Tag Archives: Missing You song

Music Monday: June 24, 2024

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to this week’s edition of Music Monday.

Blog image for 2024

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Sir Raymond Douglas Davies CBE, more commonly known as Ray Davies, turned 80 this month. Born June 21, 1944 in London, England he is best known as the lead singer, primary songwriter & rhythm guitarist for The Kinks. They were founded in 1963 by he and his brother, Dave. Their debut album was released 60 years ago in 1964 and gave them their first hit, “You Really Got Me”. Ray reinvented himself as an MTV star in the early 1980’s which extended the band’s popularity that lasted for over three decades before they broke up in 1997.

Davies, who was knighted in 2017, has received numerous awards and accolades as a performer and songwriter, including a 2014 play based on his life that was named after a Kinks song, “Sunny Afternoon”.

Ray

Ray Davies photographed in 2011 for The Guardian. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Original MTV VJ Nina Blackwood has said that John Waite wrote his biggest hit, “Missing You”, about her.  I do not know if that is true, but we really should thank whomever he did write it about because that experience gave us one of the best broken heart songs out there.  It was released 40 years ago on June 23, 1984. It went to #1 that September for 1 week and came with an equally impressive video. I have loved this song forever and featured it during my Lockdown Countdown on Day 84.

Bluegrass-country artist Alison Krauss covered the song with Waite in 2007. He recorded an acoustic version for his 2004 album, The Hard Way. A documentary by the same name was recorded during the pandemic and released in 2022.

John Waite

John Waite circa 2010. (Image found on his website).

Prince’s sixth studio album, Purple Rain, was released forty years ago on June 25, 1984. It was the soundtrack to the movie of the same name that premiered a month later which served as the singer & multi-talented performer’s acting debut. The album spent 24 weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart and made hits out of the title track (peaked at #2 that year), “When Doves Cry” (#1 for five weeks that year), “Let’s Go Crazy” (#1 for two weeks that year) and “I Would Die 4 U” (peaked at #8 in 1985).

Prince was already a widely popular artist, but the album & the film took him to a level of stardom that was beyond massive. And he deserved every accolade he received. Both projects showed his range, talent, passion, discipline and soul. The title track became so incredibly popular we even heard Sophia singing along to it on “The Golden Girls” while playing air guitar in the season one episode, “That Was No Lady”. Leave it to a little old lady from Brooklyn by way of Sicily to give the legend from Minneapolis such a worthy tribute.

Prince 1

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

The Kinks: “All Day And All Of The Night” (1964, written by Ray Davies).

John Waite: “Missing You” (1984, written by John Waite, Mark Leonard and Charles Sandford).

Prince & The Revolution: “Purple Rain” (1984, written by Prince).

Stay safe & well.

Let’s Take A Moment Day 515

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Hi everyone.  Hope you are all well and continue to stay that way during this global health crisis we are facing.  But in addition to protecting your physical wellness, what are you doing to stay mentally healthy today?

Aug 2021 blog

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

I know we are still facing a serious situation but a new year gives us hope for the new days, seasons, opportunities & moments ahead. Still, music is something that will never change for me. It is my refuge, the most comforting part of my life & the one thing I consistently count on. So until a more normal semblance of life returns, I am going to share a song I listen to that helps me escape the current state of things, if only for a few minutes each day. And if this helps anyone else, even better.

Today we remember singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg, who was born 70 years ago on August 13, 1951 in IL, His father, the subject of his son’s 1981 song, “Leader Of The Band”, was the director of a local high school band. The younger Fogelberg taught himself guitar & piano, which led to his participation in his first band at the age of 14,

When he was in college he was performing on his own at small coffee houses. He was discovered in the early 1970’s and played in Nashville for a while to perfect his craft. His 1974 album, Souvenirs, was produced by future Eagle Joe Walsh, featured Gerry Buckley of America on acoustic guitar and Graham Nash, Randy Meisner and others on backing vocals.

Fogelberg’s 1982 song “Missing You” (Day 377) is my absolute favorite of his, with today’s coming in right behind it. In that glorious musical year that was 1978, he released Twin Sons Of Different Mothers, a collaboration with jazz flautist Tim Weisberg. This was a Top 30 hit for them and my favorite track from that album. And Fogelberg’s holiday inspired tune, “Same Old Lang Syne”, deserves a mention here as well as a poignant bridge between the post Christmas pre-New Year’s reflective pause.

“The letters and calls got you climbing the walls
And everyone wants a favor
They beg to remind you
Of times left behind you“.

Dan F

Dan Fogelberg circa 2000. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Dan Fogelberg and Tim Weisberg: “The Power Of Gold” (1978, written by Dan Fogelberg).

(I do not own the rights to anything.  I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.