A second trawl through the songs inspired by the month of April.
“Pieces of April” is a ballad written by Dave Loggins which became a Top 20 hit for Three Dog Night in January 1973. First recorded by Loggins himself for his 1972 debut album Personal Belongings, “Pieces of April” was recorded for the 1972 Three Dog Night album Seven Separate Fools produced and arranged by Richard Podolor with Three Dog Night themselves credited as co-arrangers. Released in October 1972 as the followup to the No.1 hit “Black and White”, “Pieces of April” was an atypically delicate Three Dog Night track, being particularly distinct from the rollicking “Black and White”, and “Pieces of April” would not become one of Three Dog Night’s biggest hits, rising no higher than #19 on the Hot 100 on the Billboard.
“April Lady” is one of only six songs recorded by Smile, who were an English rock band based in London, and the predecessor to rock band Queen. The band was formed in 1968 by Brian May, who went on to become Queen’s guitarist. It included Tim Staffell as lead singer and bass guitarist, and later, drummer Roger Taylor, who also went on to play for Queen. They recorded only six songs and disbanded in 1970. These songs exist on the CD Ghost of a Smile. “April Lady” was dedicated to Roger Taylor’s girlfriend at the time.
“April” is a track by Deep Purple takeen from their eponymously named album (also known as Deep Purple III) released in June 1969 on Tetragrammaton Records in the United States and only in September 1969 on Harvest Records in the United Kingdom. “April” was a tune written by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore about his birthday month before the recording sessions had begun; it was later augmented with a long middle section of classical music written by Lord, becoming the album’s 12-minute-plus final track and Deep Purple’s longest ever studio recording.
“April Fool” is a track from Banga the eleventh and most recent studio album by American musician Patti Smith, released in June 2012 on Columbia Records. As the album’s lead single, “April Fool,” was released as a digital download on various online stores the same day. Several songs on the album were also inspired by literature, particularly “April Fool,” inspired by Nikolai Gogol.
“April Skies” is a song by Scottish alternative rock group the Jesus and Mary Chain and the first single from the group’s second studio album, Darklands (1987). The song was released by Blanco y Negro Records in April 1987, reaching No. 8 on the UK Single Chart, No. 6 in Ireland, and No. 16 in New Zealand, making it the band’s highest-charting single in all three countries.
