Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from yesterday and today
Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from yesterday and today
Today’s classic sad song of the day is “San Francisco Mabel Joy,” by Mickey Newbury. Like “Tecumseh Valley,” yesterday’s classic song of the day, “San Francisco Mabel Joy” is a folk song that tells a story—a sad story, indeed. “San Francisco Mabel Joy” really isn’t about the character in the title, although she’s in the song. No, this one is…
Today’s classic sad song of the day is “Tecumseh Valley,” a real tear-jerker written by Townes Van Zandt and best remembered as performed by Nanci Griffith. Townes wrote this one in 1968 and first released it on his For the Sake of the Song album. It was always a staple of his live sets but didn’t get widespread airplay at…
This week we’re featuring particularly sad songs, and today’s classic sad song of the day is “Hasten Down the Wind” by Warren Zevon, later covered by Linda Ronstadt. It’s hard to believe this song is close to fifty years old or that Warren’s been gone twenty years now. “Hasten Down the Wind” tells the story, in the third person, of…
Continuing our look at girl singers of the ’60s, we come to one of my favorite singers singing one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite songwriting teams. We’re talking about “Do You Know the Way to San Jose,” a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and sung by the divine Dionne Warwick. While “Do You…
Last week we took a look at the Girl Group sound of the early 1960s, but that sound wasn’t limited to girl groups. There were plenty of solo girl singers who put out records that mirrored that Girl Group sound, and we’re going to listen to some of them this week. Let’s start with a singer named Ellie Greenwich. Music…
Today’s classic Girl Group song of the day is the rather obscure “Please Don’t Wake Me” by an equally obscure group called the Cinderellas. Released in 1964 on the Dimension label, this one didn’t chart, although it should have; it’s a perfect example of the 1960s Girl Group sound. “Please Don’t Wake Me” was written by Cynthia Weil and Russ…
Today’s classic summer-themed song of the day is “Up on the Roof” by the Drifters. This true classic was released in September of 1962 and hit #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and #4 on the R&B chart) early the next year. Rudy Lewis sang lead on the record, accompanied by fellow Drifters Tommy Evans, Gene Pearson, and Charlie Thomas.…
We’re wrapping up our week-long tribute to the late Cynthia Weil with one of her later songs, “Somewhere Out There,” a duet by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram. Cynthia and her husband Barry Mann, along with James Horner, wrote this one for the soundtrack of the animated movie An American Tail. This is one of those songs that brings chills…
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…