As I installed 7.61 on this old lappy and brought in the VST's and all, I opened a simple song to test. It loaded and played well, but no Song Playlist was visible? If I clicked the icon in the toolbar, it would just highlight a minimized effect or synths header. If I maximized given synth or effect and minimized again, the Song Playlist icon would just trigger the next synth or effect header at the bottom. In desperation I tried 'Clean Up Workspace' under the Windows tab, and tried the icon again - and there's the good ol' Song Playlist!
So in case anyone is having trouble getting or seeing the Playlist screen, this solution worked well for me finally.