more brave than me
more blond than you
e e cummings
April 29, 2003: Leon Russell, Willie Nelson, and Ray Charles performed Leon's hit, "A Song For You," at Nelson's 70th birthday concert in New York's Beacon Theatre 2003.
"What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes was the first Top 40 hit by an openly lesbian group. The Indigo Girls never got higher than Number 52.
December 21, 1985: Bruce Springsteen's album, Born in the USA, passed Michael Jackson's Thriller to become the second longest-lasting LP on the Billboard US Top 10. It stayed there for 79 weeks. Only The Sound of Music with Julie Andrews lasted longer at 109 weeks.
English journalist John Harris interviewed Radiohead's singer and songwriter, Thom Yorke, for the NME in October 1992. Thom explained “Creep” to him:
March 4, 2006: Willie Nelson entered almost halfway up the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, at Number 52, with "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly (Fond of Each Other)."
Willie Nelson is truly an open-minded artist when he decided to cover a song that is not usually favored by the country crowd.
January 12, 1974: The Steve Miller Band topped the Billboard singles chart with "The Joker."
“Some people call me the space cowboy. Some call me the gangster of love.”
At the height of outlaw country, Willie Nelson pulled off perhaps the riskiest move of the entire bunch. He set aside originals, country, and folk and recorded Stardust, a collection of pop standards produced by Booker T. Jones.
The term "outlaw" had been bandied about after Waylon Jennings' 1972 hit "Ladies Love Outlaws," but it didn't permanently gel until the release of the album Wanted! The Outlaws in 1976.
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| Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings |
When Elvis Presley recorded "It's Now or Never" in 1960, he answered a challenge Frank Sinatra had issued three years earlier.
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| Elvis Presley |
July 18, 1980: The soundtrack to Honeysuckle Rose by Willie Nelson and Family was released
The soundtrack to Honeysuckle Rose is really a collection of songs by Willie Nelson and his Family band as well as a host of friends like Jody Payne, Johnny Gimble, Amy Irving, Hank Cochran, Jeannie Seely, Kenneth Threadgill, Dyan Cannon, and Emmylou Harris.
Honeysuckle Rose movie poster
June 12, 1999: "That Don't Impress Me Much" by Shania Twain peaked at Number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Shania Twain says "That Don't Impress Me Much" was never meant as a knock on Brad Pitt. In fact, as the singer-songwriter explained at a 2017 listening party, it all began when Playgirl magazine published naked photos of Pitt.
Shania Twain
In 2013, while rotating around the Earth, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded a cover of David Bowie's early career hit, Space Oddity.
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| Chris Hadfield |
April 29, 1933: Willie Nelson is born in Abbott, Texas.
Country singer and songwriter Willie Nelson rose to prominence at the end of the 1960s and contributed to the "outlaw country" subgenre, which challenged the music industry conservatism of Nashville at the time.
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| Willie Nelson |
April 20, 1968: "Lady Madonna" from the Beatles peaked at the number 4 position on the Hot 100 weekly chart.
Following a string of innovative singles, which were all so different from one another, The Beatles changed direction yet again. For their first single release of 1968, they went back to their roots for “Lady Madonna.”
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| The Beatles rehearsing in Miami Beach in 1964 |
“The Electric Horseman,” starring Hollywood immortals Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, was released in late 1979. Jimmy Carter was president, Americans were held hostage in Iran, inflation was out of control.
November 24, 1991: Freddie Mercury of Queen died of AIDS-related bronchial pneumonia at age 45.
Freddie Mercury, rock's showman incarnate, died last night, 24 hours after he confirmed he was suffering from Aids.
