Monday’s Music Moves Me: Memorial Day Acrostic!

Today is Memorial Day in the US, a day when we remember our service men ad women who gave their lives in defense of this country. It’s also the unofficial first day of summer, so enjoy the day. The first letters of the names of the songs spell out "Memorial Day."

M

Bread, "Make It With You": By David Gates, wh with drummer Mike Botts are the only members of the group to appear on the song. From Bread’s 1970 album On The Waters, the song reached #1 on the Hot 100 and #4 on the Easy Listening chart.

E

B. B. King, "Every Day I Have The Blues": A 1935 song by Pinetop Sparks that B. B. covered. His recording of it has received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award and is in the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame.

M

Bruce Hornsby, "Mandolin Rain": Was the third single from Bruce’s debut album, 1986’s The Way It Is. It reached #4 on the Hot 100, #2 on the Mainsteam Rock chart, and #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

O

Madonna, "Open Your Heart": The fourth single from 1986’s True Blue, the Material Girl’s third album. It was originally written for Cyndi Lauper as "Follow Your Heart" by Gardner Cole and Pete Rafelson. Madonna and Patrick Leonard transformed it into a dance-pop number with a suggestive video (which we didn’t look for). It reached #1 on the Hot 100 and the Dance Club Songs chart and #4 on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1987.

R

Blues Image, "Ride Captain Ride": From Blues Image’s 1970 album Open, it was written by the band’s guitarist Mike Pinera and keyboardist Frank "Skip" Konte. It reached #4 in both the US and Canada, their only Top 40 hit.

I

Wilson Pickett, "In The Midnight Hour": Title track of Pickett’s 1965 album, it was written with Steve Cropper and was his first major hit, reaching #1 on the R&B chart and #21 on the Hot 100.

A

The Beatles, "Anytime At All": This was on the Parlophone (UK) version of A Hard Day’s Night and on the Capitol (US) album Something New. Written by John Lennon with a middle eight by Paul McCartney.

L

Joe Cocker, "(The) Letter": Joe’s cover of The Box Tops’ #1 hit from 1967, covered on the Mad Dogs And Englishmen album and tour. It reached #7 on the Hot 100 and #80 on the year end chart in 1970.

D

Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, "Doodletown Fifers": Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan were a couple of experienced Big Band arrangers who mixed traditional instruments with such instruments as the kazoo and the "beaten human chest." "Doodletown Fifers" was their first single; it’s a song adapted from the Civil War tune "Kingdom Coming and the Year of Jubilo."

A

Bent Fabric, "Alley Cat": Title track from Danish pianist Bent Fabric’s 1962 album. It reached #7 on the Hot 100 and #2 on the Easy Listening chart in 1962 and won the Grammy for Best Rok & Roll Recording in 1963.

Y

The Ames Brothers, "You, You, You": The song was written in 1953 by Lotar Olias with German lyrics by Walter Rothenburg and English lyrics by Robert Mellin. The Ames Brothers recording was made in May 1953 with Hugo Winterhalter’s orchestra and chorus and quickly reached #1.

The Linky, which I can’t embed, may be seen on any one of the permanent hostess’s websites. Links are below. That’s Monday’s Music Moves Me for Memorial Day 2021.