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 featured in the movie The Big Chill of the day is “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” as recorded by Aretha Franklin. It’s one of the best songs of the 20th century—and it was written in a single evening. The story goes that lyricist Gerry Goffin was coming out of the Oyster House bar on…
Today’s classic song featured in the movie The Big Chill of the day is “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” by the Temptations. This song was featured in what may be my favorite scene in the whole movie, when the gang is working together to clear the table and clean the kitchen after eating dinner. It’s a fun scene, perfectly choreographed…
This week we’re focusing on music featured in the 1983 movie, The Big Chill. That film did a lot for reviving some of the best music of the 1960s and early 1970s, including today’s classic song of the day, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by the Rolling Stones. The Stones originally released “You Can’t Always Get What You…
Today’s classic song of the day is that catchy little ode to cannibalism, 1970’s “Timothy” by the Buoys. Yes, the song is about three guys (Timothy, Joe, and the unnamed singer) trapped in a mine cave-in; to survive, the singer and Joe made a meal of their former pal Tim. Definitely not your normal “moon, June, spoon” top forty love…
Today’s classic song of the day is “How Long” by Ace. Released in March of 1975, this track rose all the way to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Cash Box Top 100. “How Long” was the debut single by the band. It was written by Paul Carrack, who also sang lead on this track. You…
Today’s classic song of the day is “Poor Poor Pitiful Me.” It was written by and originally recorded by Warren Zevon but became a hit when covered by singer Linda Ronstadt. It was also a hit for country singer Terri Clark two decades later. As noted, Warren Zevon wrote “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” and included it on his 1976 album,…
Today’s classic song of the day with a phone number in the title is “Beechwood 4-5789.” Back in the days when there were fewer people, fewer phones, and therefore fewer phone numbers, local exchanges were known by their letters rather than their numbers. Take the first two letters of the word and that’s your exchange prefix—which you could translate into…
We finish off our week of 1970s classic rock tracks with one of the most popular songs of the entire decade, Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” This almost-six minute epic, released as a single in October of 1975, reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #6 on the Cash Box Top 100; it went all the way to #1 in Australia,…
Today’s classic song of the day comes from one of the most innovative but overlooked albums of the early ’70s, Spirit’s Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus. The song, “Mr. Skin” was released as a single in 1973 and barely cracked the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at a totally unjustifiable #92. It’s a great tune, nonetheless. “Mr. Skin” is a hard-driving…