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The Doors (Jim Morrison, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek and John Desmore) self-titled debut album featured their biggest selling song "Light My Fire" (The Doors) which was released as the edited single heard here. The album version was seven mibutes. This

Here's a post of a tune that was uploaded earlier. The information may be conflicting but it is compelling. According to Wikipedia "Tonight You Belong To Me" (Rose - David) was first recorded by vaudevillian Irving (Isadore) Kaufman in 1926. Some

Roy Orbison's "Crying" (Orbison - Melson) featured his usual session musicians including Bob Moore on bass, Floyd Cramer on piano and Buddy Harman on drums with the addition of composer Boudleaux Bryant, Harold Bradley and/or Scotty Moore on guitar. This

This is Brook Benton's original 1958 demo of "A Lover's Question" (Brook Benton - Jimmy T. Williams). Atlantic liked this arrangement so much they used the same musicians and the same bass singer for the hit, also on their label. Clyde McPhatter's

"Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" (Peacock) was first sung by accomplished actor Tom Courtney on a 1963 British television show called "The Lads". Sir Tom has appeared in motion pictures "Billy Liar", "Doctor Zhivago", "The Loneliness of the Long

The Sons of the Pioneers (Bob Nolan, Lloyd Perryman, Hugh Farr and Tim Spencer) recorded "Cool Water" (Bob Nolan) in 1941 and peaked in the top ten on the Country chart. It was written by group member Winnipeg's Bob Nolan in 1936, Bob also composed

In 1968 South Africa's Hugh Masekela released the album "The Promise of a Future" and from it the single "Grazing in the Grass" (P. Hou). The trumpeter topped the Billboard Top One Hundred. The vocal version by The Friends of Distinction (Harry Elston,

Songwriter Dennis Lambert with his in concert version of "One Tin Soldier" recorded at Joe's Pub in New York City. Calgary`s Original Caste (Bruce and Dixie Lee Innes, Bliss Mackie and Graham Bruce) recorded "One Tin Soldier" (Dennis Lambert - Brian

Leon Payne composed and recorded "I Love You Because" and in 1949 it peaked at the top of the Country chart. His wife Myrtie died in 2008 and "I Love You Because" was played at her funeral.service. "I Love You Because" became a standard when it was

"Cotton's Theme" (Barry De Vorzon - Perry Botkin Jr.) was featued in the 1971 motion picture "Bless the Beasts and Children" as simple background music. Two years later Perry Botkin Jr. rearranged the music as the theme for the CBS television soap opera

The George Harrison composition "Here Comes the Sun" was heard first on the Beatles 1969 album "Abbey Road". According to Songfacts: "He wrote this in Eric Clapton's garden using one of Clapton's acoustic guitars. When the Beatles manager, Brian Epstein,

Johnny Russell co-wrote "Act Naturally" (Russell - Morrison) in 1961. According to Wikipedia "By 1963, Russell was writing with a woman named Voni Morrison, who also worked with Bakersfield, California-based singer Buck Owens. After Russell played "Act

Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini wrote "Moon River" especially for Audrey Hepburn's vocal talents in the 1961 film "Breakfast at Tiffany's". An album version by Mr. Mancini and his chorus was released as a single and peaked at number eleven on the

This track is from Jackie DeShannon's 1968 album "Laurel Canyon". Tom Calder, Marianne Faithfull's former manager gave an interview to Mojo Magazine in 2008 saying the song was written in L.A. when he was with Jimmy Page who had an affair with Jackie.

Hank Williams wrote most of his recording material but it was Dock "Curley" Williams who composed "Half As Much" (C. Williams). This is the original 78 r.p.m. vinyl with the Drifting Cowboys that hit the Billboard top ten Country chart in 1952. Rosemary

(Paul) Simon and (Art) Garfunkel's first recording of "Mrs. Robinson" (Paul Simon) was for the 1967 movie soundtrack of "The Graduate". At this point there is only a resemblance to what would become a great song. One of my personal favourtites "Punkey's

Juilliard graduate Tito (Ernesto) Puente The wrote "Oye Como Va" in 1962 for the album "El Reyo Bravo". Mongo Santamaria and Ray Beretto were once in his band. The Santana cover comes from the 1970 album "Abraxas" and peaked at number thirteen on the Top

The Hearbeats (James Sheppard, Albert Crump, Robbie Tatum, Vernon Sievers and Wally Roker) recorded "A Thousand Miles Away" (James Sheppard - William Miller) as a B side on the Hull label in 1956. The doo-wop group peaked at number five on the R&B

"Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing " is a film from 1955 starring William Holden and the beautiful Jennifer Jones. Noted composers Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster wrote the music while Alfred Newman's Orchestra supplied the score. The motion picture won

The song "One Day At a Time" (Wilkin - Kristofferson) has been recorded by literally hundreds of artists. Kris Kristofferson said he was barely "in the room" when Marijohn Wilkin wrote the tune. It was composed in 1973 by the lady who co-authored

The Italian song "Gli Occhi Miei" (My Eyes) (Donida - Mogul) was performed by singer/actor Dino (Eugenio Zambelli) at the 1968 San Remo Festival. Tom Jones recorded "Help Yourself" (Donida - Fishman) in 1968 and reached the top ten virtually all over the

"Pretend" (Lew Douglas - Cliff Parman - Frank Levere) was composed in 1952. The same year big-band leader and trumpeter Ralph Marterie and has orchestra recorded the instrumental. Nat King Cole peaked at number three with "Pretend" (Dan Belloc - Lew

"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" (Goffin - King - Wexler) was finally recorded by Carole King (Kleine) on her incredible 1971 album "Tapestry". Peaking at number eight on Billboard's Top One Hundred and number two R&B "(You Make Me Feel

When Huey Smith turned twenty-one he became the piano player for Little Richard's band. He played keyboards on the original "I Hear You Knocking" by Smiley Lewis. "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu" (J. Vincent - Huey Smith) was recorded by Huey

U.K. singer/composer Gary Benson (Harry Hyams) wrote "Let Her In" in 1975. Television and movie star, actor, dancer and singer John Travolta's cover of "Let Her In" was from his 1976 self-titled album. The single raeched the top ten on the pop chart and

"Hear Anita Bryant In Your Home" is the album, the opening track is the single "Paper Roses" (Fred Splielman - Janice Torre). The single, her most successful, peaked at number five in 1960 for the former Miss Oklahoma, Anita Bryant. It was "The Southern

Otis Williams and His Group (The Charms) (details elsewhere in this blog) inrtoduced "Gum Drops" (Rudy Toombs) in 1955. "Gum Drop" by The Crew Cuts (Rudi Maugen, John Perkins, Pat Barrett and Ray Perkins) with David Carroll's Orchestra hit the top ten

"Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream)" (James Keyes - Claude Feaster - Carl Feaster - Floyd F. McRae - James Edwards) was composed and released by The Chords in 1954. This hit the top ten pop and R&B charts. The Crew Cuts (details elsewhere) cover of

"Little Old Wine Drinker Me" (Hank Mills - Dick Jennings) was first recorded by Grand Ole Opry member Charlie Walker. This is on his 1966 album "Wine, Women and Walker". Actor, director, composer and singer Robert Mitchum's 1967 album "That Man, Robert

MacArthur Park was named after General Douglas MacArthur. The former Westlake Park is now designated as an Historic Cultural Monument in Los Angeles. Jimmy Webb composed "MacArthur Park" in 1967 as part of a cantata. He took the entire effort to The

Songwriter Rudy Toombs was hired by Atlantic Records to write funny up-tempo R&B novelty songs. Tne label was looking for true life representations that were also funny. In "One Mint Julep" the idea was a young black man getting "tipsy" enjoying mint

In 1949 a lute player from Crete named Giorgis Koutsourelis recorded "Kritiko Syrtaki" with vocals by Christos Koroniotakis. This was the inspiration for the second part of Mikis Theodorakis' hit "Zorba's Dance" Anthony Quinn's memorable steps with Alan

"Silver Threads and Golden Needles" (Jack Rhodes - Dick Reynolds) was recorded by Wanda Jackson in 1956. According to Wanda she was the first female to put "glamor into country music". The Springfields (Mary and brother Dion O'Brien aka Dusty and Tom

Teddy Pendergrass sings lead with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes (Teddy Pendergrass, Bernard Wilson, Lawrence Brown, Harold Melvin and Lloyd Parks) original 1975 release of "Don't Leave Me This Way" (Gamble - Huff - Gilbert). This is an edit of the six

Dave Thomas' (Doug McKenzie on SCTV) younger brother Ian Thomas issued the album and the single "The Runner" in 1981. Manfred Mann's Earth Band (Manfred Mann, Mick Rogers, Chris Thomposon, Trevor Rabin and John Lingwood) aka Manfred Mann aka Manfred Mann

"For You" (Johnny Burke - Al Dubin) appeared in the 1930 "all talking picture" and historical operetta "Captain of the Guard" as sung by Broadway star, actor, singer John Boles. John's career included silent films opposite Gloria Swanson then he went on

The wonderful Melanie (Safka) composed "Whay Have They Done To My Song Ma" and it was issued in 1971 but made little action on the charts. The successful cover called "Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma" came form Australia's New Seekers (Eve Graham,

"I'd Like To Teach the World To Sing (in perfect harmony)" was a jingle for Coca-Cola written by Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway aka David and Jonathan as recording artists. Roger Cook sang this live at a TED presentation in Nashville. The studio jingle

It didn't chart for Merry Clayton who backed Bobby Darin on "You're the Reason I'm Living" but Merry was the first to record "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss) (Rudy Clark) in 1963. The tune had been rejected by The Shirelles. Bobby Darin who owned

The spiritual "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" was noted in the 1867 publication "Slave Songs of the United States". Tony Saletan adapted the song in the version known today. He also uncovered "Kumbaya". Tony taught "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" to Pete

"Rock On" (David Essex) was recorded in 1973 as a single sung by England's David Essex (Cook). The single reached Billboard's top five and made him a one-hit wonder in the U.S. although he had genuine hits elsewhere. "Rock On" was the title of his debut

Frankie Randall (Lisbona) sang "All" (Oliviero - Jessel - Grudeff - Fidenco) as the theme for the 1965 Italian motion picture "Una Moglie Americana" released to the English world as "Run For Your Wife". This is also a track on Frankie's album "At It

When Sam Cooke exited the building after his last recording session in late 1964, one of the results iof the day's efforts was "Shake" (Cooke). RCA released the tune just eleven days after the singer's death. Bobby Womack played guitar on the single that

Sam Cooke co-wrote and recorded "Only Sixteen" (Barbara Campbell) in 1959. Barbara Campbell is the maiden name of Barbara Cooke, Sam's wife and an alias for the writing team of Sam Cooke, Lou Adler and Herb Alpert combined. This hit Billboard's top thirty

"(Remember Me) I'm the One Who Loves You" was issued as the B side of a Stuart Hamblen (details elsewwhere) release for the actor, singer, composer. The single peaked at number two on the Country chart in 1950. Jimmy Bowen's production of Dean Martin's

In 1954 "This Ole House" was recorded by it's composer, Stuart Hamblen. According to Wikipedia "Hamblen was supposedly out on a hunting expedition when he and his fellow hunter, actor John Wayne, came across a hut in the mountains. Inside was the body of

Shirley Ellis (O'Garra) gave us well constructed novelty tunes "The Name Game", "The Clapping Song" and "The Nitty Gritty" (Lincoln Chase). This peaked at number eight on the pop chart and number four R&B in 1963. "The Real Nitty Gritty" by Gladys

In the sixties Rod Argent founded The Zombies and in the seventies the band Argent (Rod Argent, Russ Ballard, Jim Rodford and Bob Henrit). "Liar" (R. Ballard) was a track on their 1970 self-titled debut album. Details on the group Three Dog Night are

Kathryn Grayson (Hedrick) and Mario Lanza (Alfred Cocozza) sang the Academy Award nominated "Be My Love" (Sammy Kahn - Nicholas Brodsky) in the 1950 film "The Toast of New Orleans". The two starred in the movie along with David Niven. "Mona Lisa" won that

"Lisboa Antiga" (Portela - Galhardo - Vale) is a 1937 Portuguese song place on vinyl by Lisbon native Herminia Silva. Nat King Cole's manager heard a version of the tune played by an orchestra while in Mexico and brought it to the attention of Nelson

There was a time from 1969 to whenever that, when you went into a bar, restaurant, gin mill, tap room, bistro, nightclub, public house, tavern, cafe, watering hole, saloon, entertainment venue, beverage room or favourite spot, you were sure to hear "Proud

The much underrated Johnny Darrell (Eddie White) was first to record "With Pen In Hand" (Bobby Goldsboro) and reached number three on the Country chart in 1968. Bobby Goldsboro wrote "With Pen In Hand" and it spent a few weeks on the lower level of the

Larry John McNally grew up in Bangor, Maine when Motown ruled the radio. He composed and recorded "The Motown Song" (McNally) for the movie soundtrack of "Quicksilver: starring Kevin Bacon in 1986. From the 1991 album "Vagabond Heart" comes the Rod

Jack Tempchin sang his composition "Peaceful Easy Feeling" at coffee shops in his hometown including the non-profit Acoustic Music San Diego stage. Jack also composed what became a hit for Johnny Rivers "Swaying to the Music (Slow Dancing". Later Jack

The husband and wife team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil composed "We've Gotta Get Out Of This Place" with the Righteous Brothers in mind. It's hard to miss the connection when you listen to this tune. Here is Barry Mann's take on what is now a classic.

Paul Williams and a member of his band composed "You and Me Against the World" (Kenny Ascher - Paul Williams) and it ended up on Paul's 1974 album "Here Comes the Inspiration". The same team wrote "Rainbow Connection" for The Muppets featured nearby on

Paul Williams wrote "Rainbow Connection" (Williams - Ascher) for the 1979 motion picture "The Muppet Movie". The song was nominated for an Academy Award but lost to "All That Jazz". The voice of Kermit the Frog (Jim Henson) reached the top thirty with

Supposedly written at the request of singer Jane Froman for her fifteen minute (normal for the time) CBS television show, "I Believe" (Drake - Graham - Shirl - Stillman) peaked at number eleven on Billboard in 1953. This was the first recorded hit to

Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry and Phil Spector combined to write "Da Doo Ron Ron" for The Crystals in 1963. Ther single made it to the top twenty in many parts of the globe. Composers and married couple, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry recorded as The

Bob Merrill wrote lots of hits recorded by Guy Mitchell including "She Wears Red Feathers", "My Truly, Truly Fair", Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania", "Chicka Boom", "Sparrow in the Tree Top" and "Belle, Belle, My Liberty Belle". Bob provides his composer

As a screenwriter Bob Merrill (Levan) was resonsible for the movies "Mahogany" and "W.C. Fields and Me". As a composer he had more hits than most other writers in the fifties. One of Bob's big songs was "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window". This is Bob

Bob Merrill once worked as a dialogue director for Columbia Pictures. He went on to bigger and better things including Barbra Streisand's successful Broadway debut in "Funny Girl". Despite writing lots of novelty tunes Bob also wrote "People". Here he is

Songwriter, pianist, singer and generally underrated by the public, Otis Blackwell co-composed "One Broken Heart For Sale" . Otis was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the National Academy of Music's Songwriters Hall of Fame and The Nashville

He wrote a ton of hits for Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and many others. "Just Keep It Up" was written by the talented Otis Blackwell aka John Davenport aka Jack Hammer. The version heard here was recorded long after the hit reached the charts. Although

In 1959 Jerry Keller hit with "Here Comes Summer" and later co-composed "Turn Down Day" (Keller - Blume). Jerry was "the" guy as the singing voice for television jingles for decades. The Cyrkle (Don Dannerman, Tom Dawes, Earl Pickens and Marty Fried)

Produced by the authors, "Where Did All the Good Times Go" was first issued in 1970 on the Liberty label by Dee Clark! This happened long after his hits like "Just Keep It Up", "Raindrops" and "Hey Little Girl". The single didn't chart and Dee was

Jules Shear's 1983 album "Watch Dog" produced by Todd Rundgren contains the original "All Through the Night". Jules and Jack Tempchin were once members of The Funky Kings. Cydni Lauper's "All Through the Night", with the composer on backing vocals,

Comedian, singer and drummer Dave Gardner reached the Billboard top thirty with "White Silver Sands" (Red Matthews) in 1957. This is the same peron known as the socially aware comedian "Brother" Dave Gardner. His comedy album "Rejoice, Dear Hearts!" was

Britain's Procol Harum (Gary Brooker, Keith Reid, Chris Copping, B.J. Wilson, Alan Cartwright and Dave Ball) first recorded "Conquistador" in 1967, the year they formed, for their self-titled debut album. The single is from Procol Harum's 1972 album

The first appearance of "Temma Harbour" was on the 1970 album "The North Wind Blew South" credited to singer, drummer Philamore Lincoln (Robert Anson). "Temma Harbour" was Welsh singer Mary Hopkin's third single for The Beatles Apple label. Produced by

Alan Freed gave The Crazy Sounds the name The Moonglows (Harvey Fuqua, Bobby Lester, Alexander Graves, Prentiss Barnes and Billy Johnson on guitar) and they hit with "Sincerely" (Fuqua - Freed) in 1954. With lead vocal by Bobby Lester this reached the top

Dungaree is a fabric that reminds one of denim and is often referred to as blue denim. Dunagree was used to manufacture jeans after the Second World War. "Dungaree Doll" (Ben Raleigh - Sherman Edwards) by The Rock Brothers was introduced as a single on

Former member of Mott the Hoople, Ian Hunter's (Patterson) 1979 album "You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic" was the first time many heard "Ships" (Hunter) alhtough Ian had been working on the tune for some time. Featured on this album were John Cale

Ian Hunter composed and recorded "England Rocks" in 1979. Wikipedia: "Hunter has maintained, however, that Cleveland was the original subject of the song, stating on his web site, 'I originally wrote 'Cleveland Rocks' for Cleveland. I changed it later to

Multi-talented Grammy winner Ray Stevens (Ragsdale) recorded "Can't Stop Dancing" (Ray Stevens - John Pritchard) as a track on the album "Just For the Record" in 1976. It was also issued on the album "Do You Wanna Dance?". There was no release as a

The 1981 album "Bad For Good" includes Jim Steinman's composition "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through". The lead vocal is actually from Rory Dodd who also sang with Bonnie Tyler on "Total Eclipse of the Heart". This reached Billboard's top forty. Composer,

Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World" (Lou Adler - Herb Alpert - Sam Cooke) from the 1960 album "The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke" was a demo product of his final recording session at Keen Records. The single peaked at number twelve on Billboard's Top One

English composer, singer John Carter's (Shakespeare) version of "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat" (Carter - Lewis) is heard here during a 1999 performance at the Sidewalk Cafe in Manhattan. It was John who sang lead on "Winchester Cathedral" by the New

Originally written for Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd's "Knock On Wood" (Eddie Floyd - Steve Cropper) hit the top thirty and topped the Soul charts in 1966. This is from the album of the same name and pretty well features Stax house band Booker T and the MGs.

Irving Berlin wrote this in 1925 as a wedding gift for his new bride who then received the royalties. Irving (Isadore) Kaufman was first to record "Always" in January of the next year., Sammy Turner (Black) hit the pop top twenty and number two on the

"Needles and Pins" (Jack Nitzsche - Sonny Bono) was intially recorded by Jackie DeShannon (Sharon Myers) in 1963. In the U.S. it peaked in the mid-eighties while it topped charts in Canada. The song is on her album "Breakin' It Up On the Beatles Tour".

"Whispering" Bill Anderson's 1966 album "I Love You Drops" (Bill Anderson) topped the Country chart and of course contains the single which was originally released as the B side to "Golden Guitar". The 45 rpm of "I Love You Drops" reached number four on

This is the Paul McCartney demo for "Come and Get It" (McCartney). He recorded this in July 1969, after arriving early for a session at Abbey Road Studios. He sang the double-tracked lead vocal and played all the instruments. He sang and played piano on

The Beatles' "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds" (Lennon - McCartney) can be found on the 1967 album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". It's been said by many that it was inspired by a school drawing of classmate Lucy O'Donnell by Julian Lennon. Members