According to the automated math that gets pre-populated for me here it’s 57 years and 9 months before Sadie is born and 14 years and 3 months before Thomas is as we explore the sounds of November, 1962… but much more importantly, it’s 3 years since Sadie was actually born!
Wow.
Happy birthday Sadie ada Cayce Scovell! You came into our life 5 weeks early, the tiniest most precious wee thing, and are now a full-on threenager who commands everyones attention with her kindness, humour and intelligence and is already out-witting your poor parents. Can’t wait to see what you do next.
And happy birthday to this project – we’ve now covered nearly 13 years of musical history across 155 weekly playlists!
(Also we skipped a week of posting the blog post due to being busy, so here’s a link to October, 1962 for those who want to make sure they listen to everything in order. On that note, we always listen to the playlist no matter what – and these are available on my Youtube account if anyone ever wants to find one easily. Literally just search for month and year and my name and they’ll come up.)
Songs of the month
“All Alone Am I” – Brenda Lee
“Alley Cat” – Bent Fabric
“Big Girls Don’t Cry” – Four Seasons
[new] “Bobby’s Girl” – Marcie Blane
“Close To Cathy” – Mike Clifford
[new] “Dance With The Guitar Man” – Duane Eddy
[new] “Desafinado” – Stan Getz/Charlie Byrd
“Do You Love Me” – Contours
[new] “Don’t Hang Up” – Orlons
“Gina” – Johnny Mathis
[new] “Green Onions” – Booker T. And The Mgs
“He’s A Rebel” – Crystals
[new] “I Can’t Help It” – Johnny Tillotson
“I Left My Heart In San Francisco” – Tony Bennett
“I Remember You” – Frank Ifield
[new] “I Was Such A Fool” – Connie Francis
[new] “I’ve Got A Woman” – Jimmy Mcgriff
“James” – Sue Thompson
[new] “Keep Your Hands Off My Baby” – Litta Eva
[new] “Leah” – Roy Orbison
“Let’s Dance” – Chris Montez
“Limbo Rock” – Chubby Checker
[new] “Love Me Tender” – Richard Chamberlain
“Monster Mash” – Bobby Boris Pickett And The Crypt-Kickers
[new] “My Own True Love” – Duprees
“Next Door To An Angel” – Neil Sedaka
“Nothing Can Change This Love” – Sam Cooke
“Only Love Can Break A Heart” – Gene Pitney
“Patches” – Dickey Lee
“Popeye The Hitchiker” – Chubby Checker
“Ramblin’ Rose” – Nat King Cole
[new] “Release Me” – Esther Phillips
“Return To Sender” – Elvis Presley
[new] “Ride” – Dee Dee Sharp
[new] “Rumours” – Johnny Crawford
“Sherry” – Four Seasons
“Surfin’ Safari” – Beach Boys
[new] “Telstar” – Tornados
[new] “That Stranger Used To Be My Girl” – Trade Martin
“The Cha-Cha-Cha” – Bobby Rydell
[new] “The Lonely Bull” – Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
“Torture” – Kris Jensen
“Warmed Over Kisses” – Brian Hyland
“What Kind Of Fool Am I” – Sammy Davis Jr.
[new] = New to the chart this week.
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.
This month in history
On the 3rd the earliest use of the term “personal computer” by the media was made in The New York Times in a story about John W. Mauchly’s speech the day before to the American Institute of Industrial Engineers. Mauchly, “inventor of some of the original room-size computers” said that “in a decade or so”, everyone would have their own computer with “exchangeable wafer-thin data storage files to provide inexhaustible memories and answer most problems”. Mauchly was quoted as saying, “There is no reason to suppose the average boy or girl cannot be master of a personal computer.” Indeed!
On the same day, which was clearly big for coining terms, “country music” replaced what had been referred to as “country and western”, Billboard magazine renamed its “Hot C&W Singles” chart to “Hot Country Singles” and stopped referring to “western” music altogether.
On the 24th the first episode of the influential British satire show “That Was The Week That Was” was broadcast on BBC Television. No recording of that on Youtube, but here’s one from the next year.
And here in New Zealand Brigadier Sir Bernard Fergusson became Governor-General of New Zealand – not that interesting in and of itself but telling as the last British native to be appointed to that position. More than 70 years later we’re still part of the Commonwealth and have the British monarch as or head-of-state however.
What’d Sadie think?
Two weeks a piece at the top for “He’s A Rebel” by the Crystals then the classic “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by the Four Seasons.
Loved ’em
- “Desafinado” – Stan Getz/Charlie Byrd
- “Don’t Hang Up” – Orlons
- “Release Me” – Esther Phillips
Liked ’em
- “Bobby’s Girl” – Marcie Blane
- “Dance With The Guitar Man” – Duane Eddy
- “I Can’t Help It” – Johnny Tillotson
- “I Was Such A Fool” – Connie Francis
- “I’ve Got A Woman” – Jimmy Mcgriff
- “Leah” – Roy Orbison
- “My Own True Love” – Duprees
- “Love Me Tender” – Richard Chamberlain
- “Ride” – Dee Dee Sharp
- “Rumours” – Johnny Crawford
- “That Stranger Used To Be My Girl” – Trade Martin
Leave ’em
- “Telstar” – Tornados
- “The Lonely Bull” – Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.