Fly Robin Fly by Silver Convention (1975)

Fly, Robin, Fly is a 1975 record by the German group Silver Convention. The song was released as a single from their 1975 album Save Me. In the United States, it rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1975, staying there for three weeks. The single also was No. 1 on the Soul Singles Chart for one week. "Fly, Robin, Fly" also spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Dance/Disco Chart.

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It was the first song by a German group to reach number one on the American music charts. In Canada, the song also reached the pole position in the charts, hitting number one in the RPM Top Singles Chart on 17 January 1976, knocking the Bay City Rollers' "Saturday Night" from the top slot, managing to keep it for a single week before being replaced by C. W. McCall's "Convoy" a week later.

"Fly, Robin, Fly" carries the distinction of being a Billboard chart-topper with only a few unique words: six. The chorus simply repeats "Fly, robin, fly" three times, with an ending of "Up, up to the sky!" Just five months earlier, another song with very few words was Van McCoy's number one hit, The Hustle, with only five words used in total: Do, it, the, hustle, and ooh.

During a segment on VH1's 100 Greatest Dance Songs, it was revealed that the working title was "Run, Rabbit, Run."

"Fly, Robin, Fly" won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Instrumental Performance in 1976.

CBS Sports used part of the song as intro music for NFL coverage in the late 1970s. The song was also featured in the 1997 film Boogie Nights.

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So Far Away by Carole King from the album Tapestry

So Far Away is a song written by Carole King and appeared on her 1971 album Tapestry. The recording features James Taylor on acoustic guitar. In the 1995 album Tapestry Revisited, it was covered by Rod Stewart.

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The lyrics express longing for a lover who is far away. But Allmusic critic Bill Janovitz notes that while the lyrics start by focusing on the physical distance between the lovers, the lyrics use that as a jumping off point to explore emotional distance between lovers as well. Rolling Stone Magazine stated King's "warm, earnest singing" on the song brought out the song's sadness.

In addition to Taylor, and King on piano, instruments include Russ Kunkel on drums, Charles Larkey on bass guitar and Curtis Amy on flute.

In 1996, Rod Stewart included a version of the song on his album If We Fall in Love Tonight. This version was previously released as a single 1995 for a Carole King tribute album Tapestry Revisited.

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Let's Stay Together by Al Green from the album Let's Stay Together

Let's Stay Together is a song by American recording artist Al Green from his 1972 album of the same name. It was produced and recorded by Willie Mitchell, and mixed by Mitchell and Terry Manning. Released as a single in 1971, "Let's Stay Together" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and remained on the chart for 16 weeks and also topped Billboard's R&B chart for nine weeks. Billboard ranked it as the No. 11 song of 1972.

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It was ranked the 60th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

It was selected by the Library of Congress as a 2010 addition to the National Recording Registry, which selects recordings annually that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The song went on to claim the number-one position on the Billboard Year-End chart as an R&B song for 1972.

The song was used in the Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction (1994), the 2004 film Hellboy and the 2005 film Munich. It was also used in the 2003 romantic comedy film How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and be heard in the films Down to You (2000), Jersey Girl (2004), and the 2012 romantic comedy Hope Springs features the song.

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Special of the day: Stand by Me by Ben E. King (1961)

Stand by Me is a song originally performed by American singer-songwriter Ben E. King. It was written by King, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, inspired by the spiritual "Lord Stand by Me", plus two lines rooted in Psalms 46:2–3. There have been over 400 recorded versions of the song. The song is featured on the soundtrack of the 1986 film Stand by Me.

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According to the documentary History of Rock 'n' Roll, Ben E. King had no intention of recording the song himself when he wrote it. King had written it for The Drifters, who passed on recording it. After the "Spanish Harlem" recording session, he had some studio time left over. The session's producers, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, asked if he had any more songs. King played "Stand by Me" on the piano for them. They liked it and called the studio musicians back in to record it.

Stoller recalls it differently:

I remember arriving at our office as Jerry and Ben were working on lyrics for a new song. King had the beginnings of a melody that he was singing a cappella. I went to the piano and worked up the harmonies, developing a bass pattern that became the signature of the song. Ben and Jerry quickly finished the lyrics ... .

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Bread - Baby I'm-a Want You (1971)

Baby I'm-a Want You is a popular song by the American pop-rock band Bread. The single was released in October 1971. It became the title track for the album of the same name, released in January 1972.

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It was one of Bread's highest-charting singles in both the U.S. and U.K. In the U.S., it reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in December 1971, the third of Bread's four top-five hits ("Make It with You", #1 in 1970; "If", #4 earlier in 1971; and "Everything I Own", from the same album, #5 in 1972). "Baby I'm-a Want You" reached the top of the easy listening chart and rose to #14 on the UK Singles Chart in February 1972.

It was certified as a gold record by the RIAA. As with virtually all of the band's well-known recordings, the song was both written and produced by the band's lead vocalist, David Gates.

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Band on the Run by Paul McCartney and Wings (1974)

Band on the Run is the title song from Paul McCartney and Wings' Band on the Run album. The single sold one million copies in 1974 in the U.S., where it reached number 1, and it went to number 3 in the UK.

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The song is a three part medley. The parts are thematically related, but do not necessarily form a continuous narrative. Paul McCartney was inspired by George Harrison in the first line of the second part of the medley: "If we ever get out of here." He reportedly said these words during one of the Beatles' many business meetings.

The U.S. radio edit was 3:50 in length. The difference was largely caused by the removal of the middle or the second part of the song, as well as the verse that starts with "Well, the undertaker drew a heavy sigh..."

The single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over one million copies. The song features prominently on all McCartney/Wings compilations as well as McCartney's live shows. It was the second of five number-one singles for the band on the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard ranked it number 22 on its Top Pop Singles of 1974 year-end chart.

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Heatwave - Boogie Nights (1977)

Boogie Nights is a 1977 single by the British-based funk-disco group Heatwave. It was the group's debut single and was written by Rod Temperton. It was included on Heatwave's debut album, Too Hot to Handle. The American actor and singer Clarke Peters performed backing vocals on the song.

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The song became one of the best-known disco songs by a British group and charted at #2 in both the UK Singles Chart as well as the Billboard Hot 100. It also appeared on U.S. Billboard R&B and dance charts during 1977. The song would reach number 1 in New Zealand. The single was certified platinum by the RIAA. The song did not chart in Ireland.

The song has been covered many times by artists such as KC and the Sunshine Band, Will to Power, 911 and The Weather Girls. British boy-band Blue also performed the song in their live shows.

The song made an appearance in the 1978 films Eyes of Laura Mars and The Stud (film).

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Deep Purple - Smoke On The Water (1972)

Smoke on the Water is a song by the English rock band Deep Purple. It was first released on their 1972 album Machine Head. In 2004, the song was ranked number 434 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time, ranked number 4 in Total Guitar magazine's Greatest Guitar Riffs Ever, and in March 2005, Q magazine placed "Smoke on the Water" at number 12 in its list of the 100 greatest guitar tracks.

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The lyrics of the song tell a true story: on 4 December 1971 Deep Purple were in Montreux, Switzerland, where they had set up camp to record an album using a mobile recording studio (rented from the Rolling Stones and known as the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio—referred to as the "Rolling truck Stones thing" and "a mobile" in the song lyrics) at the entertainment complex that was part of the Montreux Casino (referred to as "the gambling house" in the song lyric). On the eve of the recording session a Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention concert was held in the casino's theatre. In the middle of Don Preston's synthesizer solo on "King Kong", the place suddenly caught fire when somebody in the audience fired a flare gun into the rattan covered ceiling, as mentioned in the "some stupid with a flare gun" line. The resulting fire destroyed the entire casino complex, along with all the Mothers' equipment. The "smoke on the water" that became the title of the song (credited to bass guitarist Roger Glover, who related how the title occurred to him when he suddenly woke from a dream a few days later) referred to the smoke from the fire spreading over Lake Geneva from the burning casino as the members of Deep Purple watched the fire from their hotel. The "Funky Claude" running in and out is referring to Claude Nobs, the director of the Montreux Jazz Festival who helped some of the audience escape the fire.

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