Category: Rock and Roll
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Johnny B. Goode — Chuck Berry’s 1958 hit celebrated his own rise to fame
About The Song For one week in 1972 John Lennon and Yoko One were guest hosts of The Mike Douglas Show on US TV. Their sojourn’s most memorable incident involved Lennon, Ono and band backing Chuck Berry. “If you had tried to give rock’n’roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry’,” said Lennon by way of…
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Olivia Newton-John – Let Me Be There
About The Song “Let Me Be There” is a song performed by Olivia Newton-John. It was written by John Rostill and originally released by Newton-John in 1973. The song became one of her signature tunes and a commercial success. “Let Me Be There” won the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1974,…
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The Turtles – Happy Together
About The Song In the ’60s the musical tastes of the younger generations was changing the entire music industry. Beginning in the ’50s teens had developed buying power and this swayed which records were purchased. At the same time Rock & Roll was fast becoming the most popular genre of music on the planet. To…
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Chicago – Hard To Say I’m Sorry
About The Song The band’s lead singer, Peter Cetera and Foster got together an wrote Hard To Say I’m Sorry, a song initially required for a film as Chicago’s trumpeter, Lee Loughnane recalled, “The film was in the process of being created when we presented the song to them.” The film was called Summer Lovers a…
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Roy Orbison – You Got It
About The Song You Got It was the first collaboration between Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison (and Tom Petty). It was written during the Christmas season of 1987 and recorded in April of 1988 with Jeff, Tom and Phil Jones providing the backing track. The song, released the following year, would go on to be an…
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Eagles – Take It Easy
About The Song – “Take It Easy” was written by Glenn Frey and Jackson Browne and was the first single released by the Eagles. They wrote the song together in just a few hours, with Frey contributing the music and Browne writing the lyrics. – The song was inspired by a bumper sticker that read…
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Dion – The Wanderer
“The Wanderer” is a song written by Ernie Maresca and originally recorded by Dion. The song, with a 12-bar blues-base verse and an eight-bar bridge, tells the story of a travelling man and his many loves. The song is ranked #243 on the Rolling Stone magazine’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.…
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Ben E. King – Stand By Me
About The Song As is the case with all the great pop songs, you can identify Stand By Me by its opening few notes. Mike Stoller’s simple bassline, built around a 50s doo-wop chord progression, is decorated with little more than the faint ting of a triangle and the scrape of a gourd guiro –…
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The Story Of ‘(They Long To Be) Close To You’ by the Carpenters
About The Song Richard and Karen Carpenter had a spectacular 1970. It started slowly, with their interpretation of The Beatles’ “Ticket To Ride” stalling at No.54 in the US. But by the summer, they were ruling the Hot 100, spending a month at No.1 with the Bacharach & David composition “(They Long To Be)…
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Peter, Paul & Mary – Blowin’ in the Wind
About The Song Peter, Paul & Mary’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” is a folk song written by Bob Dylan in 1962. It was released as a single in 1963 and became a major hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song is a protest song that asks questions about war, peace,…