Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
“Big Yellow Taxi” is one of Joni Mitchell’s best-known tunes, and it’s today’s classic song of the day. She included it on her third album, Ladies of the Canyon, and released it as a single in April of 1970. It wasn’t a huge hit, peaking at #67 on the Billboard Hot 100. A near-simultaneous cover by a group called the…
Today’s classic song of the day is an unusual one from legendary crooner Frank Sinatra. It’s “The Train,” the final cut from Mr. Sinatra’s oft-forgotten Watertown album, and it’s killer. Watertown was a concept album, released in 1970, that told the story of a guy in a smallish commuter town whose wife left him and their two boys to run…
Aretha Franklin, the undisputed Queen of Soul, brings us today’s classic song of the day, “Day Dreaming.” Released as a single in February of 1972, “Day Dreaming” went all the way to #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and rose to #1 on Billboard’s R&B chart. “Day Dreaming” was written by Ms. Franklin, supposedly about her longstanding relationship with Temptation…
Cat Stevens brings us today’s classic song of the day, “Oh Very Young.” It was included on his album, Buddha and the Chocolate Box and released as a single in March of 1974. The single went to #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart. Like many of Mr. Stevens’ songs, “Oh Very Young” is…
The 1970s were odd times in many, many ways. One of those ways was the fascination with citizen’s band (CB) radio. It started as a thing for truckers to communicate with each other when on the road but, over the course of the decade, seeped into mainstream life. Millions of regular citizens installed CB radios in their cars, ostensibly to…
Today’s classic song of the day is a stoned soul Motown classic from a band called the Undisputed Truth. Released as a single in May of 1971, “Smiling Faces Sometimes” went all the way #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the Cash Box Top 100, and #2 on Billboard’s R&B/Soul chart. “Smiling Faces Sometimes” was written by the…
For today’s classic song of the day, we turn to one of my favorite Steely Dan albums. Released in March of 1975, Katy Lied contained a virtual cornucopia of catchy, well-crafted pop songs, all with some sort of sophisticated twist that you might expect from Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. By Katy Lied, Becker and Fagen had given up all…
Today’s classic song of the day was released as a single in August of 1973. The song is “Show and Tell” and the artist is R&B singer Al Wilson. This sweet soul song went all the way to #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100, and #10 on Billboard’s Hot Soul Singles chart. “Show and…
Today’s classic song of the day comes from Blood, Sweat & Tears and their imaginatively titled third album, Blood, Sweat & Tears 3. Released as a single in August of 1970, his one peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Hi-De-Ho” was written by the stellar team of Carole King and Gerry Goffin. Carole released it first when she…