1940 - Woody Guthrie wrote the lyrics to 'This Land Is Your Land' in his room at the Hanover House Hotel in New York City. Originally titled "God Blessed America," Guthrie wrote this as a parody of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America." When Guthrie started writing the song in 1940, the last line in the chorus was "God blessed America for me," which Guthrie eventually changed into "This land was made for you and me." It evolved into a protest anthem as generations of folk singers performed the song, but it is often misinterpreted as a patriotic song. The lyrics express Guthrie's belief that the working class should have the same rights as the rich.
1963 - The Chiffons' "He's So Fine" appeared on the pop chart for the first time, on its way to No. 1. George Harrison was sued years later for unconsciously plagiarizing the melody for his "My Sweet Lord."
1980 - Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" reached No. 1 The song was Queen's first No. 1 single in the United States. Freddy Mercury wrote the song as a tribute to Elvis Presley, and although Mercury typically composed music on the piano, he wrote "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" on guitar — and he did it in about five to 10 minutes. "It was quite a good thing because I was restricted, knowing only a few chords," Mercury told the press. "I couldn't work through too many chords and because of that restriction, I wrote a good song, I think." (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
2017 - Jay Z was set to become first rapper inducted into Songwriters Hall of Fame. Previous inductees include Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton, Bruce Springsteen and Michael Jackson. But no rapper had ever made the cut before.
Birthdays:
Blues guitarist and singer Johnny Winter was born on this day in 1944.
Rusty Young was born on this day in 1946. Born in California, lived in Lakewood, went to Jefferson High. A member of Boenzye Creek and Poco. Poco is in the Colorado Music Hall Of Fame.
Brad Whitford of Aerosmith is 70.
Howard Jones is 67.
On This Day In Music History is sourced from This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.