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 socially conscious song of the day is “If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song).” It’s a progressive song, a protest song, a song arguing for justice, equality, and the power of the people. “If I Had a Hammer” was written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays of the folk group the Weavers back in 1949 and was…
Tomorrow is election day here in the United States, and one way or another history will be made. We’ll either have our first woman president or only our second president in history to win two nonconsecutive terms. There may be more history made, depending on who is elected, but let’s try to keep things relatively nonpolitical here. (You want to…
Today’s classic song of the day is an early song from Neil Diamond, “Kentucky Woman.” This single was released in October of 1967 and quickly became a staple of Mr. Diamond’s live act. The song reached #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #12 on the Cash Box Top 100. Mr. Diamond wrote “Kentucky Woman” when he was on a…
Today’s classic song of the day is “Suspicious Minds,” a huge comeback hit for Elvis Presley. The song was written by Mark James, who also wrote “Always On My Mind” (a hit for Willie Nelson in 1982) and “Sunday Sunrise” (a country hit for Brenda Lee in 1973). “Suspicious Minds” was James’ first big songwriting success. Following the success of…
This week’s final dream-related classic song of the day is “All I Have to Do is Dream.” The song was written by legendary songwriter Boudleaux Bryant who, along with his wife and partner Felice, wrote such classic tunes as “Bye Bye, Love,” “Wake Up, Little Susie,” “Bird Dog,” “Take a Message to Mary,” and “Devoted to You,” all big hits…
Today’s classic song of the day was a number-one hit for the Monkees. “Daydream Believer,” released as a single in October of 1967, reached the #1 position on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Cash Box 100 in December of that year. “Daydream Believer” was written by former folksinger John Stewart when he was still a member of the…
Take it from a guy named Michael, songs with my name in the title are often worth a listen. So now we move from yesterday’s “Message to Michael” to another song with my name in the title, a nice little slice of sunshine pop called “Don’t Wake Me Up in the Morning, Michael,” by a quintet going by the name…
Today’s classic song of the day is “Message to Michael,” written by the legendary team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. That’s actually not the original title of the song, however, which I shall shortly explain. Bacharach and David wrote “Message to Martha,” as the song was originally titled, in 1962. The song was about a Kentucky gentleman telling a…
All this week we’ve been highlighting songs that were featured on the soundtrack to The Big Chill, that 1983 movie that followed a group of Baby Boomer friends adjusting to the death of one of their own and their sacrifices in adapting to lives as adults. Our final song from The Big Chill this week is “I Second That Emotion,”…