Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
Classic rock, pop, and soul songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s
The Supremes’ single, “The Happening,” is today’s classic song of the day, and its one of their more unique offerings, for a number of reasons. First off, “The Happening” is actually the theme song for a movie called, unsurprisingly, The Happening. That movie, released in 1967, was a supposed comedy about four hippies who kidnap a retired Mafia mob boss.…
Back in 1976, a little movie called Rocky was a surprise hit. The movie told the story of a small-time fighter named Rocky Balboa, played by Sylvester Stallone, who gets a one-time shot at the world heavyweight championship. While Rocky loses the big fight with Apollo Creed, he proves himself a real winner by getting as far as he did.…
When it opened off-Broadway in 1967 (and on Broadway in 1968), the musical Hair was groundbreaking with its hippie themes and on-stage nudity. The musical has also supplied us with several hit songs, including “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” (a hit for the 5th Dimension), “Hair” (a hit for the Cowsills), “Easy to Be Hard” (a hit for Three Dog Night),…
Here’s another obscure one for you. The song is “You Saved My Soul” and it was written and recorded by Burton Cummings, who you probably remember from his years with the Canadian band the Guess Who. This particular track was released as a single in August of 1981 and got as high as #37 on the Billboard Hot 100 and…
Believe it or not, this is the 1000th post here on the Classic Song of the Day blog. I started this blog back on February 18, 2023, with a post all about composer Burt Bacharach, who had recently passed away. Over the next 999 posts I’ve covered songs both popular and relatively unknown, mostly from the ’60s and ’70s but…
“Easy to Be Hard” is today’s classic song of the day. It comes to us from the musical Hair and the group Three Dog Night. Hair was a big deal. When it opened in 1967, it was the first so-called “rock musical” and led the way for other more modern takes on the traditional Broadway musical. It reflected the times,…
“The Sound of Silence” (originally titled in the plural as “The Sounds of Silence”) is today’s classic song of the day. Written by Paul Simon, performed by Simon and his partner Art Garfunkel, and recorded for Columbia Records, the single was released twice. The first version, a folk-like acoustic recording, was released in October of 1964 and included on the…
Today’s classic song of the day comes to us from the musical, The Fantasticks. “Try to Remember” was the first song performed in the show, designed to encourage the audience to imagine the settings suggested by the sparse set. Like all the music in The Fantasticks, the lyrics to “Try to Remember” were written by Tom Jones (not that one)…
So far this week we’ve featured songs titled “Call Me” by Petula Clark/Chris Montez, Aretha Franklin, and Al Green. Today’s classic song of the day is our final “Call Me” of the week, this one by Blondie. This “Call Me” was featured in the film American Gigolo and, when released as a single in February of 1980, went all the…