Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
The year 1970 was a great one for music. I was 12 years old then, moving from sixth grade into seventh, and I was listening to the radio a lot—WIBC-AM in Indianapolis for news, WIFE-AM for top forty music, and WNAP-FM for more album-oriented rock, but with a lot of overlap between the last two. I also spent a lot…
Today’s classic song of the day is one of the best Beach Boys tunes you’ve probably never heard. The song is “Please Let Me Wonder” and it easily ranks among Brian Wilson’s top ten, maybe even top five, tunes for the group. “Please Let Me Wonder” was written by Brian Wilson with Mike Love contributing lyrics. It was included on…
ABBA is a particular guilty pleasure of mine and today’s classic song of the day is their single “Honey, Honey.” This was the second single release from their second album, Waterloo. ABBA released “Honey, Honey” as a single in April of 1974. It was a top twenty hit in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and West…
Today’s classic song of the day is a bona fide classic from the guy who pretty much invented rock ‘n’ roll. The tune is “No Particular Place to Go” and it was a huge hit (and an instant classic) from the Father of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Mr. Chuck Berry. Chuck wrote this one after he was released from a year…
Remember Rupert Holmes, the guy who did “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)?” Well, he’s the brain trust behind today’s classic song of the day, a little-remembered tune titled “Jennifer Tomkins.” Credited to a non-existent studio group called the Street People, this single hit the Billboard charts in January of 1970 and peaked at #36. Rupert Holmes wrote “Jennifer Tomkins” along…
For today’s classic song of the day we go back to 1964 and Phil Spector’s favorite girl group, the Ronettes. The tune is “Do I Love You” and, when it was released in June of 1964, it went to #34 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #36 on the Cash Box 100. It did a bit better north of the…
Today is Halloween, so what better classic song of the day than Blue Öyster Cult’s classic, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.” Released as a single in October of 1976, it peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for 20 weeks. It did even better in Canada, going all the way to #7 on our northern…
Believe it or not, this is the 1000th post here on the Classic Song of the Day blog. I started this blog back on February 18, 2023, with a post all about composer Burt Bacharach, who had recently passed away. Over the next 999 posts I’ve covered songs both popular and relatively unknown, mostly from the ’60s and ’70s but…
If you’re of a certain age, today’s classic song of the day means something special to you. The song is “You’ve Got a Friend” and it was written by songwriter extraordinaire Carole King and recorded both by herself and by her friend James Taylor. Unlike many of Carole King’s tunes, Carole wrote both the words and the music for “You’ve…
For today’s classic song of the day we return to Swinging London in the mid-60s and another terrific tune by Brit songbird Petula Clark. The song is “I Know a Place” and, when it was released in March of 1965, it went all the way to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #17 on the UK charts. Like most…