Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from yesterday and today
Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from yesterday and today
Today’s classic long-forgotten ’70s song of the day is “Last Song” by Edward Bear. Released at the very end of 1972, it rose to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, and #1 on both of Canada’s major charts (RPM Top Singles and RPM Adult Contemporary). The stronger performance north of the border is undoubtedly…
Today’s almost-forgotten classic 1970s song of the day is “Do You Wanna Make Love” by Peter McCann. This one was pretty big at the time; released in May of 1977, it rose all the way to #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was ranked as the #17 single for the entire year. Not bad for a slightly cheesy soft…
Today’s long-forgotten classic song of the day is “How Do You Do” by Mouth and MacNeal. This precious little track was released in 1971 in Europe and a year later in the U.S., where it hit #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. It did even better elsewhere, hitting #1 in Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Switzerland. (It peaked one…
Today’s classic song of the day is “Silver Threads and Golden Needles” by the Springfields. Released in late summer of 1962, this harmony-laden track peaked at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Springfields were a folk trio from the UK consisting of Tim Feild, Dion O’Brien, and Mary Catherine O’Brien. The O’Brien siblings changed their names to Tom Springfield…
Today’s classic song of the day takes us back to the mid-60s and “I’ll Never Find Another You” by the Seekers. Released in December of 1964, this one peaked early the next year at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, #2 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart, and at #1 in both the UK and Australia. That last one wasn’t surprising…
Today’s classic song of the day is “Lazy Day” by Spanky and Our Gang. This frothy little single, released in October of 1967 (same as yesterday’s classic song of the day, the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “She is Still a Mystery“), peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Lazy Day” was written by Tony Powers (words) and George Fischoff (music). Powers…
Today’s classic song of the day takes us back to the Summer of Love and that fun group of cats called the Lovin’ Spoonful. “She is Still a Mystery” was released at the end of October in 1967 and peaked at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 just a few weeks later. “She is Still a Mystery” would be the…
Today’s classic song of the day is “Hello It’s Me” by Todd Rundgren. This precious piece of melodic power pop was released as a single in August of 1973 and it hit #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was Todd’s only Top Ten hit. “Hello It’s Me” goes beyond typical power pop to include a bevy of extended chords,…
Today’s classic song of the day is “Sitting” by Cat Stevens. Released in September of 1972, the song went to #16 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Sitting” is a song about the inner struggles and existential questions that all of us ask at one time or another in our lives, but particularly as we’re approaching adulthood. The song’s Zen-like lyrics…
Today’s classic song of the day is “Anticipation” by Carly Simon. Released in November of 1971, it peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Adult Contemporary chart early the next year. “Anticipation” is kind of a sideways, not very dreamy eyed love song. Ms. Simon supposedly wrote it while waiting for a very late Cat…
We finish our look at some of my favorite tracks from the mid-70s with “Time Passages” by Al Stewart. This was the first track on side one of the Time Passages album, Mr. Stewart’s follow-up to his career-defining Year of the Cat album. The “Time Passages” single, released in September of 1978, hit #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and…
Continuing our look at some of my favorite classic rock tracks from the mid-70s, today’s classic song of the day is “Deacon Blues” by Steely Dan. It’s one of the, if not the most popular Dan tunes of all time, a staple of classic rock radio and yacht rock playlists. Everybody knows it, even those that don’t know the Dan.…