Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
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”…
Continuing to honor the memory and the songwriting of the late Cynthia Weil, it’s time to turn our attention to former Mama, Cass Elliot, and the three hits she had with Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil tunes. We’re talking about, in chronological order, “It’s Getting Better,” “Make Your Own Kind of Music,” and “New World Coming.” The first of these tunes, “It’s…
Honoring the late Cynthia Weil, today’s classic song of the day is “On Broadway,” which was a hit for both the Drifters in 1963 and George Benson a decade and a half later. This was a unique collaboration between two legendary songwriting teams, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Here’s how it went down—all at…
Your totally forgotten ’70s song of the day is “Games” by a group called Redeye. It was released in late 1970 and peaked at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100. I’m guessing that if you’re of a certain age you’ll remember this song if you hear it. It played the other day on a rerun of Casey Kasem’s American Top…
Today’s oddly original classic late-70s song of the day is “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” by Joe Jackson. In my memory this is an early ’80s tune, but it was originally released in October of 1978. That initial release didn’t take so the label re-released it in July of 1979, when it went all the way to #21…