Tag Archives: Sir Duke

Music Monday: September 28, 2026

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

#musicmonday #musicblog #musicandlyrics

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Sixty-five years ago in 1961, Sam Cooke released two albums, both produced by Brill Building songwriters & producers, Hugo Peretti & Luigi Creatore (their most well known hit is Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love”, also released in 1961).

Swing Low, Cooke’s sixth studio album, was released February 1961. The first single-a song he wrote himself-was released in July 1960 and peaked at #2 three months later that October. Of Cooke’s four career Top Ten hits, this song was his highest charting single. The other three were “Twistin’ The Night Away” (peaked at #9 in March 1962), “Another Saturday Night” (reached #10 in May 1963) and “Shake” (peaked at #7 in February 1965). Cooke’s first hit, “You Send Me” reached #1 for two weeks in December 1957.

His seventh album, My Kind of Blues, was released in October 1961. Nearly all 12 tracks were covers of mostly standards by songwriters like Rodgers & Hart, the Gershwin brothers and Irving Berlin.

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Several albums by Stevie Wonder are celebrating milestone anniversaries this year, including his 1976 masterpiece which produced two of his ten #1 hits in his nearly 65 year career (he also has 28 Top Ten hits to date).

Sixty years ago he released two albums. His fifth, Up-Tight, which features the title track and a Bob Dylan cover amongst the 12 tracks, came out on May 4, 1966.

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Later that year on November 16, 1966, Wonder released his sixth album, Down To Earth, featuring the hit he co-wrote (“Hey Love”), the Holland-Dozier-Holland penned “My World Is Empty Without You” and another Dylan cover.

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

On April 9, 1971 Wonder’s 13th album, Where I’m Coming From, was released. Her co-wrote all of the songs with his first wife, Syreeta Wright.

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

His 1976 triple album, Songs in the Key of Life, was released 50 years ago on September 28, 1976. It was Wonder’s 18th studio album and included the hits “I Wish” (#1 for one week in January 1977) and “Isn’t She Lovely” which was about the birth of his daughter, Aisha Morris. My favorite lyric is from “Sir Duke” (#1 for three weeks in May 1977):

“Music is a world within itself with a language we all understand“.

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, the English rock band formed in 1971, released their seventh studio album, The Roaring Silence, 50 years ago in August 1976. The first single-a cover of a Bruce Springsteen song from his debut album, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.-reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for one week on February 19, 1977. It was the second of three songs MMEB covered by Springsteen & all three songs were taken from his first album. Their 1975 release, Nightingales & Bombers, has a cover of “Spirit In The Night” (altered to “Spirits In The Night”) while their 1980 album, Chance, has a cover of “For You”.

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Sam Cooke: “Chain Gang” (1961, written by Sam Cooke).

Sam Cooke: “But Not for Me” (1961, written by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin).

Sam Cooke: “Since I Met You Baby” (1961, written by Ivory Joe Hunter).

Stevie Wonder with Clarence Paul: “Blowin’ in the Wind” (1966, written by Bob Dylan).

Stevie Wonder: “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” (1966, written by Henry Cosby, Sylvia Moy and Stevie Wonder).

Stevie Wonder: “A Place In The Sun” (1966, written by Ron Miller and Bryan Wells).

Stevie Wonder: “Hey Love” (1966, written by Morris Broadnax, Clarence Paul and Stevie Wonder).

Stevie Wonder: “If You Really Love Me” (1971, written by Stevie Wonder and Syreeta Wright).

Stevie Wonder: “Sir Duke” (1976, written by Stevie Wonder).

Stevie Wonder: “I Wish” (1976, written by Stevie Wonder).

Manfred Mann’s Earth Band: “Blinded By The Light” (1976, written by Bruce Springsteen).

Stay safe & well.

Let’s Take A Moment Day 340

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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?

Feb 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.

I try not to dwell on songs, singers or groups I do not like because even if I am not a fan, someone else is. I may pray for that someone else to acquire better taste in music, but I respect their right to be hopelessly misguided. Also, I realize how much work goes in to making a record from the singer to the songwriter, to the musicians, producers, engineers, record company people who release & market the song to the radio station people who will hopefully decide to play it. It is a long chain with many links. But I am human and sometimes I cannot help myself. For instance, I often write about how fabulous 1978 was for music. And it was. The year before, however, not as much.

It may have had some bright moments with #1 songs like “Got To Give It Up” by Marvin Gaye, “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac (Day 325) and “Sir Duke” by Stevie Wonder. But the top spot in 1977 also featured irredeemably low moments like “Da Doo Ron Ron” by Shaun Cassidy, “Undercover Angel” by Alan O’Day and “Torn Between Two Lovers” by Mary MacGregor.

So when today’s song hit #1, it was significant for two reasons. The first is it knocked MacGregor’s tune out of the top spot which was the beginning of the end of that song’s central message: please be OK with me cheating on you. Now, I am not stupid, I know some people are unfaithful in relationships. However, I cannot believe it ever happened as that song suggests.

It was co-written by Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul & Mary) and I do not know where he got his intel on women, but I cannot imagine any one of them saying, “Let me hold you close and say these words as gently as I can” when those words were going to reveal she was hitting the sheets with someone else. The woman is going to want to be on the other side of the room while secretly wishing it was the other side of the planet. Not because she is afraid her guy will get physically abusive with her, rather to just give him the space he needs to process the heart shattering & ego destroying news.

And then for her to try to explain herself was just embarrassing. Women hate when men cheat and say “It didn’t mean anything” so how could a woman think a man needed to hear “No one else can have the part of me I gave to you”. All he hears is “There is another part you will never have because the other guy’s got that”. I remember so many older girls & young women I knew found this song empowering. They were happy the woman cheated on the man rather than the other way around. To me cheating on either side is wrong so holding this woman in high esteem was not something I was participating in. But the nerve she had to tell him “I couldn’t really blame you if you turned and walked away, but with everything I feel inside, I’m asking you to stay” Translation: I want to continue seeing you both, so deal with it. How many people of either gender would be okay with that arrangement?

The second reason why today’s song hitting the top spot was significant? It proved to be the only #1 song of Bruce Springsteen’s career to date. He released his original version in February 1973 as the first single from his debut album Greetings From Asbury Park NJ. Sadly, the track failed to chart. Three years later a group from England called Manfred Mann’s Earth Band recorded their cover of the song. On February 19, 1977 it hit #1 for one week in the U.S. So Bruce got a top selling song & MacGregor’s was on its way down. The universe always finds a way to correct itself.

“Some silicone sister with her manager’s mister told me I got what it takes
She said I’ll turn you on, sonny, to something strong play the song with the funky break
And go-cart Mozart was checkin’ out the weather chart to see if it was safe outside
And little Early-Pearly came by Annie’s curly-wurly and asked me if I needed a ride“.

Manfred

Manfred Mann’s Earth Band circa 1977. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Manfred Mann’s Earth Band: “Blinded By The Light” (1976, written by Bruce Springsteen).  

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

Stay well.