The Song For Today by Jimmie Oliver (ebook reader with highlight function .TXT) 📕

marvellous pop song. Limahl and his band failed to scale such heights again, but it matters not when you have created a ray of such sunshine as 'Too Shy' actually is. Oh stop sniggering. I'm deadly serious.
{Also on this day, Kurt Waldheim is elected as the new Austrian President in 1986}

JUNE 9TH
Jackie Wilson Said by Dexy's Midnight Runners (1982)
from the album Too-Rye-Ay
Not content with treating listeners to a memorable tribute to Geno Washington and his Ram Jam band, Kevin Rowland and his gang were back in reverential mode two years later with another excellent hit. I heard this song on the airwaves last year for the first time in many years and I was consequently reminded of its splendour. Tragically, Jackie Wilson (who is regarded as one of the greatest singers from North America) was still languishing in a coma whilst this track climbed into the British Top Ten. The following year Wilson fell permanently asleep, thereby ending a phenomenal stint of several years unconscious. He was born on this day back in 1934. For the record, Jackie Wilson said: "I'm in Heaven when you smile", according to Mr. Van Morrison who originally recorded it before it was borrowed by Rowland and his nocturnal athletes.
{Also on this date, Israel seizes the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967}

JUNE 10TH
I Can't Stop Loving You by Ray Charles (1962)
from the album Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music
The great Ray Charles breathed his last on this date in 2004, at the age of seventy-three. Aside from his fine cameo performance in 'The Blues Brothers', Ray will be most remembered for one of the great romantic songs in popular music, 'I Can't Stop Loving You' (a Don Gibson composition). This outstanding tune deservedly found favour with record buyers on both sides of the Atlantic pond, thereby enabling it to become a transatlantic Number One. This hit was marginally superior to 'What'd I Say', which was another creditable effort from the pianist-cum-vocalist.
{Also on this day, in 1973 John Paul Getty III is kidnapped in Rome}

JUNE 11TH
Nelson Mandela by The Special AKA (1984)
from the album In The Studio
After the break-up of The Specials in the summer of 1981, the remnants of the group persevered for a few years, enduring a series of personnel changes. Eventually, a new album saw the light of day in early 1984, entitled 'In The Studio'. The long player was well received by critics but sold abysmally. This was a massive injustice, as the record oozes quality music, even if the subject matter tended to be insufficiently light-hearted to attract much commercial interest. Nevertheless, one of the best albums of the 1980s did contain one instantly recognisable track, the up-tempo Top Ten single, 'Nelson Mandela'. This release which was demanding the release of the world's most famous political prisoner was largely responsible for bringing to the attention of a new generation, the plight of Mandela and others in the minority rule of the apartheid regime. Assembling a cast of musicians which included Elvis Costello and Dave Wakeling, composer Jerry Dammers was constructing a prototype 'Band Aid' several months before its big splash was necessitated. Four years later on this date, Wembley Stadium played host to a concert to honour the 70th birthday of Nelson Mandela, organised by Dammers and his Artists Against Apartheid.
{Also on this date, John Wayne dies in 1979, aged seventy-two}

JUNE 12TH
Kid by The Pretenders (1979)
from the album The Pretenders
Today marks the anniversary of the birth in 1952 of Pete Farndon in Hereford, the bass player for the Pretenders, until his appetite for self-destruction rendered him surplus to requirements in 1982. This big kid assisted in the recording of 'Kid' which provided the new group with their second hit single. This song, which must rate as one of the great jangling guitar classics, was subsequently included on the band's debut album, which featured such prime cuts as 'Mystery Achievement', 'Lovers Of Today', and the excellent instrumental 'Space Invaders'.
{Also on this day, in 1991 Russians elect Boris Yeltsin as their new President}

JUNE 13TH
Babylon by David Gray (1999)
from the album White Ladder
David Gray came to life on this date, back in 1968. His own musical career came to life a couple of decades later with the help of such albums as 'White Ladder', released at the end of the Millennium. The standout track was almost certainly 'Babylon'. 'Babylon' found its way into a lofty position on the British singles chart, and to this day it remains the kind of timeless recording that numerous disc jockeys still consider worthy of airplay. The 'Babylon' in question was not ancient Iraq but the nightlife of modern-day London.
{Also on this date, Real Madrid win the first European Cup Final in 1956}

JUNE 14TH
Church Of the Poison Mind by Culture Club (1983)
from the album Colour By Numbers
At the time of this song's issue as a single, Boy George and his three associates were very much the flavour of the month. On the back of a couple of UK Number One hits such as 'Karma Chameleon', the group could seemingly do no wrong. Their second album not only provided the biggest-selling single of 1983, but it possessed such marvels as 'Victims' and 'Church Of The Poison Mind', two very different tracks which narrowly failed to reach the singles summit. While 'Victims' is not surprisingly mournful, 'Church Of The Poison Mind' is one of the most danceable tunes committed to vinyl. Featuring a brilliant harmonica contribution from Jud Lander, the lyrics might have been complete tosh, but the music drew comparisons with Motown in its heyday. If you're seeking out a dance-floor classic, look no further than 'Church Of The Poison Mind'. Today also happens to be the day when lead vocalist Boy George was born in 1961.
{Also on this day, in 1982 the Falklands War ends with an Argentine surrender}

JUNE 15TH
Take Me Bak 'Ome by Slade (1972)
available on the album Sladest
This was the second and arguably best of Slade's six British Number Ones. It is an admirable rock and pop crossover hit before the foursome slipped into sing-along chants that gave 'glam rock' a bad name, such as 'Mama Weer All Crazee Now', 'Skweeze Me Pleeze Me', and the incomparably dreadful 'Merry Xmas Everybody'. The sound of the latter in any retail outlet in December is enough to send me hurtling towards the exit. Anyhow, the band's vocalist and 'seventies icon Noddy Holder was born this day in 1946 in Walsall under the name of Neville John Holder.
{Also on this date, the UEFA soccer organisation is created in Switzerland in 1954}

JUNE 16TH
2000 Miles by The Pretenders (1983)
from the album Learning To Crawl
Further evidence that the music business was/is dangerous to your health was provided on this date in 1982 when the gifted guitarist James Honeyman-Scott died from heart failure arising out of the use of cocaine, aged only 25. This tragedy came literally a few days after Pete Farndon had been sacked from the Pretenders due to his own escalating drug problem. This double whammy could easily have destroyed the group, but remaining members Chrissie Hynde and Martin Chambers recruited new personnel and periodically delivered a tune of excellence. One such example of quality was '2000 Miles' which aside from being a love song deserves to be rated as one of the ten best Christmas pop songs of all time. Footage from the accompanying video also reminded the viewer of the departed Farndon and Honeyman-Scott. What a waste.
{Also on this day, in 1955 Pope Pius XII excommunicates Argentina's Juan Peron}

JUNE 17TH
Mandy by Barry Manilow (1974)
from the album Barry Manilow II
Barry Manilow wasn't everybody's cup of tea, but such are his phenomenal record sales that clearly there are a lot of people who have appreciated his ballads and romantic recordings. One particularly memorable artefact from his repertoire was 'Mandy' which not only yielded the popular singer with an American No.1, but was considered worthy of a cover version by the boy band Westlife, who helped themselves to another Number One. Obviously imitation was a form of flattery. Manilow was born this day in 1943 in Brooklyn, New York.
{Also on this date, O.J. Simpson is arrested in 1994, on suspicion of murder}

JUNE 18TH
Band On The Run by Paul McCartney And Wings (1973)
from the album Band On The Run
The fertile imagination of Paul McCartney hit upon the idea of fleeing to Africa and recording an album there. The subsequent project of his band on the run featured a bizarre assortment of celebrities on the front cover, who were desperately trying to avoid being recognised. It's one of the great paradoxes of human history that wannabees seek fame and then become heartily sick of the attention that they originally craved. Meanwhile back in the real world, Macca, his Missus, and Denny Laine set up camp in Nigeria where they assembled a new long player that even the once scornful John Lennon approved of. The album is not without its filler, such as 'Mrs Vandebilt', but the title track is a joy to behold. Partially inspired by the ‘Papillon’ film and a meeting of minds with the movie's co-star Dustin Hoffman, McCartney's jailbreak song is one of his very best, featuring a delicious acoustic guitar. Here was further proof that Paul was far from past his peak. One of Liverpool's greatest sons, he was born this day in the mid-summer of 1942.
{Also on this day, AIDS is formally recognised by experts in California in 1981}

JUNE 19TH
September by Earth, Wind & Fire (1978)
available on the album The Best Of