(part 2 of the trilogy) psst, grab again that easy chair and get closer to the speaker, I am offering you another occasion to detox your mind while I am curating another ninety minutes with delicate songs
| Title | Artist | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Dreamsome | Shelby Lynne | “Dreamsome” by Shelby Lynne was released on her breakthrough album ‘I Am Shelby Lynne’ of 1999 and also appeared on the soundtrack of the film Bridget Jones’s Diary. Shelby Lynne and Willie Nelson have been friends a long time. |
| Always On My Mind | Willie Nelson | “Always on My Mind” is a ballad written by Wayne Carson, Johnny Christopher, and Mark James, first recorded by Brenda Lee, and first released by Gwen McCrae (as “You Were Always on My Mind”) in March 1972. Popular versions of the song were recorded by Willie Nelson, Brenda Lee, Elvis Presley and Pet Shop Boys. Willie Nelson’s 1982 recording became the definitive version and the first to make the Hot 100 (#5; it was also a #1 Country hit). When songwriter-guitarist Wayne Carson called his wife to apologize for the delay to stay longer away from home, her reply helped him to complete this song. The same kind of inspiration came to Albert Hammond for writing “When I need you” … |
| When I Need You | Leo Sayer | “When I Need You” is a popular song written by Albert Hammond and Carole Bayer Sager and title track of Hammond’s 1976 album ‘When I Need You’. The song deals with Hammond’s personal experiences being away from home and his loved one. Leonard Cohen song “Famous Blue Raincoat” lyrics and melody “Jane came by with a lock of your hair, she said that you gave it to her that night, that you planned to go clear” matches the lyrics “(When I) need you, I just close my eyes and I’m with you, and all that I so want to give you, is only a heart beat away”. |
| Famous Blue Raincoat | Leonard Cohen | Leonard Cohen wrote “Famous Blue Raincoat” in the form of a letter, signed “L. Cohen”. The lyrics contain references to the German love song “Lili Marlene,” to Scientology, and to Clinton Street. Cohen lived on Clinton Street in Manhattan in the 1970s when it was a lively Latino area. |
| Help Me Make It Through The Night | Gladys Knight & The Pips | “Help Me Make It Through The Night” is a country music ballad written and composed by Kris Kristofferson and released on his 1970 album Kristofferson. It has been covered by Willie Nelson and Gladys Knight & the Pips. In late 1971, they released a soulful version of Kris Kristofferson’s “Help Me Make It Through the Night”, which became an international hit. |
| How Can You Mend A Broken Heart | Al Green | Al Green recorded this in 1972 for his album Let’s Stay Together. Barry and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees wrote this in the style of Andy Williams, who was a popular recording artist and television presenter at the time. It became the first #1 US hit for the group, topping the chart for four weeks. |
| The Way We Were | Barbra Streisand | “The Way We Were”, title song of the romantic drama The Way We Were (1973) was a commercial success and Barbra Streisand’s first number-one single in the United States. Streisand attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn in 1956, where she became an honor student in modern history, English, and Spanish. She also joined the Freshman Chorus and Choral Club, where she sang with another choir member and classmate, Neil Diamond. |
| I Am… I Said | Neil Diamond | “I Am… I Said” is a song written and recorded by Neil Diamond. Released as a single on March 15, 1971. The 1971 release “I Am…I Said” was a Top 5 hit in both the US and UK and was his most intensely personal effort to date, taking over four months to complete. |
| You Don’t Bring Me Flowers (ft. Barbra Streisand) | Neil Diamond | “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” is a song written by Neil Diamond with Alan and Marilyn Bergman for the daily TV sitcom All That Glitters. n 1977, Diamond released the album I’m Glad You’re Here with Me Tonight, which included the track “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” as a solo performance. Early in 1978, Barbra Streisand covered the song on her album Songbird. Neil Diamond recorded his song “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” in 1977 which Barbara Streisand covered on her album Songbird. Radio station program director Gary Guthrie broadcasted a spliced-together duet version in May1978. Eventually, Columbia Records released this official studio version in October. WAKY (AM) Louisville, KY program director, Gary Guthrie, who spliced the two solo tracks together as a going-away present to his wife, Becky, whom he was in the process of divorcing. Guthrie’s spliced-together duet version first aired on WAKY on May 24, 1978. Guthrie sent CBS his version of the duet on July 27, and by August 3, both Streisand and Diamond had agreed to the release of a duet version. However, rather than issue any of the spliced-together versions, Columbia Records had Streisand and Diamond record a brand-new “official” studio version, which was released on October 17, 1978. |
| The Rose | Bette Midler | “The Rose” is a pop song written by Amanda McBroom. Bette Midler made the song famous when she recorded it for her 1979 film The Rose, in which it plays during the closing credits. The Rose, as a drug-addicted rock star modelled after Janis Joplin. Bette Midler was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, where her family was one of the few Jewish families in a mostly Asian neighbourhood. |
| A Woman Left Lonely | Janis Joplin | ‘A Woman Left Lonely’ is written by Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham and recorded at Sunset Sound Studios (Los Angeles, CA) on 5 September 1970 and first released on the vinyl album “Pearl” (side 1 track 3) Columbia KC-3022. I am a big Janis Joplin fan and if you are interested in this wonderful artist that died too young, I suggest to visit https://www.janisjoplin.net/ |
| Stand By My Woman | Lenny Kravitz | “Stand by My Woman” is a song recorded by American singer Lenny Kravitz and released on September 2, 1991, as the fourth single from his second studio album In 1974, at the age of 10, Kravitz relocated to Los Angeles with his parents when his mother landed her role on The Jeffersons. Kravitz attended Beverly Hills High School, where he was classmates with Maria McKee, Nicolas Cage, and Slash. |
| Show Me Heaven | Maria McKee | Maria Luisa McKee (born August 17, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her work with Lone Justice and her 1990 song “Show Me Heaven”, for which she (re-)wrote the lyrics and which appeared on the soundtrack to the film Days of Thunder. |
| So Far Away | Carole King | “So Far Away” is a song written by Carole King, which appeared on her 1971 album Tapestry. The recording features James Taylor on acoustic guitar released in March 1971. The Troubadour in West Hollywood was the first venue that King and Taylor played together in November 1970. |
| Amoureuse | Véronique Sanson | Véronique Sanson became one of the first French female singer-songwriters to break into stardom with her debut album “Amoureuse” in 1972, produced by Michel Berger. She became one of the most successful and most prominent members of the Seventies “Nouvelle chanson française” (“New French chanson”). Françoise Hardy declared that the release of Amoureuse marked the end of the Yé-yé era, as she confessed “When I first heard Amoureuse, I had the impression that every female singer, including myself, was left far behind”. Sanson was romantically involved with French singer-songwriter Michel Berger from 1967 to 1972. Their love story has become a part of French music legend, especially through songs they wrote to each other long after they broke up. From 1973 to 1979 she was married to American rock musician Stephen Stills. |
| Message Personnel | Françoise Hardy | “Message personnel” is a song by Françoise Hardy from 1973. Around 1972, Hardy contacted songwriter and producer Michel Berger with the intention of working with him, after being impressed by his work with Véronique Sanson. Berger agreed to produce and arrange her following album, but was unable to write all of its music owing to other obligations. He wrote two of the record’s twelve songs of which “Message personnel” with Françoise Hardy: Title of the song and words of the spoken part and Michel Berger: Lyrics and music of the sung part. |
| Evidemment | France Gall | “Evidemment” written by France Gall’s husband Michel Berger, is a tribute to Daniel Balavoine who was a close friend of the couple and who died about two years earlier. It was released in March 1988. Daniel Balavoine died in a helicopter crash on 14 January 1986 in Mali together with Thierry Sabine, founder and main organizer of the Dakar Rally. |
| One day I’ll Fly Away | Randy Crawford | “One Day I’ll Fly Away” is a song performed by American R&B and jazz singer Randy Crawford, released in 1980. “One Day I’ll Fly Away” was written by Joe Sample and Will Jennings, and produced by Sample, Wilton Felder and Stix Hooper. The main hook (in which the singer sings the title of the song) is itself an interpolation of Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers from his ballet, The Nutcracker. |
| Old and Wise | The Alan Parsons Project | “Old and Wise” is a 1982 song by the Alan Parsons Project with the lead vocal performed by ‘Wonderful’ Colin Blunstone. This melancholic song about reconciliation and forgiveness can be interpreted in many ways. Alan Parsons wrote this song with his partner in the group, Eric Woolfson. The song is about a man approaching death, addressing those he knew with fond remembrance, as he now has no time for bitter memories. Zombies lead singer Colin Blunstone sings lead. Writer Eric Woolfson presented “Old and Wise” to Colin Blunstone in the Abbey Road Studio Three, where The Zombies recorded “Time of the Season.” |
| Time Of The Season | The Zombies | Iconic British psychedelic pop legends The Zombies ironically broke-up just prior to achieving their greatest success – the worldwide chart-topping single “Time of the Season,” from their swan-song album Odessey & Oracle. The Zombies keyboard player Rod Argent wrote this song. The lyric “Who’s your daddy?” in “Time of the Season” is a little nod to “Summertime” (“Your daddy’s rich and your mama’s good looking.”). |
| Wonderful | Colin Blunstone | “Wonderful” is written by The Zombies members Chris White and Rod Argent. After “The Zombies” disbanded in 1968, lead singer Colin Blunstone had taken a job in insurance and launched a solo career. |
| How Can I Tell You | Cat Stevens | “How Can I Tell You” is one of the best love songs ever written and sung by Cat Stevens on his 1971 album ‘Teaser and the Firecat’. Stevens actually did not play guitar on the album recording. According to his producer Paul Samwell-Smith, the studio session was set up with “two stereo acoustic guitars put down first, Andy Roberts on one, Alun Davies on the other, [Cat] singing as an overdub later.” Cat Stevens, who later in life changed his name to Yusuf Islam (21 July 1948) is a singer songwriter from England. Tea For The Tillerman’s 1971 follow-up Teaser And The Firecat surpassed its predecessor’s sales at the time. |
Sources
The information sources of the song facts include, but are not limited to, Wikipedia, songfacts.com, discogs.com, secondhandsongs.com, YouTube and artists’ related websites.
