Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
Over the past few days we’ve looked at songs from some of my favorite girl singers, so it’s inevitable that we’d come to the Queen of Soul. Today’s classic girl singer song of the day is Aretha Franklin’s 1971 classic “Rock Steady,” one of the funkiest tracks ever committed to vinyl. This happens to be a song that Aretha wrote…
Here’s a bonus classic song of the day for you, Steely Dan’s “lost” track from the Gaucho album, “The Second Arrangement.” There’s a long story behind this one, and it’s worth telling. First, though, the song. This is a terrific Dan song. It was written and recorded in 1979, after the success of their legendary Aja album, as the first…
Your classic summer song of the day is “Saturday in the Park,” by a little horn rock band called Chicago. The track was released in July of 1972, right in the middle of summer, and peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. That made “Saturday in the Park” the group’s highest-charting single up to that time. “Saturday in the…
Yesterday’s classic song of the day, “The Rain, the Park and Other Things,” was by the Cowsills, a real live family group comprised of a singing mom and her half-dozen singing children. Today’s classic song of the day, “I Think I Love You,” is by the Partridge Family, a fictional group modeled on the Cowsills with a singing mom and…
Your classic early ’70s pop song with a banjo by a Canadian band of the day is “Sweet City Woman” by the Stampeders. This one-hit wonder was released in May of 1971 and went to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and #5 on the Easy Listening chart). Not surprisingly, it hit #1 on all the Canadian charts. “Sweet City…
Your classic song that mentions Memphis of the day is “Proud Mary.” It was a big hit twice—first for Creedence Clearwater Revival and two years later for Ike & Tina Turner. CCR’s John Fogerty wrote “Proud Mary” right after he was discharged from the Army Reserves in 1968. CCR recorded the song for their second album, 1969’s Bayou Country, and…
Today’s classic song that mentions Memphis in the lyrics of the day is “Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves” by Cher. The lyric in question is in the second verse and it goes like this: Picked up a boy just south of MobileGave him a ride, filled him with a hot mealI was sixteen, he was twenty-oneRode with us to MemphisAnd papa…
Today’s classic song that mentions Memphis in the lyrics of the day is actually named for a different city, sort of. The song is “City of New Orleans,” written by Steve Goodman and performed in its most well-known version by Arlo Guthrie. The City of New Orleans mentioned in the song isn’t actually the city of New Orleans, its a…
This week we’re focusing on songs with “Memphis” in the lyrics. Our classic “Memphis” song of the day is “Daisy Jane” by America, which starts out with the line, “Flyin’ me back to Memphis, got to find my Daisy Jane.” “Daisy Jane” was America’s seventh and final Top 20 single, following “A Horse With No Name” (#1), “I Need You”…