Calendar Search Results: song of a lyrics
November 30, 1977 Bing Crosby's last Christmas special airs. The program was recorded in September, and Crosby died that October. The show is remembered for Crosby's unusual duet with David Bowie, where they sing a modified version of "Little Drummer Boy," with Bowie singing the new "Peace On Earth" lyrics composed by the show's writers.
October 17, 1977 Lynyrd Skynyrd release Street Survivors, the last album with frontman Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines, as both are killed only three days later after the band's plane goes down en route to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.More
February 2, 1977 Shakira is born Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll in Barranquilla, Colombia. At 13, she gets a record deal with Sony Music – the first step on her path to becoming a worldwide superstar. More
December 8, 1976 An updated version of the musical drama A Star is Born debuts in movie theaters, starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, and featuring the Academy Award-winning chart-topper "Evergreen."More
May 25, 1976 In Salt Lake City, Utah, Bob Dylan performs "Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts" live for the first and only time. He writes some of the lyrics on his shirt in case he forgets mid-performance.
December 29, 1975 Time magazine introduces the phrase "Sex Rock" in an article taking aim at Donna Summer's "Love To Love You Baby."More
November 29, 1975 Silver Convention's "Fly, Robin, Fly" hits #1 in America for the first of three weeks. The disco tune has very few lyrics because the German group can't speak English.
August 24, 1974 Paul Anka's "(You're) Having My Baby" hits #1 for the first of three weeks despite condemnation from feminist groups.More
October 5, 1973 Elton John releases Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, his most successful studio album.More
April 12, 1973 In one of the show's most memorable moments, Stevie Wonder plays a funky, 7-minute live version of "Superstition" on Sesame Street.More
January 5, 1973 With a boulder on his shoulder, feelin' kinda older, 23-year-old Bruce Springsteen releases his first album, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.More
December 25, 1971 Noel Hogan (guitarist for The Cranberries) is born in Moyross, Limerick, England. He writes most of the music for their songs, with Dolores O'Riordan adding the lyrics.
June 19, 1971 Carole King's album Tapestry hits #1 in the US, where it stays for 15 weeks.More
February 10, 1971 Carole King releases Tapestry, a singer-songwriter landmark that becomes one of the most successful and influential albums ever made.More
January 30, 1969 The Beatles stage their famous rooftop concert on the roof of Apple Records in London. After performing a few songs, including "Get Back" and "Don't Let Me Down," the police shut them down as a large crowd gathers. It is The Beatles' last public performance.More
March 16, 1968 Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay" hits #1, becoming the first-ever posthumous #1 hit. Redding died in a plane crash on December 10, 1967.More
December 27, 1967 After establishing his career as a poet and writer, Leonard Cohen releases his first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen, on Columbia Records. The album doesn't sell particularly well at first, peaking at #83 on the Billboard charts, but Cohen's powerful voice and lyrics in oft-covered tracks like "Suzanne" and "So Long, Marianne" become highly influential.
April 20, 1967 Drummer Mike Portnoy is born in Long Beach, New York. A founding member of Dream Theater, he also writes many of the band's lyrics.
April 17, 1967 Liz Phair is born in New Haven, Connecticut; she is raised by her adoptive parents in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Winnetka, Illinois. She becomes a '90s indie-rock icon with her debut album, Exile In Guyville, a feminist treatment of the Rolling Stones' Exile On Main St.More
August 13, 1966 Napoleon XIV's goofy breakup song "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-haaa" peaks at #3 on the Hot 100. It quickly drops to the bottom of the Top 40, however, as several radio stations ban the tune, fearing its lyrics might be interpreted as being insensitive to the mentally ill.
December 4, 1965 The Byrds' "Turn! Turn! Turn!" hits #1 for the first of three weeks. Written by folk singer Pete Seeger, its lyrics come from the Bible's book of Ecclesiastes.
May 8, 1965 D.A. Pennebaker films Bob Dylan in one of the earliest music videos ever shot, the famous "flashcard" clip for "Subterranean Homesick Blues."More
October 1, 1962 Johnny Carson's Tonight Show makes its debut. The theme song ("Johnny's Theme") is written by Paul Anka, but as part of the deal, Carson writes some lyrics for the song that are published, but never used, earning him half of the royalties from the song, which are substantial, as the song runs throughout Carson's 30-year tenure on the show.
February 28, 1957 Cindy Wilson is born in Athens, Georgia, where along with her brother Ricky and three other friends, she forms The B-52s. On "Love Shack," she belts out one of the most famous (and misheard) lyrics of all-time: "tin roof, rusted!"
February 26, 1953 Michael Bolton is born Michael Bolotin in New Haven, Connecticut. Before reaching soft-rock stardom, he fronts a hard-rock band called Blackjack.More
December 30, 1946 Punk rock icon Patti Smith is born in Chicago. Never all that popular (her big hit is a reworking of "Because The Night," written by Bruce Springsteen), she's one of the most influential singer-songwriter-poets of her time.More
April 16, 1944 On shore leave from the Merchant Marines, Woody Guthrie arrives at Folkway Records' studios in New York City, where he starts recording with the label's founder, Moses Asch, in what becomes known as the "Asch recordings." Among the songs recorded during these sessions is "This Land Is Your Land," which becomes an iconic populist protest anthem, covered by countless artists including Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen.More
May 24, 1941 Bob Dylan is born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota. He moves to New York City in 1961, where he becomes the breakout star of the Greenwich Village folk scene, known for intricate, incisive, and often mysterious lyrics that are examined in great detail throughout his career. We're still trying to make sense of "Desolation Row."
December 27, 1927 Show Boat opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway, changing the paradigm for modern musicals.More
April 23, 1564 William Shakespeare, whose works inspire centuries of song lyrics, is born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. (The date is a best estimate; it's known that he was baptized on April 26.)
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