The Beatles and a comb... -- One of Bowie's best... -- A birthday for a bona-fide American songwriting legend that's been covered by too many to list...

(Courtesy of Capitol & Apple Records/Getty Images)
(Courtesy of Capitol & Apple Records/Getty Images)
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3/7/1967 (50 years ago today) - Working on their next album (the as-yet-to-be-titled "Sgt. Pepper's..."), The Beatles are concentrating on overdubs for "Lovely Rita", including the harmony vocal parts, some miscellaneous sound effects, and for extra percussion, they record the sound of a piece of toilet paper being blown through a haircomb! High tech!

3/7/1975 (42 years ago today) - David Bowie released his ninth studio album, the "plastic soul" masterpiece "Young Americans", featuring an absolutely stellar line-up of musicians that helped him with his vision of "squashed ethnic music in the age of Muzak rock" -- There was soon-to-be-a-major-player-in-his-own-right, the legendary Luther Vandross as the main backing vocalist for almost all the tracks; John Lennon gets co-writing credits for and sings on "Fame"; jazz-rock saxophone ace David Sanborn cuts loose throughout; and most of the drumming was laid down by Andy Newmark, fresh from a stint with none other than Sly & the Family Stone. Producer Tony Visconti noted that "85% of the album was done live in the studio"A remarkable LP unlike any other in the Bowie catalog. Get yours today!

3/7/1944 - Born on this day, singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt -- His music has been covered by so many artists, it borders on mind-boggling: Bob Dylan, Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, The Cowboy Junkies, Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, just a partial list of musicians who admired and recorded Townes' songs; "Pancho And Lefty" and "If I Needed You" are his most well known tunes, and the albums "For The Sake Of The Song" (1968) and "High, Low And In Between" (1971) could {potentially} leave you breathless. Never fully appreciated when he was around, Townes spent most of his life touring dive bars and living in cheap motels or backwoods cabins; in the 1970's, he settled down (somewhat) in a simple shack without electricity or a phone. He was just 52 when he passed away on January 1, 1997, after years of substance abuse. Look him up, he was as real as real gets.

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"And now you wear your skin like iron/And your breath as hard as kerosene...", xoxo!

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