“Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” is a folk song written by American singer-songwriter Pete Seeger in 1955. Inspired lyrically by the traditional Cossack folk song “Koloda-Duda”, Seeger borrowed an Irish melody for the music and published the first three verses in Sing Out! magazine. Additional verses were added in May 1960 by Joe Hickerson, who turned it into a circular song. Its rhetorical “where?” and meditation on death place the song in the ubi sunt tradition. In 2010, the New Statesman listed it as one of its selections of the “Top 20 Political Songs”.
The 1962 album version of the song was released as part of the Columbia Records Hall of Fame 45 single series in 1965 as 13–33088. The recording of the song by Pete Seeger was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002 in the Folk category with the release year given as 1964 as a Columbia Records single.
Other than the last 30 seconds, which contains a guitar solo by May, the song is generally set in a cappella form, using only stomping and clapping as a rhythmic body percussion beat. In 1977, “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions” were issued together as a worldwide top 10 single. Soon after the album was released, many radio stations played the songs consecutively, without interruption.
Since its release, “We Will Rock You” has been covered, remixed, sampled, parodied, referred to, and used by multiple recording artists, TV shows, films and other media worldwide. It has also become a popular stadium anthem at sports events around the world, mostly due to its simple rhythm. On 7 October 2017, Queen released a Raw Sessions version of the track to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of News of the World. It features a radically different approach to the guitar solo and includes May’s count-in immediately prior to the recording.
“Islands in the Stream” is a song written by the Bee Gees and recorded by American country music artists Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. It was released in August 1983 as the first single from Rogers’s fifteenth studio album Eyes That See in the Dark. The Bee Gees released a live version in 1998 and a studio version in 2001.
The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, giving each of Rogers and Parton their second pop number-one hit (after Rogers’s “Lady” in 1980 and Parton’s “9 to 5” in 1981). It also topped the Country and Adult Contemporary charts. In 2005 the song topped Country Music Television‘s poll of the best country duets of all time; Parton and Rogers reunited to perform the song on a CMT special. As of May 2023, it has been triple certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for three million certified units.
Named after the 1970 novel by Ernest Hemingway, the song was originally written for Diana Ross in an R&B style but later reworked for the duet by Rogers and Parton.
It has been claimed that the song was also intended for Marvin Gaye. This is attributed to a 2001 Good Morning America interview with the Bee Gees. When Barry Gibb said the song was written for Ross, Robin Gibb interrupted and said, “No, we wrote it for Marvin Gaye … We sent it to him but he was dead so it was a bit difficult for him to sing it.” Gaye actually died in 1984, a year after the recording. Separately, Robin Gibb has said the song was stylistically written “… as a Tamla kind of soul song in a Marvin Gaye type feel”, though not asserting it was for Gaye. In other interviews, Barry Gibb has always maintained that Ross was the original artist for the song with no mention of Gaye.
For licensing reasons, the song was not included on the digital release of Eyes That See in the Dark from Capitol Records Nashville. Sony Music, the current owner of RCA Records, protected copyrights in the recording, which is digitally available only in various compilations from Sony Music, especially those of Dolly Parton.
“(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone” is best known as a hit for the Monkees. Released in November 1966, the song became the first Monkees B-side to chart, reaching #20 on the Billboard Hot 100.[4] Musicians featured on the recording are Micky Dolenz (lead vocal), Tommy Boyce (backing vocal), Wayne Erwin and Gerry McGee (rhythm guitar), Louis Shelton (lead guitar), Bobby Hart (Vox Continental organ), Larry Taylor (bass), Billy Lewis (drums) and Henry Lewy (percussion).
The single, stereo album, and mono album versions contain several differences. In the stereo version, the track’s title is sung just before the second verse, whereas on the single and mono album versions, this segment is left instrumental. The stereo version has an edit in the fadeout, but the mono album version does not have this edit and therefore has a longer coda. The single also does not have the edit, but it fades out earlier than does the mono album. All Monkees hits compilations through the mid-1980s used the stereo version, and afterward typically used the single version.
The Monkees’ version is featured in the “romp” segments of several episodes of the group’s television series. It has also been heard in episodes of shows such as The Queen’s Gambit and Zoo.
“Dancing in the Street” is a 1964 hit song by Martha & The Vandellas, released on Motown’s Gordy label. Co-written by Marvin Gaye, it peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is celebrated as an iconic Motown anthem for summer and social unity, often mistaken as a protest song.
“Nice to Be with You” is a 1972 song, from the album of the same name, by Gallery.
On Dick Clark‘s American Bandstand of February 26, 1972, “Nice to Be with You” – which had just debuted on that day on the Hot 100 – received a “lousy” average of 57.5, on a scale from 35 to 98, on the “Rate-a-Record” segment of the show. Nevertheless, the group performed the song on the May 13, 1972 American Bandstand.
It became an international top 5 hit, reaching No. 4 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 on Cashbox, WCFL, and WLS. It also reached No. 1 in Canada. The song reached No. 4 in Australia and No. 2 in New Zealand.
“I’m into Something Good” is a song composed by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and made famous by Herman’s Hermits. The song was originally recorded by Cookies member Earl-Jean on Colpix Records in 1964.
“(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone” is a rock song written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. It was first recorded by the English band the Liverpool Five in early 1966 but remained unreleased before summer of that same year. In the meantime, the American band Paul Revere & the Raiders recorded the song which appeared on their album Midnight Ride, released in May 1966.
“(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone” is best known as a hit for the Monkees. Released in November 1966, the song became the first Monkees B-side to chart, reaching #20 on the Billboard Hot 100. Musicians featured on the recording are Micky Dolenz (lead vocal), Tommy Boyce (backing vocal), Wayne Erwin and Gerry McGee (rhythm guitar), Louis Shelton (lead guitar), Bobby Hart (Vox Continental organ), Larry Taylor (bass), Billy Lewis (drums) and Henry Lewy (percussion).
“Carry On Wayward Son” is a song by American rock band Kansas, released on their 1976 studio album, Leftoverture. Written by guitarist Kerry Livgren, the song became the band’s first top 40 hit, reaching No. 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in early 1977.
While Kansas’ previous three albums had split songwriting duties between lead vocalist Steve Walsh and band member Kerry Livgren, the latter essentially provided all the material for the band’s fourth album release, Leftoverture. According to Livgren, “On the very first day of rehearsals, Steve…said that he had nothing – not a single song. I don’t relish that kind of pressure, but with hindsight it really brought out the best in me.” Although based in Atlanta, Georgia, Kansas had returned to its Topeka, Kansas, home town to work up material for what would be the Leftoverture album, the band rehearsing in a vacant store in a strip mall the material Livgren was working up on a Lowrey organ at his parents’ home where he was staying. “Carry On Wayward Son” was written after the band had completed rehearsals. Livgren, who perceived the song as being “beamed down” to him in full, in 2004 stated: “It’s an autobiographical song. Parallel to my musical career I’ve always been on a spiritual sojourn, looking for truth and meaning. It was a song of self-encouragement. I was telling myself to keep on looking and I would find what I sought.”
Virginia officials confirm that Blue Ridge Benny has officially begun his court-ordered community service after what experts are calling “a highly emotional weather betrayal.”
For a brief, dangerous 72 hours, Virginians were led to believe spring had arrived. The sun showed up. Windows came down. Porches filled up. Hope… returned.
Then Virginia did what Virginia does.
The fog rolled back over the Blue Ridge Mountains. The rain came sideways. And the temperature dropped like it remembered it had standards.
Authorities say Benny will now spend the week cleaning roadsides near Skyline Drive, picking up everything from crushed cans to broken dreams.
Meanwhile, residents across Virginia are once again checking the forecast like it’s a toxic relationship.
Virginia is for lovers… and apparently, weather-related trust issues.
