First recorded by Leon Russell for his eponymous debut solo album, “A Song for You” was covered so frequently and by such big names (such as Aretha Franklin, Willie Nelson, and The Temptations) that by the end of the 1970s, it had become a standard. But Donny Hathaway was the first to cover Russell’s composition and it became one of his most widely-known songs (at the time of this writing his rendition has just under 80 million streams on Spotify).

The song is an emotional plea for forgiveness from a past lover, and Hathaway’s live performance of the song, four months after its release on the album, was described by one critic as “transcendent.”