We’re later in the week, so let’s get straight to it and tune into the sounds of April, 1968…
Songs of the month
[new] “A Beautiful Morning” – Rascals
[new] “Ain’t No Way” – Aretha Franklin
“Cab Driver” – Mills Brothers
[new] “Cowboys To Girls” – Intruders
“Cry Like A Baby” – Box Tops
“Dance To The Music” – Sly And The Family Stone
[new] “Do You Know The Way To San Jose” – Dionne Warwick
[new] “Forever Came Today” – Diana Ross And The Supremes
[new] “Funky Street” – Arthur Conley
“Honey” – Bobby Goldsboro
“I Got The Feelin'” – James Brown
“I Thank You” – Sam And Dave
“If You Can Want” – Smokey Robinson And The Miracles
“Jennifer Juniper” – Donovan
“Just Dropped In” – First Edition
“Kiss Me Goodbye” – Petula Clark
“La La Means I Love You” – Delfonics
[new] “La-La Means I Love You” – Delfonics
“Lady Madonna” – Beatles
“Love Is All Around” – Troggs
“Love Is Blue” – Paul Mauriat
“Mighty Quinn” – Manfred Mann
“Playboy” – Gene And Debbie
“Scarborough Fair” – Simon And Garfunkel
“Simon Says” – 1910 Fruitgum Co.
“Since You’ve Been Gone” – Aretha Franklin
[new] “Summertime Blues” – Blue Cheer
“Sweet Inspiration” – Sweet Inspirations
[new] “Take Time To Know Her” – Percy Sledge
“The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde” – Georgie Fame
“The Dock Of The Bay” – Otis Redding
[new] “The Good The Bad And The Ugly” – Hugo Montenegro
[new] “The Unicorn” – Irish Rovers
[new] “Tighten Up” – Archie Bell And The Drells
“Valleri” – Monkees
“Valley Of The Dolls” – Dionne Warwick
“Will You Love Me Tomorrow” – Four Seasons
“Young Girl” – Gary Puckett & The Union Gap
[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 2nd in the United States, NBC broadcast a television special in which British singer Petula Clark appeared with Harry Belafonte as her guest. An innocent, affectionate gesture between the two during a song (Clark touched Belafonte on the arm) prompted concern from the show’s sponsor (Chrysler Corporation) due to the difference in their races…
And on the 4th American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated as he stood on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. King was rushed to St. Joseph’s Hospital and pronounced dead at 7:05pm. The powerful figure, described as a weapon of non-violence, died at the age of 39.
Closer to home, on the tenth, Fifty-three people were killed when the New Zealand inter-island ferry “Wahine” struck Barrett Reef at the mouth of Wellington Harbour. The disaster came in the wake of Cyclone Giselle, which created the windiest conditions ever recorded in New Zealand. Most of the 691 survivors from the ferry “were saved by a Dunkirk-like flotilla of small boats which put out into the tumultuous seas” to effect the rescue.
And in, “I thought this was a joke about gullibility”-news, on the 18th the famous London Bridge (specifically the 1831 “New” London Bridge designed by John Rennie the Elder) was sold to American entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch as the McCulloch Oil Corporation paid $2,240,000 for the landmark. It would be shipped overseas to be rebuilt, and would reopen in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, in 1971.
What’d Sadie think?
Sometimes a song is number 1 in the first week and I think, “classic, must have held on for a while”, but then no… “The Dock Of The Bay” by Otis Redding has just a week at the spot before “Honey” by Bobby Goldsboro takes it for the rest of the month. No accounting for taste!
Loved ’em
- “A Beautiful Morning” – Rascals
- “Ain’t No Way” – Aretha Franklin
- “Do You Know The Way To San Jose” – Dionne Warwick
- “Forever Came Today” – Diana Ross And The Supremes
- “The Unicorn” – Irish Rovers
“The Unicorn” is a song I remember very much from my own youth in the 1980s, and Sadie being a big unicorn fan today – this one had to make the loved ’em column.
Liked ’em
- “Cowboys To Girls” – Intruders
- “Funky Street” – Arthur Conley
- “La-La Means I Love You” – Delfonics
- “Summertime Blues” – Blue Cheer
- “Take Time To Know Her” – Percy Sledge
- “Tighten Up” – Archie Bell And The Drells
Leave ’em
- “The Good The Bad And The Ugly” – Hugo Montenegro
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.