Rediscovered Songs

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If you linger on a Facebook post, Facebook thinks that you want a constant stream of similar posts. So I now get posts about Snoopy, table tennis, Linda Ronstadt, Debbie Harry, Emmylou Harris, and miscellaneous lists of old pop songs.

Incidentally, by "song", I mean a specific recording of a song.

The old songs are interesting because they bring back memories from the 1960s and 1970s. And occasionally I find forgotten songs or songs that I have forgotten how good or bad they are. And it's interesting how some years have great songs and some seem to have nothing of value.

One thing that I have learned is that my memory of a song is colored by other songs of the same time frame. If it was all bad, I might remember the least bad song as good. And if there were many great songs at the time I might not realize how good some are.

Here are some songs that I have rediscovered or reevaluated - not exhaustive, just a short list of songs that are now among my favorites. Being on this list generally means that I don't listen to anything else by the singers/bands - not that the singers/bands are bad but they don't inspire me.

I remembered that one of the songs had spent weeks at no. 1 on the US Billboard pop chart. So I thought it would be interesting to check out all of them.

The Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel. Hit no. 1 in 1966. I have loved it since the first time that I heard it. I suspect that everyone loves this song.

Pretty Flamingo - Manfred Mann, 1966. Peaked at no. 29 - that might explain why I didn't remember it. It's better than the songs from Manfred Mann that I do remember. You will find it played by Bruce Springsteen, Rod Stewart, Elvis Costello, and more.

River Deep, Mountain High - a great song, nicely sung by Tina Turner, with a horrible Phil Spector Wall of Sound production. Maybe my diminished hearing makes the Wall of Sound worse. I have found a couple of much better, live, performances and it appears that one of them is on an Amazon MP3. But when I ask it to play a sample, I get a different song so no way to verify what I will get. Reached no. 88 in 1966. Now generally considered a classic.

Standing in the Shadows of Love - The Four Tops. Hit no. 6 in 1967. I never cared for their other songs. This one is great.

Little Bit o' Soul - The Music Explosion. I remembered this song, but not how good it is. 1967 hit no. 2. YouTube has a lot of interesting music. One video is the original recording of this song by The Little Darlings, British I think. Nice. You can also hear it by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Ramones, Bruce Springsteen, and a few more bands that I had never heard of.

To Sir With Love - Lulu. 5 weeks at no. 1 in 1967. I hadn't thought of this as a great song, but I do now. Maybe it's the way she sings it.

Itchycoo Park - Small Faces. Reached no. 16 in 1968. I remembered this well. Never thought much of it when it was sort of popular.

Mrs. Robinson - Simon and Garfunkel. Not forgotten, but for me, it got better with age. Hit no. 1 in 1968.

Piece of my Heart - Big Brother and the Holding Company, with Janis Joplin. Not forgotten, always liked. Peaked at no. 12 in 1968.

That's the Way I've Always Heard it Should Be - Carly Simon. Peaked at no. 10 in 1971. Beautiful.

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack. Written in 1957 by Ewan MacColl. Roberta Flack's version was first released on the album First Take in 1969 and as a single in 1972, after being used in the movie Play Misty for Me. No. 1 for six weeks. This is a wonderful song and a wonderful performance.

Someday Never Comes - Creedence Clearwater Revival. Reached no. 25 in 1972. CCR broke up later that year.

Once in a Lifetime - Talking Heads. Fascinating. 1981, did not reach the top 100. Considered a classic now.

Authority Song - John Mellencamp. Energy. Reached no. 15 in 1984.

Notice the years of the songs? Just because that's when I was listening to the radio? No - I think pop songs were way better then than they are now.