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 ’60s song that you’ve probably never heard of of the day is “Splendor in the Grass” by the great Jackie DeShannon. The track, released in 1966, was actually a B-side to the A-side single, “Come and Get Me,” which only went to #83 on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite that obscurity, “Splendor in the Grass” has endured, making…
Your classic song about a songwriter but not written by that songwriter is “P.F. Sloan,” about the songwriter of the same name. The song itself was written by Sloan’s friend, fellow songwriter Jimmy Webb, and performed (in its best-known version) by the Association. Jimmy first released the song on his 1970 solo album, Words and Music; the Association then released…
Your classic song that sounds an awful lot like another classic song of the day is “Let’s Live for Today” by the Grass Roots. It was released in May of 1967 and hit #8 on the Billboard Hot 100—and it bears a striking resemblance to the Drifters’ 1961 hit, “I Count the Tears.” The music for “Let’s Live for Today”…
Your angelic song of the day is John Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery.” He wrote it back in 1970 and it first appeared on his self-titled 1971 debut album. It was immediately hailed as a major work and has since been covered by dozens of artists, from Gretchen Wilson and Emmylou Harris to John Denver and Carly Simon (in a contemporaneously…
Your song with a day of the week in the title song of the day is “Like a Summer Thursday” by Townes Van Zandt. This tune was originally released on Mr. Van Zandt’s 1969 album, Our Mother the Mountain. This was his second album, following his debut album, For the Sake of the Song, which was released the previous year.…
Your Burt Bacharach song of the day is “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.” It was written for the Bacharach/David musical, Promises, Promises, but made famous in a more radio-friendly version by Dionne Warwick that went to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. The version from the Broadway musical is a lot more stripped down than the hit single, originally…
For the very first post in my classic songs blog, I’m not going to highlight a specific song but rather a specific songwriter: Burt Bacharach. Burt passed away this week, aged 94, and he deserves a special mention. Burt Bacharach was a legend, one of my musical heroes, and one of the most talented songwriters of the entire 20th century.…