How the Song Came to Be
The Ides of March and the Story of ‘Vehicle’
They took their band name from a Shakespeare classic, their biggest hit from a real-life incident, and they drove their way up the charts in the year 1970.
Read More
Mark Lindsay, Hal Blaine and the Raiders’ #1 Hit, ‘Indian Reservation’
[caption id="attachment_76383" align="alignleft" width="342"] Mark Lindsay, on the cover of his 1970 solo LP[/caption] Following the March 11 death of recording session legend Hal Blaine, many of the artists who made recordings with the Los Angeles-based session musicians known as
Read More
Harry Chapin’s Inspiration for ‘Taxi’
‘Cat’s in the Cradle’ may have been Harry Chapin’s biggest hit, but ‘Taxi’ resonated with listeners, perhaps due to its real-life connection.
Read More
Deliverance’s ‘Dueling Banjos’: An Unlikely Hit
The song, featured prominently in the 1972 thriller, was used without the permission of its composer. There’s actually only one banjo used
Read More
‘In the Year 2525’: The Gloomiest #1?
It was, to be sure, one of the bleakest songs ever to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. And then Zager and Evans never charted again.
Read More
Gordon Lightfoot’s Tale of a Ship’s Crew and Its Captain
The singer-songwriter had a string of big hits including 1976’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” based on a true story of a doomed freighter
Read More
Dion’s Moving ‘Abraham, Martin and John’
Tension was in the air in 1968 and rock music reflected the turmoil. Then came a voice from the past, gently singing of non-violence and hope.
Read More
Queen’s Homage to Space Exploration: ’39’
The band’s guitarist, Brian May, can do many things well, one of which is to write songs. This one, about time travel, presaged his PhD in astrophysics
Read More
Carly Simon’s Breakthrough: ‘You’re So Vain’
Watch the singer-songwriter perform a previously unheard verse of her huge 1972 hit from a ‘Carly Simon No Secrets’ classic albums special
Read More
Sonny & Cher’s ‘The Beat Goes On’ (& On & On)…
A breakdown of the way things used to be vs. the inevitable winds of change, it gave them their third major hit. But some things, it seemed, never changed.
Read More