Category: Rock and Roll
-
Sam Cooke – A Change is Gonna Come
About The Song Cooke wrote this as a protest song to support the civil rights movement, as Black Americans fought for equality. Up to this point, most of his songs were either touching ballads (“You Send Me”) or lighthearted uptemo tunes (“Twistin’ The Night Away”). When Cooke heard Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ In The Wind,”…
-
Eagles – Tequila Sunrise
About The Song Prior to Desperados, Don Henley and Glenn Frey had chosen not to write songs collaboratively, preferring to write in solitude and bring their contributions to the studio. However, in 1973 they decided to unite, sitting down for a week-long writing session that gave birth to the LP’s title track and its first single, ‘Tequila Sunrise’.…
-
Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons – Who Loves You
In this song, Four Seasons frontman Frankie Valli is addressing a girl who is clearly in a funk. He’s asking her to think about who really loves her and who is going to get her through these tough times, hoping she’ll finally realize it’s him.The song was written by original Four Seasons member Bob Gaudio and a…
-
The Doors – Light My Fire
About the Song The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965. The band was led by vocalist Jim Morrison, and is widely considered to be one of the most influential and controversial rock bands of the 1960s. The Doors’ music was characterized by Morrison’s poetic lyrics, keyboardist Ray Manzarek’s use…
-
The Temptations – Papa Was A Rolling Stone
About The Song “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” is a song originally performed by Motown recording act the Undisputed Truth in 1972, though it became much better known after a Grammy-award winning cover by the Temptations was issued later the same year. This latter version of the song became a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100. “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” was…
-
Mary MacGregor – Torn Between Two Lovers
About The Song A song written by Peter Yarrow (of the folk music trio Peter, Paul, & Mary) and Phillip Jarrell, “Torn Between Two Lovers” describes a love triangle and laments that “loving both of persons is breaking all the rules.” Yarrow originally intended the song to be sung by a man, but it was ultimately made famous by a woman, Mary…
-
Fats Domino – Ain’t That A Shame
About The Song This is a heartache song about a breakup that was the other partner’s fault. Domino wrote it with Dave Bartholomew, who worked on most of Domino’s hits. This was the first song to crossover from the R&B charts to the mostly white pop charts of the day. Like several other songs previously…
-
Dion – Runaround Sue
About The Song In 1961, Dion DiMucci, the prototypical doo-wop star, topped the charts with “Runaround Sue,” an extremely fun but also deeply mean-spirited song about a girl. DiMucci co-wrote the song, and while 1961 was a different time, it’s full of what we would now call slut-shaming: “She took my love, then ran around…
-
Lou Rawls – You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine
You’ll never find, as long as you live Someone who loves you tender like I do You’ll never find, no matter where you search Someone who cares about you the way I do Whoa, I’m not braggin’ on myself, babyBut I’m the one who loves youAnd there’s no one else! No… one else You’ll never…
-
Marvin Gaye – Sexual Healing
Get up, get up, get up, get up! Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up!Oh, baby now let’s get down tonight Ooh baby, I’m hot just like an ovenI need some lovin’And baby, I can’t hold it much longerIt’s getting stronger and stronger And when I get that feelingI want sexual healingSexual healing, oh…