"Like a Sad Song" | ||||
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Single by John Denver | ||||
from the album Spirit | ||||
B-side | "Pegasus" | |||
Released | August 1976 | |||
Genre | Country pop | |||
Length | 3:41 | |||
Label | RCA Records | |||
Songwriter(s) | John Denver | |||
Producer(s) | Milton Okun | |||
John Denver singles chronology | ||||
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"Like a Sad Song" is a song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter John Denver, released as a single from his 1976 album, Spirit . Although it only reached No.36 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, "Like a Sad Song" became Denver's eighth single to reach No.1 on the easy listening chart within the span of three years.
Cash Box said that "Denver handles the ballad on acoustic guitar with sensitive string backing." [1] Record World called it "a soft spoken love song" in which "[Denver's] vocal grabs your attention and holds on until the song's end." [2]
Chart (1976) | Peak position |
---|---|
Canadian RPM Top Singles | 63 |
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary | 4 |
Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 8 |
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 36 |
U.S. Billboard Easy Listening | 1 |
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 34 |
"Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" is the second single from Marvin Gaye's 1971 album, What's Going On. Following the breakthrough of the title track's success, the song, written solely by Gaye, became regarded as one of popular music's most poignant anthems of sorrow regarding the environment. Led by Gaye playing piano, strings conducted by Paul Riser and David Van De Pitte, multi-tracking vocals from Gaye and The Andantes, multiple background instruments provided by The Funk Brothers and a leading sax solo by Wild Bill Moore, the song rose to number 4 on Billboard's Pop Singles chart and number one for two weeks on the R&B Singles charts on August 14 through to August 27, 1971. The distinctive percussive sound heard on the track was a wood block struck by a rubber mallet, drenched in studio reverb. The song also brought Gaye one of his rare appearances on the Adult Contemporary chart, where it peaked at number 34. In Canada, "Mercy Mercy Me" spent two weeks at number 9.
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