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

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"Long Train Runnin'" (or "Long Train Running") is a song recorded by The Doobie Brothers and written by band member Tom Johnston. It was included on the band's 1973 album The Captain and Me and released as a single, becoming a top 10 hit on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 8.
It was covered by Italian band Traks in 1982 and then by English girl group Bananarama in 1991. In 1993 the Doobie Brothers version was remixed and charted again in several countries, including reaching No. 7 in the UK Singles Chart.

Doobie Brothers - Long Train Runnin'
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City Boy were an English rock band in the late 1970s, characterised by complex vocal arrangements and heavy guitars. The band consisted of Lol Mason (lead vocals), Steve Broughton (guitar, lead vocals), Max Thomas (keyboards, guitar), Chris Dunn (bass, acoustic guitar), Roger Kent (drums), Mike Slamer (guitar), and later, Roy Ward (drums, vocals). Their most popular songs were "5.7.0.5." and "The Day the Earth Caught Fire"

City Boy - 5705
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"Owner of a Lonely Heart" is a song by British progressive rock band Yes. It is the first track and single from their eleventh studio album 90125, released in November 1983. Written primarily by guitarist and singer Trevor Rabin, contributions were made to the final version by singer Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, and producer Trevor Horn.
"Owner of a Lonely Heart" was released in October 1983, as the album's first single. It was a commercial success in the United States, becoming the band's first and only single to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and its Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. In 1984, the song reached No. 8 in the year-end charts in the US. The single was reissued various times throughout the 1980s and 1990s with different remix versions and B-sides.
The song has been sampled by various artists including Michael Jackson (in his song "D.S."), German pop-group Tic Tac Toe (in their song "Schubidamdam"), American rapper Kyper (in his song Tic-Tac-Toe), Frank Zappa (in live versions of his song "Bamboozled by Love"), Max Graham, whose 2005 single reached No. 9 in the UK and Grizzly Bear.

Yes - Owner Of A Lonely Heart


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"Leader of the Band" is a song written by Dan Fogelberg from his 1981 album The Innocent Age. The song was written as a tribute to his father, Lawrence Fogelberg, a musician and the leader of a band, who was still alive at the time the song was released. Lawrence died in August 1982, but not before this hit song made him a celebrity with numerous media interviews interested in him as its inspiration.
Released as a single at the end of 1981, the tribute peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in March 1982. It became Fogelberg's second #1 song on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, following his 1980 hit "Longer"

Dan Fogelberg - Leader of the Band


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"Vincent" is a song by Don McLean written as a tribute to Vincent van Gogh. It is also known by its opening line, "Starry Starry Night", a reference to Van Gogh's 1889 painting The Starry Night. The song also describes other paintings by the artist.
McLean wrote the lyrics in 1971 after reading a book about the life of van Gogh. It was released on McLean's 1971 American Pie album, and the following year the song became the No. 1 hit in the UK Singles Chart for two weeks. and No. 12 in the US. In the US, "Vincent" also hit No. 2 on the Easy Listening chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 94 song for 1972.
The song makes use mainly of the guitar but also includes the accordion, marimba, and strings.
The song was a particular favorite of the rapper and actor Tupac Shakur, and was played to him in the hospital just before he died
McLean said the following about the genesis of the song:

"In the autumn of 1970 I had a job singing in the school system, playing my guitar in classrooms. I was sitting on the veranda one morning, reading a biography of Van Gogh, and suddenly I knew I had to write a song arguing that he wasn't crazy. He had an illness and so did his brother Theo. This makes it different, in my mind, to the garden variety of 'crazy' – because he was rejected by a woman [as was commonly thought]. So I sat down with a print of Starry Night and wrote the lyrics out on a paper bag."

The Telegraph wrote "With its bittersweet palette of major and minor chords, "Vincent"'s soothing melody is one of high emotion recollected in tranquillity". AllMusic retrospectively described the song as "McLean's paean to Van Gogh ... sympathiz[ing] with Van Gogh's suicide as a sane comment on an insane world." The site also said McLean performs "a particularly poignant rendition of "Vincent" on the live album Starry, Starry Night

Don Mclean - Vincent

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"I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song" is the title of a posthumously-released single by the American singer-songwriter Jim Croce. The song was written by Croce and was originally released on his album I Got a Name.
It entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart at position #73 in March 1974. It peaked at #9 in April 1974, becoming his fifth Top 10 hit. In addition, the song went to #1 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart and reached #68 on the Billboard country music chart, Croce's only song to chart there.
This song is noted for the use of male backup singers, as well as a string section, that plays a counterpoint melody during the concluding instrumental.
Croce was killed in a small-plane crash in September 1973, the same week that a 45RPM single, the title cut from his studio album I Got a Name was released. After the delayed release of a song from his previous album ("Time in a Bottle") in late 1973, "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song" was chosen as the second single released from his final studio album.
Croce wrote the song in early 1973 when he arrived home and got into a disagreement with his wife, Ingrid. Instead of arguing with her, she has stated that Croce "went downstairs, and he started to play like he always did when he wrote ... the next morning, he came up early in the morning and sang it to me."
Ingrid Croce wrote an autobiographical cookbook, Thyme In A Bottle, in which she includes interesting anecdotes about Jim. She wrote the following about "I'll Have To Say 'I Love You' in a Song":

One weekend, after being on the road for many months, Jim got a chance to come home to relax with his family. We settled in to enjoy our time alone together. Though Jim was expecting company the next day, avoiding confrontation he never told me that we were to be joined by an entire film crew! The next morning, 15 people from Acorn Productions descended upon our house to record a promotional film of Jim Croce at Home on the Farm. I prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner for the whole film crew and after the group left, I questioned Jim about our finances. After a year and a half of his working so very hard on the road, we were barely making ends meet, but Jim wouldn't talk about it. He hated questions as much as he hated confrontation, especially about money. He stormed out of our bedroom and went down to the kitchen table to brood. The next morning he woke me gently by singing his new song. 'Every time I tried to tell you the words just came out wrong. So I'll have to say "I love you" in a song.

Jim Croce -- I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song
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We'd Like to Teach the World to Sing is the name given to two albums by UK pop group The New Seekers. The first of these, released in late 1971 was a repackaging of their previous album New Colours and was released in the US. The second version of the album was released in the UK and Europe in 1972 with a new line-up of tracks. Both albums however contained the song "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)".

New Seekers - I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing


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"You Needed Me" is a song written by Randy Goodrum, who describes it as being about "unconditional undeserved love". It was a number one hit single in the United States in 1978 for Canadian singer Anne Murray, for which she won a Grammy Award. In 1999, Irish pop band Boyzone recorded a hit cover of the song that hit number one in the UK Singles Chart.
"You Needed Me" was first recorded by singer Anne Murray in 1978. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and revitalized her career after several years of declining popularity as it became her first Top 40 US single since her 1974 remake of The Beatles' "You Won't See Me". The song, included on her 1978 album Let's Keep It That Way, was also a top-five country single and won Song of the Year at the Academy of Country Music awards, and is her most successful single in the United Kingdom where it made the top 30. Murray is quoted in The Billboard Book of Number One Hits by Fred Bronson as saying she was not surprised by the song's success, as she knew from the start the song would be a hit because she broke down in tears the first time she tried to sing it.
Although the song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (and is her only song to top that chart), it never topped the two Billboard charts where Murray has had the most success -- Country and Adult Contemporary. However, it spent a then-record 36 weeks on the Adult Contemporary chart, a record for chart longevity that stood until 1993.
The song earned Murray the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 21st Grammy Awards, the first to be awarded to a Canadian artist.
Anne Murray re-recorded the song with Shania Twain for Murray's 2007 album Duets: Friends & Legends.
The song was featured in an ongoing storyline on the CBS soap Guiding Light in 1980–81, as a theme song for the characters Kelly Nelson and Morgan Richards. In 2013, the song was performed by Seth MacFarlane in character as Stewie Griffin on the Family Guy episode "Chris Cross", in which Anne Murray herself guest-starred.

Anne Murray - You needed me


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I cried a tear, you wiped it dry
I was confused, you cleared my mind
I sold my soul, you bought it back for me
And held me up and gave me dignity
Somehow you needed me

You gave me strength to stand alone again
To face the world out on my own again
You put me high upon a pedestal
So high that I could almost see eternity
You needed me, you needed me

And I can't believe it's you I can't believe it's true
I needed you and you were there
And I'll never leave, why should I leave, I'd be a fool
'Cause I finally found someone who really cares

You held my hand when it was cold
When I was lost, you took me home
You gave me hope when I was at the end
And turned my lies back into truth again
You even called me friend

You gave me strength to stand alone again
To face the world out on my own again
You put me high upon a pedestal
So high that I could almost see eternity
You needed me, you needed me
You needed me, you needed me

 

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"The Logical Song" is a 1979 song performed by the English rock group Supertramp. The song was released as the lead single from their sixth studio album, Breakfast in America (1979), in March 1979 by A&M Records. "The Logical Song" is Supertramp's biggest hit in the United States and the United Kingdom. "The Logical Song" rose to No. 7 in the UK and No. 6 in the US Billboard chart. Paul McCartney named "The Logical Song" as his favourite song of the year. "The Logical Song" also appeared on Supertramp co-founder Roger Hodgson's live album Classics Live.
"The Logical Song" was written primarily by Roger Hodgson, the lyric based on his experience of being sent away to boarding school for ten years. It was a very personal song for Hodgson; he had worked on the song during soundchecks, and completed the lyrics and arrangement six months before proposing it to the band for the album.[5] In 1980, Hodgson was honoured with the Ivor Novello Award from The British Academy of Composers and Songwriters for "The Logical Song" being named the best song both musically and lyrically. "The Logical Song" also has the distinction of being one of the most quoted lyrics in schools.
Hodgson has said of the song's meaning: "'The Logical Song' was born from my questions about what really matters in life. Throughout childhood we are taught all these ways to be and yet we are rarely told anything about our true self. We are taught how to function outwardly, but not guided to who we are inwardly. We go from the innocence and wonder of childhood to the confusion of adolescence that often ends in the cynicism and disillusionment of adulthood. In 'The Logical Song,' the burning question that came down to its rawest place was 'please tell me who I am,' and that's basically what the song is about. I think this eternal question continues to hit such a deep chord in people around the world and why it stays so meaningful."
The lyrics have been said to be a condemnation of an education system focused on categorical jargon as opposed to knowledge and sensitivity.
Supertramp co-founder Rick Davies wrote the vocal harmony on the second chorus. The song makes use of keyboards, castanets, and an instrumental section. Among the contemporary sound effects in this song are the 'tackled' sound from a Mattel electronic football game and the Trouble "Pop-o-matic" bubble – both popular at the time this song was released
Rolling Stone called the song a "small masterpiece" praising the "hot sax" and Hodgson's "wry humor". The magazine also made comparisons between Hodgson and Ray Davies from the Kinks.

Supertramp - The Logical Song



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Journey - Don't Stop Believin'


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"Drivin' My Life Away" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Eddie Rabbitt. It was released in 1980 as the first single from his album Horizon. It reached number one on the Hot Country Singles in 1980, and peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written by Rabbitt, Even Stevens and David Malloy.
The song, a look into the life of the roadies and the long periods of time they spend away from home, was featured on the soundtrack of the 1980 movie Roadie starring Meat Loaf and Art Carney.
Although many of Rabbitt's successful songs were country-pop material, "Drivin' My Life Away" began his peak popularity as a crossover artist. The song peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, and set the stage for his biggest career hit: "I Love a Rainy Night," which reached the top on the country, Hot 100 and adult contemporary charts in early 1981. Two more crossover hits - "Step by Step" and "You and I" (the latter a duet with Crystal Gayle) - followed in 1981 and 1982.
On Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart, it was his seventh out of 17 career chart toppers, spanning from 1976 through 1990.
"Drivin' My Life Away" was certified gold for sales of 1 million units by the Recording Industry Association of America It has also sold a further 267,000 digital copies in the US since it became available for download.

Eddie Rabbitt - Drivin' my life away


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"I'm Every Woman" is the debut solo single by American singer Chaka Khan from her debut solo studio album Chaka (1978). It was Khan's first hit outside her recordings with the funk band Rufus. "I'm Every Woman" was produced by Arif Mardin and written by the successful songwriting team Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson. The single established Chaka's career outside the group Rufus, whom she would leave after their eighth studio album Masterjam was released in late 1979.
The track was remixed and re-released in 1989 for Khan's remix album Life Is a Dance: The Remix Project; this mix reached number 8 in the United Kingdom. American singer Whitney Houston would later cover the song in 1992 with production by David Cole and Robert Clivillés and vocals produced by Narada Michael Walden, turning it into a dance hit for a new generation.
In the United States, "I'm Every Woman" reached number twenty-one on the Billboard Hot 100, number one on the Hot Soul Singles, and number thirty on the disco chart. In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number eleven.
A music video was produced for Khan's version of "I'm Every Woman" at a time when the value of promotional films was increasing. The video, which features five dancing Chakas dressed in various outfits to represent "every woman," was made a few years before the onset of mainstream coverage of "music promos" through such outlets as MTV, VH1, and BET.

Chaka Khan - I'm Every Woman
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"Turn Your Love Around" is a pop/R&B single by George Benson. The song was written by Grammy winners Bill Champlin of Chicago, Steve Lukather of Toto and producer and guitarist Jay Graydon to help fill out Benson's 1981 greatest hits album, The George Benson Collection. The song won a Best R&B Song Grammy Award at the 25th Grammy Awards in 1983 for Champlin, Graydon, and Lukather as its co-writers.
"Turn Your Love Around" reached number one on the soul singles charts and number five on the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts in early 1982, as well as the top ten on the jazz chart. It is ranked as the 27th biggest hit of 1982. In Canada, the song spent two weeks at number 10.
The inspiration for the song came to Graydon in the bathroom. He explained to Songfacts, "'Turn Your Love Around' was a gift, and it's the gift that keeps giving. I was in the bathroom when I came up with the melody, and I was sitting down, if you get my drift. Well, I got off the can as fast as I could and got to a cassette machine so I wouldn't forget it. George Benson was coming in town Tuesday, so I had four days to come up with a song for The George Benson Collection. And I was gettin' nothing. And then bang! I just came up with this melody for the chorus when I was in the bathroom."
The song was one of the first pop hits to use a Linn LM-1 drum machine, programmed by the session drummer Jeff Porcaro.

George Benson - Turn Your Love Around
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"Smooth Operator" is a song by English band Sade from their debut studio album, Diamond Life (1984). It was released as the album's third single in the United Kingdom as a 7-inch single with "Spirit" as its B-side, and as a 12-inch maxi single with "Smooth Operator" and "Red Eye" on side A and "Spirit" on side B.
In the United States, "Smooth Operator" was released in February 1985, serving as the album's second US single. The song became Sade's first top-10 entry in the US, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in May 1985. It spent 13 weeks in the top 40, and also topped the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart for two weeks. Although "Your Love Is King" remains Sade's highest-peaking single in the UK to date, "Smooth Operator" is the band's breakthrough single on the US charts, and their most successful single internationally.
Ray St. John, who co-wrote "Smooth Operator" with Sade Adu, was previously a member of Adu's former band Pride, although he was not a member of the band Sade. The pair co-wrote the song in 1982 while still members of Pride, but did not get around to recording it because St. John left Pride shortly after Sade joined.
Sony Music Entertainment holds the license to this ballad.
"Smooth Operator" is about a fashionable, devious man who lives a jet-set lifestyle. He is popular with women and breaks many hearts. The lyrics "Coast to Coast/L.A. to Chicago/Western Male/Across the North and South to Key Largo/Love for sale" imply that he uses women to obtain his income. It is also clear that he does not hold sincere affection for these women, as Adu sings near the end, "his heart is cold." The video to this song reinforces the message and the operator appears to be a professional criminal. In one scene, he displays a gun to an interested customer and in others, he appears to be a pimp. He succeeds in evading law enforcement, who have him under surveillance.
This song is noted for Adu's spoken recitation in the song's introduction. Some radio edits have omitted the spoken introduction, and proceeded with the opening sung line of the title of the album, "Diamond Life". Some radio edits have shortened the instrumental saxophone solo, as well as the first repeat of the lines that come after the chorus portions.

Sade - Smooth Operator


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Shakatak - Nightbirds 2005
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[bobby]

 

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The Nolans are an Anglo-Irish girl group who formed in 1974 as The Nolan Sisters, before changing their name in 1980. They are best known for their hit single "I'm in the Mood for Dancing". Released in December 1979, the song reached number three in the UK in February 1980 and topped the Japanese charts in November 1980. Selling over 25 million records, they are one of the world’s biggest selling girl groups. They were particularly successful in Japan, becoming the first European act to win the Tokyo Music Festival with "Sexy Music" in 1981, and won a Japanese Grammy (Tokubetsu Kikaku Shō) in 1992.
Five of the sisters, Anne, Denise, Maureen, Linda, and Bernie, became regular guest performers on numerous television shows in the UK in the 1970s and supported Frank Sinatra on his 1975 European tour. Denise left for a solo career in 1978 and youngest sister Coleen, who previously had made occasional appearances (including appearing in the video for "I'm in the Mood for Dancing"), became a full-time member in 1980, replacing Anne. Between 1979 and 1982, the group had seven UK top 20 hits, including "Gotta Pull Myself Together" (1980), "Who's Gonna Rock You" (1980), "Attention to Me" (1981) and "Chemistry" (1981).
Anne returned to the group in 1982, and Linda left in 1984. Coleen, then Bernie, both left the group in the 1990s and from 1995 Anne and Maureen continued as a duo, and then recruited Julia Duckworth and Anne's daughter Amy Wilson in 2000. The group disbanded in 2005, with Maureen Nolan having been a permanent member for over 30 years.
Having pursued varying solo careers in acting, music and television presenting, Maureen, Linda, Bernie, and Coleen Nolan reformed in 2009 for the 30th anniversary of "I'm in the Mood for Dancing", with a 25-date concert tour of the UK and Ireland and the release of the I'm in the Mood Again album and live DVD. They also released a best-selling autobiography in 2011, titled Survivors: Our Story.

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"I'll Never Love This Way Again" is a Grammy Award-winning, Gold-certified 1979 hit recorded by American singer Dionne Warwick. The song was composed by Richard Kerr (music) and Will Jennings (lyrics) and produced by Arista labelmate Barry Manilow. The hit song was recorded for Warwick's first Arista label album titled Dionne (1979).
The song was Warwick's first single release on Arista after an unsuccessful tenure at Warner Bros. Records. The song brought Warwick renewed popularity when it reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #18 on the Billboard R&B Chart. In Canada, "I'll Never Love This Way Again" peaked at #6. The song won Warwick a 1980 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The tune was certified by the RIAA as Gold for sales of over 1 million copies and helped her Arista debut album, Dionne, be certified by the RIAA as Platinum for album sales of over 1 million copies.
The song was first recorded by Richard Kerr himself for his 1978 album Welcome To The Club as "I Know I'll Never Love This Way Again". Using the same title, the song was soon covered by Cheryl Ladd for her 1978 eponymous debut album. "I'll Never Love This Way Again" has also been recorded by Tom Jones, Billie Jo Spears, The Nolans, Regine Velasquez, Gary Valenciano, and Jona Viray.

Dionne Warwick "I'll Never Love This Way Again"


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"Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)" is a song by English singer Billy Ocean. Co-written and produced by Keith Diamond, it climbed to number-one on both the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and the Billboard Black Singles chart chart, and number six in the UK Singles Chart. The song won Ocean the 1985 Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, making him the first British artist to win in that category.
The saxophone solo is played by Vernon Jeffrey Smith.
The song was recorded under different titles for different parts of the world—resulting in versions such as "European Queen" and "African Queen". In the US, the song was released under the title "Caribbean Queen (No More Love on The Run)". It entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 85 on the chart dated 11 August 1984. It hit number one ten weeks later and stayed at the top of the chart for two consecutive weeks. The song charted for 26 weeks.
In 2004, the song was re-released as a digital single for its 20th anniversary, shooting up to no. 25 on the Billboard digital singles chart and garnering radio play across the US and UK.
In 1985, Melba Moore recorded an "answer song" on her album Read My Lips entitled "King of My Heart".
The song was also featured in the Miami Vice episode "Prodigal Son" from season 2.
An instrumental version of "Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)" was used during the starting lineup for CBS' telecast of the 1986 Daytona 500.
The song was played in two episodes of The King of Queens, during a flashback to Doug's failed bartending stint in the Season 7 episode "Pour Judgement" and again at his high school reunion in the Season 9 episode "Mild Bunch". Additionally, Danny is heard singing the song in the Season 8 episode "Move Doubt", although Spence later reveals that the song itself was never played on his Walkman.

Billy Ocean - Caribbean Queen


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"Sometimes When We Touch" is a 1977 ballad written by Dan Hill (lyrics) and Barry Mann (music) on the album Longer Fuse and also released that year as a single. It was Hill's biggest hit, peaking at #3 on the United States Billboard Hot 100 and #10 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Musicians included Bobby Ogdin (piano), Larrie Londin (drums), Bob Mann (guitar), Don Potter (guitar), Tom Szczesniak (bass). The record was produced by Fred Mollin and Matthew McCauley, recorded at Manta Sound, Toronto.
Manny Pacquiao sang this song on the November 3, 2009 showing of the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show. This was Pacquiao's first guest appearance on an American late night TV talk show and his first singing performance on American TV. He would later record this song in April 2011 as a single which reached number 19 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.

Dan Hill - Sometimes When We Touch



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