The number one song today in 1957 was the Everly Brothers’ first number one:

The number one British single today in 1960 was a song originally written in German sung by an American:

The number one album today in 1967 is about an event that supposedly took place on my birthday:

Today in 1971, Arco Industries filed suit against John Fogerty because it claimed that Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Travelin’ Band” …

… “contained substantial material copied” from Little Richard’s “Good Golly Miss Molly”:

The suit was later dropped, though CCR didn’t drop it:

The number one song today in 1972 was perhaps the first song ever written about a carnivorous rat:

The number one album today in 1989:

Birthdays begin with Cliff Richard, a much bigger star on the other side of the Atlantic than here:

 

Colin Hodgkinson of Whitesnake:

Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues:

Dan McCafferty of Nazareth:

Thomas Dolby:

One death of note: Composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, today in 1989:

• Music