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 dance song of the day is “Do You Want to Dance,” which was a hit for three (actually four, if you count the UK) artists in three different decades. “Do You Want to Dance” was written by Bobby Freeman, a black teenager from San Francisco. Mr. Freeman was just 17 years old when he released his version of…
Today’s classic dance song of the day is “Save the Last Dance for Me” by the Drifters. Released in August of 1960, it spent three weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was written by the legendary songwriting team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman and produced by the equally (if not more so) legendary Jerry Leiber and…
Today’s classic dance song of the day is “Land of 1000 Dances.” This song mentions a ton of then-current dance favs, but not quite a thousand—the Pony, the Chicken, the Mashed Potato, the Alligator, the Watusi, the Twist, the Fly, the Jerk, the Tango, the Yo-Yo, the Sweet Pea, the Hand Jive, the Slop, the Bop, the Fish, and the…
Today’s classic dance song of the day is “Tighten Up” by Archie Bell & the Drells, a group that can dance just as good as they walk. It hit #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Rhythm and Blues charts in March of 1968. It ended up selling more than a million copies, classifying it as RIAA Gold.…
Today’s classic sad song of the day is “San Francisco Mabel Joy,” by Mickey Newbury. Like “Tecumseh Valley,” yesterday’s classic song of the day, “San Francisco Mabel Joy” is a folk song that tells a story—a sad story, indeed. “San Francisco Mabel Joy” really isn’t about the character in the title, although she’s in the song. No, this one is…
Today’s classic sad song of the day is “Tecumseh Valley,” a real tear-jerker written by Townes Van Zandt and best remembered as performed by Nanci Griffith. Townes wrote this one in 1968 and first released it on his For the Sake of the Song album. It was always a staple of his live sets but didn’t get widespread airplay at…
This is the last day of Motown week here at the classic song of the day blog, and our final classic Motown song of the day is “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” a song great enough to be a hit for two different Motown artists within the span of three years. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” was first released by…
Today’s classic Motown song of the day is my favorite Motown tune, period, and I know it’s probably one of yours, too. I’m talking about “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch),” sung by the inimitable Levi Stubbs and the Four Tops. Released in April of 1965, this tune topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks and Billboard’s…
Today’s classic Motown song of the day is perhaps the most well-known and most fondly remembered of them all, “My Girl” by the Temptations. Released on Motown’s Gordy label in late December of 1964, it rose all the way to #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles charts. “My Girl” was arguably the biggest…