70's, 80's 'Feel Good' Music

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"I Love the Nightlife (Disco 'Round)" is a popular disco song recorded by Alicia Bridges in 1978. It went to number two for two weeks on the disco chart. The song crossed over to the pop and soul charts peaking at number five on the Billboard pop charts, and number thirty-one on the soul chart.
"I Love the Nightlife" (also "Night Life") was successful in Europe as well.
The song was co-written by Alicia Bridges and Susan Hutcheson in 1977 for Bill Lowery, founder of Southern Music. "I Love the Nightlife" was the first single produced by Steve Buckingham who was invited to produce the single's parent album entitled Alicia Bridges after he had played guitar on a session by the singer. Bridges suggested to Hutcheson that they write a song with either "disco" or "boogie" in the title after Bridges saw a current Top Ten hit list featuring several songs with dance-oriented titles. The original title of the resultant song: "Disco 'Round", became the subtitle under the main title "I Love the Nightlife" as Buckingham considered it an R&B number and didn't want it labeled disco: Bridges herself would later admit she'd had hopes that the song would be received as a Memphis soul number, calling it "something Al Green might sing". However it is as a disco classic that the song is most remembered: in a 26 August 1998 MTV countdown of the Top 54 Dance Songs of the Disco Era, "I Love the Nightlife" was ranked at #37

Alicia Bridges - I Love The Nightlife
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"An Everlasting Love" is a song written by Barry Gibb, performed by Andy Gibb as the second single from his album Shadow Dancing, peaking at #5 on the Hot 100 on 23 September 1978 and #10 in the UK. "An Everlasting Love" was Gibb's only Top 10 in the United Kingdom.
"An Everlasting Love" became a Gold record. It was his fourth of five hits to do so. Its B-side "Flowing Rivers" was the title song of his first album (1977)

Andy Gibb - An Everlasting Love


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I've been here all your life
Watching your crying game
You were the heaven in my lonely world
And he was your sun and your rain
I was losing you before I ever held you tight
Before you ever hold me in your arms
And I won't make you blue
And maybe an everlasting love will do
I've got an everlasting love
So tall, so wide, so high
Above the rumble of thunder down below
It's your love I need
It's the only show
And it's you on an everlasting dream
Can take us anywhere
Are the tears of yesterday
We killed the pain
We blew away the memories of the tears we cried
And an everlasting love will never die
Take me out of the cold, give me what I've waited for
If it's the pleasure of taking my heart that you need
Then it only makes me love you more
I was yours before the stars were born
And you were mine
I could have saved you all the pain you knew
And I won't make you cry
And maybe an everlasting love can try
I've got an everlasting love
So tall, so wide, so high
Above the rumble of thunder down below
It's your love I need
It's the only show
And it's you on an everlasting dream
Can take us anywhere
Are the tears of yesterday
We killed the pain
We blew away the memories of the tears we cried
And an everlasting love will never die

Songwriters: Barry Gibb
An Everlasting Love lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

 

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"You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)" is a song by the husband/wife duo of Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr., former members of the vocal group The 5th Dimension. Released from their album, I Hope We Get to Love in Time, it became a crossover success, spending six months on the charts and soaring to number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Soul Singles charts during late 1976 and early 1977. The song also reached #6 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart and #7 on the UK Singles Chart. It would eventually be certified gold, selling over one million copies, and winning them a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 1977.

Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr - You don't have to be a star

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You Don't Have to Be a Star
Marilyn McCoo, Billy Davis Jr.

You can come as you are, with just your heart
And I'll take you in though you're rejected and hurt
To me you're worth, girl, what you have within
Oh, honey, boy, I don't need no superstar, 'cause I'll accept you as you are
You won't be denied, 'cause I'm satisfied with the love that you can inspire
You don't have to be a star, baby, to be in my show
Oh, honey, you don't have to be a star, baby, to be in my show
Somebody nobody knows could steal the tune that you want to hear
So stop your running around, 'cause now you've found what was cloudy is clear
Oh, honey, there'll be no cheering from the clouds, just two hearts beating out loud
There'll be no parade, no tv or stage, only me till your dying day
You don't have to be a star, baby, to be in my show
Oh, honey, you don't have to be a star, baby, to be in my show
Don't think your star has to shine for me to find out where you're coming from
Oh, honey, girl, what is a beauty queen if it don't mean that I'm number one?
I don't need no superstar, 'cause I'll accept you as you are
You won't be denied, 'cause I'm satisfied with the love that you can inspire
You don't have to be a star, baby, to be in my show
Oh, honey, you don't have to be a star, baby, to be in my show

 

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"When I Think of You" is a song written by James Williams and performed by Leif Garrett. It reached #11 on the US adult contemporary chart and #78 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979. The song was featured on his 1978 album, Feel the Need.

Leif Garrett - When I think of you
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When I think of you
I think of sunny days in June
Warm, nice and tender
The sun in your heart
When I think of you
I think of dancin' in the street
Feelin' every beat
Of the good summer fun
Summer's ending
When he left
You left too
Now there's nothing to do
But wait for the summer
Wait for the summer
And you
When I think of you
I remember when the kissed
The radio was playin' a song for two
When I think of you
I think of running on the beach
Passing through the heat
And the sand on our feet
I gotta wait for the summer and you

Songwriters: Williams
When I Think of You lyrics © Capitol Christian Music Group

 

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"Heaven Must Have Sent You" is a song written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland when at Motown, and first recorded by The Elgins in 1966. It was also a 1979 disco hit single by Bonnie Pointer.

Bonnie Pointer - Heaven must have sent you
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"Alone Again (Naturally)" is a song by Irish singer-songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan. It was released in 1972 at the same time as (but not on) the album, Back to Front. In total, the single spent six weeks, non-consecutively, at No. 1 on the United States Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 2 song for 1972. In Casey Kasem's American Top 40 of the 1970s, "Alone Again (Naturally)" ranked as the fifth most-popular song of the decade (Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life" was No. 1). "Alone Again (Naturally)" also spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart. The track reached No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart.
"Alone Again (Naturally)" is an introspective ballad, starting with the singer contemplating suicide after being left at the altar after his bride deserted him, and then telling about the death of his parents. O'Sullivan has said that the song is not autobiographical, as he did not know his father (who died when O'Sullivan was 11) very well, and that his father had mistreated his mother. His mother was alive at the time the song was written. O'Sullivan later commented “Neil Diamond covered "Alone Again (Naturally)" and said he couldn’t believe a 21-year-old wrote it, but for me it was just one song I had written”. The song is included on O'Sullivan's The Berry Vest of Gilbert O'Sullivan album (2004) on the EMI record label. Big Jim Sullivan plays the guitar break in the original recorded version of the song.

Gilbert O'Sullivan - Alone again, naturally
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Alone Again (Naturally)
Gilbert O'Sullivan

In a little while from now
If I'm not feeling any less sour
I promise myself to treat myself
And visit a nearby tower
And climbing to the top
Will throw myself off
In an effort to
Make it clear to whoever
Wants to know what it's like When you're shattered
Left standing in the lurch at a church
Were people saying, My God, that's tough
She stood him up
No point in us remaining
We may as well go home
As I did on my own
Alone again, naturally
To think that only yesterday
I was cheerful, bright and gay
Looking forward to who wouldn't do
The role I was about to play
But as if to knock me down
Reality came around
And without so much as a mere touch
Cut me into little pieces
Leaving me to doubt
Talk about, God in His mercy
Oh, if he really does exist
Why did he desert me
In my hour of need
I truly am indeed
Alone again, naturally
It seems to me that
There are more hearts broken in the world
That can't be mended
Left unattended
What do we do
What do we do

Alone again, naturally
Looking back over the years
And whatever else that appears
I remember I cried when my father died
Never wishing to hide the tears
And at sixty-five years old
My mother, God rest her soul
Couldn't understand why the only man
She had ever loved had been taken
Leaving her to start
With a heart so badly broken
Despite encouragement from me
No words were ever
And when she passed away
I cried and cried all day
Alone again, naturally
Alone again, naturally

Songwriters: O'sullivan
Alone Again (Naturally) lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group

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"Electric Youth" (Atlantic 88919; Atlantic UK A8919; Atlantic Japan 09P3-6130) is the seventh single from American singer-songwriter-actress Debbie Gibson, and the second from her second album Electric Youth (LP 81932). Produced by Fred Zarr and engineered by Phil Castellano for BiZarr Music, Inc., it became one of her most famous songs, peaking at number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100 and fourteen on the UK Singles Chart.Douglas Breitbart was executive producer.
Gibson had written the song as a statement about how young people of that era were seen and how their ideas were often ignored. As a teenager herself, she was a firm believer that the beliefs and ideas held by young people were just as important as those held by adults and the song reminded people of this. It also reminded them that the current youth would become the next generation of adults.
The music video was directed by Gibson and Jim Yukich and was nominated for a moonman at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Art Direction in a video.
In 2006, elements of the music video (particularly the silhouette dance clips) were parodied by Cobie Smulders in the sitcom How I Met Your Mother for her character Robin Sparkles' own 1990's ("The 80's didn't come to Canada 'til like '93.") hit single, "Let's Go to the Mall."

Debbie Gibson - "Electric Youth"
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"Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" is a song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. It was recorded by Elton John and released in 1976, both as a single and as part of the Blue Moves album. It was John's second single released by The Rocket Record Company. The song is a mournful ballad about a romantic relationship which is falling apart.

Elton John - Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
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"Bette Davis Eyes" is a song written and composed by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon, and made popular by American singer Kim Carnes. DeShannon recorded it in 1974; Carnes's 1981 version spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was Billboard's biggest hit of 1981.
The song was written in 1974 by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon. DeShannon recorded the song that same year on her album New Arrangement. In this original incarnation, the track is performed in an "R&B lite" arrangement, featuring a prominent uptempo piano part, as well as flourishes of pedal steel guitar and horns. However, it was not until 1981, when Kim Carnes recorded her version of the song in a radically different synthesizer-based arrangement, that "Bette Davis Eyes" became a commercial success.
The Carnes version spent nine non-consecutive weeks on top of the US Billboard Hot 100 (interrupted for one week by the "Stars on 45 Medley") and was Billboard's biggest hit of the year for 1981. The single also reached No. 5 on Billboard's Top Tracks charts and No. 26 on the Dance charts. The song won the Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. The song was also a number one hit in 21 countries and peaked at number 10 in the United Kingdom, her only Top 40 hit there to date.
According to producer Val Garay, the original demo of the tune that was brought to him sounded like "a Leon Russell track, with this beer-barrel polka piano part." The demo can be heard in a Val Garay interview on TAXI TV at 21:50. Keyboardist Bill Cuomo came up with the signature synth riff, using the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer, which now defines Carnes's version. The song was recorded in the studio on the first take.
Actress Bette Davis, then 73 years old, wrote letters to Carnes, Weiss, and DeShannon to thank all three of them for making her "a part of modern times," and said her grandson now looked up to her. After their Grammy wins, Davis sent them roses as well.
The song was ranked at number 12 on Billboard's list of the top 100 songs in the first 50 years of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Cleopatra Records released a re-recording of the song as a single in 2007.

Bette Davis Eyes - Jackie DeShannon


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"I Think We're Alone Now" is a song written and composed by Ritchie Cordell that was the title selection from a same-named album released by the American recording artists Tommy James and the Shondells. "I Think We're Alone Now" was a 1967 US hit for James and the Shondells, reaching number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song has since been covered several times by other artists. The late 1987 recording by Tiffanyreached number 1 on the charts of various countries including the US, UK, Canada, and New Zealand. Other cover versions have also charted, including those by The Rubinoos (number 45 US, 1977) and Girls Aloud (number 4 UK, 2006).

Tiffany - I Think We're Alone Now


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Bananarama - Venus
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"Dolce Vita" is a song by Italian musician Ryan Paris, released as a single in 1983. The song was composed by Pierluigi Giombini, keyboardist of "I Like Chopin" and "Masterpiece". It reached the top 10 in many countries. The music video was filmed on-location in Paris.

Ryan Paris - Dolce Vita
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"Lost in Emotion" is a song recorded by Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam that appeared on their 1987 album Spanish Fly. The song hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 17, 1987. The song was their second number-one single (having scored this first earlier in the year with "Head to Toe"). The song also went to number one on the Black Singles chart, and number eight on the dance chart.
Full Force member Lou George describes "Lost in Emotion" as "a combination" of two Mary Wells' hits: "Two Lovers" and "You Beat Me to the Punch", an idea which occurred to George as the result of his playing Wells' Greatest Hits album on which "Two Lovers" and "You Beat Me to the Punch" were sequential tracks. George - "We didn't steal the riffs: all we did was get the flavoring...We [used] a xylophone and some bells because back in the Motown days they always used those simple instruments."

Lisa Lisa Cult Jam - Lost In Emotion
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Angie Gold - Eat You Up
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