Music History Today: January 29, 2021

January 29, 1972:  Bread released "Everything I Own."

“Everything I Own” is seen as one of the great romantic ballads of the 1970s. It appears straightforward: boy loses the love of his life, expresses deep regret, longs for her return. However, there is more to “Everything I Own” than that.

Bread

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The song was written by David Gates, the singer of Bread, a group who were airbrushed from rock history because they were never hip or rebellious. Instead the quartet relied on Gates’ winning way with melodies and lyrics. “Make It With You,” “If,” “Baby I’m-A Want You” — these songs were part of pop’s furniture during the early 1970s. 

Read more:  Financial Times

January 29, 1966: The Beatles captured the top of the charts with "We Can Work It Out" for the next week.

"We Can Work It Out" very much lived up to its title, even though the million-selling stand-alone single thrusts Beatles fans into the middle of a romantic disentanglement. Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison each made key contributions that created a sum-of-its-parts triumph.

The Beatles

Released on Dec. 3, 1965, "We Can Work It Out" began as a loose sketch written by McCartney in one of the bedrooms of a Heswall, Cheshire, house that he purchased for his dad the year before. He brought the idea to the Beatles, and a striking new fission began. 

Read more: Ultimate Classic Rock

 

January 29, 1970: Elvis Presley released his hit "Kentucky Rain."

Elvis Presley must have been overjoyed on the evening February 19th, 1969. A lengthy all night session just two nights earlier had proven that his initial run at Memphis’ American Sound Studios the month before hadn’t been a success. 

Elvis Presley

That February evening, while most of the sessions produced at least three masters per evening, this one only did two, but they were both smashes. Elvis seemed passionate, though, about the song he spent hours on in the earlier part of the evening – a haunting and eerie tale about a wanderer looking for a long lost love on a rainy Kentucky day.

Read more: Country Thang Daily

January 29, 1973: Johnny Rivers received a Gold record for the Billboard Number 6 hit single, "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu."

"Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu" is a song written and originally recorded by Huey 'Piano' Smith in 1957, who scored a minor hit with the song.

Johnny Rivers

In 1972 the song became an international hit single for Johnny Rivers, featuring Larry Knechtel on piano as well as other L.A. sessions musicians from the Wrecking Crew. "Rockin' Pneumonia" reached number six on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 during the winter of 1973. It was only Rivers' fifth highest charting song, but spent 19 weeks on the chart; much longer than any of his two dozen hits to that date. 

Read more: Wikipedia

 

January 29, 1977: "Car Wash" by Rose Royce was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for one week.

Although many know its remarkable title track, fewer may recall that Car Wash was actually the soundtrack to a 1976 comedy film that introduced comedian Richard Pryor into the mainstream. It became a word-of-mouth success, costing $2 million and turning in a gross profit of $20 million.

It also made a name of Rose Royce. Originally put together by Motown producer Norman Whitfield to back The Temptations on tour, they wrote the music for the film on the set, resulting in a double album – on which they played every note – that captured their remarkable creativity.  

Read more: BBC

Everything I Own
Bread