Happy Sunday, Musicologists! We are here in The Mermaid Lounge where we never sleep and the music never stops. It has been running 24/7 since February of 2017.
Here’s Sunday’s musical lesson:
January 17, 1963: The Beatles played their usual lunchtime gig at The Cavern Club, and then at the Majestic Ballroom in Birkenhead in the evening. The Majestic tickets all sold in advance. With literally hundreds of fans turned away, it was definitely time to look for a bigger venue.
January 17, 1964: The Rolling Stones released their first EP, which included You Better Move On, Poison Ivy, Bye Bye Johnny, and Money.
January 17, 1966: The Turtles released the song You Baby on this day. By the way, The Turtles were a great little band.
January 17, 1967: The Daily Mail ran a story about a local council survey finding 4,000 holes in the road in Lanashire, inspiring John Lennon’s contribution to the Beatles’ amazing A Day In The Life.
Also on this day, the Jimi Hendrix Experience recored a session for Radio Luxembourg’s Ready Steady Radio. The band ran up a $6.21 bar bill which they could not afford to pay. That would change soon.
January 17, 1970: The Doors performed the first of several concerts at the Felt Forum in New York City.
Also on this day, Led Zeppelin II would take over the #1 Album spot from Abbey Road after an 11-week run.
January 17, 1972: Neil Young released the great single Heart of Gold, with friends Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor singing background vocals.
Meanwhile, Paul Simon released his hit Mother and Child Reunion.
And a section of Highway 51 in South Memphis, Tennessee, was renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard. It was intended to be the entire road, but a church objected to their section being named after Elvis the Pelvis. No sense of humor.
January 17, 1974: Joni Mitchell’s amazing album, Court and Spark, was released on this day.
Bob Dylan also released Planet Waves on this day.
January 17, 1975: Bob Dylan released another great album on this day a year later called Blood On The Tracks.
Born On This Day
January 17, 1927: The amazing Eartha Kitt was born on this day in North, South Carolina.
January 17, 1949: Mick Taylor, guitarist for both John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and the Rolling Stones, was born in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England.
January 17, 1955: Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Steve Earle was born in Fort Monroe, Virginia. Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, Gretchen Peters, and Shawn Colvin have covered his tunes.
And that is it for today’s lesson. Back with the line-up soon.
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