Showing posts with label 1973. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1973. Show all posts

The Way We Were (1973)

Click the YouTube video below to listen:



Download MP3s from Amazon.com:

By:
Barbra Streisand (born Barbara Joan Streisand April 24, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York.)

Streisand is an American singer, actress, director, and songwriter. One of the most successful entertainers in modern history, she has sold more than 71.5 million albums shipped in the United States and 140 million albums sold worldwide. She is the best-selling female artist on the Recording Industry Association of America's Top Selling Artists list, the only female recording artist in the top ten.

"The Way We Were" is the title song to the 1973 movie The Way We Were, starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford.

It won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Song and also ranked at #8 on the American Film Institute's list of Top 100 Songs from Film.

The soundtrack album charted for 23 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually sold more than one million copies.

While recording the song, Streisand changed the first word from "daydreams" to "memories".

Before ABKCO released a boxed set of Cameo-Parkway artists in 2004, "The Way We Were" was the only #1 single since 1939 to never have been issued on CD in its hit version.

Chart position:
#1 (US).

It was Streisand's first US #1 single.

It was #1 in US for a combined total of three weeks in February 1974. It was preceded at #1 by "You're Sixteen" (Ringo Starr,) then succeeded after one week by "Love's Theme" (Love Unlimited Orchestra). It then returned to #1 for two more weeks before it was ultimately succeeded by "Seasons In The Sun" (Terry Jacks).

The Top Ten Songs: February 2, 1974 (US Billboard Hot 100).
  1. "The Way We Were" (Barbra Streisand)
  2. "You're Sixteen" (Ringo Starr)
  3. "Love's Theme" (Love Unlimited Orchestra)
  4. "Show and Tell" (Al Wilson)
  5. "Americans" (Byron MacGregor)
  6. "I've Got to Use My Imagination" (Gladys Knight and the Pips)
  7. "Let Me Be There" (Olivia Newton-John)
  8. "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" (Aretha Franklin)
  9. "The Joker" (Steve Miller Band)
  10. "Spiders and Snakes" (Jim Stafford)

Written by: Alan Bergman (born September 11, 1925 in Brooklyn, New York,) Marilyn Bergman (born November 10, 1929 in Brooklyn, New York) and Marvin Hamlisch (born June 2, 1944 in New York, New York.)

The Bergmans, a husband-and-wife songwriting duo, wrote lyrics for many popular songs, including "The Windmills of Your Mind", "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", "Yellow Bird", "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" and "How Do You Keep The Music Playing?".

Hamlisch is an American composer. He is one of only two people to have been awarded Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize (the other is Richard Rodgers). Hamlisch has also won two Golden Globes.

Hamlisch's adaptation of Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer" reached #3 on the Billboard pop chart and #1 on the easy listening chart in 1974. He also co-wrote "Nobody Does It Better", which was recorded by Carly Simon as the theme song for the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me.

Download MP3s from Amazon.com:



Want to submit facts and trivia about this song? Leave a comment!

And I Love You So (1973)

Click the YouTube video below to listen:



Download MP3s from Amazon.com:


By:
Perry Como (born Pierino Ronald Como May 18, 1912 in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, died from complications from Alzheimer's Disease May 12, 2001 in Jupiter, Florida.)

Perry was the seventh son of a seventh son. His father was an amateur baritone, and had all his children attend music lessons even if he could barely afford them. Young Perry started helping his family at the age of 10 by working in a barber shop for 50 cents a week. He mastered the skills well enough to have his own shop at the age of 14.

Como later became one of the most popular singers of the 1950s. Como had 14 US #1 hits: "Till The End Of Time" (1945); "Prisoner Of Love" (1946); "Surrender" (1946); "Chi-Baba, Chi-Baba" (1947); " A - You're Adorable" (1949); "Some Enchanted Evening" (1949); "Hoop-De-Doo" (1950); "If" (1951); "Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes" (1952); "No Other Love" (1953); "Wanted" (1954); "Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom)" (1956); "Round And Round" (1957); and "Catch A Falling Star" (1958), which was his first Gold record and earned him his only Grammy award.

In January 1973, Como traveled to Nashville to record at RCA's Nashville Sound Studio with producer Chet Atkins. One song recorded was a cover of Don McLean's "And I Love You So".

After that was released as a single and became a hit, Como and Atkins went back into the studio in March and April to record an album of recent hits, named after the hit song. One song, "Killing Me Softly With Her Song" was written about a performance by the writer of "And I Love You So", Don McLean. The album went gold.

In 1974 "And I Love You So" was nominated for the Grammy award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, but lost to Stevie Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life".

Chart position:
#29 (US), #1 (US Adult Contemporary), #3 (UK).

It was Perry Como's last Top 40 single.

Written by:
Don McLean (born October 2, 1945 in New Rochelle, New York.)

Don McLean is a singer-songwriter most famous for his #1 US and #2 UK hit "American Pie". McLean is credited with coining the phrase "The Day The Music Died" to refer to the February 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J. P. Richardson, Jr. (The Big Bopper).

In addition to "American Pie" and "And I Love You So", McLean wrote such songs as "Vincent" (written about Vincent van Gogh,) "Castles in the Air", "Winterwood", "Wonderful Baby" (written about Fred Astaire,) and "Superman's Ghost" (written about George Reeves, who played Superman on TV in the 1950s.)

Also by: Elvis Presley (on his 1975 album Today,) Shirley Bassey, Glen Campbell, Bobby Goldsboro, Emmylou Harris, Engelbert Humperdink, Howard Keel, Johnny Mathis, Nana Mouskouri, Jim Nabors, Tom T. Hall, Helen Reddy, Bobby Vinton and more.

Originally by:
Don McLean, released on his 1970 debut album Tapestry.

Download MP3s from Amazon.com:


Want to submit facts and trivia about this song? Leave a comment!

You're Sixteen (1973)

Click the YouTube video below to listen:



Download MP3s from Amazon.com:


By:
Ringo Starr (born Richard Starkey July 7, 1940 in Toxteth, Liverpool, England.)

Starr is best known for having been the drummer for the Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr belonged to another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became the Beatles' drummer in 1962, taking over from Pete Best.

In addition to his contribution as drummer, Starr featured as lead singer on a number of successful Beatles songs (in particular, "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Yellow Submarine", and a cover of Buck Owens' "Act Naturally") and as a songwriter with the songs "Don't Pass Me By", "What Goes On" and "Octopus's Garden".

Ringo Starr's recording of "You're Sixteen", also known as "You're Sixteen, You're Beautiful (And You're Mine)", reunited Starr with his former Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney, who contributed to the backing vocals and played the kazoo solo. Harry Nilsson also sang backing vocals.

In the music video for the song, Carrie Fisher (before she portrayed Princess Leia in Star Wars) co-stars as Ringo's love interest.

It appeared on his 1973 album Ringo, which featured many guest stars, including McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Nicky Hopkins, Rick Danko and Levon Helm (of the Band) and Marc Bolan.

Chart position: #1 (US), #4 (UK).

It was Starr's second #1 US hit (his first was "Photograph".)

It was preceded at #1 in the US by "Show And Tell" (Al Wilson) and succeeded by "The Way We Were (Barbra Streisand).

The Top Five Songs: January 26, 1974 (US Billboard Hot 100).
  1. "You're Sixteen" (Ringo Starr)
  2. "Show and Tell" (Al Wilson)
  3. "The Way We Were" (Barbra Streisand)
  4. "I've Got to Use My Imagination" (Gladys Knight and the Pips)
  5. "The Joker" (Steve Miller Band)

Written by:
Robert B. Sherman (born December 19, 1925 in New York, New York) and Richard M. Sherman (born June 12, 1928 in New York, New York).

The Sherman Brothers are a Academy Award-winning American songwriting duo. They have written more motion-picture musical song scores than any other songwriting team in history. They are best known for their work with Walt Disney during the last six years of his life.

Film scores of the Sherman Brothers include Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Jungle Book, The Aristocats and Charlotte's Web.

Songs they have written, which are all part of the two-disc collection The Sherman Brothers Songbook, include "Let's Get Together", "The Ugly Bug Ball", "It's A Small World", "A Spoonful Of Sugar", "Chim Chim Cher-ee", "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", "Winnie The Pooh", "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and "Hushabye Mountain".

Starr's version of "You're Sixteen" marks the only time that a Sherman brothers song reached #1.

Originally by: Johnny Burnette, whose version reached #8 (US) and #3 (UK) in 1960.

My two cents: Like many of the songs I post about, I liked this song when I was growing up. I loved watching Ringo as Mr. Conductor on the PBS TV series Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, even before I knew he was a Beatle.

One thing that I always thought was funny was, during the "all mine" coda, when Ringo sings, "and I do". It's exactly like something from the Beatles song "I Should Have Known Better"! Has anyone else ever noticed this?

I was also surprised to learn that it was written by the same guys who wrote so many of the great Disney songs. Off-topic: no matter that people might make fun of "It's A Small World"...it's a very well-written song! Does anyone agree?

Download MP3s from Amazon.com:

Want to submit facts and trivia about this song? Leave a comment!