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 of the day is “Knowing When to Leave,” from the Broadway musical, Promises, Promises. Like all the rest of the tunes from the play, this one was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. (Burt did the music, as usual, and Hal did the words.) Promises, Promises is a musical adaptation of director Billy Wilder’s 1960 film,…
This week’s last socially relevant song of the day is “Too Many Martyrs (The Ballad of Medgar Evers)” by the late, great folksinger, Phil Ochs. It’s a tribute to and a lament for the life and death of Medgar Evers. Medgar Evers was a Civil Rights activist in Mississippi during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Evers was an Army…
Today’s classic socially relevant song of the day is a terrific tune by songwriter Laura Nyro, “Save the Country.” In addition to being recorded by Nyro herself, “Save the Country” was a big hit for the 5th Dimension; released as a single in June of 1970, it reached #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #10 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary…
Still celebrating composer Jim Steinman’s birthday, today’s classic song of the day is one of his tunes from the 1984 movie, Streets of Fire. “Tonight is What It Means to Be Young” was the movie’s closer, sung in the movie by lead character Ellen Aim (Diane Lane). In reality, Ms. Lane was lip synching to a studio group called Fire…
Still celebrating yesterday’s birthday of the late Jim Steinman, here’s the biggest-selling song he wrote, “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” Performed by Welsh songstress Bonnie Tyler, this over-the-melodramatic-top power ballad was released in June of 1983 (February in the UK) and shot to #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100 charts. It also hit #1…
Today we’re celebrating songwriter Jim Steinman’s birthday with one of his biggest hits, “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.” The song was performed by the singer known as Meat Loaf on his Bat Out of Hell album. Released as a single in August of 1978, the track only went to #39 on the Billboard Hot 100 but became an FM radio…
Today’s classic song of the day is an early song from Neil Diamond, “Kentucky Woman.” This single was released in October of 1967 and quickly became a staple of Mr. Diamond’s live act. The song reached #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #12 on the Cash Box Top 100. Mr. Diamond wrote “Kentucky Woman” when he was on a…
Today’s classic song of the day is “Message to Michael,” written by the legendary team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. That’s actually not the original title of the song, however, which I shall shortly explain. Bacharach and David wrote “Message to Martha,” as the song was originally titled, in 1962. The song was about a Kentucky gentleman telling a…
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…