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 color-coordinated song of the day is “Jackie Blue” by the Ozark Mountain Daredevils. The song was released as a single in February of 1975 and shot to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Cash Box Top 100. “Jackie Blue” was written by Steve Cash and Larry Lee, the group’s lead singer and drummer, respectively.…
Today’s classic song of the day is “Bluer Than Blue” by singer Michael Johnson. (Not Michael Jackson.) The song was the singer’s first big hit; he subsequently scored another Top Twenty hit the following year with “This Night Won’t Last Forever.” “Bluer Than Blue” was written by country songwriter Randy Goodrum. You probably don’t know his name, but he was…
Today’s classic song of the day bridges two decades. “Little Green Bag” by the George Baker Selection was released in October of 1969 but didn’t really hit the U.S. charts until early spring 1970. It peaked at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #16 on the Cash Box Top 100 in April of 1970, so I’m going to call…
Today’s classic mid-60s song of the day is “I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love” by Brit songbird Petula Clark. This single, released in June of 1966, went to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100, #6 on the UK Singles chart, and #1 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart. “I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love,” like many of Pet Clark’s big hits,…
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,…
Today’s classic song of the day is that disco classic, Thelma Houston’s “Don’t Leave Me This Way.” If you were anywhere near a radio or dance floor during the spring of 1977, you heard a lot of this one. “Don’t Leave Me This Way” was written by Philly Soul legends Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, along with frequent collaborator Cary…
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 socially relevant song of the day is “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield. Yes, that’s the actual title, although some might know it better as the “Stop! Hey What’s That Sound” song. Most folks view “For What It’s Worth” as a protest song and it kind of is—just not in the way you might think. Stephen Stills wrote…
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…
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…