Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
Celebrating one full year of classic songs on this blog, today’s classic song of the day is “What the World Needs Now is Love” by Jackie DeShannon. Released in April of 1965, this song went to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains a favorite to this day. I started the Classic Song of the Day blog on February…
Today’s classic song of the day is “A White Shade of Pale” by Procol Harum. Released in May of 1967, this classical-sounding track peaked at #5 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Cash Box Top 100, but topped the charts in Australia, Belgium Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, West Germany,…
Today’s classic song with Hal Blaine on drums of the day is “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” by the 5th Dimension. This hit single won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year—the fifth such honor for Mr. Blaine. “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” was actually a medley of two songs from the Broadway musical, Hair: “Aquarius” and “The Flesh Failures,” both…
We continue our salute to drummer extraordinaire Hal Blaine with today’s classic song of the day, the instrumental hit “A Taste of Honey” by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Mr. Albert’s single, released in August of 1965, peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent five weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart. It also won…
This week we’re highlighting the work of legendary drummer Hal Blaine and some of the hundreds of hits on which he’s played. We’re starting with today’s classic song of the day, “Be My Baby” by the Ronettes. “Be My Baby” was written by the team of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich (with additional credit to producer Phil Spector, as was…
In honor of her passing, today’s songs of the day are all by the artist known as Melanie (real name: Melanie Safka). She passed on January 23. Melanie was born on February 3, 1947, in Queens, New York City. She was regarded as a “beatnik” in high school and ran away to California. (She later returned home to her family…
Today’s classic song of the day, like several others this week, mentions the name of a city in its title and lyrics. The song is “El Paso” by Marty Robbins, released in October of 1959. As a single, it hit #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard’s Hot Country Songs charts early in 1960. That made “El Paso”…
Today’s classic song of the day is one that drew thousands of young people to a particular city in the summer of 1967. We’re talking “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)” by Scott McKenzie. Released in May of 1967, just in time to herald the so-called Summer of Love, “San Francisco” peaked at #4 on both…
In honor of Les McCann’s passing earlier this week, today’s classic song of the day is his only mainstream hit, “Compared to What.” The song, recorded live at the 1969 Montreux Jazz Festival, was released as an album track on Swiss Movement, a live LP by McCann and saxophonist Eddie Harris. “Compared to What” is a protest song written by…