Memorability can be a problem for performers. One hit wonders abound, and in most cases, people can’t remember their names when their hit song comes up. Memorability was never a problem for this artist, however. Barry Manilow is a living legend. From his song MANDY, which is a great song that you can’t really tell is about his dog, to COPACABANA, which is shown below in this video clip, Manilow’s versatility and incredible voice guarantee that he won’t be forgotten anytime soon. By the way, the person who put together the slide show for this song did a GREAT job!

Marty Robbins made quite an impact on the musical world. Arguably his most famous song, EL PASO, was written in a very short time as he was traveling through that city. The following video clip contains an intro from, I believe, his son, telling about that trip. Marty Robbins will always be missed by his fans everywhere. And now, on to EL PASO.

When movie theme songs are mentioned, most people remember the ones like “Grease” and “Hair”. But lots of movie themes get forgotten right up until you hear them. Then it’s like running into an old friend. For me, this song is one of those. From the movie “Smokey and the Bandit”, here is EAST BOUND AND DOWN by Jerry Reid. Way I understand it, he wrote this in about three hours. Best use of three hours I ever heard of!

Had he lived, Elvis Presley would have tirned 72 this week. That fact is a little startling to me, because I remember him much younger. No one cnan argue that he influenced the world of music in a way that no one else ever could have. The world somehow became a little less bright back on that day in 1977 when he died.

The following video, ALWAYS ON MY MIND, shows some very interesting clips from Elvis’s marriage. I’m not sure who put this together, but they did a great job.

The name Bobby Dann doesn’t always spark a lot of recollection, even among music fans. Bobby Dann died in December of 1973, and so has not stayed in the spotlight. To my knowledge, he had only one big hit. What follows is his final television performance, which occurred nine months before his death. I am categorizing this in two places here, because the performance was done in the seventies but it is a sixties hit… SPLISH SPLASH.

Back in the early seventies, when my daughter was in early grade school, her music teacher let the class have a “dance day” once a week. I believe the teacher, a very sweet lady by the name of (I think) Mrs. Weiss (from Washington Elementary in Davenport, Iowa) definitely knew what she was doing. My daughter STILL loves the songs played for those “dance days”, and she turned forty this year. Anyway, the kids were allowed to bring their own records to play, and everyone danced. And one song that showed up EVERY week and was very popular was DISCO DUCK.

Okay, we heard from Manilow, now on to the OTHER power voice of the seventies and beyond, Barbra Streisand. I didn’t always agree with her politics, but I truly loved every single song I ever heard her perform, and I liked most of her movies as well… remember “For Pete’s Sake”? What we have here is a live performance, on the Dick Cavett Show, of one of her very best… THE WAY WE WERE.

Throughout the seventies and eighties, Barry Manilow, with his incredible voice, wrote and performed some of the best music ever written. This is not a video clip, just a karaoke thing, but the song is as incredible as it ever was. For “power voices” Manilow wins top honors every time, right up there with Streisand. Now, on to I WRITE THE SONGS.

This is a classic clip from the Lawrence Welk show. Actually, it wasn’t the one I was looking for, but I am having one heck of a time remembering how to spell the name of that sister act, the one with the cute little girl in it? Yeah. Them. So, while I was looking for it, I ran across this clip, which is also one of my favorites. Enjoy:)

Watching the Lawrence Welk show may seem dull to today’s generation, but there isn’t a member of this family from ANY generation that isn’t familiar with the closing credits theme from the show, which I have here today. We still watch the show every week when it airs on PBS. Hope this brings back fond memories for you as well!