Sept 6th in Pop History
On this day, September 6th, in:
• 1969 - Bob Dylan’s song Lay Lady Lay peaks at # 7 on the Billboard singles chart. Departing from his usual high pitched, nasal style, Dylan's low-key vocal also pushed the song to # 5 in the UK
Lay Lady Lay was originally written for the soundtrack of the movie Midnight Cowboy, but wasn't submitted in time to be included in the finished film. In a 1971 interview for which transcripts were auctioned in 2020, Dylan said the song was written for Barbra Streisand.
In a statement to NBC News, Streisand said: "I'm very flattered to find out that Bob Dylan wrote Lay Lady Lay for me. What I remember is getting flowers from him with a handwritten note asking me to sing a duet with him, but I just couldn't imagine it then. Guess what, Bob, I can imagine doing it now!"
According to Johnny Cash, Dylan played the song first in a circle of singer-songwriters at Cash's house outside of Nashville. Cash claimed that several other musicians (including Joni Mitchell) also played their own new, unheard songs.
But for all its success, Dylan was not a fan of the song. “I never… thought it was representative of anything I do,” he told Clive Davis, the president of Columbia Records who convinced Dylan to release the track as a pre-album single to Nashville Skyline. Dylan’s first live performance of the hit was August 1969, when he shunned the Woodstock festival and flew to the Isle of Wight. They loved it. And so did many musicians — it has been covered dozens of times, including by The Byrds and The Everly Brothers.
Lay Lady Lay on Spotify:
Also, on this day, September 6th, in:
• 1970 - Jimi Hendrix makes his last major concert appearance at the Love and Peace Festival in Puttgarden, Germany
• 1986 - Bananarama's cover of Venus hits # 1 in the U.S., bringing the English pop trio international fame
• 1989 - The Pittsburgh Steelers are stopped from practicing on their own field, Three Rivers Stadium, because The Rolling Stones are rehearsing for their upcoming concert
• 1997 - Elton John sings a new version of Candle In The Wind at Princess Diana's funeral. This rendition replaces the phrase Goodbye Norma Jean with Goodbye England's Rose. Many report that it became the best-selling single of all time. But that is a mistake - that honor is still held by Bing Crosby with White Christmas
