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 song of the day is “Oh Girl” by the Chi-Lites. This single, released in March of 1972, went all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Cash Box Top 100, and Billboard’s R&B chart. Billboard named it the #13 song for all of 1972. “Oh Girl” was written by Eugene Record, the Chi-Lites’ lead vocalist. Released…
Frequent readers of this blog know that I occasionally like to highlight obscure 1960s R&B singles that never made it big on the charts but were later somewhat revived by England’s Northern Soul scene. Today’s classic song of the day is one such obscure tune, “Do It” by Pat Powdrill. This track, released in 1966 on the equally obscure Downey…
All this week we’ve been looking at socially relevant songs from the late ’60s/early ’70s by prominent soul artists. So far all the tracks have been by Motown or Motown-adjacent (Freda Payne, with “Bring the Boys Home“) artists. Today we step away from the Motor City and venture to the recording studios of the West Coast with Bobby Womack and…
Your classic sweet soul song of the day is “Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do),” by Aretha Franklin. This song was just one of Aretha’s many hit songs, peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the R&B chart in early 1974. Aretha Franklin had a ton of Top 40 singles in…
Your classic instrumental of the day that also had a hit version with lyrics is “Grazing in the Grass.” The original instrumental version was by Hugh Masekela and the subsequent version with lyrics was by the Friends of Distinction, and they were both top ten hits. Unlike the classic instrumentals of the day for the the past few days, which…
Your long-forgotten classic soul song of the day is “Tell Me, Baby,” by Karmello Brooks. It’s a terrific tune that is just about as obscure you can get—and I love it. “Tell Me, Baby” was released in 1966 on Milestone Records. It was the B-side of an equally obscure tune titled “You’re Breaking My Heart.” Neither the A or the…
Today’s forgotten Philly Soul song of the day is “Together” by the Intruders. It reached #48 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #9 on Billboard’s R&B chart. The track sounds like classic 70s soul even though it was released in April of 1967. That’s because it has that glossy Philly Soul sound we associate with 70s soul, not the more…
Your mournful ’70’s soul song of the day is Brook Benton’s “Rainy Night in Georgia.” This big hit went to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the Best Selling Soul Singles chart, and #2 on the Adult Contemporary chart in the spring of 1970. It was a big comeback for Mr. Benton, who had a string of hits…