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Dr John, the Night Tripper, aka Mac Rebennack, 1941-2019
Song of the Day: A song-based tribute to the sadly departed New Orleans great, aka Mac Rebennack, the rich-voiced, voodoo-style Mardi Gras feather-wearing pianist, guitarist and singer who spanned genres with colour and charisma
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Paragons of great rocksteady reggaeL with John Holt
Song of the Day: After A Quiet Place by Garnet Mimms, more neighbour disturbance with a ‘68 rocksteady classic inspired by another song penned by Paul Witt, and then an electronic landmark sung by Horace Andy from 1998’s album Mezzanine
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The Beatles recording the White Album at Abbey Road in 1968
Song of the Day: Combining two birthdays, one for the Song Bar itself - now three years old, and less significantly, the Bar’s Landlord, this off-the-cuff rock number was written during the White Album recordings on 18 September 1968
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Sandi Shaw
Song of the Day: To capture the current state of farcical flux and political impasse over Brexit and US government shutdown, a classic written by Lionel Bart for the musical Oliver!, which also became a feminist 60s pop hit for the female star
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The Zombies in 1968
Song of the Day: A positive start to 2019, with a simple and gorgeous piano-based melody and love song from the pioneering British psych rock and pop band formed in St Albans in 1961 from their classic album of 1968, Odessey and Oracle
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Jeannie Seely
Song of the Day: After powerful new songs by Julia Jacklin about the body and personal space, a classic number from the 1960s that sung first by the Titusville performer with versions by other stars
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Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway in Chinatown (1974)
Song of the Day: Moving on from Britain’s John Barry, two pieces of work from the highly versatile US composer and conductor here showing contrasting styles that equally express the dark and disturbing
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Bullitt (1968)
Song of the Day: Continuing the funk-orchestral movie-theme thread, another colossus of the genre, the Argentina-born American composer and conductor famous for so many outstanding film and TV soundtracks
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Otis Redding, 1941-1967
Song of the Day: After yesterday’s classic blues number best known for Lead Belly, another simmering jealousy classic from one of the great soul stars whose life was tragically cut short in a 1967 plane crash aged only 26
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When things get out of hand in politics …
Song of the Day: In the heat of farcical parliamentary Brexit manoeuvrings and Trump trampling through the ruins of international relations, here's a clever reimagining of a white-collar high-level meeting if it was a street-gang brawl
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From the album cover of The Soft Machine (1968), featuring Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers and Mike Ratledge
Song of the Day: After yesterday's Ray Davies soaring sleep song performed by Marion, a more psychedelic take on different levels of consciousness by those Canterbury pioneers from their first album of 1968
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An original single cover for Street Fighting Man (1968)
Song of the Day: After yesterday's Fast Fuse by Kasabian, a track that also quickly fires up passions, and is highly influential – recorded 50 years ago during an unprecedented period of demonstrations and riots
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The Foundations
Song of the Day: After yesterday's Les Fleur by Minnie Riperton, we turned to another uplifting flower song by the great British ethnic-mix Motown-style band who were active between 1967 and 1971
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Minnie Riperton in 1971
Song of the Day: After our previous Manchester late-80s dance tracks, when flower power returned with a new chemical twist, we hark back to another petal-infused and influential song by the vocalist linked to our previous Rotary Connection selection
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Canned Heat
Song of the Day: Leaping back out of Springsteen's Pink Cadillac, we continue our road journey with two 1968 hits by the Los Angeles blues band – a cover of a cover a cover – and also go back down the dusty track to see where it all came from
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The Move, featuring the moustachioed Roy Wood, in 1968.
Song of the Day: Moving on from Johnny Cash's Hurt, we return to an upbeat, colourful song about mental health problems, penned by the eccentric Roy Wood, who later of course, became a hirsute star of Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard
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Hugh Masekela, 1939-2018
Song of the Day: A triple tribute to the sadly departed but hugely influential South African trumpeter, composer, singer, cornet and flugelhorn player, and leading anti-apartheid campaigner
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The ever stylish Sly and co, who together made a very special musical family
Song of the Day: Following yesterday's We The People by A Tribe Called Quest, an earlier, and even more influential message of racial unity from the funk pioneers of the late 60s and early 70s
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