Artist: Bill Joel Album: 52nd Street (1978, released on CD, 1982) The journey toward the CD began in the early 1970s when Sony and Phillips began working on an optical disc with digitally encoded sound that could be read by laser. Before the compact disc, it was all vinyl and cassette tape. It was even … Read more
Song: Blinded by the Light Artist: Manfred Mann’s Earth Band (1976 – Original by Bruce Springsteen ) Album: The Roaring Silence (Warner Bros. Records) Most people know the song Blinded by the Light from Manfred Mann’s Earth Band (usually known as Manfred Man), but it was actually a Bruce Springsteen Song, and an important one at … Read more
Song: We Can Work It Out (1965) Artist: The Beatles Album: Yesterday and Today (Capital) We Can Work It Out was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and appeared on the album Yesterday and Today. The song is just as well known, if not better-known, by Stevie Wonder’s 1970 cover version, from the album Signed, Sealed & Delivered. At the … Read more
Song: The Old Man Down the Road (1984) Artist: John Fogerty Album: Centerfield (Warner Brothers) If you are a songwriter or any kind of artist, you probably would never imagine that you could be sued for copyright infringement of one of your own previous works. But this is just what happened to John Fogerty, in … Read more
Song: The Joker (1973) Artist: Steve Miller Band Album: The Joker (Capitol) It is one of those musical ironies that so many people wonder about the lyrics to Steve Miller’s song, The Joker, “the pompatus of love.” The song is catchy and it is one of those classic rock songs you can’t help but sing along … Read more
Song: 25 or 6 to 4 (1970) Artist: Chicago Album: Chicago II (Columbia) The Tommy Tutone song Jenny (867-5309) spawned quite a myth, or maybe not a myth, about thousands of people calling the number from the song and overloading the circuit boards, thus causing the number to always be “out of service,” or something like that. But … Read more
Song: Brass in Pocket (1980) Artist: Pretenders Album: The Pretenders (Real Records/Sire) Brass in Pocket may be the most well-known Pretenders song, but since, like so much of the Pretender’s music, it has lived on so long, many people who hear it may have never heard of the Pretenders. Since the words “Brass in Pocket” are … Read more