On this set of covers of 1970 hits, Marc Cohn tracks a cataclysmic year for rock: The Beatles have broken
up (Lennon's "Look at Me," McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed"), Simon and Garfunkel are breaking up ("The Only Living Boy in New York") and Sixties hopes were dashed at Altamont (the Grateful Dead's "New Speedway Boogie"). Cohn has one of rock's most soulful croons — a rich, immediately recognizable tenor that makes these songs his own. By the time the album closes with Creedence's "Long As I Can See the Light," he's taken you from shattered dreams to spiritual deliverance.

“1999”

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.