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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

"Island In the Sun" (H. Belafonte - L. Burgess) was recorded by co-composer Irving Burgie aka Lord Burgess for the album of the same name four decades after the song was a hit. In 1957 the exceptional Harry Belafonte (Bellanfanti) took "Island In the

The Brooklyn composer of "Jamaica Farewell" (Irving Burgie) was also known as Lord Burgess and is a graduate of the prestigious Juilliard School of Music. The groundbreaking and chart topping album "Calypso" by singer, actor, activist and Grammy winner

The "Skiffle King" Lonnie (James) Donegan composed "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" (Lonnie Donegan - Jimmy Currie) and released it in 1962. Lonnie was once a member of the Chris Barber Jazz Band. Sir Tom Jones (Woodward) recorded the more successful

Recorded during a live performance here is Van Dyke Parks brother, C. (Clarence) Carson Parks and "Cab Driver". The tune originally ended up on the album "San Antonio Rose" by Carson and Gaile (Foote). The legendary Mills Brothers, who started in the

English group The Little Darlings (Barry Eaton, Roy Butterfield, John Gilroy, Allan Waites, Terry Twigger and Malcolm O'Sullivan) originally recorded the uncharted single "Little Bit O'Soul" in 1965 (John Carter - Ken Lewis). The group changed it's name

"Everybody's Talkin" is a one take single from Fred Neil's self-titled 1966 album. Fred also wrote Roy Orbison's "Candy Man". The album was released again three years later as "Everybody's Talkin". After being featured in the film "Midnight Cowboy",

Charles Danvers composed the music for "Priere Sana Espoir" (Danvers - Buisson). He often used the name Charles Sananes so in a few places that name is listed as the writer of "Till". Roger Williams (Louis Weertz) and the Marty Gold Orchestra issued

Francis Craig's Orchestra featuring a vocal by Bob Lamm on "Near You" (Craig - Goell) topped the Billboard chart in 1947. This edited version includes the vocal. Francis was once a d.j. at WSM in Nashville. This was the great Milton Berle's theme song for

Stonewall Jackson (his real birth name) recorded "I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water" (Joe Babcock) for the album "Trouble and Me" in 1965. This peaked in the Country top ten. Stonewall was the first artist to join The Grand Ole Opry without having a

Once a member of the fames Edison Male Quartet, Jere Mahoney first recorded "When You Were Sweet Sixteen" (James Thornton) on Edison Records in 1900. The vaudeville composer's wife Bonnie first introduced the song in their husband and wife team stage act

Jazz saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderly hit the 1966 charts with the single "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" (Joe Zawinul) peaking at number eleven on the pop and number two on the Soul charts.. This is also on the album "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at The Club"

Authentic Cajun, Bobby Charles (Guidry) wrote "Hey Alligator" for his group The Cardinals at the of fourteen. This song morphed into "Later Alligator" (Guidry) and in 1955 he had it released on the Chicago based Chess Records who thought he was black.

Chuck Berry's "Rock and Roll Music" (Berry) peaked at number eight on the pop and number six on the Billboard R&B charts. Everyone, with the possible exception of Julio Iglesias, has recorded this now standard. Recorded in Chicago by the Chess

Written in 1952 by two prisoners at Nashville's Tennessee State "Just Walkin' In the Rain" (Johnny Bragg - Robert Riley) was recorded by The Prisonaires (Johnny Bragg on lead vocal, Ed Thurman, William Stewart, John Drue Jr. and Marcell Sanders). Johnny

This is composer Garland "Hank" Cochran's version of "She's Got You". Apparently after Hank wrote the song he went to Patsy Cline's home and played in for her using only a guitar for accompaniment. Patsy loved it and recorded the song at her next

"Runaway" (Shannon - Crook) was Del Shannon's first hit of which there were many. Here is the demo for the chart topping single and subsequent album which were released in 1961. Early in his career he flew to New York City, for his first unsuccessful

This is the demo recording for "Little Town Flirt". The title was a suggestion from an acquaintance of Del Shannon's who was not musical but had "great ideas". In 1962 Del Shannon (Charles Westover) charted at number twelve with "Little Town Flirt" (D.

"It's a Heartache" (Ronnie Scott - Steve Wolfe) was recorded by Ronettes lead singer and the former Mrs. Phil Spector (1968 to 1974). Ronnie Spector (Bennett) recorded this in Memphis August 16 of 1977. This was the day Elvis Presley died. When the

"Love Me For a Reason" (Wade Brown - David Jones Jr. - Johnny Bristol) was first heard from Johnny Bristol on his 1974 album "Hang On In There Baby". Johnny was a producer and songwriter for Motown. The Supremes "Someday We'll Be Together", co-written and

Savannah, Georgia composer Tony Arata performs "The Dance" at the Bluebird Cafe, Nashville June 8, 2012 celebrating the Bluebird Cafe's 30th anniversary. Garth Brooks recorded "The Dance" for his self-titled 1990 debut album. This was the Academy of

"My Blue Heaven" (Walter Donaldson - George Whiting) was used as the theme by co-composer George Whiting as a 1924 vaudeville act. Gene Austin (Lucas) recorded "My Blue Heaven:" three years later and turned it into a five million seller. This is one of

Dennis Linde composed "Burning Love" and this may be the original demo version. In 1972 Arthur Alexander self-titled Warner album contains the first commercial recording of "Burning Love". Alexander is the only songwriter whose songs have been covered on

The first RCA R&B single on the 45 rpm format was Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's "That's All Right, Mama" (Crudup) as recorded in 1946. Arthur had problems being paid royalties so he was more than a delta blues singer, he also worked as an agricultural

This is Romanian violinist, conductor and composer Georges Boulanger (Pantazi) and "Avant de Mourir" (Before Death) which was the basis for "My Prayer". The recording was made in 1925. A few years later lyrics were added and by the next decade British

The Four Seasons featuring the "sound" of Frankie Valli released "Silence Is Golden" (Crewe - Gaudio) as the B side to "Rag Doll" in 1964. This is from the album "Born To Wander". The Tremeloes without Brian Poole (Rick Westwood, Chip Hawkes, Alan