Melanie Safka wrote the song “Lay Down” after performing at Woodstock in 1969, where she was inspired by the sight of the audience lighting candles in the rain. It became her first US hit, peaking at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Melanie was born on this date in 1947. She passed away just over a week ago. A few of her songs are on today’s playlist.
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Today’s playlist celebrates the August 19 birthdays of Johnny Nash, Queen’s John Deacon, Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan, Cream’s Ginger Baker, Edwin Hawkins, Europe’s Joey Tempest, Billy J. Kramer, Looking Glass’s Elliot Lurie, Fat Joe, The Poppy Family’s Susan Jacks, Blue Magic’s Ted Mills, Blue Mink’s Roger Cook, Bob Kuban, and Nate Dogg.
Inspired by the August 19 birthdays of Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan, Billy J. Kramer, Johnny Nash, Fat Joe, Nate Dogg, Queen’s John Deacon, Edwin Hawkins, Looking Glass’ Elliot Lurie, Blue Mink’s Roger Cook and Blue Magic’s Ted Mills.
Inspired by the March 20 birthdays of Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, Fabulous Thunderbirds’ Jimmy Vaughan, Carl Palmer, and Carl Reiner, and International Day of Happiness; and the March 19 birthdays of Ruth Pointer, The Specials’ Terry Hall, and Clarence “Frogman” Henry.
As you may have heard, our sleepy little hamlet of Los Angeles got some rain over the past week. I assume you heard this because Los Angeles is the center of the world and our weather is likely reported everywhere, especially when we get rain, which lesser cities take for granted. More rain is forecast for this week.
If you were near a radio in the United States in 1972, you heard Albert Hammond’s hit single “It Never Rains in Southern California,” and learned that while in L.A. it never rains, it pours. Man, it pours.
Today’s playlist consists of songs with word rain or some variation thereof in the title. It includes Albert Hammond’s “It Never Rains in Southern California,” one of two top forty singles Hammond had as an artist. (The other was 1974’s “I’m a Train.” Remember that one? Didn’t think so.) As a songwriter, Hammond’s hits include The Hollies’ “The Air That I Breathe,” Leo Sayer’s “When I Need You,” Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” Whitney Houston’s “One Moment in Time,” Chicago’s “I Don’t Wanna Live Without Your Love,” Ace of Base’s “Don’t Turn Around,” Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson’s “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before” and The Pipkins’ “Gimme Dat Ding.” His son is a founding member of The Strokes.
Back to the weather. Get your umbrella and enjoy today’s playlist while the sun is still shining.
Today is the United Nations International Day of Happiness. Our soundtrack kicks off with The Turtles’ “Happy Together.”
Ironically, this is not a happy song.
Written by Gary Bonner and Alan Gordon, the song is about a one-way love affair. The singer imagines being with the girl to whom he’s singing. He’s in love with her and thinks if they were to be together the skies would be blue. He imagines how the world would be – so very fine – if they were a couple.
She doesn’t feel the same way. When this sinks in to our narrator, he makes small talk. “So how is the weather?” he asks, alternating that line with his repeated sentiment that they would be so happy together.
The song opens on a minor chord, which has a more melancholy sound than a major chord. The chorus – “I can’t see me loving nobody but you for all my life” – opens with a major chord, and the instrumentation is appropriately louder and joyous, the celebratory sound matching his feelings of ecstasy as he imagines his fantasy life with this woman.
For younger folks reading this, there used to exist public phones where one could insert a dime to make a three-minute long local call, hence the lyric “If I should call you up, invest a dime.” If the song were written today, this verse may go “If I should call you up, use up minutes from my cell phone plan / And you say you belong to me, I am your man / Imagine how the world could be, I’m hungry for flan.” Not as strong. Now I’m hungry for flan.
The Turtles recorded “Happy Together” in January 1967. Two months later it knocked The Beatles’ “Penny Lane” out of the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. It stayed on top for three weeks.
Enjoy your Day of Happiness. May all your loves be requited loves.