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The Songfactor's Choice Top Ten Facts


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Wild Night - Van Morrison

Wild Night" is a song written by singer-songwriter, Van Morrison and was included on his 1971 album, Tupelo Honey. It was released as a single in 1971 and reached #28 on the US charts.

"Wild Night" as originally recorded by Van Morrison was rated at #747 on Dave Marsh's 1989 book, The Heart of Rock and Soul, The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever.

The most notable cover was by John Mellencamp and Me'shell Ndegeocello on a duet with a prominent bass lead. The single reached #3 on the Billboard Top 100 and charted at #1 on the Adult Contemporary List for 8 weeks. The album itself reached #13 on the Billboard charts.

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The Songfactor's Choice Top Ten #91

Only TWO songs needing facts this week:

Can't Get It Out Of My Head - Electric Light Orchestra (1974)

Just A Song Before I Go - Crosby, Stills and Nash (1977)

If you have any info on any of the songs mentioned anywhere in this thread, please feel free to post your knowledge here. Submissions on songs will be collated and sent to the main site and you will receive credit for your contribution.

The Songfish thanks you.

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"Just a Song Before I Go"

Crosby, Stills and Nash

Written by Graham Nash.

Released in June 1977 in their album CSN.

The single reached #7 in the US charts.

Wikipedia has some interesting facts:

The song was written by Graham Nash from an immediate point of view, that of going on a concert tour and having to leave loved ones behind. Nash was, in fact, about to go on tour with David Crosby and was waiting to go to the airport. Nash composed "Just a Song Before I Go" on a dare. The young man who was to take him to the airport was talking to Nash about songwriting, and he finally said to Nash, "We've got fifteen minutes, bet you can't write a song in that time." Nash did just that.

"Just a Song Before I Go" is lyrically straightforward about the situation Nash was in at the moment he wrote it, and there is also an undercurrent of regret towards rootlessness, a feeling that Nash — born and raised in England, a resident of the United States who had lived in California and was now living in Hawaii — might very well have had at the time.

Nash seemed to have used some poetic license in talking about "traveling twice the speed of sound," as airliners other than the Concorde do not go that fast, and the line about "the friendly skies" was pinched from United Airlines's well-worn slogan.

Crosby, Stills and Nash arranged "Just a Song Before I Go" as a straight ballad, with mostly acoustic textures anchored by two tasteful, understated electric guitar solos from Stephen Stills.

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"Can't Get It Out of My Head "

Electric Light Orchestra

Written by Jeff Lynne.Released in July 1974 as a track of their fourth album "Eldorado". Released as a single in November of the same year

with "Illusions in G Major" as B-side.

It made the top ten in the US and was their first hit; yet it didn´t get to the charts in the UK until four years later, when the song was re-released in an EP (four tracks) and it reached #34.

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The Songfactor's Choice Top Ten #92

THREE songs needing facts this week:

Ain't Even Done With The Night - John Mellencamp (1981)

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? – Chicago (1969)

Love Is Strange - Mickey & Sylvia (1957)

If you have any info on any of the songs mentioned anywhere in this thread, please feel free to post your knowledge here. Submissions on songs will be collated and sent to the main site and you will receive credit for your contribution.

The Songfish thanks you.

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"Love Is Strange"

Mickey and Sylvia

I took it all from wikipedia...

"Love Is Strange" was a 1957 Top 40 hit for Mickey & Sylvia, originally released on Groove Records, a division of RCA. The song features a sinuous guitar riff and provocative verbal byplay between Mickey and Sylvia as well as a Latin American beat and a strong melodic hook. The lyrics consist of just eight lines, each of which uses the same basic tune, with some variances in the harmony. The role of the lead guitar, the bright recording technique, and the lush melody had an influence that can be clearly heard in many more modern rock songs, notably "Day Tripper" and other guitar-driven Beatles songs. Dave "Baby" Cortez, used the same break riff of "Love is Strange", on his 1962 hit "Rinky Dink", and got sued for copying down that melodic riff, and had to pay thousands of dollars in damages to both Mickey and Sylvia.

In addition to its musical quality, the song is remarkable as an instance of convergence. Although only a one-hit wonder, the recording was touched by, or touched, a large number of important people and musical trends, even down to a dispute over authorship.

Mickey was Mickey Baker, guitarist on dozens of rock and roll hits and many recordings, considered the "go to" session guitar player of the 1950s and early 1960s. Sylvia was Sylvia Vanderpool, formerly billed as Little Sylvia Vanderpool, who became in the 1980s the impresario behind Sugar Hill Records and a major force in the emergence of rap music. The song was written by Bo Diddley, (but credited to his wife at the time, Ethel Smith), and Jody Williams, who had developed the distinctive lead guitar riff. Williams had recorded the riff earlier on a song called "Billy's Blues" for Billy Stewart. Eventually the song, much more than just a riff, ended up being credited to Smith, Baker and Vanderpool. Buddy Holly recorded a version of the song and also adopted the riff and melody for his own "Words of Love". The song also marked the first recording of drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, who went on to become arguably the most recorded drummer of all time.

The Everly Brothers released a rendition in 1965 as a single and on their "Beat & Soul" album. In 1967, the duo Peaches and Herb had Top 20 success with their own cover version of the song. Sonny and Cher also covered the song in 1964. Paul McCartney sang it in 1971. In 1975, Buck Owens and Susan Raye had a Top 20 country hit with the song. Everything but the Girl covered the song on their album Acoustic. Also in 1998 German synth-pop band Wolfsheim did a cover of the song for their EP "Once in a Lifetime".

The song was also covered in 1990 by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. The recording, the title cut of Rogers' Love Is Strange album, was released as a single, and reached the U.S. country singles top forty.

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"Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?"

Chicago

Written by Robert Lamm. It was included in their first album, The Chicago Transit Authority. The single had "Listen" in the

B-side and it was rleased in October 1970. It was the third single from the debut album and their third hit (after "Make Me Smile" and "25 or 6 to 4" that went also into the US Top 10)

According wikipedia,

The song deals with how one faces living in a world under constraints of time.

The original uncut album version opens with a brief "free form" piano solo performed by Lamm. A spoken verse by Lamm is mixed into the sung final verse of the album version. The single version is minus the "free form" intro and the spoken verse and was originally mixed in mono.

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The Songfactor's Choice Top Ten #93

THREE songs without facts:

Burning Down The House - Talking Heads (1983)

Tunnel Of Love - Dire Straits (1981)

Burn Down The Mission - Elton John (1970)

If you have any info on any of the songs mentioned anywhere in this thread, please feel free to post your knowledge here. Submissions on songs will be collated and sent to the main site and you will receive credit for your contribution.

The Songfish thanks you.

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"Burning Down The House"

Talking Heads

wikipedia:

Burning Down the House" is a 1983 song by Talking Heads, from their album Speaking in Tongues. It became one of their more popular songs, reaching #9 on the US Charts in the year of its release. Chris Frantz thought of the titular chorus after seeing a Parliament-Funkadelic show where the crowd chanted "Burn down the house."

The initial lyrics were considerably different, however. In an interview on NPR's "All Things Considered" aired on December 2, 1984, David Byrne played excerpts of early worktapes showing how the song had evolved from an instrumental jam by Tina Weymouth (bass) and Chris Frantz (drums). Once the whole band had reworked the groove into something resembling the final recording, Byrne began chanting and singing nonsense syllables over the music until he had arrived at phrasing that fit with the rhythms-- a technique influenced by former Talking Heads producer Brian Eno-- "and then I [would] just write words to fit that phrasing... I'd have loads and loads of phrases collected that I thought thematically had something to do with one another, and I'd pick from those."

According to Byrne in the NPR interview, phrases he tried but ultimately didn't use in the song's recorded "verses" included "I have another body," "Pick it up by the handle," "You travel with a double," and "I'm still under construction." As for the title phrase in the chorus, one early attempt (as heard on a worktape) had him singing a different line, "What are we gonna do?", and at another point in the process, "instead of chanting 'Burning Down the House,' I was chanting 'Foam Rubber, USA.'"

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, "Burning Down the House" was one of the songs put on Clear Channel's list of possibly inappropriate songs.

The house used in the "Burning Down the House" video is on May Street in Union, New Jersey.

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"Tunnel Of Love"

Dire Straits

Credited to Mark Knoppfler/Rodgers and Hammerstein

Released in 1981as the second single from their album "Making Movies". Though it´s considered as one of their hits and its included in many "Best of" compilations as "Money for Nothing", "Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits", and "The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private", it only reached #54 in the UK charts.

From wiki:

the opening instrumental is an arrangement of a melody from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel.

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]"Burn Down the Mission"

Elton John

Written by Elton John/Bernie Taupin

From wikipedia once again:

"Burn Down the Mission" is the tenth and final song on Elton John's album Tumbleweed Connection, released in 1970. It is one of John's longer works, being 6 minutes 21 seconds in duration.

...is musically driven by the story told by Bernie Taupin's lyrics, as is common in John/Taupin collaborations.

The lyrics themselves, while telling a simple story, are vague enough to be open to interpretation. Ostensibly the story is that of a poor community oppressed by a rich and powerful force, and the narrator, driven by some sort of revelation has decided to take direct action to remedy the situation. However, his attempt fails and he is "taken away", presumably to meet his fate, and justifies his actions as an attempt to defend his family.

The music reflects this narrative structure by starting with a slow piano introduction and the telling of the hero's situation and his progress towards direct action; the middle section, which is faster, jazzier and brings in full instrumentation, can be read as an interpretation of the actual struggle in which the hero engages. Finally, the struggle has ended and the music returns to its initial understated form, reflecting the eventual defeat of the hero. The song ends with a restatement of the middle section while it fades out.

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  • 1 month later...

Since Katie hasn't been around for a while and we're more and more lagging behind with the facts, I compiled the list of songs that are still missing facts. Here it is:

The Songfactors' Choice Top Ten #94

Coconut - Nilsson (1971)

Cruel To Be Kind - Nick Lowe (1979)

Heard It In A Love Song - Marshall Tucker Band (1977)

I Want You - Bob Dylan (1966)

Long As I Can See The Light - Creedence Clearwater Revival (1970)

The Songfactors' Choice Top Ten #95

Let's Work Together - Canned Heat (1970)

Remedy - The Black Crowes (1992)

Spoonful - Howlin' Wolf (1960)

The Songfactors' Choice Top Ten #96

I Thank You - ZZ Top (1979)

Samba Pa Ti - Santana (1970)

Soulfinger - The Bar-Kays (1967)

Space Truckin' - Deep Purple (1972)

The Songfactors' Choice Top Ten #97

Room To Move - John Mayall (1969)

Shapes of Things - The Yardbirds (1965)

The Songfactors' Choice Top Ten #98

The Seeker - The Who (1970)

Watching The River Flow - Bob Dylan (1971)

The Songfactors' Choice Top Ten #99

Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) - Marvin Gaye (1968)

Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu - Johnny Rivers (1968)

The Songfactors' Choice Top Ten #100

Do You Know What I Mean - Lee Michaels (1964)

As usual, your facts will be sent to the main database and you'll be credited for your submissions.

:headphones:

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"Shapes of Things" is a song originally performed by The Yardbirds when Jeff Beck was the guitar player. It is probably one of their best known songs due to Jeff Beck's guitar solo, which contained heavy amounts of fuzztone and feedback, both rare at the time. The song was also re-worked by Jeff Beck and is the leadoff track to his 1968 album Truth, with the vocals performed by Rod Stewart. Gary Moore covered the Jeff Beck Group version on his 1983 album Victims of the Future. Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes later covered it in concert on their 2000 live album Live at the Greek, though Page still played the solo from the original version.

David Bowie recorded a version of this song for his Pin Ups album in 1973.

The Allman Joys recorded a demo version of this song at Bradley's Barn in Nashville in 1966.

This song was covered by the Jeff Healey Band on their 1995 album titled "Cover to Cover".

It has also been covered by the Canadian prog rock band FM on their Surveillance album.

In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Shapes of Things" at number 61 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.

Black Stone Cherry's first album, Black Stone Cherry (released July 18, 2006) , featured a version of Shapes of Things as well.

Scottish heavy metal band Nazareth covered this song on their 1974 record Rampant and in their 1981 live album titled 'Snaz too.

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"The Seeker" is a song written by Pete Townshend and performed by English rock band The Who, and featured on their 1971 compilation album Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy.

"I suppose I like this least of all the stuff", wrote Townshend. "It suffered from being the first thing we did after Tommy, and also from being recorded a few too many times. We did it once at my home studio, then at IBC where we normally worked then with Kit Lambert producing. Then Kit had a tooth pulled, breaking his jaw, and we did it ourselves. The results are impressive. It sounded great in the mosquito-ridden swamp I made it up in, Florida at three in the morning drunk out of my brain with Tom Wright and John Wolf. But that's always where the trouble starts, in the swamp. The alligator turned into an elephant and finally stampeded itself to death on stages around England. I don't think we even got to play it in the States." (Actually, this is not true, as the band did perform it for about two weeks on their 1970 American tour.) Released in the UK as Track 604036 on March 21, 1970, it reached #19 in the charts. Released in the U.S. as Decca 732729, it hit the Billboard charts on April 11, 1970, eventually peaking at #44. The Who revived the song on the 2006-2007 tour for Endless Wire.

The song is featured in American Beauty.

It is also featured in episode 1 of the first series of Lewis.

The song is also featured in The Limey. It is the intro song to the movie, setting the mood for it well. It also plays while Terence Stamp is leaving a building after killing dealers.

Covers

Rush covered the song for their Feedback EP.

A cover by The Smithereens appears on their 1995 rarities album, Attack of the Smithereens.

A cover of the song is featured in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

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Lee Michaels

"Do You Know What I Mean?" was a #6 single from Lee Michaels's 1971 album "5th," which climbed to the #16 position on the Billboard Hot 200 and remained on the charts for 36 weeks. In 1992, Rhino Records released the CD compilation The Lee Michaels Collection , which features "Do You Know What I Mean?," "Can I Get a Witness?" and 16 other Michaels songs.

There is a lot more info on that site but I don't really know whats needed. It is a reveiw I belive.

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