Music History Today: June 7, 2020

June 7, 1958: Prince was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

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In 1993, Prince announced that he would no longer go by the name Prince, but rather by a "Love Symbol" which was a mash-up of the gender symbols for man and woman. The symbol was a rebellion against Prince's record label, Warner Bros. He first signed with the company back in 1977 when he was still a teenager. 

Read more: BBC

June 7, 1969:  The Who released the single "I'm Free."

Pete Townshend has claimed that the song was partly inspired by the song "Street Fighting Man" by the Rolling Stones.  "'I'm Free' came from 'Street Fighting Man.' This has a weird time/shape and when I finally discovered how it went, I thought 'well blimey, it can't be that simple,' but it was and it was a gas and I wanted to do it myself." — Pete Townshend 

Read more:  Wikipedia

June 7, 1971: Don McLean recorded "Vincent."

McLean wrote “Vincent,” also known as “Starry, Starry Night,” in the fall of 1970, while he was working for the Berkshire School District. He was living in the Sedgwick House, a beautiful Federal style house in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The Sedgwick family included Edie Sedgwick, a colorful figure whom Andy Warhol had filmed in the 1960s. 

Read more:  Don McLean

June 7, 1971: Carole King's album "Tapestry" was awarded a Gold record. 

Carole King’s second album, Tapestry, has fulfilled the promise of her first and confirmed the fact that she is one of the most creative figures in all of pop music. 

It is an album of surpassing personal-intimacy and musical accomplishment and a work infused with a sense of artistic purpose. It is also easy to listen to and easy to enjoy. 

Read more:  Rolling Stone  (album review Apr 29, 1971)

June 7, 1976:  Capitol Records released "Got To Get You Into My Life" by the Beatles. 

This is a song about a man falling in love – with marijuana.  "It's actually an ode to pot, like someone else might write an ode to chocolate or a good claret," McCartney explained to writer Barry Miles for the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now. The earthy, horn-driven number was written "when I had first been introduced to pot.… So 'Got to Get You Into My Life' is really a song about that, it's not to a person." 

Read more: Rolling Stone

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