Inspired by the November 2 birthdays of k.d. lang, Nelly, Maxine Nightingale, The Cadillacs’ Earl Carroll, Mobb Deep’s Prodigy, J.D. Souther, Keith Emerson and Jay & the Americans’ Jay Black.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (6-9-20)
Inspired by Black Music Month, LGBTQ Pride Month, the passing of Bonnie Pointer, and the June 9 birthdays of Jackie Wilson, The Chemical Brothers’ Ed Simons, Muse’s Matt Bellamy, Les Paul, Johnny Ace and composer Cole Porter.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (6-6-20)
Inspired by Black Music Month, LGBTQ Pride Month, and the June 6 birthdays of The Four Tops’ Levi Stubbs, Gary “U.S.” Bonds, The Libertines’ Carl Barat, Junior, Joe Stampley and Jimmie Lunceford.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (5-7-20)
Inspired by the passing of Was (Not Was)’s Sweet Pea Atkinson and the May 7 birthdays of The Crests’ Johnny Maestro, Thelma Houston, Jimmy Ruffin, Jim Lowe, The Tremeloes’ Rick West and Starland Vocal Band’s Bill Danoff.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (4-29-20)
Inspired by the April 29 birthdays of Willie Nelson, The Coasters/Robins’ Carl Gardner, Tommy James, Tammi Terrell, The KLF’s Bill Drummond, The Brady Bunch’s Eve Plumb, Duke Ellington, Romeo Void’s Debora Iyall, Lonnie Donegan, Rod McKuen, Otis Rush and April Stevens; and the April 28 birthdays of Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, Goodie Mob’s Big Gipp, Too $hort and Blossom Dearie.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (4-10-20)
Inspired by the April 20 birthdays of A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip, The Spinners’ Bobby Smith, Eels’ E, Stray Cats’ Brian Setzer, Maren Morris, The Flamingos’ Nate Nelson, Katrina Leskanich, Sheb Wooley, and Poor Righteous Teachers’ Wise Intelligent.
Throwback Thursday – 1961
From 1958 to 1960, Ben E. King was the lead singer of The Drifters, scoring hits with “There Goes My Baby,” “Save the Last Dance for Me,” “This Magic Moment” and “I Count the Tears.” He suggested to the group’s manager, George Treadwell, that they record the spiritual tune “Stand by Me Father,” but Treadwell turned him down. King also asked Treadwell for a greater share of the group’s royalties. Again, Treadwell turned him down. King said goodbye.
King left the group after recording just thirteen songs with them. He soon made the top ten as a solo act with 1961’s “Spanish Harlem.”
Around that time, King was working on a song based on “Stand by Me Father.” He had some lyrics and a melody. He finished the lyrics with his producer, Jerry Leiber. Leiber’s songwriting/production partner, Mike Stoller, added some chords behind the melody, as well as a bass line.
Per Leiber, it’s that last addition that makes Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me” a classic. “The lyrics are good, King’s vocal is great. But Mike’s bass line pushed the song into the land of immortality. Believe me – it’s the bass line.”
“Stand By Me” kicks off this week’s Throwback Thursday playlist, spotlighting hits from 1961.
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Throwback Thursday – 1960
“I’ve always been very content when I wrote all those songs. By this I’m saying that a lot of people think you have to live through something before you can write it, and that’s true in some cases, but I remember the times that I was unhappy or discontent, and I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t communicate, and I certainly couldn’t write a song, no way. All the songs I wrote that were successful were written when I was in a contented state of mind.”
– Roy Orbison, NME, 1980
From its title, you’d never know that the guy who wrote “Only the Lonely (Know How I Feel),” was content. Orbison wrote the lyrics to this song while sitting in his car outside his house. Being there by himself inspired the sentiment expressed in the song’s title.
As he had yet to have any hits as a performer, Orbison offered “Only the Lonely” to the Everly Brothers, who by that time (1960) had many hits, including “Claudette,” written by Orbison. Don Everly told Orbison he should record “Only the Lonely” himself.
“Only the Lonely,” written with Joe Melson, became Orbison’s first top 40 single as a performer, reaching #2 on the pop charts in the summer of 1960. He’d go on to have 22 more top 40 singles.
On this Throwback Thursday, Tunes du Jour presents twenty great tracks from 1960, kicking off with Roy Orbison’s “Only the Lonely (Know How I Feel),” one of three hits about loneliness to impact the charts that year.
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Throwback Thursday – The Hits Of 1968
For Throwback Thursday this week, Tunes du Jour goes back to 1968. Though the year’s biggest hit, The Beatles’ “Hey Jude,” is not on Spotify, there are enough great smashes to make a compelling playlist.
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Ten Facts About And Twenty Songs By Dion
Ten Facts About Dion:
1. In 1957 Dion was signed to Gene and Bob Schwartz’s Mohawk Records. The Schwartz brothers soon took Dion and his backing group The Belmonts to their new label, Laurie Records. I am not related to the Schwartz brothers. Not those Schwartz brothers, anyway.
2. Including his hits with The Belmonts, Dion has hit the US top forty 21 times.
3. In 1959 Dion & the Belmonts were part of the Winter Dance Party Tour. After a performance in Clear Lake, Iowa, some of the acts on the tour chartered a plane to take them to the next tour stop. Dion didn’t want to pay the $36 the flight cost so he traveled by bus. That plane crashed, killing everyone aboard – Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper and the pilot.
4. His hit “Runaround Sue,” which he co-wrote with Eddie Maresca, is about a real girl named Roberta.
5. “Runaround Sue” knocked Ray Charles’ “Hit the Road Jack” for #1 on the pop chart in October 1961.
6. Dion married a woman named Sue, who likes to tell people “Runaround Sue” is about her.
7. The follow-up single to “Runaround Sue” was “The Majestic,” but the single’s b-side got more attention. That song, “The Wanderer,” peaked at #2.
8. Two rock artists appear on the cover of The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – Bob Dylan and Dion.
9. In 1975 Phil Spector produced an album for Dion. It was withdrawn by the producer shortly after its release, to be reissued a year later only in the UK.
10. Dion was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.
BONUS: Dion Francis DiMucci was born on July 18, 1939 in The Bronx, New York. Here are twenty career highlights.
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