After the success of my recent series on songs related to English contractions, I though I would see if the same might be true of Exclamations. So today we are going to begin with “Stop”. It first appeared in Old English as “stoppian,” which has, so far, only been found in the written record in the form “forstoppian,” meaning “to stop or stifle,” usually referring to someone’s breath. Many European and Scandinavian languages developed similar “stop” words, all of which probably came from the Late Latin “stuppare,” meaning “to stop up or stuff with tow or oakum.” which in turn, came from the Classical Latin “stuppa,” which meant “tow or oakum,” So the verb “to stop” originally meant to block or stop up an opening as if with a plug (a “stopper”), but quickly came to be used more generally for any situation where movement was impeded by an obstruction. In the 14th century, “stop” began to be used in its modern sense of “to bring a person, animal, thing or process to a halt” by one means or another. “Stop” had also come into use as a noun back in the 16th century meaning “the act of halting or being halted; a cessation of action or progress,” as well as “something which restrains or impedes action,” a broad range which came to include “traffic stops,” the “stops”(graduated valves) of a pipe organ, and the “f-stops,” varying diaphragm settings, of a camera lens. “Stop” is also used, more in Britain than the US, to mean a point of punctuation, with “full stop” being, quite logically, what is in the US called “a period.”
“I Can’t Stop Loving You” written and composed by country singer, songwriter, and musician Don Gibson, who first recorded it in December 1957, for RCA Victor Records. It was released in 1958 as the B-side of “Oh Lonsome Me”, becoming a double-sided hit single. At the time of Gibson’s death in 2003, the song had been recorded by more than 700 artists. The song was covered by Ray Charles in 1962, and released as a single. Charles’ version reached number one on the Billboard in 1962, for five weeks. Billboard ranked it as the No. 2 song for 1962. Charles reached No. 1 in the UK singles chart in July 1962, staying for two weeks.
“Stop! In the Name of Love” is a 1965 song recorded by the Supremes for the Motown label. Written and produced by Motown’s main production team Holland-Dozier-Holland, “Stop! In the Name of Love” held the number one position on the Billboard chart in the United States and reached the number-two position on the soul chart. Billboard named the song #38 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time. The BBC ranked “Stop! In the Name of Love” at number 56 on the The Top 100 Digital Motown Chart, which ranks Motown releases by their all time UK downloads and streams.
“Who’ll Stop the Rain” is a song written by John Fogerty and originally recorded by Creedence Clearwater Revival for their 1970 album Cosmo’s Factory. Backed with “Travellin’ Band”, it was one of three double-sided singles from that album to reach the top five on the Billboard chart and the first of two to reach the No. 2 spot on the American charts. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked it No. 188 on its “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list.
“Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” is a song co-written by Diane Warren and Albert Hammond, recorded by American rock band Starship for their second studio album, No Protection (1987). It is a duet featuring Starship vocalists Grace Slick and Mickey Thomas. It is the theme to the romantic comedy film Mannequin. The song reached number one on the US Billboard and became Warren’s first chart-topper. Elsewhere, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” topped the charts in Canada, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom. In the latter country, it became the second best-selling song of 1987. “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” received a nomination for Best Original song at the 60th Academy Awards.
“Stop!” is a song by English singer-songwriter Sam Brown from her debut studio album (1988). It was written by Brown, Gregg Sutton and Bruce Brody. “Stop!” reached number 52 on the UK singles chart when it was first released. Following its re-release in 1989, the song peaked at number four, becoming Brown’s highest-charting single to date, and spending 12 weeks on the chart. Additionally, “Stop” topped the charts in Belgium, Iceland, the Netherlands and Norway, while reaching the top five in Australia, Austria, Finland, France, Ireland and Switzerland. The song was featured in the soundtrack to the 1992 film Bitter Moon.
“Stop” is a song by the Spice Girls from their second studio album, Spiceworld (1997). The group co-wrote the song with its producers, Paul Wilson and Andy Watkins of the Absolute production duo, during the filming of the film Spice World. Released as the album’s third single in March 1998, it peaked at number two on the Uk Singles chart, ending the Spice Girls’ streak of consecutive number-one singles on the chart at six, and becoming the group’s only single during their original tenure to not reach number one on said chart. It was moderately successful internationally, peaking inside the top 20 on the majority of the charts that it entered. In the United States, “Stop” peaked at number 16 on the Billboard, becoming the group’s sixth consecutive top-20 entry on the chart. It was the group’s last single released before Geri Halliwell’s departure in May 1998, though it was not the last single to include her vocals.
“Stop” is a song by Swiss recording artist Stefanie Heinzman. It was written by Kim Sanders, Michel Zitron, Marek Pompetzki, and Paul NZA for her second studio album, Roots to Grow (2009). while production was helmed by Pompetzki and NZA. The song was released as the album’s second single along with “Unbreakable”.
