The rain continues unabated here in Auckland of May, 2023 so lets escape back to 59 years before Sadie is born and listen to the tunes of August, 1961…
Songs of the month
[new] “Amor” – Ben E. King
[new] “As If I Didn’t Know” – Adam Wade
[new] “Crying” – Roy Orbison
“Cupid” – Sam Cooke
[new] “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour” – Lonnie Donegan
[new] “Don’t Bet Money Honey” – Linda Scott
“Dum Dum” – Brenda Lee
“Hats Off To Larry” – Del Shannon
[new] “Hurt” – Timi Yuro
[new] “I Dreamed Of A Hill-Billy Heaven” – Tex Ritter
[new] “I Fall To Pieces” – Patsy Cline
[new] “I Just Don’t Understand” – Ann-Margaret
“I Like It Like That” – Chris Kenner
“I’ll Be There” – Damita Jo
[new] “I’m Gonna Knock On Your Door” – Eddie Hodges
[new] “I’m Telling You” – Jerry Butler
“Last Night” – Mar-Keys
[new] “Let The Four Winds Blow” – Fats Domino
“Let’s Twist Again” – Chubby Checker
[new] “Little Sister” – Elvis Presley
“Michael” – Highwaymen
“My Kind Of Girl” – Matt Monro
[new] “My True Story” – Jive Five
“Never On Sunday” – Chordettes
[new] “One Summer Night” – Diamonds
“Please Stay” – Drifters
“Pretty Little Angel Eyes” – Curtis Lee
[new] “Princess” – Frank Gari
“Quarter To Three” – Gary Us Bonds
[new] “Quite A Party” – Fireballs
[new] “Right Or Wrong” – Wanda Jackson
[new] “Runaround” – Regents
“Sacred” – Castells
“San Antonio Rose” – Floyd Cramer
“School Is Out” – Gary Us Bonds
[new] “Sea Of Heartbreak” – Don Gibson
[new] “Take Good Care Of My Baby” – Bobby Vee
“That’s What Girls Are Made For” – Spinners
“The Boll Weevil Song” – Brook Benton
“The Fish” – Bobby Rydell
“Together” – Connie Francis
“Tossin’ And Turnin'” – Bobby Lewis
[new] “Who Put The Bomp” – Barry Mann
[new] “Without You” – Johnny Tillotson
“Wooden Heart” – Joe Dowell
“Yellow Bird” – Arthur Lyman Group
“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 August the 7th the famous Milgram Experiment began on the campus of Yale University, as psychologist Stanley Milgram tested the willingness of test subjects to administer torture to other people, rather than to disobey rules. The study, which would continue until March 1962, used a machine that was labeled “Shock Generator, Type ZLB” and “Output 15 Volts— 450 Volts”. Unaware that they were the study subjects, volunteers were given the role of “teacher” to assist the experimenter and given a mild shock to show what the “shock generator” was capable of, then pressured by the experimenter into giving increasing amounts of voltage to a “learner” on the other side of a window.
Then on the 13th the construction of the Berlin Wall began at 2:00 a.m. Central European Time, with the erection of a barbed-wire fence along the line between East Berlin and West Berlin, the digging of trenches along streets at the border, and the closure of railroad lines.
On the 15th Conrad Schumann, a 19-year-old East German border guard, defected to the West by jumping over a section of the barbed-wire fence that would soon be replaced by the cinderblocks of the Berlin Wall, crossing at Bernauer Street from East Berlin into West Berlin.
And on the 19th the ’60s got a bit more ’60s like when Professor Timothy Leary, a lecturer in psychology at Harvard University, delivered his paper “How to Change Behavior” at the Fourteenth International Congress of Applied Psychology, held in Copenhagen, describing use of the hallucinogen LSD, legal at the time, as the most efficient way of expanding consciousness.
What’d Sadie think?
Three weeks at the top for “Tossin’ And Turnin'” by Bobby Lewis before Joe Dowell’s “Wooden Heart” takes the spot.
Loved ’em
Number 69 on Rolling Stone’s list of “top 500 songs ever” is released this month, the great “Crying” by Roy Orbison.
As well as Barry Mann’s, “Who Put the Bomp” – which as many times as I’ve heard it over the years (perhaps I’ve just heard the chorus lots)… I finally understand. As wikipedia puts it, “In this song, Mann sings about the frequent use of nonsense lyrics in doo-wop music, and how his girl fell in love with him after listening to several such songs.”
I guess I’ve just never noticed the opening lyrics,
I’d like to thank the guy
Who wrote the song
That made my baby
Fall in love with me
Very meta. Other great tunes from the month:
- “I Fall To Pieces” – Patsy Cline
- “I’m Gonna Knock On Your Door” – Eddie Hodges
- “I’m Telling You” – Jerry Butler
- “Little Sister” – Elvis Presley
- “Take Good Care Of My Baby” – Bobby Vee
Liked ’em
- “Amor” – Ben E. King
“As If I Didn’t Know” – Adam Wade - “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour” – Lonnie Donegan
- “Hurt” – Timi Yuro
- “I Dreamed Of A Hill-Billy Heaven” – Tex Ritter
- “I Just Don’t Understand” – Ann-Margaret
- “Let The Four Winds Blow” – Fats Domino
- “One Summer Night” – Diamonds
- “Princess” – Frank Gari
- “Quite A Party” – Fireballs
- “Right Or Wrong” – Wanda Jackson
- “Runaround” – Regents
- “Sea Of Heartbreak” – Don Gibson
- “Without You” – Johnny Tillotson
Leave ’em
- “Don’t Bet Money Honey” – Linda Scott
- “My True Story” – Jive Five
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.