Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from yesterday and today
Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from yesterday and today
Your really dark and twisted song with a bouncy cheery melody of the day is “Marie Provost,” by Nick Lowe. It’s a song about a fading silent movie star who dies all alone, save for her hungry little dachshund. That macabre tale is set to the sunniest, poppiest melody you can imagine, which belies the dark lyrics. If you didn’t…
Your Elvis Costello song that wasn’t written by Elvis Costello song of the day is “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding.” Yes, Elvis had the best-selling version, and it kind of sort of sounds like something he might write, but he didn’t write it. Instead, the song was written by Elvis’ old mate and then-producer, the Basher himself,…
Your not-so-old earwig of the day is “Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon. Released less than ten years ago, in 2014, it hit #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2014 and topped both the Alternative Songs and Hot Adult Contemporary charts. There’s good reason why—it’s a great tune, filled with catchy hooks (is that redundant?), a cool…
In honor of the late David Lindley, today’s classic song of the day is “The Load-Out/Stay” from Jackson Browne’s live album, Running on Empty. Released at the very end of 1977, Running on Empty went on to peak at #3 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart the following year and be classified as 7X Platinum, based on sales of more…
Your classic song of the day that I always thought was from another band is “Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You” by Sugarloaf. Released in November of 1974, this track went to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 early in 1975. The song is about a band’s travails in trying to get a record contract, continually being rebuffed with that…
Your Sunday song of the day is “Sunday Will Never Be the Same” by Spanky and Our Gang. This classic bit of sunshine pop went all the way to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967 and helped to define the more hippy sounds of the Summer of Love. “Sunday Will Never Be the Same” was written by Terry…
Your classic early ’80s earworm of the day is “Pulling Mussels (from the Shell)” by Squeeze. It was the first track on side one of their 1980 album, Argybargy. Released as a single in April of that year, it went to #44 on the UK Singles chart. Unfortunately, it didn’t chart at all in the U.S., although it did get…
Your classic song that you didn’t know Dusty Springfield sang vocals on of the day is “Ballad of a Well-Known Gun” by Elton John. This is an album track (side one, track one), not a single, from Elton’s 1971 album, Tumbleweed Connection. The album peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200 album chart and #2 on the UK Albums chart.…
Your classic Dusty Springfield comeback song of the day is “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” This track was released by Pet Shop Boys, with Dusty contributing guest vocals, in August of 1987. It was a big hit, going all the way to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart, and #1 on…