Rockin' Remnants
Rockin' Remnants is broadcast from WVBR-FM Ithaca. Check out our webpage, like us on Facebook, and tune in to 93.5 or stream the show every Saturday night from 6-9pm! (Or download the WVBR+ app now available for iOS and Android!)
Date: 6/3/17
Host: John Simon
Feature: Hodgepodge/Loose Ends
Breathtaking sunshiny day - time to play music that rises to the occasion on the Rockin' Remnants show, 6-9 this evening. It's cheap date night - got your radio on???
Tonight we'll play some leftover requests, we'll continue our spotlight on the great Burt Bacharach and we'll start with some spectacular sunshine music on this Ithaca Festival weekend.
Birthday Calendar
May 28 – Gladys Knight – age73
– John Fogerty (CCR) – age 72
May 31 – John Bonham (Led Zeppelin) – born in 1948
June 1 – Pat Boone – age 83
– Ron Wood (Rolling Stones) – age 70
– Graham Russell (Air Supply) – age 67
June 2 – Charlie Watts (Rolling Stoes) – age 76
June 3 – Ian Hunter – age 78
– Deneice Williams – age67
– Curtis Mayfield – born in 1942
– Michael Clarke (Byrds; Firefall) – born in 1944
Playlist
[songs in bold are from the spotlight date of DATE; yellow song titles are YouTube links; songs with * were requests; all chart information comes from the Billboard Top 100 (for chart dates before/during July 1958) or Billboard Hot 100 (for chart dates during/after Aug 1958) unless otherwise noted]
6-7pm
OPENING THEME: Good Old Rock ‘n’ Roll – Cat Mother & the All-Night Newsboys (1969, #29, produced by Jimi Hendrix)
Sunny - Bobby Hebb (6/66; #2 Billboard - we kick off tonight's show with some late-Spring sunshine music. This one made it to #1 on both the Cashbox and Record World charts. A classic!)
Since I Lost My Baby - Temptations (7/65; #17 - written and produced by Smokey Robinson and featuring the great David Ruffin, this one starts with "the sun is shining, there's plenty of light - a new day is dawning sunny and bright," just like today.)
Younger Girl - Critters (5/66; #42 - two versions were released on the same day. The Critters charted higher east of the Mississippi, while the Hondells won the west coast side. The big winner, though, was songwriter John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful.)
A Summer Song - Chad & Jeremy (8/64; #7 - a song that perfectly describes today's splendid weather. You'll hear again this summer and then again in the early Fall. A song for almost all four seasons!)
Help Me, Rhonda - Beach Boys (5/65; #1 for two weeks - the top record in the land on this date in 1965. Not really weather-related, but this is definitely a Beach Boys kind of day!)
* Lovers Who Wander - Dion (4/62; #3 - the caller said "before the Beatles and Beach Boys established the 'two-sided hit,' Dion did." 1961-62 was a great year for the Bronx singer: 'Runaround Sue' at #1, 'The Wanderer' at #2 and then this one at #3.)
(I Was) Born to Cry - Dion (4/62; #42 - deejays didn't know which was the "a-side." To me, this is the better of the two. Either way, songwriter Dion Dimucci cried all the way to the bank....)
In My Lonely Room - Martha & Vandellas (4/64; #44 - this one often gets overlooked by Oldies radio, but it's one of her best.)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band > With a Little Help From My Friends - The Beatles (5/67; dnc - released 50 years ago this week, this is considered to be one of the greatest albums of all time. Much has been written and said about it, and there are tribute events all over the world. Our contribution is to play the first two tracks from the coveted British mono edition of the album. Turn it up!)
Summer Rain - Johnny Rivers (11/67; #14 - released just months after the Beatles' LP, this one says "all Summer long we spent dancin' in the sand...while the jukebox kept on playin' 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band!")
* Taxi - Harry Chapin (3/72; #24 - this request came in two shows ago. It was Harry's first nationally-charting record and one of his most enduring. Sorry for the delay, Barbara - but it was worth the wait!)
I Can't Hear You No - Betty Everett (6/64; #66 - this single on the UNI Records label is purportedly one of Gerry Goffin's favorite of all of his productions. Mine, too.)
Green River - Creedence Clearwater Revival (8/69; #2 - although he was born in Berkeley and not "on the Bayou," John Fogerty created some great records. This one was climbing the chart just as the band was climbing the stage at Woodstock. Happy birthday!)
Rock 'n' Roll - Led Zeppelin (3/72; #47 - charged with picking a record to honor the drummer on his birthday, I chose this one. Any arguments???)
5-D - The Byrds (7/66; #44 - best known as interpreters of Dylan tunes, the band chose this Roger McGuinn composition for their next single. It wasn't a "smash," but it sounds great tonight!)
Fool For You - The Impressions (9/68; #22 - one of a long string of great records from the pen of the late and great Curtis Mayfield, this one opens with thundering drums. Bam!)
It's Gonna Take a Miracle - Deneice Williams (4/82; #10 Pop, #1 R&B for two weeks - this was originally a low-charter for The Royalettes. Laura Nyro recorded it for her album of the same name, but Ms. Williams had the massive hit with it. Happy birthday, Neicie!)
* Sylvia's Mother - Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show (4/72; #5 - one of several Pop hits written by Shel Silverstein. The caller remembers putting precious dimes in the pay phone for another few minutes to talk with his own girlfriend back in the day - back when a dime was a lot of money to some kids....)
* What Goes On - Beatles (3/66; #81 - this b-side to Nowhere Man was taken from the Rubber Soul LP. Our caller wanted to tape it off the radio tonight so that he could remember how to play it on his guitar. We aim to please, friends.)
Everynight - The Drifters (5/72; dnc - this stunning cover of the Paul McCartney tune was released on Bell Records in Europe and never charted. I sent it out to my friend Karen, tuning in from New England. She loves a good Soul record!)
And now we revisit our tribute to composer/arranger/pianist Burt Bacharach, who got an hour-and-a-half in my last show and it wasn't nearly enough. The hits just keep on coming!
Don't Make Me Over - Dionne Warwick (12/62; #21 - this was the first of sixty charting singles for the former back-up/demo singer, written for her in response to her demand that they stop "making her over!")
Baby It's You - The Shirelles (12/61; #8 - the Beatles did it. Smith did it. Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe did it as a duo. Here's the original. Sha la la la la la la-la!)
Make It Easy On Yourself - Walker Brothers (10/65; #16 Pop, #1 in the UK - Jerry Butler had a hit with it three years earlier. This is practically a carbon copy of his version. You can't keep a great song down.)
My Little Red Book - Love (4/66; #52 - this was one of a number of songs written for the movies. Manfred Mann had the British hit, but the proto-punk band from LA scored big with it here in the States.)
This Guy's In Love With You - Herb Alpert (6/68; #1 for four weeks - until this time, hardly anyone outside of A&M Records had ever heard Herb Alpert's voice. Burt Bacharach changed all of that - and played piano on it, too!)
I Say a Little Prayer - Aretha Franklin (8/68; #10 - an unusual and daring move, releasing a cover of a song so recently on the charts. Click here to see yet another version, from the movie My Best Friend's Wedding.)
The Look of Love - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 (5/68; #4 - this comes from the soundtrack to Casino Royale. Dusty Springfield released it a year earlier, but this is the definitive version.)
Walk On By - Isaac Hayes (8/69; #30 - Dionne Warwick recorded it first, but this version - edited down from an 11-minute album track - stands as a classic, too.)
I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself - Tommy Hunt (8/64; #119 - Dionne Warwick and Gary Puckett both had greater chart success with it - and Dusty Springfield and even the White Stripes recorded acclaimed renditions - but this is my favorite version of this Bacharach-David number. Chilling!)
* What the World Needs Now Is Love - Jackie DeShannon (5/65; #7 - this timeless anthem was requested by a long-time listener who knows his stuff. Good call!)
And now....back to our regularly-scheduled program!
Beast of Burden - Rolling Stones (9/78; #8 - featuring the guitar of Ron Wood and the drums of the great Charlie Watts, both on the Birthday Calendar this week.)
All the Young Dudes - Mott The Hoople (9/72; #37 - a Classic Rock staple featuring the venerable Ian Hunter, who continues to make records to this day.)
Midnight Train to Georgia - Gladys Knight & The Pips (10/73; two weeks at #1 Pop and #1 R&B for four weeks - Gladys and the boys had left Motown Records, but they kept scoring hits. This is one of their greatest.)
Lost In Love - Air Supply (2/80; #3 for four weeks - the first charting hit for this Pop group got stuck behind the likes of Queen and Pink Floyd and Blondie as it tried to reach #1. They'd go on to a hit-filled decade, though.)
You Are the Woman - Firefall (8/76; #9 - after he left the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers, drummer Michael Clarke helped form this soft Pop group and scored a few nice hits. This is one of them.)
Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy) - Al Green (9/74; #7 Pop, #3 R&B - an upbeat feel-good record from the smooth Soul balladeer.)
Overnight Sensation (Hit Record) - Raspberries (9/74; #18 - Eric Carmen tried his best to get a hit record out of this one, but it clocked in at 5+ minutes long and had a bombastic false ending that may have been off-putting to radio programmers. Still, this is one great record!)
* Summer Wind - Frank Sinatra (9/66; #25 - this one usually gets played in the Fall, but it was requested by one of our biggest Sinatra fans and got an enthusiastic "play more Frank!" comment on our FB page. This is how we closed the show.)
Congratulations to Leon from Ithaca, who won a pair of tickets to see the final show of the Kitchen Theater's season!
Host Next Week (6/10/17): Kim Vaughan with a spotlight on 1962
Thanks for tuning in! You can listen to Rockin' Remnants every Saturday night from 6-9pm on WVBR (93.5 FM in Ithaca, NY) or at wvbr.com/listen.
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