In The Number Ones, I’m reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart’s beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present. *** Cyndi Lauper – “Time After Time” HIT #1: June 9, 1984 STAYED AT #1: 2 weeks There are love songs, and then there are love songs. A lot of people have written songs about the blissful, giddy excitement of falling in love. Many of those songs are great. A few of them are even interesting. But it’s a whole lot harder to write a song about the terror and sadness and vulnerability that can arrive when you realize that your life is all tied up with another person’s life — that a piece of this person is going to be stuck to your soul forever, whether or not you stay together. If you can pull that kind of love song off, you’ve really got something. “Time After Time,” Cyndi Lauper’s second single and first #1, is a love song. “Time After Time” is not a breakup song or a wistful-memory song, though you can
