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Todd Rundgren's group Utopia (Todd Rundgren, Roger Powell, Kasim Sulton and John Wilcox) recorded "Love Is the Answer" (Rundgren) for the 1977 album "Oops! Wrong Planet". Todd grew up in Upper Darby, PA the home of Val Shively's Record Shop. The cover

XTC (Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory) topped the Rock charts and the bottom portion of the Top One Hundred in 1992 with "The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead" (Andy Partridge) from the album "Nonsuch". Wikipedia: "The name Peter Pumpkinhead

Jerry Jeff Walker recorded the original "Mr. Bojangles" (Walker) in 1968 for the album using that title. Wikipedia: "Walker has said he was inspired to write the song after an encounter with a street performer in a New Orleans jail. While in jail for

Apparently "Let's Stick Together (W. Harrison) was recorded in Wilbert Harrison's garage in 1962 and issued on Fury Records. Three years earlier he had topped the charts with "Kansas City". A decade after his first hit lyrics were changed and "Let's

Born in Arkansas in 1917 Floyd Jones moved to Chicago in 1945 and became one of the first electric blues singers. He and his trio released "On The Road Again" in 1953. Canned Heat's "On The Road Again" (Floyd Jones) is from the album "Boogie With Canned

Henry Thomas aka Ragtime Texas recorded his "Bull Doze Blues" in 1927. That different sound you hear is made by quills: an instrument made with cane reeds Decades later the tune had altered lyrics by Alan Wilson of Canned Heat. Canned Heat (Bob Hite,

Producer, guitarist, engineer, singer and songwriter Chas Sandford's "Missing You" (John Waite - Mark Leonard - Chas Sandford) was recorded live at the 7th annual Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival and Song Writing Convention at The Crescent Arts

The piano march "American Patrol" (F. W. Meacham) features melodies from American patriotic tunes coupled with original music. The piece was written in 1885. The first known recording is by (John Phillip) Sousa's Band in 1901. Glenn Miller's 1942

Canadian group Toronto (Holly Woods, Brian Allen, Sheron Alton, Scott Kreyer, Barry Connors and Gary LaLonde) recorded "What About Love" (Alton - Allen - Vallance) as an album track for "Get It On Credit" in 1982. The song was not considered good enough

This is a Methodist hymn first published in an 1806 North Carolina hymnbook as "Grace Reviving In The Soul" While also published in a Boston hymnal of 1808, "Say Brothers You Will Meet Us". In 1850 William Steffe added his name to the authorship and is

Faron Young's "Goin' Steady" (Faron Young) peaked at number two on the Country chart in 1952. The original single heard here was Faron's first hit and a cut on the album "This Is Faron Young". Faron was a co-founder of the magazine Music City News.

Political correctness didn't exist at one time. This dates from the 1700s and is credited to Thomas D'Urfey as "I Went To The Alehouse (A Knave Is A Knave)" from his songbook "Pills To Purge Melancholy Vol. 3". Thomas D'Urfey was Charles II's personal

From the movie of the same name comes Bing Crosby's "Pennies From Heaven" (Arthur Johnston - Johnny Burke). In 1936 this topped the chart for ten weeks during the Great Depression! The song won an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song, the

Billy Joel recorded the original "She's Got A Way" for his 1971 debut album "Cold Spring Harbor". This was the single released just before his "Piano Man" success. A decade later "She's Got A Way" was part of the Billy Joel 1981 in concert album "Songs

"The Prime Of Your Life" was essentially the introduction demo for Billy Joel's "The Longest Time" from the 1983 album "An Innocent Man". The first single off the album was "Tell Her About It" followed by "Uptown Girl" and "An Innocent Man". Released in

One of the best selling singles of all time was "If I Didn't Care" (Jack Lawrence) by The Ink Spots (lead Bill Kenny, Charlie Fuqua, Hoppy Jones and Deek Jones). The song reached number two in 1939 and was the groups first real success. The The

American native group Redbone's (Lolly and brother Pat Vegas, Tony Bellamy and Butch Rillera) 1973 album "Wovoka" contains "Come And Get Your Love" (Lolly Vegas). The next year the single reached number five on Billboard. German act "Real McCoy" (Olaf

Al Hibbler recorded the inspirational "He" (Jack Richards - Richard Mullan) in 1955, the year after it was written. The singe peaked at number four on Billboard and is featured on the album "Hits by Hibbler". Al was once the vocalist for the Duke

Jules Verne's novel "Around The World In 80 Days" was also a 1956 movie featuring David Niven, Shirley MacLaine, Cantiflas and a star studded cast. "Around The World (Part One)" (Victor Young) is the first cut on the Oscar winning soundtrack. Issued as a

Here is the demo for "Veronica" by Grammy winner Elvis Costello (Declan MacManus) recorded two years before the 1989 "Spike" LP. Elvis Costello apparently wrote "Veronica" (McCartney - MacManus) for his grandmother "Molly" who suffered from Alzheimer's.

First referred to as "The Call", "Indian Love Call" (Harbach - Hammerstein ll - Friml) was written for the 1924 Broadway production of "Rose-Marie". The show ran over five hundred performances and was also a hit in London during 1924 where Edith Day and

The demo for "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" (Sting) was recorded by multiple Grammy winner Sting (Gordon Sumner) in 1977. Wikipedia: "This was first recorded as a demo, with the piano figure, in a studio in Montreal. I had written the song long

"Oh, Pretty Woman" (Roy Orbison - Bill Dees) was Roy Orbison's last big hit at Fred Foster's Monument Records. During the summer of 1964 it spent three weeks at the top of the Billboard Top One Hundred. Following his death Roy received the 1991 Grammy for

Roy Orbison hit number one of the Adult Contemporary chart and number nine on the Top One Hundred "You Got It" (Orbison - Petty - Lynn) after it was posthumously released from the 1989 album "Mystery Girl". Roy died of a heart attack in 1988. The song was

The Cole Porter and Moss Hart musical comedy 1935 "Jubilee" introduced "Begin The Beguine" and "Just One Of Those Things" (Porter). The first recording was released that year by Richard Himber (Imber) and his Ritz-Carlton Orchestra featuring the vocal

The original "99 Luftballons" by Nena (Gabriele Kerner aka Nena, Jurgen Dehmel, Rolf Brendel, Carlo Karges and Uwe Fahrenkrog Petersen) was a huge hit in Germany, many European countries and Japan in 1983. The single is from the group's debut album. The

Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs (Wiley Bennett, Albert Hill, Henry Gatson, Willie Morrow and Charles Thomas) recorded "May I" (Maurice Williams) in 1965. Bill Deal and the Rhondels "featuring Ammon Tharp and Bill Deal" as printed on the original