So, to the fourth of the actions recommended by Dusty Springfield. Now we come to thinking. I would expect this to provide a rich vein of song for us to mine. Indeed I come to my researches with several songs aleady in mind, so it may be that this topic will stretch over more than one post.
“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962, recorded on November 14 that year, and released on the 1963 album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan and as the b-side of the Blowing’ in the Wind single. The song was covered by several other artists, including Peter,Paul and Mary who released it as a single which reached the Top 10 of the Billboard. In the liner notes to the original release, Nat Hentoff calls the song “a statement that maybe you can say to make yourself feel better … as if you were talking to yourself.”
“I Think It’s Going to Rain Today” is a song by American singer-songwriter Randy Newman. It appears on Newman’s 1968 debut album Randy Newman, and in Newman’s official and bootleg live albums. It is one of his most covered songs. The song was covered by British reggae band UB40 in 1980. It was released in June 1980 as the second and final single from their debut album, Signing Off. The song reached number 6 in the UK.
“I Think We’re Alone Now” is a song written and composed by Ritchie Cordell that was the title selection from an eponymous album released by Tommy James and the Shondells. “I Think We’re Alone Now” was a 1967 US hit for James and the Shondells, reaching number 1 on the WLS Silver Dollar Survey for five weeks, starting in February 1967, and number 8 for the entire year 1967, and number 4 on the Hot 100 in April 1967, nearly two months later, and one week to the day before Tommy’s 20th birthday.
The song has been covered several times by other artists, most notably by Tiffany Darwish in 1987. The Tiffany recording reached number 1 on the charts of various countries including the US, UK, Canada, and New Zealand.
“Think” is a song written by Aretha Franklin and Ted White, and first recorded by Franklin. It was released as a single in 1968, from her ‘Aretha Now’ album. The song reached No. 7 on the Billboard, becoming Franklin’s seventh top 10 hit in the United States. Franklin re-recorded the song in the Atlantic Records New York studio for the soundtrack of the 1980 filmTheBlues Brothers. Pitchfork placed it at number 15 on its list of “The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s”.
“Think About Me” was the 10th single release by Artful Dodger a UK garage duo, originally based in Southampton, which became famous for its 2-Step hits. In November 2000 Artful Dodger released an album, It’s All About the Stragglers, on FFRR Records. With tracks featuring mostly unknown vocalists, the album was largely a compilation of their previous vinyl releases and CD singles and included Think About Me featuring Michelle Escoffery, which rose to No. 11 in the UK charts.
“Thinking Out Loud” is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, recorded for his second studio album, X (2014). It was written by Sheeran and Amy Wadge, and produced by frequent collaborator Jake Gosling. It was released in the US in September 2014 as the album’s third single. In the UK, the song spent 19 weeks within the top 40 before peaking at number one in early November 2014; it became Sheeran’s second number one single there. In June 2015, “Thinking Out Loud” became the first single to spend a year in the UK Top 40. In September 2015, it also became the seventh single to have achieved triple platinum status in the UK since 2000.
