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The Chairmen of the Board (General Johnson, Danny Woods and Harrison Kennedy) recorded "Patches" (General Johnson - Ron Dunbar) for their 1970 debut album, self-titled. The song was released as the B side of the single "Every Tuesday". Born blind,

Randy Goodrum composed "Bluer Than Blue" along with country composer Bernice Parks. Michael Johnson released the number twelve hit single from "The Michael Johnson Album" in 1978. The song topped the Easy Listening chart. Michael was once a member of The

"Sailing" (Gavin Sutherland) appeared as a cut from the Scottish duo The Sutherland Brothers Band (Gavin and brother Ian Sutherland with Kim Ludman and Neil Hopwood) on the 1972 album "Lifeboat". Rod Stewart recorded the cover of "Sailing" at Muscle

No surprise, originally this is an old Hawaiian song with new English lyrics. The host of the radio program, "Hawaii Calls", Webley Edwards wrote the lyrics with the composer of "Tiny Bubbles" Leon Pober in 1962. The Hawaii Calls Orchestra and Chorus

It was former Raspberries member Eric Carmen who wrote "That's Rock and Roll" for the "Eric Carmen" album released in 1976. Although it was not immediately released in the U.S. as a single that finally did happen when it was issued as a B side of "Make Me

Russ Columbo (Ruggiero Colombo) co-composed and recorded "Prisoner of Love" (Columbo - Gaskill - Roblin) in 1931. Billy Eckstine took a different take on the song to the top ten in the same year as Perry Como did. This cover features Duke Ellington on

In 1981 Martine Clemenceau composed "Solitaire" (Clemenceau) and had a mediocre hit in France. Laura Branigan's second album "Branigan 2" from 1983 contains the track "Solitaire" (Martine Clemenceau - Diane Warren) which became the first of many hits

This blues standard was first recorded as "The Red Rooster" (Wllie Dixon) by Howlin' Wolf (Charles Burnett) in 1961 on the legendary Chess label in Chicago. "Little Red Rooster" by Sam Cooke is a smooth up-tempo 1963 cover from the album "Night Beat".

This is the Carole King demo for "Pleasant Valley Sunday" (Goffin - King) that was originally intended for Little Eva. There was much controversy over the lyric when it was suggsetd that Don Kirshner was the inspiration for the song. The Monkees (Mickey

The Chiffons (Judy Craig, Barbara Lee, Sylvia Peterson and Patricia Bennett) version of "One Fine Day" was produced by The Tokens and released in 1963 peaking at number five on the Billboard pop chart and number six on the R&B chart. Carole King

"Stagger Lee", "Stagolee", "Stack-a-Lee", "Skeeg-a-Lee Blues", "Stack O'Lee" was first placed on vinyl by the unlikely Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians as "Stack O Lee Blues" (Ray Lopez) in 1924. Fred Waring was responsible for a ton of popular music and

KC (the initials were his given name) Douglas first recorded "Mercury Boogie" (KC Douglas - Robert Geddins) in 1948, this version re-titled "Mercury Blues" is from 1952. Dave Lindley's 1981 cover from the album named "El-Rayo-X" charted in the rock top

"Aloha Oe" (Farewell to Thee) was recorded by the Ellis Brothers Glee Club Quartet in 1904. The song is preserved as an 1878 hand-written composition by Queen Lili'uokalani, the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii. She chose that royal name, her

Brother and sister Buddy and Ella Johnson recorded "Since I Fell For You" (Buddy Johnson) with Buddy's big band in 1945. Leon "Lenny" Welch's cover hit the top five in 1964. The single is the lead track on his album "Since I Fell For You".

The Academy Award, Golden Globe and Grammy nominated Diane Warren wrote "I Get Weak". Diane's talents cannot be denied. Following a California earthquake in 1994 she was homeless and lived in numerous shelters. In 1988 Belinda Carlisle peaked at number

As a construction worker Ray Whitely was involved in the construction of the Empire State building and the George Washington Bridge. He was also a notorious whip cracker on the rodeo circuit. As an actor he appeared on television with Roy Rogers and in

The Leon Russell (Claude Bridges) 1972 tune "This Masquerade" was on the B side of "Tight Rope" from the album "Carney". The introduction has been edited for timing purposes. If you have never heard the compelete production I urge you to do so. Leon was

Shirley Eikhard wrote "Something To Talk About" and according to her biography "All Of Me", fellow Canadian Anne Murray wanted to record it for the album "Something To Talk About" in 1986. The producers didn't think it would be a hit. These may have been

"I Swear" (Baker - Myles) ws recorded in 1994, at the beginning of the next year John Michael Montgomery hit number one on the Country chart and top forty on the pop chart. John was the "Montgomery" in "Montgomery Gentry". This is from his second solo

The traditional Canadian folk song was inspired by Manitoba's Red River and has had many titles depending on where it was sung. The original singing cowboy, Texan Karl T. "Doc" Sprague, recorded "Cowboy Love Song" (Sprague) in 1925. Johnny and the

The Exciters (Brenda Reid, Herb Rooney, Lillian Walker and Carolyn Johnson) were first to record "Do Wah Diddy" (Jeff Barry - Ellie Greenwich). The song charted at number sevety-eight in 1963. In 1964 Manfred Mann (details elsewhere in this blog) took

Carl Belew was first to record "Am I That Easy To Forget" (Belew - Stevenson) in 1958. This is from his self-titled first album. The single reached the top ten on the Country chart the next year. Several versions charted successfully by various country

Del Shannon's "From Me To You" (McCartney - Lennon) was one of few American versions of a Beatles song in the group's "unknown" days. It out performed the Fab Four version when it hit number seventy-seven on Billboard while the Beatles bubbled below the

This is John Lennon's demo of "If I Fell" credited to "Lennon-McCartney". Here is what may have been one of the first ballads written by John. In April of 1988 John's lyrics had been written on the back of a Valentine's Day card and sold at Sotheby's

In 1979 the British group Racey (Richard Gower, Phil Fursdon, Pete Miller and Clive Wilson) released "Kitty" (Chinn - Chapman) from the "Smash and Grab" album as produced by co-composer Mike Chapman. Choreographer and accomplished dancer, actress,

The Royals (Johnny Otis, Alonzo Tucker, Henry Booth, Sonny Woods and Charles Sutton) once included personel Jackie Wilson, Levi Stubbs and Little Willie John. They issued "Every Beat Of My Heart" (Johnny Otis) in 1954. The group later included Hank

Orchestre de la Boule Blanche (Orchestra of the White Ball) recorded "Maladie d'Amour (Lovesickness) originally as "Orchestre De La Boule Blanche De Charley-Banguio" in 1931. Composer Leona Gabriel is listed as writer but many think this tune to be a

"Rag Mop" started our as "Get the Mop" (Allen) by Henry "Red" Allen in the mid-forties. Bob Wills' younger brother Johnnie Lee Willis recorded "Rag Mop" (Deacon Anderson - Johnnie Lee Willis) in 1950. This novelty reached number two on the Country

Prolific country composer Harlan Howard wrote "Above and Beyond (The Call of Love)". Wynn (Winford) Stewart was the initial of many acts to record "Above and Beyond (The Call of Love)" in 1967. This is from the album carrying the same name as the

Joe South (Souter) wrote a string of very successful hits over a rather short period of time in the sixties. One of those was "Hush". This is from the 1969 album "Games People Play" where it was the opening track on the second side. Billy Joe Royal was

Originally from the 1964 album "Another Side of Bob Dylan" this track of "It Ain't Me Babe" comes from a concert in England during the sixties. Johnny Cash and June Carter (Cash) had their first U.K. hit with "It Ain't Me Babe" later that year. In 1965

"Yakety Sax" (Randolph - Rich) was originally issued as the flip side of Boots (Homer) Randolph's first single for RCA Victor, "Perculator", in 1958. It was also the title of his first album in 1960 titled "Boots Randolph's Yakety Sax". This is the