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

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"Cool Night" is a song by Paul Davis released as a single in 1981, from the album of the same name. The single peaked at No. 11 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on the week of February 6, 1982 and reached No. 2 on the Adult Contemporary chart in January 1982.

• A cover version of the song was released in 1996 by Joseph Williams (of Toto), on his solo album I Am Alive.

Paul Davis "Cool Night"​

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JOSEPH WILLIAMS (TOTO): COOL NIGHT​

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"I Want to Break Free" is a song by the British rock band Queen, written by their bassist John Deacon. It appears on the album The Works (1984), and was released in three versions: album, single and extended. The track became a staple of the band's 1984–85 Works Tour and their 1986 Magic Tour.

The song is largely known for its music video for which all the band members dressed in drag, a concept proposed by drummer Roger Taylor, which parodied the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street. The second part of the video included a composition rehearsed and performed with the Royal Ballet and choreographed by Wayne Eagling. Whereas the parody was acclaimed in the United Kingdom, where cross-dressing is a popular trope in British comedy, it caused controversy in the United States.
After its release in 1984, the song was well received in Europe and South America and is regarded as an anthem of the fight against oppression. The single reached only number 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100, but reached number three in the UK and was certified double platinum with over 1,200,000 copies sold. It also topped the charts of Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The song features on the band's compilation album, Greatest Hits II.

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The musicians dressed as female characters from Coronation Street. Left to right: Roger Taylor (as Suzie Birchall), Brian May (Hilda Ogden), Freddie Mercury (Bet Lynch) and John Deacon (Ena Sharples).​

Queen - I Want To Break​

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"Biggest Part of Me" is a song by American band Ambrosia, from the album One Eighty. Released as a single in 1980, the song reached number one on the Radio & Records chart> and number 3 on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts. The song was written by band member David Pack. Pack re-recorded the song for his 2005 album, The Secret of Movin' On.

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Ambrosia - Biggest Part of Me​

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"I Only Want to Be with You" is a song written by Mike Hawker and Ivor Raymonde. Released as a debut solo single by British singer Dusty Springfield under her long-time producer Johnny Franz, "I Only Want to Be with You" peaked at number 4 on the UK singles chart in January 1964.
"I Only Want to Be with You" has been recorded by a wide range of artists, and three remakes of the song were UK chart hits. The first two by the Bay City Rollers (1976) and The Tourists (1979) matched the number 4 peak of the Dusty Springfield original, while the 1989 remake by Samantha Fox peaked at number 16. The song has been a Top 40 hit in the US on the Billboard Hot 100 chart three times, with both the Dusty Springfield original and the Bay City Rollers' remake peaking at number 12 while the Samantha Fox remake peaked at number 31. Many non-English versions have also been recorded by other artists.

I ONLY WANT TO BE WITH YOU--DUSTY SPRINGFIELD​

The Tourists - I Only Want To Be With You​

Bay City Rollers - I Only Wanna Be With You​

Samantha Fox - I Only Wanna Be With You​

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"Danny's Song" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins, as a gift for his brother Danny for the birth of his son, Colin. It first appeared on an album by Gator Creek and a year later on the album Sittin' In, the debut album by Loggins and Messina. The song is well remembered for both the Loggins and Messina original, as well as for Anne Murray's 1972 top-ten-charting cover.
Canadian country-pop music singer Anne Murray was a fan of the original recording and recorded a cover version in 1972. Her version of the song omits two of the lyric verses and is in a different key than the original version by Loggins & Messina. Included on her album of the same name, Murray's version of "Danny's Song" was a hit, reaching the Top 10 on three major Billboard music charts in early 1973. On the pop chart, the song reached number seven (returning Murray to that chart's top ten for the first time since 1970's "Snowbird"); on the country chart, it peaked at number ten; and on the easy listening chart, it spent two weeks at number one in March of that year. Murray's version also earned her a Grammy Award nomination in the category Best Female Pop Vocal performance at the Grammy Awards of 1974, losing out to "Killing Me Softly with His Song" by Roberta Flack. Murray stated that she loved the original version, but the song took on a deeper meaning for her after the birth of her first child a few years later. In an interview, she stated that "Whenever I was singing that song, it was very meaningful."
Murray covered the song a second time on her 2007 album Duets: Friends & Legends as a duet with Martina McBride.

Kenny Loggins - Danny's Song​

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"Annie's Song" (also known as "Annie's Song (You Fill Up My Senses)") is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter John Denver. The song was released as the lead single from his eighth studio album Back Home Again. It was his second number-one song in the United States, occupying that spot for two weeks in July 1974. "Annie's Song" also went to number one on the Easy Listening chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 25 song for 1974.
It went to number one in the United Kingdom, where it was Denver's only major hit single. Four years later, an instrumental version also became flautist James Galway's only major British hit.
"Annie's Song" was written as an ode to Denver's wife at the time, Annie Martell Denver. Denver "wrote this song in January 1973 in about ten-and-a-half minutes one day on a ski lift" to the top of Aspen Mountain in Aspen, Colorado, as the physical exhilaration of having "just skied down a very difficult run" and the feeling of total immersion in the beauty of the colors and sounds that filled all senses inspired him to think about his wife. Annie Denver recalls the beginnings: "It was written after John and I had gone through a pretty intense time together and things were pretty good for us. He left to go skiing and he got on the Ajax chair on Aspen mountain and the song just came to him. He skied down and came home and wrote it down... Initially it was a love song and it was given to me through him, and yet for him it became a bit like a prayer."
"The first time I heard 'Annie's Song,' I told John it had the same melody as Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, Second Movement," says Milt Okun. "He walked over to the piano, sat for an hour and came back, and the only thing remaining from Tchaikovsky was the first five notes. It was fantastic."
Shawn M. Haney of Allmusic noted the song's expressive emotionality, calling it an "ever so romantic tearjerker". Haney praised "Annie's Song" as "one of Denver's finest achievements". Billboard called it a "fine love song." Record World said that this "folk ballad, subtle and sweet, glows with a continental flair that should take it to all the right places."

Downtown Aspen

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John Denver - Annie's Song​

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"Everytime You Go Away" is a song written by American musician Daryl Hall. It was first recorded in 1980 by his duo Hall & Oates but was not released as a single. A cover version of the song by Paul Young became an international hit in 1985, reaching No. 1 in the US and No. 4 in the UK.
The original version of "Everytime You Go Away" appeared on Hall & Oates's 1980 studio album, Voices, although it was not released as a single. Hall & Oates also recorded it for their 1985 concert album Live at the Apollo.
English singer Paul Young recorded a cover version of the song titled "Every Time You Go Away" for his studio album The Secret of Association in 1985. His cover features a combination of echoed piano, the Yamaha DX7's "harp" preset, the distinctive fretless bass of Pino Palladino, as well as a Coral electric sitar and a Ovation Spanish acoustic guitar, which were both played by John Turnbull.
In March 1985, Young's version hit No. 4 in the UK singles chart. It was among the songs he performed at Live Aid held at Wembley Stadium in London on 13 July 1985. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 two weeks later, and was one of two top 10 hits Young had on the U.S. pop singles chart (the second being his 1990 cover of "Oh Girl" by the Chi-Lites). "Every Time You Go Away" also topped the U.S. adult contemporary chart for two weeks. The song won British Video of the Year at the 1986 Brit Awards.

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"I Was Made for Lovin' You" is a song by American rock band Kiss, released in 1979 as the lead single off their seventh studio album Dynasty. The song became a smash hit on the pop singles chart, was certified gold in the U.S. on August 16, 1979, and went platinum in several countries. The song has remained a concert staple and is featured on many live albums and compilations.
The song has become a permanent staple in Kiss's live performances. The band's performance of the song at their 30th anniversary show in Melbourne, Australia, was accompanied by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, who wore Kiss-style makeup with their tuxedos. At first Desmond Child said, "Paul wanted to write a good disco song and I decided to help him with that. Paul started to write lyrics and chords then I played the song on the guitar and said 'OK, we'll do something to improve this and make it really a good song.'"
"I Was Made for Lovin' You" draws heavily from the disco style that was popular in late-1970s United States. According to legend, the members of the band were in conflict with their producers, who wanted the band to shift to a more commercial sound. In response, the band argued that lucrative disco songs could be written by anyone in a short time frame. The story goes that the song's demo was completed in mere hours after the bet. While the story is unproven, Paul Stanley, who co-wrote the song with Desmond Child and Vini Poncia, has stated that it was a conscious effort on his part to prove how easy it was to write and record a hit disco song. Child confirms that he and Stanley wrote the verses together in an hour at SIR Studios, while the "Motown-influenced" chorus was penned by Stanley and Poncia after Child had left the studio. Gene Simmons revealed in a 2018 interview that he always disliked the song because of his vocal part.
"I Was Made for Lovin' You" was the band's second gold single, selling over 1 million copies. The single was certified gold in the U.S. on August 16, 1979, and in Canada on August 1, 1979. The song was one of the band's few singles to chart in the UK in the 1970s, peaking at No. 50.

Kiss - I Was Made For Lovin' You​

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"Eye of the Tiger" is a song by the American rock band Survivor. It was written as the theme song for the 1982 film Rocky III and released that year as a single from Survivor's third album, Eye of the Tiger.

Sylvester Stallone, the director and star of Rocky III, enlisted Survivor after Queen denied him permission to use their song "Another One Bites the Dust". Survivor derived lyrics, including the title, from dialogue in the film, and conceived a riff with chord changes to match the punches in the boxing scenes.
"Eye of the Tiger" reached number one on the charts of many countries. In the US, it was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks, spent 15 consecutive weeks in the top 10, and was the second-bestselling single of 1982. It was certified platinum in August 1982, for sales of two million copies. In the UK, "Eye of the Tiger" sold 956,000 copies and was number one on the UK singles chart for four consecutive weeks.
At the 25th Annual Grammy Awards, "Eye of the Tiger" won Best Rock Performance by Duo or Group with Vocal and was nominated for Song of the Year. At the 55th Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best Original Song. It has been used without authorization in several political campaigns, which Survivor has opposed.
By 1982, the American band Survivor had released two unsuccessful albums and were concerned they would be dropped by their record label. That year, the director and actor Sylvester Stallone enlisted them to write a song for his film Rocky III, after Queen denied him permission to use "Another One Bites the Dust". Stallone asked for "something street" with a pulse to match the punches of the boxing scenes. He sent them a copy of the montage used in the film's introduction, depicting the boxer Rocky Balboa and the ascent of his rival, Clubber Lang.
"Eye of the Tiger" was written by guitarist Frankie Sullivan and keyboardist Jim Peterik. They conceived a riff based on chord changes to mirror the timing of punches. The title was taken from a line spoken by the Rocky character Apollo Creed: "You had that eye of the tiger, man, the edge ... You gotta get it back." Stallone took the phrase from the 1969 film A Dream of Kings.
Survivor initially planned to title the song "Survival", and had the chorus: "Rising up to the spirit of our rival / And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night / And it all comes down to survival", with "survival" rhyming with "rival". Peterik said: "That ['eye of the tiger'] hook is so strong, and 'rival' doesn't have to be a perfect rhyme with the word 'tiger'. We made the right choice and went with 'Eye of the Tiger'."
Survivor recorded a demo at the Chicago Recording Company on February 1, 1982. Sullivan was so destitute that he used a guitar with a broken headstock he had glued back together. The band attempted to capture a drum sound similar to that of the Led Zeppelin drummer, John Bonham. Stallone loved the demo and insisted on using it in the film. Survivor rerecorded it for the album and single releases. The music video was filmed in San Francisco.

Survivor - Eye of the Tiger​

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"Some Girls" is a song by the British pop band Racey. The song was written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, produced by Mickie Most, and released in 1979 on the RAK label as their third single.
The song was a big hit for Racey in Britain and Ireland, reaching number two in both countries; in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, it reached number one.
Racey are an English pop/rock group, formed in 1976 in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England, by Clive Wilson and Phil Fursdon. They achieved success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with hits such as "Lay Your Love on Me" and "Some Girls". Their 1979 song "Kitty" was an international hit in 1981 for Toni Basil when she reworked it into "Mickey".

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Racey - Some Girls - 2002​

Racey - Kitty​

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For many years it was rumored that the name was changed to Mickey on speculations that Basil had developed a crush on the Monkees' drummer and lead vocalist Micky Dolenz after meeting him on the set of their film Head, for which she was the choreographer. However, that claim has been denied by Basil, who said that she "didn't really know Micky at all".
In January 2020, Basil released a re-recording of the song as "Hey Mickey" to digital and streaming platforms.
On August 31, 2017, Basil filed a multi-claim lawsuit against Razor & Tie Direct, Forever 21, Disney, Viacom, VH1, and South Park. Basil alleged that the defendants had commercially used the song "Mickey" without a license and damaged her right of publicity, claiming excess of $25,000 in damages. Basil also filed a lawsuit against AMC on May 12, 2020, for the unauthorized use of "Mickey" in a trailer for Preacher. On August 27, 2020, a California state of appeals court affirmed dismissal of Basil's case.
The music video was directed, produced and choreographed by Basil herself. The cheerleaders featured in the video were members of a championship squad from Carson High School in Carson, California. The cheerleading uniform Basil wore in the music video was the one she actually wore in high school. According to Basil, "They didn't put anything in the budget, I did everything myself. And this is the actual cheer sweater from Las Vegas High."

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"Georgy Girl" is a song by the Australian pop/folk music group the Seekers. It was used as the title song for the 1966 British romantic comedy film Georgy Girl. Tom Springfield, who had written "I'll Never Find Another You" for the Seekers, composed the music and Jim Dale supplied the lyrics. The song is heard at both the beginning and end of the film, with markedly different lyrics (and with different lyrics again from those in the commercially released version). It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song but the prize went to "Born Free". It was performed at the 1967 Oscars ceremony by Mitzi Gaynor.
The song became a hit in late 1966 and early 1967, reaching number one in Australia and number three in the United Kingdom. In the United States, it was the Seekers' highest-charting single, reaching number one on the Cash Box Top 100. "Georgy Girl" reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100; "I'm a Believer" by the Monkees, kept the song from number one. The song's U.S. success prompted the Seekers' British album Come the Day to be retitled Georgy Girl for its American release.

The Seekers - Georgy Girl 1967​

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The Seekers - Georgy Girl {2013}​

In 1971 Saori Minami recorded a cover of the song for her second album Shiokaze No Melody.

Georgy Girl - Saori Minami​

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