Song: Unchained Melody (1965) Artist: The Righteous Brothers Label: Philles Writers: Alex North, Hyman Zaret The Righteous Brothers’ Unchained Melody is a soaring, or as Billboard put it in 2007, towering song. Few know that it was not an original. In fact, the song was over ten years old when The Righteous Brothers recorded it. … Read more
The answer is a resounding NO! The Kinks and specifically Dave Davies of the Davie brothers did not invent the concept of guitar distortion. The fact is that guitarists have been intentionally overloading their amps to create distortion for pretty much as long as amplifiers have been around. The Kinks happened on a sound that … Read more
Song: Bull Doze Blues (1928) Artist: Henry Thomas, aka Ragtime Texas Label: Vocalion Records Canned Heat had a smash hit with their 1968 song ‘Going Up the Country.’ Few know that their song was actually a reprocessed version of a much earlier blues song by Henry Thomas, aka Texas Ragtime called Bull Doze Blues, recorded … Read more
Song: House of the Rising Sun (1964) Artist: The Animals Label: Columbia Writer: Traditional (arrangement by The Animals, et al.) House of the Rising Sun Original? The tune most identified with the animals was not written entirely by them and yet was not a cover. House of the Rising Sun, also known as Rising Sun … Read more
Song: Babe I’m Gonna Leave You (1962) Artists: Joan Baez, Led Zeppelin Album: In Concert Writer: Anne Bredon When you hear Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You by Led Zeppelin, you may not realize that the song started out as a folk song. This in itself is not surprising since Led Zeppelin was heavily influenced by folk. Songs … Read more
Song: Don’t Give Up on Us (1976) Artist: David Soul Label: Private Stock Records Writer: Tony Macaulay Growing up in the seventies, I just loved the now-legendary TV cop show Starsky & Hutch. No wonder, as the show was pretty much made for teens. I don’t know what I’d think of it now as most … Read more
Song: Angel of the Morning (1967) Artist: Evie Sands Writer: Chip Taylor Label: Cameo-Parkway Records Juice Newton had a big ‘crossover’ country-pop hit with Angel of the Morning in 1981 but the song has actually been covered by many artists, including Olivia Newton-John. The first person to sing the song, in 1967 was actually a … Read more