Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
As I’ve noted before in this blog, I occasionally like to highlight ’60s soul songs that never really made it into the mainstream consciousness, songs later rescued from obscurity by England’s Northern Soul scene. Today’s tune is one of those. “The Sweetest Thing This Side of Heaven” was released by singer Chris Bartley in July of 1967. It’s a bit…
Today’s classic song of the day is an early ’70s Motown classic, “Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)” by the Temptations. It was the last Temptations single to include Eddie Kendricks, who left to pursue a solo career, and Paul Williams, who left for health reasons. Released in January of 1971, the single went all the way to #1…
Today’s classic song of the day comes from the spring of 1977. The song is “Angel in Your Arms” and it was recorded by a group called Hot. Hot released “Angel in Your Arms” on Big Tree Records in February of 1977. The song went all the way to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #9 on Billboard’s Easy…
Today’s classic song of the day sounds a lot like a previous classic song of the day, and it’s on purpose. Today’s song is “It’s the Same Old Song” by the Four Tops, and it was deliberately patterned on their previous hit, “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch).” Here’s one version of the story. The Tops had just…
Today’s classic song of the day is a Motown classic, “Come See About Me” by the Supremes. This one was written by the legendary songwriting team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland, otherwise known as Holland-Dozier-Holland or just H-D-H. Brian and Lamont produced the single and backing was provided by the Funk Brothers, including Earl Van Dyke on…
Today is Thanksgiving day in the United States, so let’s be thankful for today’s classic song of the day, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” by Sly and the Family Stone. In case you can’t figure out the mondegreen (intentional misspelling), the title reads as “Thank you for lettin’ me be myself again.” But then, you probably knew that.…
Today’s classic song of the day is a near-perfect piece of Philly Soul, the Stylistics’ recording of “You Make Me Feel Brand New.” This single, released in May of 1974, rose to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the Cash Box Top 100, #6 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, and #5 on the Hot Soul Singles chart. “You…
During this election week in the U.S. we’re focusing on socially relevant songs from years past. With that in mind, today’s classic socially relevant song of the day is Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come.” Sam Cooke wrote “A Change is Gonna Come” in reaction to an incident he experienced while touring Louisiana in December of 1963. He made…
All this week we’ve been highlighting songs that were featured on the soundtrack to The Big Chill, that 1983 movie that followed a group of Baby Boomer friends adjusting to the death of one of their own and their sacrifices in adapting to lives as adults. Our final song from The Big Chill this week is “I Second That Emotion,”…