Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from yesterday and today
Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from yesterday and today
This week we’re looking at songs with a woman’s name in the title, so today’s classic song of the day is “Alison” by Elvis Costello. Mr. Costello included the track on his 1977 debut album, My Aim is True and released the song as a single that same year. Unfortunately, it didn’t chart. Fortunately, it still got a lot of…
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 where the cover was a bigger hit than the original of the day is “You’re No Good.” This tune was a moderate hit for Betty Everett in the U.S. in 1963, a slightly bigger hit for the Swinging Blue Jeans the next year in England, and a much bigger hit for Linda Ronstadt worldwide a decade later.…
Today’s classic song of the day is “Tracks of My Tears.” It was a hit for three different artists across two decades: The Miracles in 1965, Johnny Rivers in 1967, and Linda Ronstadt in 1975. “Tracks of My Tears” was written by Smokey Robinson and fellow Miracles Pete Moore and Marv Tarplin. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it #50 on its…
Today’s classic sad song of the day is “Long Long Time,” one of Linda Ronstadt’s first solo hits. The single was released in June of 1970 and rose to #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #20 on the Easy Listening chart. Mr. Ronstadt’s performance was nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Female Vocal Performance. (She lost to Dionne…
This week we’re featuring particularly sad songs, and today’s classic sad song of the day is “Hasten Down the Wind” by Warren Zevon, later covered by Linda Ronstadt. It’s hard to believe this song is close to fifty years old or that Warren’s been gone twenty years now. “Hasten Down the Wind” tells the story, in the third person, of…
Today’s classic Motown song of the day is “Heat Wave,” which was a hit twice—for Martha and the Vandellas in 1963 and a little over a decade later for Linda Ronstadt. We’ll focus on the original version first, since this is Motown week at the Classic Song of the Day blog. Martha and the Vandellas recorded “Heat Wave” on June…
We’re wrapping up our week-long tribute to the late Cynthia Weil with one of her later songs, “Somewhere Out There,” a duet by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram. Cynthia and her husband Barry Mann, along with James Horner, wrote this one for the soundtrack of the animated movie An American Tail. This is one of those songs that brings chills…
Today’s classic song of the day is “Different Drum” by the Stone Poneys. The song, released in 1967, went to #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the first big hit for the group’s young vocalist, Linda Ronstadt. “Different Drum” was written by soon-to-be Monkee Michael Nesmith way back in 1964. It was first recorded in 1965, in a…