Music History Today: January 15, 2021

January 15, 1972: Don McLean's "American Pie" hits Number 1 in the US for the first of four weeks.

Don McLean outlined his lifelong struggle with having written “American Pie” and described it as a “biographical song.” He revealed that his favorite part of the work is its structure, rather than the lyrics that have come to represent an entire musical era.

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In a new interview with The Guardian, McLean explained that the 1971 hit single was a fusion of pop, rock ’n’ roll and folk music, with the slow intro, the main beat and the verse-chorus-verse assembly representing each genre. “I’ve never said that to anybody in 50 years,” he said. 

Read more: Ultimate Classic Rock

January 15, 1965: Bob Dylan records "Maggie's Farm" in Studio A at Columbia Recording Studios.

Dylan’s original version of “Maggie’s Farm” was recorded in New York City on a January 1965 session and was released in March later that year on the album, Bringing It All Back Home.  

Bob Dylan

Dylan set the album version to a rollicking Chicago electric blues, a sound that in recent years he has shown great interest in.  “Maggie’s Farm” is the first song Dylan played in his Sunday night set at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, backed by members of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band like Mike Bloomfield on electric guitar. 

Read more: American Songwriter

January 15, 1967: The Buckinghams record "Don't You Care."

"Don't You Care" is a single by The Buckinghams from the album Time & Charges. The song spent 14 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967, reaching No. 6, while reaching No. 1 in the Philippines, and No. 4 on Canada's RPM 100. 

Read more: Wikipedia

January 15, 1969: Creedence Clearwater Revival released the single "Proud Mary."

“Proud Mary”, backed with “Born on the Bayou”, was the first 45 rpm single Creedence Clearwater Revival released in 1969. It also opens the Bayou Country album. “Born on the Bayou” was going to be the first original single of the band, but radio went with “Proud Mary”. 

Creedence Clearwater Revival

“Proud Mary” peaked at #2 in the USA, #8 in the UK, #4 in Germany and #11 in the Netherlands. It was the first of the band's five singles that ended up at #2, and was the first million selling single for the group. 

Read more: The Electric Bayou

January 15, 1972: Jonathan Edwards only Billboard hit, "Sunshine," reached Number 4 on the chart.

Interviewer: ‘Sunshine’ is a protest song. What were its origins?

Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards: I wrote ‘Sunshine’ in 1970 in probably less time than it takes to sing it. It was the height of the Vietnam-Cambodia adventure there in Southeast Asia. I was really saddened by that and really angry.  

Read more: Alexandria Times

 American Pie
Don McLean