70's, 80's 'Feel Good' Music

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"Smoky Mountain Rain" is a song written by Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan and recorded by American country music singer Ronnie Milsap. It was released in September 1980 as the only single from his Greatest Hits compilation album. The single became one of his best-known songs.
In 2019, Milsap released a new version of the song featuring American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton (with additional lyrics written by Parton). It was produced by Milsap and Rob Galbraith and released on Milsap's 2019 album, The Duets. It was sent to country radio as the first single from the album on May 1, 2019, and adult contemporary radio on June 19.
An animated music video for the song was released on May 16, 2019. The video tells the story of a man who has come back to a woman whom he has left, only to find that she has moved on.

Smoky Mountain Rain - Ronnie Milsap​

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"I Wouldn't Have Missed It for the World" is a song written by Charles Quillen, Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan, and recorded by American country music singer Ronnie Milsap. It was released in October 1981 as the second single from the album There's No Gettin' Over Me. The song became one of his biggest hits in his recording career and came during the peak of his crossover success.

Ronnie Milsap - I Wouldn't Have Missed It for the World​

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"Desperado" is a ballad by the American band the Eagles. The track was written by Glenn Frey and Don Henley, and appeared on the band's second studio album Desperado (1973) as well as numerous compilation albums. Although it was never released as a single, it became one of Eagles' best-known songs. It ranked No. 494 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
According to Henley, "Desperado" was based on a song he started in 1968, written in the style of old songs by Stephen Foster. The song was originally about a friend named Leo and with the opening line "Leo, my God, why don't you come to your senses..." In 1972, after they had recorded their debut studio album, Eagles, in London, Glenn Frey and Henley decided that they should write songs together, and within a day or two after returning from London they wrote "Desperado". They also wrote "Tequila Sunrise" in the first week of their collaboration.
The piano introduction of the song is taken from Ray Charles' version of "Georgia On My Mind", which plays the same introduction on strings. In their first songwriting session at Henley's home in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, Henley played Frey the unfinished version of the song, and said: "When I play it and sing it, I think of Ray Charles and Stephen Foster. It's really a Southern Gothic thing, but we can easily make it more Western." According to Henley, Frey "leapt right on it – filled in the blanks and brought structure", and the song became "Desperado". Henley added: "And that was the beginning of our songwriting partnership ... that's when we became a team."
The song was recorded at Island Studios in London, with musicians from the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra was conducted by Jim Ed Norman, Henley's friend from his former band Shiloh, who also wrote and arranged the strings for the song. According to Henley, he was given only four or five takes to record the song by the producer Glyn Johns who wanted to record the album quickly and economically. Henley felt intimidated by the large orchestra, and would later express regret that he did not sing as well as he could. He said: "I didn't sing my best ... I wish I could have done that song again."
According to an interview with Don Henley, "Desperado" was not a hit for the Eagles until Linda Ronstadt recorded it.

Desperado - The Eagles​

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"You're a Woman" is a song by Bad Boys Blue, released in April 1985 as the second single from their debut studio album, Hot Girls, Bad Boys (1985). It was a hit across Europe, reaching number 8 in West Germany, number 1 in Austria, number 2 in Switzerland and number 3 in Greece.
Bad Boys Blue released a new version of the song under the title "You're a Woman '98" as a single in 1998. It was the lead single from their album Back. This re-release reached number 52 in Germany and number 4 in Finland.
In 1987, the song was covered under the title "The Last Night (最後一夜)" with different lyrics in Cantonese and English and released as a single by Hong Kong pop singer Prudence Liew.
It was the second single from the album Prudence Liew. The track featured a heavy dance beat that proved to be very popular with the Hong Kong disco scene. The popularity of this song propelled Liew's status in the music scene and it is still considered to be her signature song.

Bad Boys Blue - You're A Woman​

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"Just When I Needed You Most" is a 1979 hit single by the American singer-songwriter Randy VanWarmer.
VanWarmer was inspired to write "Just When I Needed You Most" by two events: his old car, that he loved and used for years, broke down on his way to work in Denver, Colorado, and he experienced a "devastating" breakup with a girlfriend. He wrote the song six months after that breakup, two years before it became a hit. After recording "Just When I Needed You Most" for an album recorded for the UK division of Bearsville Records, VanWarmer flew to the US to pressure Bearsville's head office to promote the album, which was remixed and released with "Just When I Needed You Most" as lead single. VanWarmer recalled that Bearsville evinced little enthusiasm for the track: "Nobody thought my version was an especially good version of the song [which] a few other people were thinking of cutting...Everybody just assumed mine was a demo for people to listen to who'd cut the definitive version". It has also been asserted that the flip, "Your Light", was the original intended A-side of VanWarmer's single.
Released as a single in February 1979, "Just When I Needed You Most" spent two weeks atop the US Billboard adult contemporary chart in May, and in June reached its peak position of No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, accruing an overall Top 40 tenure of 14 weeks and earning RIAA Gold record status.
Tony Wilson of the band Hot Chocolate recorded "Just When I Needed You Most" for his 1979 album Catch One. Dolly Parton recorded a cover version for her 1996 album Treasures; like the original, it features John Sebastian on autoharp, and reached No. 62 on the Billboard country music chart. Other artists who either recorded or performed the song in concert include country music singers Tim McGraw, Donna Fargo, Skeeter Davis, Rhonda Vincent, and Conway Twitty, R&B vocalist Millie Jackson, the German disco musician Peter Griffin, British glam rock band Smokie, reggae artists Barbara Jones and Eddie Lovette, Filipino singer Pops Fernandez, Bob Dylan, Paul Butterfield, Billy Joe Royal, and the Spanish group Mocedades. In 2002, the American-Taiwanese singer Will Pan released a bilingual English/Chinese version of the song.

Randy Vanwarmer - Just When I Needed You Most



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"An American Dream" is a song written by Rodney Crowell. He recorded it under the title "Voilá, An American Dream" on his 1978 album Ain't Living Long Like This, and released it as the B-side to that album's single "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I".
It was later recorded by American country-rock music group the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, but using the shortened name "The Dirt Band." It was released in November 1979 as the only single and title track from the album An American Dream. The song reached number 58 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, number 13 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and number 16 on the Adult Contemporary chart. In Canada, it reached number three. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's version features a backing vocal from Linda Ronstadt; as such, it is sometimes included in Ronstadt greatest hits collections, such as the 2014 Capitol release, Icon.

An American Dream - The Dirt Band​

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"Don't Wanna Lose You" is a song written and recorded by Cuban-American singer-songwriter Gloria Estefan. It was released on June 21, 1989, via Epic Records, as the lead single to her solo debut studio album, Cuts Both Ways (1989). It was her first single released without the Miami Sound Machine. It was produced by Estefan's husband Emilio Estefan, Jorge Casas, and Clay Ostwald.
The pop ballad became a major success for the singer, becoming her second number one hit on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100, and reached top ten status in Belgium, Canada, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. "Don't Wanna Lose You" received a nomination for a Grammy Award in the category for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Gloria Estefan - Don't Wanna Lose You​

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"The Best of Me" is the debut solo single by David Foster, released in February 1983. The ballad was later included as the title track for his debut solo album with the same title, released in November 1983. The song was composed in 1982 by Foster, Jeremy Lubbock and Richard Marx. It has since been recorded by numerous artists, the most notable being Olivia Newton-John, whom Foster chose as his duet partner when he re-recorded the track in 1986, and Cliff Richard, who chose it for his 100th single milestone in 1989.
English singer Cliff Richard selected the song for his milestone 100th single in 1989. Released on 30 May 1989, the song debuted at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart and stayed there another week in its 7-week run on the chart. It was certified silver by the BPI for sales over 200,000.
Before releasing his 100th single, Richard invited 2,000 British fans to the London Palladium for a preview of six songs from his forthcoming album (which would be Stronger), to vote on which one they liked most as the possible 100th single. Ironically, "The Best of Me" came second to "Stronger Than That", but Richard had also revealed by mistake that the latter was composed by Alan Tarney who had written most of Richard's biggest hits since 1979. Regardless, it was enough confirmation for Richard to choose "The Best of Me" with its fitting lyrics as a tribute to his audience. Coming third in the vote was "I Just Don't Have the Heart", ahead of "Joanna" and "Lean on You"

David Foster and Olivia Newton-John - The Best Of Me​

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"Every Time I Think of You" is a song written by Jack Conrad and Ray Kennedy and released in December 1978 as the lead single from The Babys' third studio album Head First; John Waite provided lead vocals, featuring female vocals by Myrna Matthews. The track was a worldwide hit, and became their last top 20 in the United States.

The Babys - Everytime I Think Of You​

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One of Michael Jackson’s signature songs, “Billie Jean” tells the tale of a young girl who claims to be the mother of Jackson’s alleged son. The song was the second single from his sixth solo album Thriller. It reached #1 in several countries including the US.
In an interview with Martin Bashir, Michael revealed his original inspiration behind “Billie Jean”, sharing, “I said to myself beforehand, ‘I wanna write a song with a great bass hook.’” He was driving down Ventura Boulevard when he came up with that hook.
In his autobiography, Moonwalk, Jackson wrote:

There never was a real Billie Jean. The girl in the song is a composite of people my brothers have been plagued with over the years. I could never understand how these girls could say they were carrying someone’s child when it wasn’t true.

One peculiar case where this happened to Jackson himself was in 1981 when a woman wrote him letters claiming he was the father of ONE of her twins. She initially appears on the first song of the album, “Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'”.
Producer Quincy Jones originally did not want to include “Billie Jean” on Thriller. He disliked the intro, the bass line and song’s title (feeling listeners would associate the track with tennis legend Billie Jean King). Jackson fought to keep the song on the album, and not change its title to Jones' suggestion of “Not My Lover”.
Despite Jackson’s claim in a 2002 interview that the song’s bass line came ‘from above’, Daryl Hall has said Jackson once told him he’d stolen the groove of “Billie Jean” from Hall & Oates' song “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)”.
The song was notably performed by MJ on Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever in 1983, where he debuted the Moonwalk to rave reviews. Fred Astaire even called the day after to give him props, saying, “Man, you really put them on their asses last night.”

Billie Jean – Michael Jackson​

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"One Day in Your Life" is a song recorded by American singer Michael Jackson for his 1975 album, Forever, Michael. Written by Sam Brown III and Renée Armand, it was originally issued as a single in the UK in 1975 on Tamla Motown and later released in the US on March 20, 1981 as a single from the compilation album One Day in Your Life due to the commercial interest that generated from the sales of Jackson's hit 1979 album Off the Wall, despite the fact that Jackson had released that album on Epic Records instead of Motown.
While a modest US hit, it was a bigger hit in the UK, where it became Jackson's first solo recording to hit No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart. It was number one in the UK for two weeks in June and July 1981 It also topped the Irish Singles Chart, and also featured strongly on the South African singles charts. It went on to become the sixth best-selling single of 1981 in the UK. Robert Christgau called this song a romantic ballad that is as credible on its "own terms as the rockers." Five years prior, a cover version by Johnny Mathis for his Feelings album charted in the U.S. and Canada.

One Day In Your life - Michael Jackson​

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"The Girl Is Mine" is a song recorded by the American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson and the English singer-songwriter and musician Paul McCartney for Jackson's sixth solo album, Thriller. The track was written and co-produced by Jackson and produced by Quincy Jones. The song was recorded at Westlake Studios, Los Angeles, from April 14 to 16, 1982 and was released on October 18 of that same year as the album's first single. The year before, Jackson and McCartney had recorded "Say Say Say" and "The Man" for the latter's fifth solo album, Pipes of Peace (1983).
"The Girl Is Mine" achieved success in the music charts. Aside from topping the R&B singles chart, the single peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number eight in the UK. The song also reached number one in Spain. By 1984, it had sold 1.3 million copies, and was eventually certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, for shipments of 1,000,000 units. Despite the song's success, it received generally mixed reviews from critics who considered it to be the weakest song on Thriller.
The writing of "The Girl Is Mine" was completed by Jackson as he watched cartoons with Paul McCartney. Producer Quincy Jones had initially told Jackson to write a song about two men fighting over a girl. Inspired, Jackson awoke during the night and sang the song into a tape recorder. He later said, "I sang exactly what I heard in my head, starting with the melody and the keyboard and the strings and everything. So, I just orally put it all on tape." Jones also asked Jackson to add a rap verse. The song was then recorded by Jackson and McCartney at Westlake Studios, Los Angeles, from April 14 to 16, 1982. A year earlier, the duo had recorded "Say Say Say" and "The Man," which were released after "The Girl Is Mine" on McCartney's fifth solo album, Pipes of Peace (1983).
Jackson said that the recording of "The Girl Is Mine" was one of his most enjoyable moments in the studio. He explained, "One of my favorite songs to record, of all my recordings as a solo artist, is probably "The Girl Is Mine", because working with Paul McCartney was pretty exciting and we just literally had fun. It was like lots of kibitzing and playing, and throwing stuff at each other, and making jokes. We actually recorded the (instrumental) track and the vocals pretty much live at the same time, and we do have footage of it, but it's never been shown." He concluded, "Maybe one day we'll give you a sneak preview of it." The footage of the pair was later shown at The Paul McCartney World Tour.
Several members of the band Toto participated in the recording of this song, including David Paich (piano), Jeff Porcaro (drums), Steve Lukather (guitars) and Steve Porcaro (synthesizer programming).

Michael Jackson (with Paul McCartney) - The Girl Is Mine​

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For Thriller 25, an album celebrating Thriller's 25th anniversary, Black Eyed Peas singer will.i.am remixed "The Girl Is Mine". Entitled "The Girl Is Mine 2008", the remix features an original solo demo of the song by Jackson without McCartney. will.i.am added his own vocals and new verse. The song reached number 12 in New Zealand, 22 in France, in the top 50 of Denmark and Sweden, and number 51 in Switzerland.
Though the remix sampled the demo, The Daily Telegraph alleged that McCartney was omitted because he and Jackson had fallen out over Jackson's purchase of Sony/ATV Music Publishing and the Beatles' song catalogue in 1985. However, the original version of "The Girl Is Mine" was included on Thriller 25 with McCartney's vocals included.

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