Rock and Roll

117: Carole King, ‘It Might as Well Rain Until September’

The 1950s didn’t end on December 31st, 1959. Here’s a quiz about 3 very minor hits from 1961-2, a whole bunch of Jews and a few Blacks, and the frustrated egos of several trillionaires.

257: Alison Krauss/Brenda Lee: ‘All Alone Am I’

Guilty pleasures.
Could we keep this just between us?

034: Dionne Warwick, ‘Walk On By’ (Burt Bacharach)

So much of the best music of the last hundred years has come from Jewish men writing songs for female Black singers. And it don’t get no better than the Burt Bacharach/Dionne Warwick, ‘Walk on By’.

November 25, 2020 by jeff Rock and Roll Song Of the week 14

249: Bobby Vee, ‘The Night Has a Thousand Eyes’

Bobby Vee died in 2016 from Alzheimer’s. That’s pretty surprising, considering that he’s still an 18-year old pop star and I’m still a pimply 13-year old with my ear glued to a Top 40 transistor radio.

November 12, 2020 by jeff Rock and Roll Song Of the week 6

076: Roy Orbison, ‘Oh, Pretty Woman’

Roy was working in his kitchen with his songwriting partner when wife Claudette came in and said she was going shopping. All three knew she had a lover in town. Orbison asked if she needed any money, and the partner cracked, “Pretty woman never needs any money.” By the time she got back, they had the song.

October 29, 2020 by jeff Rock and Roll Song Of the week 8