Flashback Friday Songs of the Day - Aretha!

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I'm just going to leave this right here...

Annnnnnndddddd.....MIC DROP!

Thank you Aretha Franklin for sharing your gift with us.

May you Rest In Peace!

Song of the Day - Viva Las Vegas - Elvis Presley

I am back and basking in the afterglow of an awesome trip, my first ever, to Las Vegas.  To celebrate, here's a song by "The King" that I remember fondly as a child.  It's the title track to the soundtrack of this super-groovy flick starring Elvis and the beautiful, Miss Ann-Margaret.  Check out Viva Las Vegas...

Song of the Day - Forever Came Today - The Supremes

Though she didn't perform this particular song last night, Diana Ross did do a whole set of classic Supremes' tunes at her show in NYC.  I wasn't really surprised by it because it wasn't one of their biggest songs.  Still, I love the tune, and my pal Larry, who accompanied me to the concert last night, loves it!  In fact, he turned me on to this particular performance from the Ed Sullivan show circa 1968.  

Back in the day, there was a lot of controversy surrounding Forever Came Today.  Followers of Diana might recall it as being one of her first solo songs.  Mary Wilson, in her memoir Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme, claims she never sang on the tune and it was recorded after Florence Ballard had been fired from the group.  Not a pretty moment in Diana's history, for sure!

Regardless, the tune is classic and the performance even more-so.  Check it out...

A Christmas Song of the Day - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee

Here's one of my favorite Christmas classics from all the way back in 1960.  It's Brenda Lee and the always fun Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree.  Enjoy!

A Thanksgiving Song of the Day - Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf, Again) - Sly and the Family Stone

Welcome to the second special Thanksgiving Song of the Day with the most the original of funksters. It's Sly & the Family Stone with a classic thank you... 

A Black History Month Song of the Day - Be My Baby - The Ronettes

The Supremes.  The Marvalettes. Martha and the Vandellas.  The Shirelles.  The Ronettes.  The 1960's was the the beginning of a new era in music, one which has endured throughout the years with other acts such as the Spice Girls, Salt-N-Pepa, En Vogue, Destiny's Child, TLC, Pussycat Dolls, and so many more.  Yes, I'm talking about girl groups.  All of these ladies have left their own indelible mark on the music world and there's no coincidence that much of the music falls under the realm of rhythm and blues.  R&B and dancing have always gone hand in hand and the dancometer has been bouncing through the roof since the days of these early gals.  Here's a classic tune from 1963...it's Ronnie Spector and the Ronettes performing Be My Baby...

Halloween Week Song of the Day - Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival

A 1969 breakthrough hit for the early 70’s rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bad Moon Rising earned its place in the Halloween songbook with its inclusion in the John Landis classic, horror flick American Werewolf in London. The song accompanies the main character’s first transformation from man to lycanthrope in a scene that's a masterpiece in Hollywood cinematography and the John Fogerty penned tune provides a satiric lightheartedness to the horror of the scene. All in all, it’s a howling fit in any Halloween party song list...

Black History Month Song of the Day - Proud Mary - Ike & Tina Turner

Since the early days of pop music, or what they called 'rock and roll' back then, there've been plenty of white artists who have scored big with either covers of traditional rhythm and blues songs (see Elvis' Hound Dog and That's Alright) or simply stylizing their music after black music (See Justin Timberlake or Robin Thicke).  Well, on occasion, the reverse has happened, as it did with Ike & Tina Turners' cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's classic Proud Mary.     

Back in the days when I was a disc jockey, this version of Proud Mary was an old standby.  If I ever needed to give the crowd a little inspiration to get up and get down on the dance floor, this song always did the trick.  Turners' version of the tune is completely different than CCR's, and is a classic unto itself, starting off with a nice and easy groove and then working its way into a frenzied finish. Both forms of the song fared well on the charts, hitting #'s 2 and 4, respectively, but it's this version that I and many others, love to dance to...