Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
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…
Today’s classic socially conscious song of the day is “If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song).” It’s a progressive song, a protest song, a song arguing for justice, equality, and the power of the people. “If I Had a Hammer” was written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays of the folk group the Weavers back in 1949 and was…
Today is election day in these barely United States of America, the day that, at least in theory, gives ultimate power to everyday people throughout the country. It’s fitting, then, that today’s classic song of the day is “Power to the People” by John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band. John Lennon wrote “Power to the People” and released it…
Tomorrow is election day here in the United States, and one way or another history will be made. We’ll either have our first woman president or only our second president in history to win two nonconsecutive terms. There may be more history made, depending on who is elected, but let’s try to keep things relatively nonpolitical here. (You want to…
Still celebrating composer Jim Steinman’s birthday, today’s classic song of the day is one of his tunes from the 1984 movie, Streets of Fire. “Tonight is What It Means to Be Young” was the movie’s closer, sung in the movie by lead character Ellen Aim (Diane Lane). In reality, Ms. Lane was lip synching to a studio group called Fire…
Still celebrating yesterday’s birthday of the late Jim Steinman, here’s the biggest-selling song he wrote, “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” Performed by Welsh songstress Bonnie Tyler, this over-the-melodramatic-top power ballad was released in June of 1983 (February in the UK) and shot to #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100 charts. It also hit #1…
Today we’re celebrating songwriter Jim Steinman’s birthday with one of his biggest hits, “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.” The song was performed by the singer known as Meat Loaf on his Bat Out of Hell album. Released as a single in August of 1978, the track only went to #39 on the Billboard Hot 100 but became an FM radio…