Tunes Du Jour Celebrates Sisters Day

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Happy Sisters Day! There’s a unique, almost telepathic bond between sisters, and nowhere is that connection more audible than in music. When sisters sing together, they create a blend that often is simply magical—a harmony that’s been practiced over a lifetime.

In celebration of this incredible bond, I’ve curated a playlist of songs from groups that feature at least one pair of sisters. From the tough-girl cool of the ’60s girl groups to ’80s rock goddesses, ’90s pop sensations, and modern indie darlings, this playlist is a testament to the power of sisterhood in harmony. So grab your sister (or your chosen sister!), turn up the volume, and let’s dive in.

Leader of the Pack – The Shangri-Las
The Sisters: Mary and Elizabeth “Betty” Weiss were the heart of this legendary girl group, alongside the identical twins Marge and Mary Ann Ganser. With their dramatic, soap-opera-in-a-song storytelling and a “tougher than the boys” attitude, the Shangri-Las stood out. “Leader of the Pack” is their definitive mini-masterpiece of teenage tragedy.

Emmylou – First Aid Kit
The Sisters: Swedish folk duo Klara and Johanna Söderberg are revered for their breathtaking, otherworldly harmonies. On “Emmylou,” they pay beautiful tribute to their country music heroes (Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, June Carter, and Johnny Cash), creating a modern folk classic that feels utterly timeless.

Be My Baby – The Ronettes
The Sisters: The iconic lead vocals of Veronica “Ronnie” Bennett (later Spector) were backed by the harmonies of her older sister, Estelle Bennett, and their cousin Nedra Talley. This song, with its legendary drum intro and Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound production, is pure pop perfection and a benchmark for the girl group era.

C’est la Vie – B*Witched
The Sisters: This infectiously cheerful Irish pop group featured identical twin sisters Edele and Keavy Lynch (whose brother, Shane, was in the boy band Boyzone). “C’est la Vie,” with its jig-dancing, double-denim aesthetic, and suggestive lyrics, is a pure shot of late-’90s bubblegum pop nostalgia.

We Are Family – Sister Sledge
The Sisters: It’s right there in the name! Debbie, Joni, Kim, and Kathy Sledge are the four sisters who became a global phenomenon with this timeless anthem. Written and produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic, the song wasn’t just a disco smash; it became a universal hymn for families, teams, and communities everywhere.

Move Ya Body – Nina Sky
The Sisters: Identical twin sisters Nicole and Natalie Albino make up the duo Nina Sky. This dancehall-infused debut single was a massive summer smash in 2004, and its infectious “Diwali Riddim” beat still fills dancefloors today.

Walk Like an Egyptian – Bangles
The Sisters: Vicki and Debbi Peterson (guitar and drums, respectively) were the sibling core of the Bangles. While Susanna Hoffs often took the lead, the Petersons’ rock-solid rhythm and harmonies were essential to the band’s sound. This quirky, chart-topping hit became one of the most memorable songs of the ’80s.

Closer – Tegan And Sara
The Sisters: Canadian identical twin sisters Tegan and Sara Quin have been indie-rock mainstays for years. “Closer” marked their brilliant pivot into synth-pop, a shimmering, exhilarating track about the thrill of a crush before a relationship even begins. It’s a masterclass in pop songwriting.

I’ll Take You There – The Staple Singers
The Sisters: Gospel and soul royalty, The Staple Singers were a true family affair led by patriarch “Pops” Staples. His daughters Mavis, Cleotha, and Yvonne Staples provided the heavenly, soul-stirring harmonies. This song, with its iconic bassline borrowed from a reggae track, is a blissful invitation to a better place.

I Love How You Love Me – The Paris Sisters
The Sisters: Albeth, Sherrell, and Priscilla Paris were known for their incredibly tight, close-miked, whispery harmonies. Produced by Phil Spector before his Wall of Sound days, this dreamy, delicate ballad perfectly captures the sweet innocence of young love.

Best of My Love – The Emotions
The Sisters: Wanda, Sheila, and Pamela Hutchinson are the Chicago-born sisters behind The Emotions. This joyous, soaring disco-soul classic was co-written and produced by Earth, Wind & Fire’s Maurice White, and it showcases their absolutely flawless, exuberant harmonies. It’s impossible not to smile while listening.

Hippychick – Soho
The Sisters: This one-hit wonder from 1990 was fronted by twin sisters Jacqueline “Jacqui” and Pauline Cuff. The song’s laid-back groove is built around a genius sample of The Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now?,” creating a track that’s instantly recognizable and quintessentially of its era.

Never Ever – All Saints
The Sisters: The ’90s British girl group All Saints, known for their cooler, more casual style, included sisters Natalie and Nicole Appleton. “Never Ever” was their biggest hit, a soulful, melancholic R&B ballad that became one of the best-selling singles by a girl group in the UK.

Nothing But A Heartache – The Flirtations
The Sisters: Though their lineup shifted, this American vocal group (who found fame in the UK) was founded by sisters Shirley and Pearly Pearce. “Nothing But a Heartache” is a prime cut of Northern Soul—up-tempo, dramatic, and deeply soulful, it’s a crate-digger’s treasure.

The Sign – Ace Of Base
The Sisters: This Swedish pop group that dominated the airwaves in the ’90s was fronted by sisters Jenny and Linn Berggren. Their distinct voices—Jenny’s powerful and clear, Linn’s ethereal and soft—were the perfect vehicle for this insanely catchy reggae-pop confection that took over the world.

Popsicles and Icicles – The Murmaids
The Sisters: Sisters Carol and Terry Fischer were two-thirds of The Murmaids. This sweet, dreamy tune, written by a young David Gates (who would later form the band Bread), became a surprise hit in 1963 and remains a perfect example of the innocent charm of the era.

Chapel of Love – Dixie Cups
The Sisters: New Orleans trio The Dixie Cups featured sisters Barbara Ann and Rosa Lee Hawkins, along with their cousin Joan Marie Johnson. Their version of “Chapel of Love” knocked The Beatles out of the #1 spot in 1964.

Boogie Fever – The Sylvers
The Sisters: The Sylvers were a large family band, similar to the Jacksons. On their biggest hit, “Boogie Fever,” the lead vocals are handled by Edmund Sylvers, but the shimmering, essential background harmonies come courtesy of sisters Olympia and Charmaine Sylvers.

My Boyfriend’s Back – The Angels
The Sisters: This sassy girl-group classic was powered by sisters Barbara “Bibs” and Phyllis “Jiggs” Allbut. The song is a perfect slice of early ’60s pop, a warning to a would-be suitor that her boyfriend is back in town and “gonna save my reputation.”

Eres Tu (Touch the Wind) – Mocedades
The Sisters: This Spanish group featured three sisters in its classic lineup: Amaya, Izaskun, and Estíbaliz Uranga. “Eres Tú” was Spain’s entry in the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest. It didn’t win, but it became a massive global hit, showcasing the group’s lush, soaring vocal arrangements.

Cannonball – The Breeders
The Sisters: A cornerstone of ’90s alternative rock, The Breeders were formed by Kim Deal (of the Pixies) and her identical twin sister, Kelley Deal. “Cannonball,” with its iconic slithering bassline, nonsensical lyrics, and explosive chorus, is a blast of pure, raw, and effortlessly cool rock and roll.

The Ketchup Song (Aserejé) – Las Ketchup
The Sisters: Say it out loud: The Ketchup sisters! This one is wonderfully literal. Spanish sisters Lola, Pilar, and Lucía Muñoz are the daughters of a flamenco guitarist known as “El Tomate” (The Tomato). Their nonsensical smash hit, complete with a viral dance, was inescapable throughout Europe in the summer of 2002.

The Wire – HAIM
The Sisters: Este, Danielle, and Alana Haim are the quintessential modern sister act. The multi-instrumentalist siblings from California burst onto the scene with a sound that blended ’70s soft rock with ’80s pop. “The Wire” is a perfect introduction to their intricate rhythms and impeccable harmonies.

Hammond Song – The Roches
The Sisters: Maggie, Terre, and Suzzy Roche were a trio of sisters from New York known for their astonishingly complex, intricate, and often quirky folk harmonies. “Hammond Song,” from their debut album produced by King Crimson’s Robert Fripp, is a haunting and beautiful display of their unique vocal chemistry.

Not Ready To Make Nice –The Chicks
The Sisters: Martie Maguire (fiddle) and Emily Strayer (banjo, dobro) are the instrumental powerhouses and harmony singers of this trailblazing country trio. This fiery, defiant anthem was their response to the backlash they faced for speaking out against the Iraq War, and it earned them three Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year.

Respectable – Mel & Kim
The Sisters: British sisters Melanie and Kim Appleby were a vibrant pop duo who worked with the hitmaking team of Stock Aitken Waterman. “Respectable” is a sassy, high-energy dance-pop track that champions self-respect and fun. Tragically, Mel passed away from cancer in 1990 at the peak of their fame.

Alone – Heart
The Sisters: Ann and Nancy Wilson are rock and roll royalty. With Ann’s powerhouse vocals and Nancy’s virtuosic, dynamic guitar work, they have been the unwavering core of Heart for decades. While “Alone” is a cover, their rendition transformed it into one of the greatest power ballads of all time.

Mr. Lee – The Bobbettes
The Sisters: This groundbreaking group included sisters Jannie and Emma Pought. In 1957, The Bobbettes became the first all-female group to write their own #1 R&B hit. “Mr. Lee,” a song originally written to tease a teacher they disliked, is a fun, foundational piece of rock and roll history.

Automatic – The Pointer Sisters
The Sisters: Anita, June, Ruth, and Bonnie Pointer began by singing a mix of jazz, soul, and country before reinventing themselves as sleek, synth-pop superstars following Bonnie’s departure from the group. This ’80s classic is a prime example of their funky, high-tech sound, driven by Ruth Pointer’s incredibly deep and sultry lead vocal.

I Wanna Love Him So Bad – The Jelly Beans
The Sisters: This gem from the golden age of girl groups featured the powerful harmonies of sisters Maxine and Betty Smith. Discovered while still in high school, The Jelly Beans were teamed with legendary songwriters Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. The result was this classic expression of teenage devotion, a perfect slice of 1964 pop.

I hope you enjoyed this journey through the history of sister acts in music. Share this playlist with your sister and have a wonderful, music-filled Sisters Day!

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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 12-11-22

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Today’s playlist celebrates the December 11 birthdays of Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def), Big Mama Thornton, Pérez Prado, Brenda Lee, Bread’s David Gates, Jermaine Jackson, J. Frank Wilson, Jon Brion, and Sister Double Happiness’s Gary Floyd; and the December 12 birthdays of Dionne Warwick, Frank Sinatra, MC5’s Rob Tyner, The Association’s Terry Kirkman, Manu Dibango, Sheila E., The Ruts’ Malcolm Owen, Grover Washington Jr., Georgia Satellites’ Dan Baird, Connie Francis, The Fixx’s Cy Curnin, and Bob Dorough.

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Ringo + Harris 2014-08-15 12.17

It’s Friday And I Need To Dance!

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As a songwriter, Jimmy Webb scored his first hit in 1967 at age twenty when The 5th Dimension took “Up, Up and Away” to the top ten. Later that year Glen Campbell had a hit with Webb’s composition “By the Time I Get to Phoenix.”

Webb then wrote a 22-minute cantata. His friend Bones Howe, with whom Webb worked on The 5th Dimension’s Up, Up and Away album, invited Webb to play the new piece for The Association, who Howe was then producing. Their reaction was less than enthusiastic. Per Howe, one group member said “Any two guys in this group could write a better piece of music than that.”

Sometime after, Webb received a telegram from actor Richard Harris, who he met at a fundraiser in Los Angeles. Harris was nominated for an Academy Award in 1963 for This Sporting Life and again in 1990 for The Field. He later went on to play Professor Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter movies. The telegram read “Jimmy Webb, come to London and make a record. Love, Richard.”

Webb flew to London, bringing a satchel of songs he’d written. He played each for Harris, but nothing struck the actor. Webb recalled “I looked down with some dread because there was only one thing left.” That one thing was the last movement of the cantata he presented to The Association. He called it “MacArthur Park.”

Here are the lyrics to “MacArthur Park.” Raise your hand when they get confusing.

The opening lines are “Spring was never waiting for us, girl / it ran one step ahead, as we followed in the dance.”

I see some hands raised. The next line should help you understand: “Between the parted pages and were pressed in love’s hot fevered iron, like a striped pair of pants.” Now you got it! Harris, who is from the UK, where “pants” means underwear, uses an iron, a hot fevered iron, on his striped underwear. You may be asking: Does he iron his solid-colored underwear? Does he have solid-colored underwear? Boxers or briefs? Relax – there are still six and a half minutes left in the song, so maybe you’ll find out.

Moving on, we learn that MacArthur Park, which Harris calls MacArthur’s Park for the duration of the song, is melting. In the dark. Its icing is flowing down. Who hasn’t been there?

We now arrive at the classic lines about a cake left out in the rain, which appears to be causing Harris to have a breakdown. “I don’t think that I can take it ‘cause it took so long to bake it and I’ll never have that recipe again. Oh no!” Calm down. It’s just a cake. Bake another one. I know – this song was recorded in the pre-Internet age when finding a cake recipe required one to open a cook book, but come on! This cake can’t be that special if you chose to leave it out during inclement weather.

By the end of verse one we have learned several things: 1) Harris is singing to a girl; 2) Harris irons his striped underwear; 3) a park is melting; 4) if you bake a cake and wish to leave it outside, check The Weather Channel first; and 5) never write a song while you are on an acid trip.

As the song continues it gets more bizarre. The melody changes and Harris threatens us by singing “There will be another song for me, for I will sing it.” Luckily, this other song never became a hit. (And may I add, he is being rather presumptuous by calling his performance on this record “singing.”)

The song clocks in at nearly seven and a half minutes, and though it reached #2 on the US pop charts, most listeners had no idea why Harris was singing about a melting park, ironed underwear and a waterlogged dessert.

Songwriter Webb didn’t understand the confusion. He told Q Magazine that the song is “clearly about a love affair ending, and the person singing it is using the cake and the rain as a metaphor for that.” Clearly. Clear as mudcake.

The love affair was one from Webb’s own life. He and his girlfriend would meet for lunch at MacArthur Park, where there would sometimes be birthday parties, with cake. Their breakup devastated Webb, who wrote “Mac Arthur Park” and “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” based on their relationship. (Bonus trivia – the woman went on to marry Linda Ronstadt’s cousin.)

In 1993, humorist Dave Barry surveyed his readers to find the worst song. The clear winner for Worst Overall Song and Worst Lyrics was “Mac Arthur Park.” Culture critic Joe Queenan disagreed with the results “because ‘Ebony and Ivory’ exists, as do ‘You Don’t Bring Me Flowers,’ ‘Baby, I’m-a Want You,’ ‘Feelings,’ ‘Benny and the Jets,’ ‘Witchy Woman’ and ‘Sussudio,’” adding “On a planet where somebody thought it would be a good idea to write ‘Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,’ the best ‘MacArthur Park’ is ever going to earn in the sucky-song sweepstakes is a tie.”

Good or bad, the song is a classic. A 1968 Grammy winner for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist, the song has been recorded by top artists in diverse genres, including Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr., Liza Minnelli, the Four Tops, Maynard Ferguson, Stan Kenton and Woody Herman. Waylon Jennings’ 1969 version won a Grammy. In 1978, Donna Summer’s rendition became her first #1 pop record and stands as the only US #1 pop song for Jimmy Webb, who also wrote “Wichita Lineman,” “Galveston,” “Worst That Could Happen” and “All I Know.”

It has been rumored that Webb and Harris had a falling out due to the song’s success. Harris promised Webb his Rolls Royce if the song went top ten. When the record did, Harris offered Webb a different Rolls Royce. It is because of this that people named Richard are often called Dick. Allegedly, the pair stopped speaking.

Ringo + Harris 2014-08-15 12.17
Today Jimmy Webb turns 68 years old. Hopefully he’s somewhere celebrating with a nice piece of wet cake. We kick off our weekly dance party with Donna Summer’s version of “MacArthur Park,” which she, like Harris, insists on calling “MacArthur’s Park” for the duration of the song.

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