It’s feeling very autumnal in April 2023 and it’s time to listen to the music of July, 1961 at which point it’s 59 years and 1 months before Sadie is born…
Songs of the month
“Barbara Ann” – Regents
“Boll Weevil Song” – Brook Benton
[new] “Cupid” – Sam Cooke
“Dance On Little Girl” – Paul Anka
[new] “Dum Dum” – Brenda Lee
“Every Beat Of My Heart” – Pips
“Hats Off To Larry” – Del Shannon
“Heart And Soul” – Cleftones
[new] “Heart And Soul” – Jan And Dean
“Hello Mary Lou” – Ricky Nelson
“Hello Walls” – Faron Young
[new] “I Like It Like That” – Chris Kenner
[new] “I’ll Be There” – Damita Jo
[new] “I’m Comin’ On Back To You” – Jackie Wilson
“It Keeps Rainin'” – Fats Domino
[new] “Last Night” – Mar-Keys
[new] “Let’s Twist Again” – Chubby Checker
[new] “Michael” – Highwaymen
“Moody River” – Pat Boone
[new] “My Kind Of Girl” – Matt Monro
[new] “Never On Sunday” – Chordettes
[new] “Ole Buttermilk Sky” – Bill Black’s Combo
[new] “Please Stay” – Drifters
[new] “Pretty Little Angel Eyes” – Curtis Lee
“Quarter To Three” – Gary U.S. Bonds
“Raindrops” – Dee Clark
“Running Scared” – Roy Orbison
[new] “Sacred” – Castells
“San Antonio Rose” – Floyd Cramer
[new] “School Is Out” – Gary Us Bonds
“Stand By Me” – Ben E. King
“Tell Me Why” – Belmonts
[new] “That’s What Girls Are Made For” – Spinners
[new] “The Boll Weevil Song” – Brook Benton
[new] “The Fish” – Bobby Rydell
[new] “The Switch-A-Roo” – Hank Ballard
“The Writing On The Wall” – Adam Wade
“Those Oldies But Goodies” – Little Caesar
[new] “Together” – Connie Francis
[new] “Tonight” – Velvets
“Tossin’ And Turnin'” – Bobby Lewis
“Travellin’ Man” – Ricky Nelson
[new] “Wooden Heart” – Joe Dowell
“Yellow Bird” – Arthur Lyman Group
“You Always Hurt The One You Love” – Clarence Frogman Henry
[new] “You Can’t Sit Down” – Phil Upchurch Combo
[new] “You Don’t Know What You’ve Got” – Ral Donner
[new] = New to the chart this week.
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.
This month in history
On July 2, 1961, a personal favourite author, Ernest Hemingway commits suicide. See news footage below.
Then on the 19th the first regularly scheduled in-flight movie service began, as a TWA flight from New York to Los Angeles showed By Love Possessed to its first-class customers. Check out what travel by jet was like back then…
In more tech innovations that month, International Business Machines placed the IBM Selectric typewriter on the market. The “typeball”, a sphere with the characters on it, replaced the individual “typebars”, and moved along the paper while the carriage stood still, and could be switched out to accommodate different fonts. Initially selling at $395, the Selectric soon became the most popular typewriter in the world, until superseded by the word processor.
What’d Sadie think?
It’s a week at number one for “Quarter To Three” by the curiously named Gary U.S. Bonds before a full four weeks at the top for “Tossin’ And Turnin'” by Bobby Lewis this month.
Loved ’em
- “Cupid” – Sam Cooke
- “Heart And Soul” – Jan And Dean
- “I Like It Like That” – Chris Kenner
- “I’ll Be There” – Damita Jo
- “Let’s Twist Again” – Chubby Checker
- “My Kind Of Girl” – Matt Monro
- “Please Stay” – Drifters
- “Tonight” – Velvets
Liked ’em
- “Dum Dum” – Brenda Lee
- “I’m Comin’ On Back To You” – Jackie Wilson
- “Last Night” – Mar-Keys
- “Michael” – Highwaymen
- “Never On Sunday” – Chordettes
- “Old Buttermilk Sky” – Bill Black’s Combo
- “Pretty Little Angel Eyes” – Curtis Lee
- “Quarter To Three” – Gary Us Bonds
- “That’s What Girls Are Made For” – Spinners
- “The Boll Weevil Song” – Brook Benton
- “The Switch-A-Roo” – Hank Ballard
- “Together” – Connie Francis
- “You Can’t Sit Down” – Phil Upchurch Combo
- “You Don’t Know What You’ve Got” – Ral Donner
Leave ’em
- “Sacred” – Castells
- “School Is Out” – Gary Us Bonds
- “The Fish” – Bobby Rydell
- “Wooden Heart” – Joe Dowell
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.