It’s September, 1965

It’s Spring of 1965 as we tune into the charts…

Songs of the month

“Action” – Freddy Cannon
“Agent Oo Soul” – Edwin Starr
“All I Really Want To Do” – Cher
[new] “Baby Don’t Go” – Sonny & Cher
“Baby I’m Yours” – Barbara Lewis
“California Girls” – Beach Boys
“Catch Us If You Can” – Dave Clark Five
[new] “Do You Believe In Magic” – Lovin’ Spoonful
“Down In The Boondocks” – Billy Joe Royal
“Eve Of Destruction” – Barry Mcguire
“Hang On Sloopy” – Mccoys
“Heart Full Of Soul” – Yardbirds
“Help” – Beatles
“Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me” – Mel Carter
“Houston” – Dean Martin
“I Got You Babe” – Sonny & Cher
[new] “I’ll Make All Your Dreams Come True” – Ronnie Dove
[new] “I’m Yours” – Elvis Presley
“In The Midnight Hour” – Wilson Pickett
“It Ain’t Me Babe” – Turtles
“It’s The Same Old Song” – Four Tops
“Ju Ju Hand” – Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs
“Laugh At Me” – Sonny
[new] “Liar Liar” – Castaways
“Like A Rolling Stone” – Bob Dylan
“Looking Through The Eyes Of Love” – Gene Pitney
“Nothing But Heartaches” – Supremes
“Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” – James Brown
[new] “Ride Away” – Roy Orbison
[new] “Sad Sad Girl” – Barbara Mason
“Save Your Heart For Me” – Gary Lewis & The Playboys
“Shake And Fingerpop” – Junior Walker & The All Stars
“Since I Lost My Baby” – Temptations
[new] “Some Enchanted Evening” – Jay & The Americans
[new] “Summer Nights” – Marianne Faithfull
“The ‘in’ Crowd” – Ramsey Lewis
“Tracks Of My Tears” – Miracles
[new] “Treat Her Right” – Roy Head
“Unchained Melody” – Righteous Brothers
[new] “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” – Animals
[new] “We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place” – Animals
[new] “With These Hands” – Tom Jones
“You Were On My Mind” – We Five
[new] “You’ve Got Your Troubles” – Fortunes

[new] = New to the chart this week.

You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.

This month in history

On September 2nd, in parallels to the current US presidential race – former presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater filed a lawsuit against Fact Magazine, seeking two million dollars for libel arising from an article questioning the candidate’s sanity. The front cover of the September–October 1964 issue of Fact magazine had the headline “1,889 psychiatrists say Goldwater is psychologically unfit to be President”, and in the article was the statement, “He consciously wants to destroy the world with atomic bombs. He is a mass murderer at heart. He is amoral and immoral. He is a dangerous lunatic.”. Goldwater would be awarded $75,000 by a federal jury in 1968.

Also this month, the NBC television network unveiled two new series, that were personal favourites of mine as a child, fantasy comedy “I Dream of Jeannie” and spy spoof “Get Smart”.

Also a great month for pop-culture on the other side of the atlantic, when on the 30th the classic British sci-fi show “Thunderbirds”, using the “Supermarionation” process created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson, made its debut on ITV.

On September 5th the word “hippie” first appeared in print, in an article in the San Francisco Examiner by reporter Michael Fallon, who was writing a series about the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. “Five untroubled young ‘hippies’,” Fallon began, “sprawled on floor mattresses and slouched in an armchair retrieved from a debris box, flipped cigaret ashes at a seatbelt in their Waller Street flat and pondered their next move.”

What’d Sadie think?

3 weeks at the top for The Beatles with “Help” – making it 4 in a row, before “Eve Of Destruction” by Barry Mcguire topples them.

Loved ’em

A smaller crop of new songs this week, and not the epic hall of classics from last week. Certainly The Animals, “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” is the stand out. Apparently it was intended for the Righteous Brothers, for whom the song-writers had written the number one hit “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” but ended up a hit for The Animals instead. It’s probably most well known as a song used to expressed feelings about Vietnam through the rest of the ’60s. But was also apparently popular at High School proms that year…

  • “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” – Animals
  • “Liar Liar” – Castaways
  • “Sad Sad Girl” – Barbara Mason
  • “Summer Nights” – Marianne Faithfull
Liked ’em
  • “Baby Don’t Go” – Sonny & Cher
  • “Do You Believe In Magic” – Lovin’ Spoonful
  • “I’ll Make All Your Dreams Come True” – Ronnie Dove
  • “I’m Yours” – Elvis Presley
  • “Ride Away” – Roy Orbison
  • “Some Enchanted Evening” – Jay & The Americans
  • “Treat Her Right” – Roy Head
  • “With These Hands” – Tom Jones
  • “You’ve Got Your Troubles” – Fortunes

Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.