Reading Word's interview with Duane Eddy again last night, I was reminded of how much I loved his music when I was growing up (er, in the 1980s; out of time, as usual). Here's a clip of him and his band miming to Shazam in 1960. The bassist and pianist need to make a bit more effort, mind.

I heard Big Yellow Taxi yesterday, which I really dislike. And it got me thinking: I bet there are people out there who judge Joni Mitchell purely on the basis of this rather irritating song. Then I got thinking some more (it was a quiet day): there must be loads of them. People who refuse to give Warren Zevon a go because they don't like Werewolves Of London; the truly blind who write off Chuck Berry because of My Ding-A-Ling; hell, there's probably someone out there content to rubbish Bob Dylan because they're not a fan of Blowin' In The Wind.

So.

The Unrepresentative Hit(s).

Go.

In the spirit of the newly announced reminder of etiquette when it comes to posting YouTube clips, here is the instrumental track from take 39 of The Righteous Brothers' You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'. Found on Twitter, courtesy of @mannweill.

(First of all, credit where it's due: I want to apologise for borrowing the line from a Graeme Thomson's review of the Shelby Lynne/Dusty Springfield covers album some years back. One of my two favourite puns ever printed in Word; the other being "Cheggers Can't Be Boozers")

Anyway, to the point: my knowledge of the music of Dusty Springfield is fairly narrow. I love about two thirds of Dusty In Memphis, and I know the big hits, I guess; and then, once in a while, someone on this site points me towards a song like 'Goin' Back', which just floors me. So, I'm not really looking for a Greatest Hits, but more for some of those exceptional recordings that I may have missed. I've made a Spotify playlist for anyone to contribute to; please don't take it personally if I decide that song isn't for me after all.

The one song that I think may be her greatest achievement, of course, isn't on Spotify:

So. That kind of thing, please.

http://open.spotify.com/user/lucashare/playlist/1FYIRiKqdWFTRETT2krCBM

I know that other things are going on; but am I right in thinking that we haven't discussed this yet? The Greatest Lost Album of All Time? Finally seeing the light of day?

http://www.examiner.com/pop-culture-in-national/the-beach-boys-set-to-re...

Thanks to Twitter, some already know this, but tonight sees the beginning of the repeats of the criminally underrated Six Feet Under on Sky Atlantic at 9pm. I believe it to be 'up there' with The Sopranos and The Wire in HBO's celestial chosen few. Set those box things.

Anyone who's read Barney Hoskyns' Say It One Time For The Brokenhearted will know that he holds Bettye Swann's 1976 recording 'Be Strong Enough To Hold On' in the highest company, elevating it to heights occupied only by the likes of James Carr's 'Dark End Of The Street'. The only problem being that this song is well nigh impossible to get hold of: unavailable on CD or digitally, it may appear one day or else be permanently confined to mentions in hushed tones from Southern Soul devotees the world over, who would whisper about it as some kind of unreachable, Holy Grail-like artefact that may or may not even exist.

Anyway. Long story short. I've found it here:

http://www.goear.com/listen/507912f/Be-Strong-Enough-to-Hold-On-bettye-s...

and decided that you all have to listen to it. It will take less than three and a half minutes of your time.

I've listened to it over fifty times since I first found it two years ago. It's really got a hold on me.

Later this year I turn forty. So does my wife. In case we have a party, I can think of no better soundtrack than a Spotify playlist of the best of 1971 compiled by you lovely people. You have quite a few months to perfect this. Go.

http://open.spotify.com/user/lucashare/playlist/30zb65MwaX0GWomSN8eqbG

Thank you all in advance. I'm happy for it to also include music that may have been released in 1972 but was recorded the year before (Rock Of Ages, Harvest, Jackson Browne, etc)

The best thing the BBC have come out with in, ooh, a couple of decades is being repeated tonight.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t8wp0

I know the music of Elvis Presley like the back of my hand. But I must be getting old. I was out to lunch today - possibly in more ways than one - and a friend put If I Can Dream on.

http://open.spotify.com/track/2ZuQUhhwW3a5ctxf45TZNk

It was played on an iPod through a Bose speaker, quite quietly. But all I could hear was the bassline. And you know what? I would have put money on the fact that I was in fact listening to this (from about 46 seconds in, that is):

http://open.spotify.com/track/1UYba3sYWE5tix8N3DibQg

Am I going mad? Musicians, please? Are the intro basslines identical?

Someone had to do it. I, like many, am enjoying David Hepworth's thread about ordinary songs transformed by superior cover versions that all but eclipse the original. But what about those songs which you thought you knew...and then you heard the far less famous original?

I'll kick things off. I can't see a way of posting what I believe to be the winner in this category, Mickey Newbury's jaw-droppingly good original studio recording of An American Trilogy, before Elvis turned it into his very own national anthem. So I'll go with this:

I grow very tired of Kim Carnes' Bette Davis Eyes, a sizeable hit in 1981. But I'm very fond of Jackie DeShannon's original from 1974:

In this day and age, there aren't many obscure Elvis Presley songs left. Not good ones, anyway. But here's an exception that my iPod threw up this morning:

In the spirit of Spotify Friday, I've made a little playlist for y'all. Following Andrew Loog Oldham's Twitter recommendation of Bobby Darin's Back Street Girl and the death of Solomon Burke, it occurred to me how many good songs there are out there that (a) The Rolling Stones have covered and (b) are covers of Rolling Stones songs.

The list is by no means definitive - the one absence that really hurts is Wayne Gibson's Under My Thumb -

and I've limited it to one cover per song. There are some obvious ones I've left off - Soup Dragons, for example - because I don't like them. I've tried not to go crazy on the Chuck Berry songs. And if you think that Staples song is a cheeky inclusion, I ask you: who's being cheeky?

As well as some reinterpreted favorites - always loved Linda Ronstadt's Tumbling Dice - there are songs that I love by The Stones that I love even more in their original forms: Irma Thomas' Time Is On My Side, Marvin Gaye's Can I Get A Witness, etc.

But, hey, pitch in. The more the merrier.

http://open.spotify.com/user/lucashare/playlist/1SNmeATzHuvyyBoeK6QdgR

Somehow - somehow - I neglected to inform the good Massive that Jerry Lee Lewis turned 75 last week. So, get some air in those balloons and take a moment to celebrate one of the greats.

Technical question, this. I guess I'm talking to Fraser.

Over the summer I realised that the site's font had got a bit smaller. I wondered if it was anything to do with me accessing it abroad. Then, by chance, I realised that whether or not there was a 'www' included in the web page address made a significant difference to whether or not I got the easily readable version for optically challenged individuals such as myself, or the smaller/neater/but a bit of a strain version.

Now it's all gone small. Am I doing something wrong or is it a change your end?