The summer (or at least spring…) of love is upon us as we tune our ears back to March of 1967…
Songs of the month
[new] “59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” – Harpers Bizarre
“Baby I Need Your Lovin'” – Johnny Rivers
[new] “Bernadette” – Four Tops
[new] “California Nights” – Lesley Gore
“Darling Be Home Soon” – Lovin’ Spoonful
[new] “Dedicated To The One I Love” – Mamas And Papas
“Epistle To Dippy” – Donovan
[new] “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love” – Wilson Pickett
“For What It’s Worth” – Buffalo Springfield
“Georgy Girl” – Seekers
“Gimme Some Loving” – Spencer Davis Group
“Go Where You Wanna Go” – 5Th Dimension
[new] “Happy Together” – Turtles
“I Had Too Much To Dream” – Electric Prunes
[new] “I Never Loved A Man” – Aretha Franklin
[new] “I Think We’re Alone Now” – Tommy James And Shondells
“I’m A Believer” – Monkees
[new] “I’ve Been Lonely Too Long” – Young Rascals
“It Takes Two” – Marvin Gaye And Kim Weston
[new] “Jimmy Mack” – Martha And Vandellas
“Kind Of A Drag” – Buckinghams
[new] “Let’s Fall In Love” – Peaches And Herb
“Love Is Here And Now You’re Gone” – Supremes
“Mercy Mercy Mercy” – Cannonball Adderley
“My Cup Runneth Over” – Ed Ames
[new] “Niki Hoeky” – P.J. Proby
[new] “Penny Lane” – Beatles
“Pretty Ballerina” – Left Banke
[new] “Return Of The Red Baron” – Royal Guardsmen
“Ruby Tuesday” – Rolling Stones
[new] “So You Want To Be A Rock N Roll Star” – Byrds
“Sock It To Me Baby” – Mitch Ryder And Detroit Wheels
[new] “Somethin’ Stupid” – Frank & Nancy Sinatra
[new] “Strawberry Fields Forever” – Beatles
“The Beat Goes On” – Sonny And Cher
“The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game” – Marvelettes
[new] “The Love I Saw In You Was Just A Mirage” – Smokey Robinson And Miracles
“Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye” – Casinos
[new] “There’s A Kind Of Hush” – Herman’s Hermits
[new] “This Is My Song” – Petula Clark
[new] “Ups And Downs” – Paul Revere And Raiders
“We Ain’t Got Nothin’ Yet” – Blues Magoos
[new] “Western Union” – Five Americans
“You Got To Me” – Neil Diamond
[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 7th, USA channel CBS aired the first television news documentary in U.S. history to report on gay and lesbian issues. Hosted by Mike Wallace, and viewed by 40 million people, “The Homosexuals” “reflected the bias of the American Psychological Association… labeling homosexuality a mental illness” but also showed gays and lesbians as individuals whose civil rights were deprived. TV critics reacted differently, with Chicago Tribune columnist Clay Gowran, who called the show “garbage” and said that “it was permitted… not only to justify the aberration but, it seemed, to glorify it” (charming…), while Tribune columnist Herb Lyon wrote that it “was one of the most intelligent, mature, incisive shows ever produced.”
On the 17th of the month Time Magazine published, “San Francisco: Love on Haight” the first mainstream coverage of the descent of the countries hippies on the Haight-Ashbury neighbourhood in San Francisco, that would become known as the ‘Summer of Love’.
Then on the 18th the first demonstration of “slow motion instant replay” on television was shown to viewers of ABC Wide World of Sports who had tuned in to see the finals of the “World Series of Skiing”. The repeating of a scene at its original speed had been shown as early as December 7, 1963, but the Ampex HS-100 made it possible to slow down, freeze, or reverse the action for analysis by television commentators
And to end the month with a, literal, bang on the 31st, when kicking off a tour with The Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens and Engelbert Humperdinck at The Astoria London, Jimi Hendrix set fire to his guitar on stage for the first time. He was taken to hospital suffering burns to his hands. The guitar-burning act would later become a trademark of Hendrix’s performances.
What’d Sadie think?
A real fight for the chart top this month with “Ruby Tuesday” by the Rolling Stones , “Love Is Here And Now You’re Gone” by the Supremes , “Penny Lane” by the Beatles and “Happy Together” by the Turtles all getting a week at number 1.
Sadie particularly called out Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Darlin be home soon” as a song she liked this month. Fittingly its from the soundtrack to Francis Ford Coppola film “You’re a Big Boy Now” and Sadie is turning 4 next week! Yes, we’ve been at this four years.
Loved ’em
- “Dedicated To The One I Love” – Mamas And Papas
- “Happy Together” – Turtles
- “I Never Loved A Man” – Aretha Franklin
- “I Think We’re Alone Now” – Tommy James And Shondells
- “Penny Lane” – Beatles
- “Somethin’ Stupid” – Frank & Nancy Sinatra
- “Strawberry Fields Forever” – Beatles
- “Western Union” – Five Americans
Liked ’em
- “59Th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” – Harpers Bizarre
- “Bernadette” – Four Tops
- “California Nights” – Lesley Gore
- “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love” – Wilson Pickett
- “I’ve Been Lonely Too Long” – Young Rascals
- “Jimmy Mack” – Martha And Vandellas
- “Let’s Fall In Love” – Peaches And Herb
- “Niki Hoeky” – P.J. Proby
- “So You Want To Be A Rock N Roll Star” – Byrds
- “The Love I Saw In You Was Just A Mirage” – Smokey Robinson And Miracles
- “There’s A Kind Of Hush” – Herman’s Hermits
- “This Is My Song” – Petula Clark
Leave ’em
- “Return Of The Red Baron” – Royal Guardsmen
- “Ups And Downs” – Paul Revere And Raiders
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.