Seems to have been a trend in '60s pop pieces for a violin interlude about 2/3 of the way through a song. Examples:
1:59 into Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow
1:30 into My Girl
1:49 into Under the Boardwalk
Gotta say, I love the effect. According to the Wikpedia entry, the lead singer of the Shirelles only agreed to sing “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” after the string arrangement was added.
Any other good examples? Thoughts? Reactions?
“Stand by Me” by Ben E. King would also have to be a prime example.
I believe it was actually recorded in the early 70’s but Baba O’Riley would be another example.
Is “White Bird” cheating? 
And the violinist on that was Dave Arbus, who, in the sixties, was in the group East Of Eden. Their first album Mercator Projected is very good.
The Drifters (and Ben E. King, who was one of their principal lead vocalists) did this a lot. See “Save the Last Dance for Me”.
These don’t have violin solos, but I love the use of strings on the following soul tunes from 1969-1970:
“What Does It Take” by Jr. Walker and the All-Stars
“Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday” by Stevie Wonder
“Love or Let Me Be Lonely” by the Friends of Distinction
My reaction is that I hate strings in non-classical songs, especially when they rise up to a high volume. But that’s just me.
Just a technical nitpick: Those are string sections composed of multiple violins, violas, and cellos at least. The top violin line stands out the most, but it was (and still is, AFAIK) common practice to write sweetening charts for an entire string ensemble even though the lower ranges are not well heard in the final mix on a car radio.
Why not just use the upper parts? One composer I asked about that said that the string sections are used to playing as a group and he thinks harmonically that way, so the overall sound is better. It also provides more musician employment.
When I wrote sweetening charts in Hollywood, no producer ever tried to cut costs by eliminating the lower strings, so I always wrote for a complete section, sometimes having the cellos play two notes at once (typically 5ths) to thicken the sound.
“Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)”, from the Beach Boys’ immortal Pet Sounds (1966).
There are, it seems, two kinds of “songs with string(s) solo section(s)”: those which have a string ensemble throughout, and this ensemble is “featured” during a section where there is no singing; and, those where a single string does a “solo” for a section, but is not heard in the rest of the song (this is more akin to your standard rock-god guitar solo.) “Don’t Talk” is an example of the former. The latter is less common – “Baba O’Riley” is one example that has been mentioned.
(BTW, there was a Woodstocky-type end-of-the-60s group – The Family, maybe? – that featured a violin player, rather as Jethro Tull featured a flute.)
Sorry, it was actually The Flock, featuring violinist Jerry Goodman.
Family did feature two violinists (separately) - Ric Grech and John Weider.
“Woodstocky type of group” makes me think more of Seatrain.
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What’s the difference between a violin and a fiddle?
Being in a city that has accomplished musicians on both instruments, I once asked one of them who plays both to explain the difference. She said,[spoiler]
[/spoiler][/hijack]
The style of music being played? 
“Pretty Ballerina” by the Left Banke is a beautiful example. The father of one of the band members was a classical violinist, and had a fair amount of influence on the group’s arrangements.
Then there’s the gawdawful weepy violin in “As Tears Go By,” by the Rolling Stones.
Same instrument in both cases. Typically, a fiddler bows two strings at once, making for that typical “bluegrassy” chord sound. A violinist only ever bows one string at a time.
Kinda makes sense when you consider that violin chords come from the second violinist, whereas there’s usually only one fiddler in a given band.
The Flock was great, so was It’s a Beautiful Day, also add McKendree Spring as a cheat. So was Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna, Jefferson Starship for part of their times.
That’s not true; double stops are certainly used in classical violin playing. Solo violin music may even include full four-note chords–of course, it’s impossible to bow all four strings at once, so the violinist has to “roll” the chord.
I’d forgotten just HOW great!
The Papa John Period.
I’d also forgotten how much I loved McKendree Spring. I was such a closeted hippie.
I guess we’re getting away from the original intent of the thread, but David Cross contributed some lovely violin to King Crimson songs such as “Book of Saturday” and “Trio”. Another prog rock band featuring violin was Curved Air, but I never cared for them all that much.