Music History Today: July 10, 2021

July 10, 1984: Huey Lewis and the News released "If This Is It." 

"If This Is It" by Huey Lewis and the News was released as the fourth single from their number-one album Sports in 1984.

Huey Lewis

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The music video for "If This Is It" was filmed in Santa Cruz, California, in June 1984. Huey is seen trying to reconcile with his ex-girlfriend (Janet Cross). The band appears in various scenes on the beach, one of which features them singing the chorus while buried in sand with only their heads visible. 

Read more: Wikipedia

July 10, 1936: Billie Holiday became the first major artist to record the classic song "Summertime," featured in the musical Porgy and Bess a year earlier.

Written in 1934, ‘Summertime’ was one of the first compositions George Gershwin worked on for his brand-new opera Porgy and Bess.

The jazz-inspired song is a lullaby for Clara to sing to her child. A year after the opera’s premiere, a 21 year old jazz singer called Billie Holiday recorded a version of ‘Summertime’; the first cover of the song that would reach the US charts. 

Read more: ENO

 

July 10, 1961: "Tossin' and Turnin'" by 28-year-old Bobby Lewis reached the top of the Billboard chart for the first of a seven-week run.

Bobby Lewis, an R&B singer with roots in both Indianapolis and Detroit, didn’t become a star on the back of “Tossin’ And Turnin’,” a song that Fireflies frontman Ritchie Adams wrote with Jackie Wilson in mind. Lewis only had one more hit after “Tossin’ And Turnin’.” 

Read more: Stereogum

 

July 10, 1971:  "Saturday Morning Confusion" by Bobby Russell entered the Top 100 singles chart.

Songwriter Bobby Russell scored a few hits as a recording artist but never became as well known as the famous songs he wrote, which include "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" and "Little Green Apples." 

Bobby Russell

"Saturday Morning Confusion," a wryly humorous song about a man coping with a hangover in a bustling household, was his biggest hit as a performer, reaching the Top 40 on the country and pop charts in 1971. 

Read more: Allmusic

July 10, 1982: "I Ran (So Far Away)" by A Flock Of Seagulls entered the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

"I Ran (So Far Away)" by the English new wave band A Flock of Seagulls was the second single released from their self-titled debut album. It topped the chart in Australia, reached number seven in New Zealand and number nine in the United States. 

A Flock Of Seagulls

It failed to make the top 40 in the band's home country, the United Kingdom. In an article for Rolling Stone titled, Anglomania: The Second British Invasion, Parke Puterbaugh wrote of the impact of the song's music video on its US chart success, "Fronted by a singer-synth player with a haircut stranger than anything you'd be likely to encounter in a month of poodle shows, A Flock of Seagulls struck gold on the first try." 

Read more: Wikipedia

 

If This Is It
Huey Lewis and the News