The Song For Today by Jimmie Oliver (free ebook reader for ipad TXT) 📖

few greater compliments than to suggest that he was one of a handful of artists to enhance the quality of a Beatles song, while on an album that contains 'In The Air Tonight' and 'If Leaving Me Is Easy', to state that this is the highlight is praise indeed.
{Also on this day, British Paratroopers kill 14 civil rights marchers in Londonderry in 1972}

JANUARY 31ST
This Is Not A Love Song by Public Image Limited (1983)
from the album This Is What You Want…This Is What You Get
Today marks the date of birth of that nice, polite John Lydon in 1956. Finsbury Park's finest vocalist scored a huge hit single with this song which reinforced the fact that John's Public Image Limited project was a far cry from the Sex Pistols. Lydon never wanted to be constrained by thrashing through three minute covers of The Who and Monkees' tunes. He had much more to offer than this. This recording is a case in point, as Lydon and his new gang add a horns section to boost this worthy performance. It was indeed one of several tracks which far surpassed anything that the Sex Pistols had created. Devoting more than four minutes to hearing this composition is time well spent.
{Also on this date, the American embassy in Saigon is attacked in 1968}

FEBRUARY 1ST
Graceland by Paul Simon (1986)
from the album Graceland
Paul Simon was clearly a big fan of the Everly Brothers. First of all, he and Art Garfunkel contributed a live performance of Phil and Don's 'Bye Bye Love' for the 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' project. Then, a decade and a half later, the Everlys themselves buried their sibling squandering long enough to join forces with an assortment of South African musicians to assist with the majestic title track of Paul Simon's 'Graceland' long player. Unquestionably one of the highlights of the 1980s, the 'Graceland' song benefits from not only an irresistible rhythm and Paul Simon's quirky lyrics, but from Phil and Don's harmonies decorating the overall sound. On this day in 1937, Don Everly was born. Along with his brother Phil, he entertained record buyers on both sides of the Atlantic with such pop classics as 'Claudette', 'Temptation', 'Walk Right Back', and the masturbatory 'All I Have To Do Is Dream'.
{Also on this day, the Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran in 1979 after 14 years in exile}

FEBRUARY 2ND
Fields Of Gold by Eva Cassidy (1996)
available on the album Songbird
This moving rendition of a Sting composition dates from the end of the 1990s, but it was only after the death of Eva Cassidy from melanoma that her recording proved to be a success. The tragic Eva Marie Cassidy only lived to the age of thirty-three. She was born this day in 1963 in Washington DC. Her posthumous compilation 'Songbird' flew to the top of the UK album chart. Sixteen years later on the same date, the considerably less talented Sid Vicious also exited planet earth at the age of 21, courtesy of a drugs overdose.
{Also on this date, the British embassy in Dublin is burnt down in 1972 by protesters}

FEBRUARY 3RD
It Doesn't Matter Anymore by Buddy Holly (1959)
available on the album The Buddy Holly Story
Don McLean in his slice of 'American Pie' refers to this date as "the day the music died", when Richie Valens, the Big Bopper, and Buddy Holly had their lives cut short by an aeroplane crash. Benefiting from a tidal wave of sympathy for his tragic passing, Buddy Holly scored a posthumous British chart-topper with today's featured song. Rock 'n' roll purists may bemoan the fact that Holly's divorce from the Crickets only contributed to syrupy tracks such as 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore' or 'Everyday', but Holly's tale of a love turned cold is an excellent recording. It may be a far cry from 'Oh Boy', 'Not Fade Away', or 'That'll Be The Day', but 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore' matters an awful lot for evermore. Meanwhile, today in 1967 was also "the day the music died" for ace British pop producer Joe Meek who took his own life, aged 37, on the anniversary of the death of his hero, Buddy Holly.
{Also on this day, Yasser Arafat is appointed the leader of the PLO in 1969}

FEBRUARY 4TH
School's Out by Alice Cooper (1972)
from the album School's Out
'School's Out' proved to be an unlikely chart-topper for shock rocker Alice Cooper. Born this day in 1948 as Vincent Furnier, he adopted his alter ego from the name of a seventeenth-century accused witch. Cooper and his group produced their own magic spell with this formidable teenage anthem, which remained a perennial favourite thereafter with under-twenties. Precisely what response the anarchic but tongue-in-cheek lyrics evoked from the education establishment has never been recorded, but Cooper could never re-visit the heights he scaled with this song, despite the subsequent success of his hit singles 'Elected' and 'Poison'. Although 'School's Out' is essential for any glam rock disco, it also remains a timeless classic rocker.
{Also on this date, an earthqauke in Guatemala and Honduras kills 22,000 people in 1976}

FEBRUARY 5TH
I Heard It Through The Grapevine by Marvin Gaye (1968)
from the album In The Groove [later titled I Heard It Through The Grapevine]
Barrett Strong was born this day in 1941. In collaboration with his song-writing partner Norman Whitfield, Strong was responsible for several of the finest hits in pop history. Pride of place must surely go to Marvin Gaye's interpretation of 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine', whose seven weeks at the summit of the Billboard singles chart ensured it was the American Christmas Number One in 1968. The following spring, the song ascended to the top of the British singles list, thereby joining the elite club of transatlantic Number Ones. The track boasted a jaw-dropping intro and ranks as one of the outstanding hit singles of the 1960s. Remarkably, the highly-acclaimed Marvin Gaye never returned to the top of the British chart, but then he could never find something quite as stunning as Strong and Whitfield's moody composition.
{Also on this day, Comic Relief's first Red Nose Day takes place in 1988}

FEBRUARY 6TH
Buffalo Soldier by Bob Marley And The Wailers (1983)
available on the album Confrontation
Assisted by a horns section, this British Top Five hit single was a key component of the albums 'Confrontation' and 'Legend', which were massive posthumous hits for Bob Marley and his Wailers. Buffalo Soldier tells the true story of how black African-Americans were recruited into the ranks of the Union Army in the American Civil War dispute of the 1860s, as outlined in the accompanying promotional video. Today marks the anniversary of the birth of Robert Nesta Marley in 1945 to Cedella Booker and an English white army officer, Captain Marley, at St Ann's in rural Jamaica. Although his recording career was cut short by the diagnosis of cancer in the autumn of 1980, many of Marley's unreleased recordings saw the light of day after his death in May 1981. The best of these tracks is probably the infectious 'Buffalo Soldier'.
{Also on this date, the Munich air disaster ends the life of several 'Busby babes' in 1958}

FEBRUARY 7TH
Smalltown Boy by Bronski Beat (1984)
from the album The Age Of Consent
This dance-floor favourite was the tale of how a young homosexual felt the need to flee from misunderstanding parents and the ostracism of his local community, not unlike the Little Britain character 'the only gay in the village' but without the laughs. It is clearly one of the great pop singles of the 'eighties. It is fitting to play this Top Five smash hit on the birth date of Steve Bronski in 1960. Fronted by diminutive Glaswegian Jimmy Somerville, Bronski Beat enjoyed a handful of hits, but nothing matched the heights of a record which reached out to persecuted souls who suffered in unenlightened times. Irrespective of the song's politics and poignant video, the tune by itself is a shining example of danceable electro-pop.
{Also on this day, the IRA launch a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street in 1991}

FEBRUARY 8TH
Runaway by Del Shannon (1961)
available on the album The Definitive Collection
Today marks the suicide in 1990 at the age of fifty-five of American 'sixties singing sensation, Del Shannon. Shannon's vocals excel themselves in his recording of 'Runaway' which proved to be a big Number One success on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean in 1961. It was thoroughly merited, although the onset of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and other new groups would render the popular appeal of the major solo singers somewhat redundant. Consequently, Del Shannon could not quite build upon the foundations that 'Runaway' had seemingly laid. Nevertheless, 'Runaway' is a worthy candidate for one of the best transatlantic Number Ones of the 'swinging sixties'.
{Also on this date, Enoch Powell dies at the age of eighty-five in 1998}

FEBRUARY 9TH
Beautiful by Carole King (1971)
from the album Tapestry
This three-minute cut from the massive seller 'Tapestry' is 'Beautiful' by name and beautiful by nature. It's an uplifting, inspirational number, with Carole King reminding the listener that "you're as beautiful as you feel" while exhorting us all "to wake up every morning with a smile on your face and show the world all the love in your heart". Easier said than done, you might argue, but this gentle, idealistic piece is arguably the highlight of the monumental 'Tapestry' project. Born on this day in 1942, Carole King enjoyed fame (of sorts) when in unison with Gerry Goffin, she penned a plethora of pop hits in the early 1960s, including 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow', a composition which re-surfaced on the 'Tapestry' record. Two noteworthy efforts from Goffin and King are 'Goin' Back' and 'Wasn't Born To Follow', both of which were performed by The Byrds on 'The Notorious Byrd Brothers' album. Like the track 'Beautiful', they are worth checking out.
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