Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
Today’s classic song that became an even bigger cover is “Respect.” This tune was an initial hit for Memphis soul legend Otis Redding and an even bigger hit for the Queen of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin. Who wrote “Respect” is open for debate. While the song is credited to Otis Redding, he doesn’t appear to be the original creator. The…
This week we’re looking at songs that were popular enough in their first go round but really blew up when covered by other artists. With that in mind, today’s classic song and cover of the day is “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” a hit originally for Gladys Knight & the Pips and later for Marvin Gaye. “I Heard It…
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”…