The absolute best rendition of this song. No one sang this like Jim. What a voice. May God rest his soul.

From 1965 to 2024, The Impossible Dream has been recorded by many artists, but this version is probably my favorite…

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“Save the Last Dance for Me” is a song written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, first recorded in 1960 by American musical group the Drifters with Ben E. King on lead vocals. It has since been covered by several artists, including Tommy Leonetti, the DeFranco Family, Dolly Parton, and Michael Bublé.

In a 1990 interview, songwriter Doc Pomus tells the story of the song being recorded by the Drifters and originally designated as the B-side of the record. He credits Dick Clark with turning the record over and realizing “Save the Last Dance” was the stronger song. The Drifters’ version of the song, released a few months after Ben E. King left the group, would go on to spend three non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. pop chart, in addition to logging one week atop the U.S. R&B chart.  In the United Kingdom, the Drifters’ recording reached No. 2 in December 1960.  This single was produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, two noted American music producers who at the time had an apprentice relationship with a then-unknown Phil Spector. Although he was working with Leiber and Stoller at the time, it is unknown whether Spector assisted with the production of this record; however, many Spector fans have noticed similarities between this record and other music he would eventually produce on his own. 

In the song, the narrator tells his lover she is free to mingle and socialize throughout the evening, but to make sure to save him the dance at the end of the night.  During an interview on Elvis Costello‘s show Spectacle, Lou Reed, who worked with Pomus, said the song was written on the day of Pomus’ wedding while the wheelchair-using groom watched his bride dancing with their guests. Pomus had polio and at times used crutches to get around.  His wife, Willi Burke, however, was a Broadway actress and dancer. The song gives his perspective of telling his wife to have fun dancing, but reminds her who will be taking her home and “in whose arms you’re gonna be.”

The song was composed in 1967 by Chip Taylor, who said of it: “I wrote ‘Angel of the Morning’ after hearing the Rolling Stones song ‘Ruby Tuesday‘ on the car radio when I was driving into New York City. I wanted to capture that kind of passion.”

“Angel of the Morning” was originally offered to Connie Francis, but she turned it down because she thought that the lyrical message was too risqué for her image.

Taylor produced the first recording of the song with Evie Sands, but the financial straits of Cameo-Parkway Records, which had Sands on their roster, led to a highly limited single release and no promotion.

The second recording was by UK vocalist Billie Davis, made in 1967 by Danny Michaels for Lee Hazlewood‘s LHI label; however, this version failed to make an impact. Davis’ version was later included on her 1970 debut album Billie Davis. P. P. Arnold provided backup vocals for that version and later released a version herself on her 1968 album Kafunta.

The highest-charting and best-selling version in the United States was recorded and released in 1981 by country-rock singer Juice Newton for her album Juice. Newton re-interpreted the song at the suggestion of Steve Meyer, who promoted Capitol Records singles and albums to radio stations and felt that a version of the song by Newton would be a strong candidate for airplay.  Newton stated that she would never have thought of recording “Angel of the Morning”, even though she immediately recognized the song when Meyer played it for her: “I [had not been] really aware of that song because…when [it] was popular I was listening to folk music and R&B and not pop, and that was a very pop song.”

Newton’s version reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 22 on the Billboard country music chart, and spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart in April of that year.  The recording also earned Newton a Grammy nomination, in the same category as Rush’s 1968 hit, at the 24th Annual Grammy Awards. More than one million copies of Newton’s single were sold in the United States, and it reached the Top 5 in a number of other countries, including Canada (number 1), Australia (number 2), South Africa (number 3), Switzerland (number 4) and New Zealand (number 5). Notably, Newton’s video for “Angel of the Morning” was the first country music video aired on MTV, debuting the day the network launched, in 1981. In the UK, the recording reached No. 43 on the UK Singles Chart, marking the song’s third appearance on that chart without becoming a major hit.  Newton recorded the song again in 1998 for her album The Trouble with Angels.

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“Elusive Butterfly” is a popular song written by Bob Lind, released as a single in December 1965, which reached number 5 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the adult contemporary chart in the spring of 1966.  It also reached number 5 in the UK, after entering the charts on 19 February 1966, remaining there for five weeks.  In Australia, Lind’s “Elusive Butterfly” entered the charts on April 10, 1966, and spent three weeks at number 2 during July of that year.

Bob Lind wrote “Elusive Butterfly” around sunrise while pulling an all-nighter in 1964: at that time he was living in Denver, performing at local folk clubs. Lind credits the song’s inspiration as the W. B. Yeats‘ poem “The Song of Wandering Aengus“, stating: “I wanted to write something that [like Yeats’ poem] had the sense we feel of being most alive when we’re searching or looking or chasing after something. That expectation is more life affirming than getting the thing you’re after.”  The song was originally five verses long and, with the instrumental passages Lind included, its performance time approximated ten minutes: (Lind quote:) “I played it for everybody I knew but I didn’t [think] ‘Man, this is my best song: it’s going to be a hit [that] millions of people [will] hear…It was just another [Bob Lind] song. I was thrilled [then] by everything I wrote.”

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“Mr. Tambourine Man” was written and composed in early 1964, at the same approximate time as “Chimes of Freedom“, which Dylan recorded later that spring for his album Another Side of Bob Dylan.  Dylan began writing and composing “Mr. Tambourine Man” in February 1964, after attending Mardi Gras in New Orleans during a cross-country road trip with several friends, and completed it sometime between the middle of March and late April of that year after he had returned to New York.  Nigel Williamson has suggested in The Rough Guide to Bob Dylan that the influence of Mardi Gras can be heard in the swirling and fanciful imagery of the song’s lyrics.  Journalist Al Aronowitz has stated that Dylan completed the song at his home, but folk singer Judy Collins, who later recorded the song, has stated that Dylan completed the song at her home.  Dylan premiered the song the following month at a May 17 concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall.

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“Wake Me Up When September Ends” is a song by the American rock band Green Day and the fourth single from their seventh studio album, American Idiot (2004). Written by the band’s front man Billie Joe Armstrong, the song is about the death of Armstrong’s father in September 1982 and his life since. The song’s lyrics have also been interpreted in other ways, including as a song about the victims and survivors of the September 11 attacks. The song is a rock ballad, starting with an acoustic guitar and later introducing an electric guitar and bells. It was recorded at Ocean Way Recording.

The song was released as a single on June 13, 2005, through Reprise Records. 

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Anne Murray’s “A Little Good News,”  captures so perfectly how a torrent of negative news stories can damage the psyche.  This was in 1983, mind you, when news was limited to the newspaper, radio, and broadcast television.  If Murray was craving a little good news in 1983, I truly hope she’s staying away from cable news and social media today!

This was a big record for Murray that rewarded her releasing a song so atypically topical.  It brings out shades in her voice that she rarely utilized, as she gives a surprisingly gritty performance that expresses her anger and frustration at the negativity of the news cycle.

Forty years later, we could use a little good news more than ever, making this one of those rare topical songs that resonates beyond its specific time and place.  Here’s hoping that, great as this record is, it won’t always be so timely and relevant.  

“500 Miles” (also known as “500 Miles Away from Home” or “Railroaders’ Lament“) is a song made popular in the United States and Europe during the 1960s folk revival. The simple repetitive lyrics offer a lament by a traveler who is far from home, out of money, and too ashamed to return. In a May 1963 interview on Folk Music Worldwide, Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary characterized the song, which   on the group’s 1962 debut album, as “a reflection of loneliness.”

The song is generally credited as being written by Hedy West, and a 1961 copyright is held by Atzal Music, Inc. “500 Miles” is West’s “most anthologized song”. Some recordings have also credited Curly Williams, or John Phillips as co-writers, although Phillips admitted he had only rearranged it and “didn’t deserve the credit”. David Neale writes that “500 Miles” may be related to the older folk song “900 Miles” (Roud 4959), which may itself have origins in the Southern American fiddle tunes “Reuben’s Train” and “Train 45”.Johnny Cash is known to have included “500 Miles” on his list of 100 essential country songs in the early 1970s.

“Mack the Knife” originated in a 1928 German play, The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper), by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, serving as a “murder ballad” for the gangster anti-hero Macheath (Mackie Messer). The song’s history traces back to the 18th-century play The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay, which featured a highwayman character and critiqued corruption. In the 20th century, Louis Armstrong and Bobby Darin brought the song to prominence with popular jazz and pop versions in the late 1950s, solidifying its place in mainstream culture.  

“Chain Gang” is a song by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke, released as a single on July 26, 1960.

This was Cooke’s second-biggest American hit, his first hit single for RCA Victor after leaving Keen Records earlier in 1959, and was also his first top 10 hit since “You Send Me” from 1957, and his second-biggest pop single. The song was inspired after a chance meeting with an actual chain gang of prisoners on a highway, seen while Cooke was on tour.

Have a safe and happy Labor Day!