Barry White - You're The First, The Last, My Everything (1974)

"You're the First, the Last, My Everything" or "You're the First, My Last, My Everything" is a popular song recorded by Barry White. Written by White, Tony Sepe and Peter Radcliffe and produced by White, "You're the First, The Last, My Everything" was White's fourth top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, reaching #2; it spent a week at #1 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart. The early disco classic made it to number two on the disco/dance charts. In the UK Singles Chart it fared even better, spending two weeks at the top in December 1974. It appeared on White's 1974 album Can't Get Enough.

Radcliffe originally wrote "You're the First, My Last, My Everything" as a country song with the title "You're My First, You're My Last, My In-Between", which went unrecorded for 21 years. White recorded it as a disco song, keeping most of the structure and about two-third of the title, but he rewrote the lyrics.

Read More»

Elvin Bishop - Fooled Around And Fell In Love (1975)

"Fooled Around and Fell in Love" is a single by blues guitarist Elvin Bishop. It appeared on his 1975 album Struttin' My Stuff and was released as a single the following year. Bishop does not sing lead vocals on the track; feeling that his gravelly voice wouldn't do the song justice, he invited vocalist Mickey Thomas, who was a background singer in his band at the time, to sing it. The song peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in May 1976. The record was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on June 23, 1976. In Canada, the song reached number 22 on the singles chart and number 8 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

repeat
repeat_one
shuffle
skip_previous
play_circle_filled
pause_circle_filled
skip_next
volume_up

Based on his work with Bishop, Thomas was invited to become the lead singer for Jefferson Starship. T. G. Sheppard had a #21 country hit with a cover of the song in 1985. The song is featured in the films Queens Logic (1991), Illtown (1996), Boogie Nights (1997), Summer of Sam (1999), Big Daddy (1999), According to Spencer (2001), The Devil's Rejects (2005), The Family Stone (2005), Invincible (2006), The Education of Charlie Banks (2007), Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008), Stand Up Guys (2012), Lovelace (2013) and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).

Read More»

B.J. Thomas - Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head (1969)

"Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" is B. J. Thomas's #1 song, written by Hal David (credited to Mack David) and Burt Bacharach (later as Luther Dixon) for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. David and Bacharach also won Best Original Score. It was recorded in seven takes, after Bacharach expressed dissatisfaction with the first six. In the film version of the song, B. J. Thomas had been recovering from laryngitis, which made his voice sound hoarser than in the 7-inch release. The film version featured a separate instrumental break when Paul Newman undertook stunts on a bicycle.

repeat
repeat_one
shuffle
skip_previous
play_circle_filled
pause_circle_filled
skip_next
volume_up

Read More»

Ace - How Long (1974)

"How Long" is a 1974 song by the British group Ace from their album Five-A-Side. It reached No. 3 in the US and Canadian charts, and No. 20 in the UK chart.

Although widely interpreted as being about adultery, the song was in fact composed by lead singer Paul Carrack upon discovering that bassist Terry Comer had been secretly working with other bands. Comer returned to Ace in time to play on the song.

repeat
repeat_one
shuffle
skip_previous
play_circle_filled
pause_circle_filled
skip_next
volume_up

Read More»

Leo Sayer - You Make Me Feel Like Dancing (1976)

"You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" is a song by the British singer Leo Sayer, taken from his 1976 album Endless Flight. The song reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, making it his first number-one single in United States, and reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 13 song of 1977. Songwriters Sayer and Vini Poncia won a Grammy Award for the song in 1978 in the category Best R&B Song.

Read More»

John Denver - Sunshine On My Shoulders (1971)

"Sunshine on My Shoulders" (sometimes titled simply "Sunshine") is a song recorded and co-written by American singer-songwriter John Denver. It was originally released as an album track on 1971's Poems, Prayers & Promises and later, as a single in 1973. It went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S. in early 1974.

Denver described how he wrote "Sunshine on My Shoulders": "I wrote the song in Minnesota at the time I call 'late winter, early spring'. It was a dreary day, gray and slushy. The snow was melting and it was too cold to go outside and have fun, but God, you're ready for spring. You want to get outdoors again and you're waiting for that sun to shine, and you remember how sometimes just the sun itself can make you feel good. And in that very melancholy frame of mind I wrote 'Sunshine on My Shoulders'."

It was originally the B-side of one of his earlier songs, "I'd Rather Be a Cowboy". As the Vietnam War came to an end, the song took on a new significance and began to receive airplay on adult contemporary radio stations. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 90 on January 26, 1974 and moved into the number one spot nine weeks later, remaining at #1 for one week. The song also topped the adult contemporary chart for two weeks in 1974. Billboard ranked it as the No. 18 song for 1974.

Read More»

Bee Gees - Tragedy (1979)

"Tragedy" is a song released by the Bee Gees, written by Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb, included on their 1979 album Spirits Having Flown. The single reached #1 in the UK in February 1979 and repeated the feat the following month on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb wrote this song and "Too Much Heaven" in an afternoon off from making the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie in which they were starring. In the same evening they wrote "Shadow Dancing" which was performed by Andy Gibb (and reached #1 in the US).

Though not originally in Saturday Night Fever, it has subsequently been added to the musical score of the West End version of the movie-musical. The song knocked "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor off the top spot in the US for two weeks before that song again returned to #1 for an additional week. In the US, it would become the fifth of six consecutive #1s, tying the record with the Beatles for most consecutive #1s in the US.

In 1979, NBC aired The Bee Gees Special which showed how the sound effect for the explosion was created. Barry cupped his hands over a microphone and made an exploding sound with his mouth. Several of these sounds were then mixed together creating one large boom heard on the record. The song is also playable on Rock Band 3.

Read More»

Peggy March - I Will Follow Him (1963)

"I Will Follow Him" was first recorded by Paola Neri. It was covered by Little Peggy March in 1963. The music was written by Franck Pourcel (using the pseudonym J.W. Stole) and Paul Mauriat (using the pseudonym Del Roma). It was adapted by Arthur Altman. The English lyrics were translated by Norman Gimbel.

repeat
repeat_one
shuffle
skip_previous
play_circle_filled
pause_circle_filled
skip_next
volume_up

The song was recorded in 1961 by Franck Pourcel and began as an instrumental piece appearing on the 1961 European LP release: "Amour, Danse, Et Violons. No.17." At the same time, it appeared on the EP release: "La Voix de son Maître". Pourcel co-wrote the song with his friend and fellow French bandleader Paul Mauriat. The other French bandleader Raymond Lefèvre has been credited for arrangements. Franck Pourcel's original recording was popular on MOR, or "easy listening," stations. Mauriat later recorded an instrumental version in 1976 with a disco beat, using a Moog synthesizer.

In 1962, Percy Faith released an album titled Themes for Young Lovers, and "I Will Follow Him" was the lead song on side 1. Many other hits at the time were also on the album, including "Up On The Roof", "On Broadway", and "Rhythm of the Rain".

The English version by March, backed with "Wind Up Doll", was released by RCA Victor and hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 27, 1963, making 15-year-old March the youngest female artist to have a U.S. chart-topping single. Her version also made it to #1 on the soul singles chart.

Read More»