1967 - Aretha Franklin's classic version of Otis Redding's "Respect" was released. Franklin's version is so definitive that most people assume she was the first to record the song.
It was Aretha's idea to cover this song. She came up with the arrangement, added the "sock it to me" lines, and played piano on the track. Her sister Carolyn, who sang backup on the album, also helped work up the song.
Engineer, Tom Dowd: She and Carolyn were the ones who conceived of it coming from the woman's point of view instead of the man's point of view, and when it came to the middle, Carolyn said, 'Take care, TCB.' Aretha jumped on it and that was how we did 'Respect.'"
The "ree, ree, ree, ree..." refrain is a nod to Franklin's nickname, Ree (as in A-Ree-tha).
1975 - Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" marks the end of the Vietnam War as the American Radio Service plays the tune during the Fall of Saigon - a signal for American personnel to evacuate.
The evacuation signal for Americans was an announcement by the American Radio Service stating the temperature in Saigon as "105 degrees and rising," followed by "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby - a song you would never hear in April. Around 11 a.m. local time on April 29, they made the broadcast, signaling American personnel to evacuation points in the city where helicopters airlifted them to safety.
1976 - After a gig in Memphis, Bruce Springsteen took a cab to Elvis Presley's Graceland. As he approaches the gates he notices that a light is on in the house, and so heady with the confidence of youth and newfound fame he scales the wall and runs across to the front door. Before he is able to knock on the door, a security guard intercepts him. Bruce asks if Elvis is home, and is informed that the King is away in Lake Tahoe. Springsteen proclaims his fame, pointing out that he had recently made the covers of both Newsweek and Time magazines, but it falls on deaf ears and he is escorted from the premises.
Birthdays:
Duke Ellington, composer of more than 1,000 pieces for piano and big bands, was born on this day in 1899. He was the most important composer in the history of jazz as well as being a bandleader who held his large group together continuously for almost 50 years. The two aspects of his career were related; Ellington used his band as a musical laboratory for his new compositions and shaped his writing specifically to showcase the talents of his bandmembers, many of whom remained with him for long periods. Ellington also wrote film scores and stage musicals, and several of his instrumental works were adapted into songs that became standards.
Lonnie Donegan was born on this day in 1931. He's relatively little remembered outside of England, but Donegan is credited as the founder of the skiffle genre, a style of music ( a kind of gumbo combining blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz) that inspired and influenced 1960s British pop musicians, including the Beatles. His signature song was "Rock Island Line."
Willie Nelson is 91. As a songwriter and performer, Willie Nelson has played a vital role in post-rock & roll country music. Although he didn't become a star until the mid-'70s, he spent the 1960s writing songs that became hits for stars like Ray Price ("Night Life"), Patsy Cline ("Crazy"), Faron Young ("Hello Walls"), and Billy Walker ("Funny How Time Slips Away"), as well as releasing a series of records on Liberty and RCA that earned him a small but devoted cult following. During the early '70s, Willie abandoned Nashville for his native Texas, setting up shop with the redneck hippies in Austin and taking control of his music on the landmark Shotgun Willie (1973) and Phases & Stages (1974). Nelson found a kindred spirit in Waylon Jennings and, together, they spearheaded the outlaw country movement that finally made him a star by 1975. Following the crossover success of that year's Red Headed Stranger and "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," Nelson became a genuine success, as recognizable in pop circles as he was to country audiences; in addition to recording, he also launched an acting career in the early '80s. (Photo by Robert Mora/Getty Images)
Blues guitarist and singer-songwriter Otis Rush ("I Can't Quit You Baby", covered by Led Zeppelin) was born today in 1934. His esteemed status as a prime Chicago innovator was eternally assured by the ringing, vibrato-enhanced guitar work that remained his stock in trade and a tortured, super-intense vocal delivery that could force the hairs on the back of your neck upwards in silent salute. Stevie Ray Vaughan named his band Double Trouble after Rush's song of the same name.
German artist, musician Klaus Voorman, was born on this day in 1942. He played bass with Manfred Mann and the Plastic Ono Band. Voorman designed the cover for The Beatles album Revolver . As a session musician he worked on a host of recordings, including 'You're So Vain' by Carly Simon.
Motown singer Tammi Terrell was born on this day in 1945. Singer Tammi Terrell joined forces with the immortal Marvin Gaye to create some of the greatest love songs ever to emerge from the Motown hit factory; sadly, their series of classic duets -- "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing," and "You're All I Need to Get By" among them -- came to an abrupt and tragic halt with her premature death. In 1967 she collapsed in Gaye's arms while in concert at Virginia's Hampton-Sydney College, and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She finally died in 1970. Gaye was so devastated by her decline and eventual passing that he retired from the road for three years.
Tommy James, leader of Tommy James and the Shondells, is 77. Few stars had a better run on the pop charts in the '60s than Tommy James. As the leader of his group the Shondells, James had a strong, expressive voice and a way with upbeat pop tunes with a solid rock & roll punch. He crafted superior AM pop/rock tunes like "Hanky Panky," "I Think We're Alone Now," "It's Only Love," and "Mony Mony." Then, as psychedelia worked its way into mainstream acceptance later in the decade, James kept up with the times on the hits "Crimson and Clover" and "Crystal Blue Persuasion."
R.I.P.:
1993 - Guitarist, producer, Mick Ronson died aged 46. Ronson recorded and toured with David Bowie from 1970 to 1973. Released the 1974 solo album 'Slaughter On Tenth Avenue'. Ronson co-produced Lou Reed's album Transformer, also part of Hunter Ronson Band with Ian Hunter. And worked with Dylan, Morrissey, Elton John, and John Mellencamp (he arranged Jack and Diane, saving the song after John had thrown it in the trash heap),
On This Day In Music History was sourced, curated, copied, pasted, edited, and occasionally woven together with my own crude prose, from This Day in Music, Allmusic, SRV Official, Song Facts and Wikipedia.
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