

“I freaking love that,” Yasbeck said of hearing the phrase. “Call it whatever you want.”

The interview comes during Aortic Dissection Awareness Week, which runs Sept. 13-19, and days after the foundation held its annual Evening from the Heart LA gala on Sept. 12.

The event featured a reunion of Yasbeck’s Wings co-stars Tony Shalhoub, Steven Weber and Tim Daly, along with appearances by members of Ritter’s family and stars including Joyce DeWitt, Kaley Cuoco and Maureen McCormick. The evening raised money for aortic dissection research, public education and medical provider training.

Ritter’s son Tyler Ritter also joined Yasbeck for the Fox News Digital interview and revealed that he now undergoes annual scans because of his family history.

“Our mission is that he is the last in our family to suffer a dissection,” Tyler said.

For Yasbeck, increasing awareness has become one of the most important parts of her late husband’s legacy.

“There was kind of a pre-John Ritter awareness of aortic dissection and a post,” she said. “Sadly, John died in the last hours of pre-John Ritter awareness.”

Related: How John Ritter and Suzanne Somers Quietly Reconciled Before His Sudden Death

For years, Stevie Nicks left the meaning of “Beautiful Child” largely unexplained. The haunting Fleetwood Mac song appeared on Tusk in 1979, but it wasn’t until decades later that Nicks revealed the track was inspired by her brief relationship with Derek Taylor. 

Among the five songs Nicks wrote for the album, “Beautiful Child” leans into a softer, more vulnerable side of her songwriting. The piano and vocals make it sound like a lullaby, but the lyrics are about wanting someone despite the age gap and knowing the relationship won’t last.

Nicks eventually explained the story behind the song during a 2013 Q&A. “‘Beautiful Child’ was about a relationship I had with the Royal road manager of the Beatles, whose name was Derek Taylor,” she said. “It didn’t last very long, because he was married, but it affected me very much, because he told me so many stories about the Beatles.” 

Taylor was married to Joan Doughty when he and Nicks became involved, and their relationship was brief. What really drew Nicks in was Taylor’s connection to the Beatles. She was fascinated by the stories he had from his time around the legendary band. 

He began covering the group as a journalist in 1963 and later worked on a newspaper column “written” by George Harrison with Harrison’s approval. Brian Epstein eventually put Taylor in charge of the band’s press releases, giving him a front-row view of the Beatles and the people around them.

Nicks referred to him as the Beatles’ “royal road manager,” explaining just how much she learned from him. 

“Everybody has your road manager,” Nicks said. “We had JC, crazy JC (John Courage), Led Zeppelin had Peter Grant. The road managers are the ones who know everything. And so I learned so much about [Taylor] about the whole world of the Beatles that it was stunning.” 

Taylor left more than stories behind, he also ended up giving the song its title. In the 2015 Tusk liner notes, Nicks remembered him reciting poetry to her “in his beautiful English voice” and calling her a beautiful child, a phrase that annoyed her at the time.

However, that phrase stuck with her. Nicks wrote “Beautiful Child” in a single night. She started around midnight on a Sunday and had finished it by dawn.

She later said that her Fleetwood Mac bandmates and the album’s producers didn’t ask what it was about because they understood that it was such a personal song. 

Nicks didn’t keep “Beautiful Child” just for herself, though. During the 1979 International Year of the Child, she donated the song and all of its royalties to a United Nations fundraising campaign. 

Related: 1964 Folk Song, Written by Bob Dylan, Launched a 19-Year-Old Singer’s Solo Career

It’s been 56 years since legendary rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix died at the age of 27. Found dead at the Samarkand Hotel in London, Hendrix’s death was recorded as barbiturate intoxication and inhalation of vomit.

Originally mistaken for a suicide note by his friend and member of The Animals, Eric Burdon, Hendrix’s last words were a poem that seemed to be intended as a song.

“The story of Jesus/So easy to explain,” the poem said. “After they crucified him/A woman, she claimed his name / […] The story of life is quicker than the wink of an eye/The story of love is hello and goodbye, until we meet again.”

At the time, Burdon said that the poem said “the things Hendrix has always been saying, but to which nobody ever listened.”

Burdon said that Hendrix had been in a “bad state” for a year.

“He came out of his shell on Tuesday and came over to the club and asked if he could play with us the next night, the 16th, which he did,” Burdon said. “At first he played like an amateur, real bad, using stage tricks to cover up. Then he came on with a solo which was up to scratch, and the audience dug it. He went off stage and came back, playing the background to ‘Tobacco Road.’”

Hendrix had spent the evening before his death, September 17,  visiting the hotel flat of Monika Dannemann, a German painter. She found him in a coma the next morning and called an ambulance, Rolling Stone wrote. The ambulance took Hendrix to St. Mary Abbot’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival at 12:45 p.m.

But even with a short career, Hendrix became one of the most popular figures in rock music history, PBS wrote. He “pioneered the explosive possibilities of the electric guitar,” embracing blues, ballads and everything in between. 56 years later, his influence still echoes today.