“Runaway” was written by Shannon and keyboardist Max Crook, and became a major international hit. Singer-guitarist Charles Westover and keyboard player Max Crook performed together as members of “Charlie Johnson and the Big Little Show Band” in Battle Creek, Michigan, before their group won a recording contract in 1960. Westover took the new stage name “Del Shannon”, and Crook, who had invented his own clavioline-based electric keyboard called a Musitron, became “Maximilian”. The Musitron is what is heard during the break in this song. It is No. 472 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, compiled in 2010.

Del explained how the song was born:

“‘We were on stage [at the Hi-Lo Lounge in Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1960] and Max (Crook) hit an A minor and a G and I said, ‘Max, play that again, it’s a great change.'” The drummer, Dick Parker, followed them and after 15 minutes, the manager of the club shouted, ‘Knock it off, play something else.'”

Charlie went to work the next day in his job as a carpet salesman with those chords stuck in his mind, and by the time he took the stage that night, he’d written a song called “Little Runaway” around them—(A-minor) “As I walk along I” (G) “wonder, what went wrong…”. It would be three more months before Shannon and his band could make it to a New York recording studio to record the song that Shannon now saw as his best, and possibly last, shot at stardom. As he told Billboard magazine years later, “I just said to myself, if this record isn’t a hit, I’m going back into the carpet business.” Del Shannon sold his last carpet a few months later, as “Runaway” roared up the pop charts on its way to #1 in April 1961.

Like most stars of his generation, Shannon was primarily regarded as an Oldies act through the 70s and 80s, but he was in the midst of a concerted comeback effort in early 1990, with a Jeff Lynne-produced album of original material already completed (“Rock On”) and rumors swirling of his taking the late Roy Orbison’s place in The Traveling Wilburys. This only added to the shock experienced by many when Shannon shot himself in his Santa Clarita, California home on February 3, 1990. Following his death, the Traveling Wilburys honored him by recording a version of “Runaway”.

Shannon’s widow would later file a high-profile lawsuit against Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of the antidepressant Prozac, which Shannon had begun taking shortly before his suicide. That suit was eventually dropped, but the case brought early attention to the still-unresolved question of the possible connection between suicidal ideation and SSRIs, the class of drugs to which Prozac belongs.

Shannon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2005.

Tom Petty makes reference to this in “Runnin’ Down A Dream”. The line is, “…The trees went by, me and Del were singing, a little runaway…”

Here is Del doing “Runaway” on the David Letterman Show in 1987.

Hits: 47

Big Mama (Willie Mae) Thornton was born in Ariton, Alabama, on December 11, 1926. She was exposed to music at a young age in the church where her father was a minister, and grew up singing in its choir, along with her mother and six siblings. Willie Mae also learned drums and harmonica, perhaps from a brother who was an outstanding player, later known as “Harp” Thornton. Her mother died young, when Thornton was only 14 years old, and Willlie Mae left school and got a job washing and cleaning spittoons in a local tavern.

In 1940 she left home and, with the help of Diamond Teeth Mary, music promoter Sammy Green soon discovered Thornton and recruited her to join his Atlanta-based Hot Harlem Revue. She remained with the group for seven years, contributing drum and harmonica parts to the show as well as vocals. In 1948, she settled in Houston, Texas, determined to advance her career as a singer. She would tour the southeast with the group for seven years.

Thornton relocated to Houston to get off the road and take advantage of their burgeoning club scene. There she met bandleader Johnny Otis and promoter Don Robey, who were impressed that in addition to singing she could play harmonica and drums. In 1951, she was signed to her first record contract by Peacock Records. A year later, she was headlining shows at the Apollo Theatre, where she first became known as ‘Big Mama’ (Thornton stood 6 feet tall and weighed over 300 pounds).

In 1953, she would release the biggest hit of her career – “Hound Dog”. In August 1952, at a recording session in southwest Los Angeles, she was approached by the young songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller — soon to become rock & roll legends. They offered her a 12-bar blues vocal called “Hound Dog,” which she liked and paired on a single with her own “They Call Me Big Mama” on the B-side.

In an interview with music critic Ralph Gleason, Thornton recalls, “They were just a couple of kids and they had the song written on the back of a paper bag.” Authorship of the song is a matter of dispute, however. Both Johnny Otis, who produced the track, and the songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller have claimed credit for the song.

She added a few lyrics and toyed with the rhythm. The song would go on to top the rhythm and blues charts for nine weeks after its release. Her exuberant “Hound Dog,” laden with open sexual references, whoops, and barks, was released nationwide in 1953 and soon topped the R&B charts. Despite its sale of two million copies, Thornton received only $500, the flat fee for recording.

In contrast, Elvis Presley’s 1956 version:

Which was heavily refined for mainstream audiences, brought him both fame and considerable financial reward.

Thornton originally recorded her next most popularly known song, “Ball ‘n’ Chain” for Bay-Tone Records in the early 1960s, “and though the label chose not to release the song…they did hold on to the copyright” — which meant that Thornton missed out on the publishing royalties when Janis Joplin recorded the song later in the decade. However, there are released versions of the song by Big Mama.

It was not until Janis Joplin covered Thornton’s “Ball ‘n’ Chain” that it became a hit. Thornton did not receive compensation for her song, but Joplin gave her the recognition she deserved by having Thornton open for her. Joplin found her singing voice through Thornton, who praised Joplin’s version of “Ball ‘n’ Chain”, saying, “That girl feels like I do.” Janis’ famous performance at the 1967 Monterey pop festival stunned the audience and brought her to the wider attention of the music world.

Thornton subsequently received greater recognition for her popular songs, but she is still underappreciated for her influence on the blues, rock & roll and soul music. Thornton’s music was also influential in shaping American popular music. The lack of appreciation she received for “Hound Dog” and “Ball ‘n’ Chain” as they became popular hits is representative of the lack of recognition she received during her career as a whole.

Thornton was found dead at age 57 by medical personnel in a Los Angeles boarding house on July 25, 1984. She died of heart and liver disorders due to her longstanding alcohol abuse. She had lost 255 pounds (116 kg) in a short time as a result of illness, her weight dropping from 350 to 95 pounds (159–43 kg).

During her career, Thornton was nominated for the Blues Music Awards six times. In 1984, she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. In addition to “Ball ‘n’ Chain” and “They Call Me Big Mama,” Thornton wrote twenty other blues songs. Her “Ball ‘n’ Chain” is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame list of the “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll”.

Hits: 44

“I Heard It Through the Grapevine” was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records in 1966. Strong came up with the idea and asked Motown writers Holland-Dozier-Holland to work on it with him. They refused to credit another writer, so Strong took it to Whitfield, who helped put it together. The song eventually became a Motown classic, but it had a rough start, as executives at the company thought it was too bluesy and lacked hit potential.

Smokey Robinson and the Miracles were the first to record the song, but their version wasn’t released until 1968 on an album called Special Occasion.

The Isley Brothers then took a crack at it, but their version wasn’t released. Whitfield and Strong then had Marvin Gaye record the song but still no luck: Motown head Berry Gordy chose Holland-Dozier-Holland’s “Your Unchanging Love” over “Grapevine” as his next single. Finally, a new Motown act Gladys Knight and the Pips recorded the song as a gospel rocker. The first recording of the song to be released was produced by Whitfield for Gladys Knight & the Pips and released as a single in September 1967.

The Marvin Gaye recording has since become an acclaimed soul classic.

In 2004, it was placed on the Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. On the commemorative fiftieth anniversary of the Billboard Hot 100 issue of Billboard magazine in June 2008, Marvin Gaye’s “Grapevine” was ranked sixty-fifth. It was also inducted to the Grammy Hall of Fame for “historical, artistic and significant” value.

Hits: 59

The song was primarily written by vocalist Gregg Allman, who first began composing it at a rented cabin outside of Macon, Georgia. He enlisted the help of roadie Robert Kim Payne to complete the song’s lyrics. He and Payne broke into Capricorn Sound Studios to complete a demo of the song. Gregg Allman’s solo version of the song, released in 1973, was its biggest chart success.

“Midnight Rider” originated during the group’s time spent at Idlewild South, a $165-a-month farmhouse they rented on a lake outside of Macon, Georgia. Allman felt free to smoke marijuana with no police around, which contributed to his writing at the cabin.

Its genesis was quick: the song came to him out of nowhere, and he completed a rough draft in just over an hour of writing. He found himself stuck on the song’s third verse, which he regarded as an especially important component of the song: “it’s kind of the epilogue to the whole thing,” he later wrote.

In the middle of the night, he went to roadie Kim Payne, who was keeping watch over the band’s warehouse, where they kept their equipment.

Payne helped him write the first two lines of the third verse: “We were getting high and, honestly, he was starting to irritate me—because he was singing this song over and over and I got sick of hearing the band play the same shit over and over again until they got it right,” Payne later recalled. “So I just threw out the line, ‘I’ve gone past the point of caring / some old bed I’ll soon be sharing.'”

Thankful for Payne’s help, he told him he would give him a percentage of its royalties should it become a success. Payne was not originally listed as a songwriter on the song, so he later had Allman contact Phil Walden to produce a contract that allowed him five percent of its future royalties.

Allman wanted to record it immediately, but had no keys to Capricorn Sound Studios, which was adjacent to the warehouse. They phoned both producer Johnny Sandlin and Paul Hornsby who “told us to go to hell, come back in the morning,” according to Payne.

Intent on recording the song, Allman and Payne broke into the building, with Payne smashing a window on a door to allow him to unlock it. After managing to turn on the recording console and microphones, Allman recorded a demo by himself on acoustic guitar.

Unable to find the band members, he enlisted friend Twiggs Lyndon to perform bass guitar on a rough demo, though Lyndon did not know how to play the instrument. Allman instructed him to play the bassline he had envisioned and Lyndon practiced it multiple times to prepare.

He later found Allman Brothers drummer Jaimoe and had him perform congas on the demo. In the final studio recording, Duane Allman plays acoustic guitar, as he had enough studio experience to produce a nice acoustic sound.

Allman called it “the song I’m most proud of in my career.”

“Midnight Rider” uses traditional folk and blues themes of desperation, determination, and a man on the run:

I’ve got one more silver dollar,
But I’m not gonna let ’em catch me, no …
Not gonna let ’em catch
The midnight rider.

Music writer Jean-Charles Costa stated in 1973 that, “‘Midnight Rider’ has been recorded by other bands and it’s easy to see why. The verse construction, the desperate lyrics, and the taut arrangement make it standout material,” while musician and writer Bill Janovitz said that the recording successfully blended elements of blues, country music, soul music, and Southern rock.

“Midnight Rider” has been a concert staple for the band in decades since; it is usually played fairly closely to the original template, and was not used as the basis for long jams until the Allman Brothers’ annual New York City run in 2010.

While the original Allman Brothers release of the song did not chart, “Midnight Rider” was much more successful in cover versions. The verses arrangement features Duane Allman’s acoustic guitar carrying the song’s changes, underpinned by a congas-led rhythm section and soft, swirling organ. Dickey Betts’ lead guitar phrases ornament the choruses and the instrumental break, while Gregg Allman’s powerful, soulful singing, featuring harmony-producing reverb, has led to the song becoming known by some as Allman’s signature piece.

Hits: 69

“Starship Trooper” was written by Jon Anderson, Steve Howe and Chris Squire that first appeared on Yes’ 1971 album The Yes Album. The song is in three parts, “Life Seeker,” “Disillusion” and “Würm.”

Anderson was aware of the title of Starship Troopers, the 1959 novel by Robert A. Heinlein, and from that got the idea of a “Starship Trooper being another guardian angel and Mother Earth”.

“Starship Trooper” was constructed from pieces of music written separately by Anderson, Howe and Squire. Anderson was the primary author of “Life Seeker.” Squire wrote most of the “Disillusion” section; this section had earlier been used with slightly different lyrics as the bridge for the song “For Everyone”, with Squire providing the lead vocals. Howe had written the instrumental “Würm” section while he was in an earlier band (Bodast).

The song was heavily constructed in the recording studio, and as a result the band were never able to play it live quite the way it was recorded. The song changes mood, rhythm, tempo and style continually.

Authors Pete Brown and Lisa Sharken describe the “Würm” section as “a Bolero-paced chord sequence that builds into an explosive solo”. They note that Howe’s solo incorporates rockabilly and country music elements rather than on blues-based music with distortion as is typical for these types of solos.

A theme of “Life Seeker” is the search for God. Anderson has stated that the lyrics:

Mother life hold firmly onto me
Spread my knowledge higher than the day
Release as much as only you can show

Refer to “the point within yourself that knows you,” which we call “God.” The lyrics accept the fact that “no matter how much you want to get clearer visions of what you’re up to, you’re only going to get a certain amount.”

The song uses UFO imagery. Other themes that have been inferred for the song include new age ideas and environmentalism.

Hits: 62

This was written by Ray’s good friend Percy Mayfield, an R&B singer who was badly disfigured in a car accident soon after he started performing. In 1952, at the height of his popularity, Mayfield was severely injured when he was returning from a performance in Las Vegas to Los Angeles as the front-seat passenger in a chauffeur-driven car. The vehicle hit the back of an unseen stationary truck, and Mayfield was hit by debris. Though pronounced dead at the scene, he eventually recovered but spent two years convalescing. The accident left him with a facial disfigurement that eventually ended his career as a performer but did not halt his prolific songwriting. Mayfield cut back his touring and made his mark as a prolific songwriter, with Ray Charles recording at least 15 of his songs.

It became famous after it was recorded by the singer-songwriter-pianist Ray Charles with The Raelettes vocalist Margie Hendrix. They were lovers for a time, but the song is not about their relationship.

“Hit the Road Jack” won a Grammy award for Best Rhythm and Blues Recording. The song is ranked number 387 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

Hits: 38

“Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” is a song written by Bennie Benjamin, Gloria Caldwell and Sol Marcus for the jazz singer and pianist Nina Simone, who first recorded it in 1964. Nina Simone’s orchestrated downtempo rendition appears on her 1964 album “Broadway-Blues-Ballads”. The beginnings of “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” came with composer and arranger Horace Ott, who came up with the melody and chorus lyric line after a temporary falling out with his girlfriend (and wife-to-be), Gloria Caldwell. He then brought it to writing partners Bennie Benjamin and Sol Marcus to complete. However, when it came time for songwriting credits, rules of the time prevented BMI writers (Ott) from officially collaborating with ASCAP members (the other two), so Ott instead listed Caldwell’s name on the credits.

“Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” has been covered by many artists, most notably by The Animals, whose blues rock version of the song became a transatlantic hit in 1965.

The Animals’ lead singer Eric Burdon would later say of the song, “It was never considered pop material, but it somehow got passed on to us and we fell in love with it immediately.” In a 2010 interview with Eric Burdon, he said: “I’ve really been misunderstood. By my mom, my dad, school teachers, a couple of the women that I married. I’ve been misunderstood all of my life.”

The Animals sped up the tempo and made prominent use of a guitar and organ riff that was picked out and expanded from an element that originally appeared in the Simone recording’s outro. In Animals concerts at the time, the group maintained the recorded arrangement, but Burdon sometimes slowed the vocal line down to an almost spoken part, recapturing a bit of the Simone flavor.

This single was ranked by Rolling Stone at #322 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Hits: 67

(Admin Note: That’s a playlist of the complete album. Yes, yes we do have that the ability to make that work! It’s more complicated than it looks, but that should work on all browsers that support YouTube.)

Pretzel Logic is the third studio album by Steely Dan, released on February 20, 1974 by ABC Records. It was written by principal band members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen.

They recorded the album at The Village Recorder in West Los Angeles with producer Gary Katz. It was the last album to feature the full five-member band of Becker, Fagen, Denny Dias, Skunk Baxter, and Jim Hodder. Although on this recording, drummer Hodder appeared on vocals only. It also featured significant contributions from many prominent Los Angeles–based studio musicians.

The album was a commercial and critical success upon its release. Its hit single “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” helped restore Steely Dan’s radio presence after the disappointing performance of their 1973 album Countdown to Ecstasy. Pretzel Logic was reissued on CD in 1987 and remastered in 1999 to retrospective acclaim from critics.

It was produced by Gary Katz and written primarily by Walter Becker and bandleader Donald Fagen, who also sang and played keyboard. The album marked the beginning of Becker and Fagen’s roles as Steely Dan’s principal members.

They enlisted prominent Los Angeles–based studio musicians to record Pretzel Logic, but used them only for occasional overdubs. Steely Dan’s Jeff “Skunk” Baxter played pedal steel guitar and hand drums.

Steely Dan often incorporated jazz into their music during the 1970s. Baxter’s guitar playing drew on jazz and rock and roll influences. On Duke Ellington’s “East St. Louis Toodle-oo”, he imitates a ragtime mute-trombone solo.

Certain songs incorporate additional instrumentation, including exotic percussion, violin sections, bells, and horns. Music critic Robert Christgau wrote that the solos are “functional rather than personal or expressive, locked into the workings of the music”

Hits: 49

This is from Johnny Winter’s fifth studio album, and his first since “Johnny Winter And” almost three years earlier. It was released by Columbia Records in 1973. Many of the songs on the album have a more rock-oriented power trio sound, with Randy Jo Hobbs, formerly of the McCoys, on bass. He also gets some help from Rick Derringer—a former McCoy as well—on electric, pedal steel, and click guitars; Todd “Hello It’s Me” Rundgren on keyboards; Mark “Moogy” Klingman (later of Rundgren’s Utopia) on piano; and Jeremy Steig on flute.

The Winter brothers, Johnny and Edgar, were born in the mid-1940s in Beaumont, Texas, hometown of The Big Bopper and Blind Willie Johnson, and both attended special education classes in high school. Edgar, a musical child prodigy, mastered a plethora of instruments, while Johnny—the elder brother by two years—focused on the guitar, mandolin, and harmonica.

Johnny recorded his first single at 15, and released his first LP in 1968, after Columbia Record execs caught the Fillmore East gig that same year at which Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper invited Winter on stage to jam. Within a year he was playing Woodstock, and recording on and off with brother Edgar, and by 1970 he was incorporating rock into his blues. He was sidetracked for several years by a bad heroin habit, but cleaned up his act just in time to record 1973’s Still Alive and Well

The fast and furious “Still Alive and Well” opens with Winter saying, “I’m hungry, let’s do this fucker,” at which point his guitar takes over. Meanwhile he sings like a survivor:

Did you ever take a look to see who is left around
Everyone I thought was cool is six feet underground

And even throws a joke at his own expense into the chorus:

I’m still alive and well, still alive and well
Every now and then I know it’s kind of hard to tell
But I’m still alive and well

He plays a pair of flabbergasting solos, and barks and screams, and I’ll be damned if this isn’t the best song about doing junk and living to tell about it since Dion’s great “Your Own Backyard.”

Hits: 61