Back in the Sixties, I fell in love with Dusty Springfield and her sultry voice. I bought her albums and played them until the grooves wore out. Dusty Springfield’s 1968 pop and soul album, Dusty in Memphis, one of Springfield’s best albums, included “Son-Of-A Preacher Man,” a song that holds a permanent place on my Playlist . In March 2020, the US Library of Congress added Dusty in Memphis to the National Recording Registry, which preserves audio recordings considered to be “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”.
But once the Seventies rolled around, Dusty Springfield’s career in the U.S. slowly faded. No more hits. She issued only five more albums until her death in 1999. But in her prime, Dusty Springfield thrilled me and a million fans. Were you a Dusty Springfield fan? Do you remember these songs? GRADE: A
Tracklist:
| 1 | Son-Of-A Preacher Man Written By – John Hurley & Ronnie WilkinsWritten-By – John Hurley, Ronnie WilkinsWritten By – John Hurley & Ronnie WilkinsWritten-By – John Hurley, Ronnie Wilkins | 2:28 | |
| 2 | Just a Little Lovin’ (Early in the Morning) Written-By – Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil*Written-By – Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil* | 2:19 | |
| 3 | Don’t Forget About Me Written-By – Gerry Goffin & Carole King*Written-By – Gerry Goffin & Carole King* | 2:49 | |
| 4 | Breakfast In Bed Written By – Eddie Hinton & Donnie FrittsWritten-By – Donnie Fritts, Eddie HintonWritten By – Eddie Hinton & Donnie FrittsWritten-By – Donnie Fritts, Eddie Hinton | 2:54 | |
| 5 | The Windmills of Your Mind Written By – Michel Legrand, Marilyn & Alan BergmanWritten-By – Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Michel LegrandWritten By – Michel Legrand, Marilyn & Alan BergmanWritten-By – Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand | 3:48 | |
| 6 | I Don’t Want to Hear It Anymore Written-By – Randy NewmanWritten-By – Randy Newman | 3:08 | |
| 7 | Willie and Laura Mae Jones Written-By – Tony Joe WhiteWritten-By – Tony Joe White | 2:47 | |
| 8 | That Old Sweet Roll (Hi-De-Ho) Written-By – Gerry Goffin & Carole King*Written-By – Gerry Goffin & Carole King* | 2:58 | |
| 9 | In The Land Of Make Believe Written-By – Burt Bacharach & Hal David*Written-By – Burt Bacharach & Hal David* | 2:28 | |
| 10 | So Much Love Written-By – Gerry Goffin & Carole King*Written-By – Gerry Goffin & Carole King* | 3:28 | |
| 11 | A Brand New Me Written By – Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff & Jerry ButlerWritten-By – Jerry Butler, Kenneth Gamble, Leon HuffWritten By – Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff & Jerry ButlerWritten-By – Jerry Butler, Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff | 2:30 | |
| 12 | Bad Case of the Blues Written By – Kenneth Gamble & Roland ChambersWritten-By – Kenneth Gamble, Roland ChambersWritten By – Kenneth Gamble & Roland ChambersWritten-By – Kenneth Gamble, Roland Chambers | 2:02 | |
| 13 | Silly, Silly Fool Written-By – Kenneth Gamble & Leon Huff*Written-By – Kenneth Gamble & Leon Huff* | 2:25 | |
| 14 | Joe Written By – Kenneth Gamble, Norman Harris & Allan FelderWritten-By – Allan Felder, Kenneth Gamble, Norman HarrisWritten By – Kenneth Gamble, Norman Harris & Allan FelderWritten-By – Allan Felder, Kenneth Gamble, Norman Harris | 2:16 | |
| 15 | I Wanna Be a Free Girl Written By – Thom Bell, Linda Creed, Kenneth Gamble & Leon HuffWritten-By – Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, Linda Creed, Thom BellWritten By – Thom Bell, Linda Creed, Kenneth Gamble & Leon HuffWritten-By – Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, Linda Creed, Thom Bell | 2:51 | |
| 16 | Let Me Get in Your Way Written By – Kenneth Gamble & Roland ChambersWritten-By – Kenneth Gamble, Roland ChambersWritten By – Kenneth Gamble & Roland ChambersWritten-By – Kenneth Gamble, Roland Chambers | 2:41 | |
| 17 | Lost Written By – Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff & Jerry ButlerWritten-By – Jerry Butler, Kenneth Gamble, Leon HuffWritten By – Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff & Jerry ButlerWritten-By – Jerry Butler, Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff | 2:22 | |
| 18 | Never Love AgainWritten By – Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff & Roland ChambersWritten-By – Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, Roland ChambersWritten By – Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff & Roland ChambersWritten-By – Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, Roland Chambers | 3:09 | |
| 19 | What Good Is I Love You Written By – Ellie Greenwich & Mike RashkowWritten-By – Ellie Greenwich, Mike RashkowWritten By – Ellie Greenwich & Mike RashkowWritten-By – Ellie Greenwich, Mike Rashkow | 2:50 | |
| 20 | What Do You Do When Love Dies Written By – Mary Unobsky & Donna WeissWritten-By – Donna Weiss, Mary UnobskyWritten By – Mary Unobsky & Donna WeissWritten-By – Donna Weiss, Mary Unobsky | 2:38 | |
| 21 | Haunted Written By – Jeff Barry & Bobby BloomWritten-By – Bobby Bloom, Jeff BarryWritten By – Jeff Barry & Bobby BloomWritten-By – Bobby Bloom, Jeff Barry | 2:24 | |
| 22 | Nothing Is Forever Written By – Jeff Barry & Bobby BloomWritten-By – Bobby Bloom, Jeff BarryWritten By – Jeff Barry & Bobby BloomWritten-By – Bobby Bloom, Jeff Barry | 2:30 | |
| 23 | I Believe In You Written-By – Jeff BarryWritten-By – Jeff Barry | 3:09 | |
| 24 | Someone Who Cares Written-By – Alex Harvey (2)Written-By – Alex Harvey (2) | 2:50 |
I liked Dusty Springfield, especially the In Memphis album. I don’t remember a lot of these songs though. And I have always hated The Windmills of Your Mind. That song is like nails on a blackboard for me.
Steve, DUSTY IN MEMPHIS always seemed like the High Point of Dusty Springfield’s career although she did have some success with THE PET SHOP BOYS 20 years later.
I’m not a fan, but I don’t mean that in a negative way. Basically, I just missed out on her. SON OF A PREACHER MAN is the only one of her hits that I even remember, and it’s OK. Her name is much more familiar to me than her music.
Michael, I love Dusty Springfield’s voice. They played her version of “The Look of Love” at my High School Prom and guess who got kissed during the song!
Hate that song also.
OK, George, how much of a cad were you when Steve kissed you at the prom?
Todd, it wasn’t Steve, it was Linda. But later that Summer, she broke my heart.
Sorry about the easy joke, and the bad times with Linda…I remember high school outside of the literature and music, as well!
Todd, the transition from High School to College caused a rift between me and Linda. She ended up marrying another guy, then divorced him, and we connected 10 years later…but we were not on the Same Page.
I love Dusty—both her singing and her eye-makeup! She was as a fixture of my English childhood, hosting “Ready, Steady, Go” and wearing her eye-popping mini-skirts. I like many of the songs on this set, but it misses some of her bigger hits from the mid-sixties such as “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me,” “I Only Wanna Be With You,” “The Look of Love,” and “I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten.” One of my very favorite Dusty songs is “What Have I Done to Deserve This,” a song she recorded with the Pet Shop Boys and which led to her career resurgence in the years before her death. It’s hard to believe she’s been gone over 20 years.
Deb, one of our PBS stations (we have three) must be having a pledge drive this week and one of the things they are showing is Ready, Steady, Go! I’m recording it.
Jeff, our PBS station is running a Pledge Drive this week, too. I’ll check to see if they’re showing READY, SET, GO!
Saw the Ready, Steady, Go film on our local PBS last week. Interesting but suffered from being mostly lip synced performances.
That’s what RSG! was about. Pretty much like HULLABALOO and the like in the States. It’s an odd mix…probably another T. J. Lubinsky recut.
Deb, I have a Dusty Springfield GREATEST HITS CD with all those great songs you mention. I’ll have to search for it for another FORGOTTEN MUSIC post. Yes, it is astonishing Dusty Springfield died 20 years ago!
And this album, Deb, is just her Atlantic records…”The Look of Love” and all were on other labels…
She made every song special-gave it her own spin, encompassing the sound of her era perfectly.
Patti, exactly! You always recognized Dusty Springfield’s voice.
Hell, yes, I’m a fan. I don’t know most of these, other than “Son of a Preacher Man” and “A Brand New Me” and the awful “The Windmills of Your Mind” (I can’t stand Michel Legrand). . I still play her first album, STAY AWHILE/I ONLY WANT TO BE WITH YOU. Besides those two hits, it has “Wishin’ & Hopin'” and her versions of “24 Hours From Tulsa,” “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” and “You Don’t Own Me,” among others. She also did “The Look of Love” and “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me,” which was her biggest hit.
Jeff, I love Dusty Springfield’s versions of those Bacharach/David classic songs!
Good morning, George. I didn’t realize you were a country music fan! I recognize the name, but don’t know any of the songs. In the Sixties I was listening to top 40 rock stations, not country.
Rick, Dusty Springfield had a dozen Top 40 hits in 1960s according to BILLBOARD.
Dusty was not country but was part of the British Invasion.
Steve – not the British Invasion I heard!
She was played constantly on top 40 stations along with The Beatles, Stones etc. The poppier end of the spectrum for sure but so was Gerry & the Pacemakers ad Bill J. Kramer. She was never played on country stations.
“Son of a Preacher Man” was the only country-ish song she did.
She was part of The Springfields before she became a rock star! They had a hit with Silver Threads and Golden Needles! I’ve always liked her but never bought, or listened to, an album!
Bob, you don’t know what you’re missing by not listening to Dusty Springfield’s albums!
SON OF A PREACHER MAN is about the only song I remember well. That appeared and was played often on the German Rock stations which I listened to when driving. I had just finished my studies and started working in 1969.
I looked at the authors too – many of the Brill Building Greats and others like Carole King, Cynthia Weil, Bacharach …
I really liked the songs they wrote!
Wolf, I’m a fan of the BRILL BUILDING songs, too!
Yes, the Springfields (where she and her brother pretended they were named Springfield, ahead of the “Walker Brothers”) were the first UK band to have a rock/pop top 40 hit in the US with their cover of “Silver Threads and Golden Needles”–which was not really country, no, but the original was rockabilly–and her solo line on that record and their other records definitely featured the warmth of her tone, her expert use of hesitance, which she simply refined as a solo singer. (I think Rick is thinking of any number of similarly-named singers…or took her r&b-influenced sound as somehow country…I guess she sounds at times a bit like Bobbi Gentry…)
I agree with Jeff and Steve that “Windmills” is pretty bad song; so is “You Don’t Have to Say You Me”…but she sang them well. “The Look of Love” is jazz-pop. She wasn’t quite as wide-ranging in repetoire as Ray Charles, but like him she could use her voice appropriately in various contexts…
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Todd, in her heyday Dusty Springfield could sing just about anything well. From standards to soul to pop song, her performances were just terrific!
Or “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” that is…