August, 1969 is 51 years before Sadie is born, let’s send our ears back there…
Songs of the month
- “A Boy Named Sue” – Johnny Cash
- “Along Came Jones” – Ray Stevens
- “Baby I Love You” – Andy Kim
- “Bad Moon Rising” – Creedence Clearwater Revival
- “Birthday” – Underground Sunshine
- “Choice Of Colours” – Impressions
- “Colour Him Father” – Winstons
- “Crystal Blue Persuasion” – Tommy James And The Shondells
- “Easy To Be Hard” – Three Dog Night
- “Get Together” – Youngbloods
- “Give Peace A Chance” – Plastic Ono Band
- “Good Morning Starshine” – Oliver
- “Good Old Rock N Roll” – Cat Mother And The All Night News Boys
- “Green River” – Creedence Clearwater Revival
- “Honky Tonk Women” – Rolling Stones
- “Hurts So Bad” – Lettermen
- “I Can’t Get Next To You” – Temptations
- “I Turned You On” – Isley Brothers
- “I’d Wait A Million Years” – Grass Roots
- “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” – Tom Jones
- “In The Year 2525” – Zager & Evans
- “It’s Getting Better” – Mama Cass
- “Keem-O-Sabe” – Electric Indian
- “Laughing” – Guess Who
- “Lay Lady Lay” – Bob Dylan
- “Love Me Tonight” – Tom Jones
- “Love Theme From Romeo And Juliet” – Henry Mancini
- “Marrakesh Express” – “Crosby Stills And Nash”
- “Mother Popcorn” – James Brown
- “My Cherie Amour” – Stevie Wonder
- “My Pledge Of Love” – Joe Jeffrey Group
- “Nitty Gritty” – Gladys Knight And The Pips
- “Oh What A Night” – Dells
- “One” – Three Dog Night
- “Polk Salad Annie” – Tony Joe White
- “Put A Little Love In Your Heart” – Jackie Deshannon
- “Quentin’s Place” – Charles Randolph Grean Sounde
- “Reconsider Me” – Johnny Adams
- “Ruby Don’t Take Your Love To Town” – Kenny Rogers And The First Edition
- “Share Your Love With Me” – Aretha Franklin
- “Soul Deep” – Box Tops
- “Spinning Wheel” – “Blood Sweat And Tears”
- “Sugar Sugar” – Archies
- “Sweet Caroline” – Neil Diamond
- “The Ballad Of John And Yoko” – Beatles
- “The Nitty Gritty” – Gladys Knight And The Pips
- “What Does It Take” – Junior Walker And The All Stars
- “Workin’ On A Groovy Thing” – 5Th Dimension
- “Yesterday When I Was Young” – Roy Clark
[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 1st, high off the moon landing, NASA Administrator Thomas O. Paine told a crowd that a crewed mission to both Mars and Venus would be feasible in the 1980s. The possibility, however, would depend on whether the American public was willing to commit to a cost of $24 billion. On September 15, Paine and U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew, both advocates for a human landing on Mars, would present their task force report to U.S. President Richard Nixon, who accepted their recommendations “subject to budgetary considerations”. Obviously we’re still waiting.
On the 7th all but 10 of the residents of the small town of Greenfield, Iowa (population 2,243) pledged to give up (or never to start) smoking cigarettes, as well as cigars and pipes, in advance of the shooting of a film produced and directed by Norman Lear. A total of 2,464 cards pledging to quit smoking or not to start were signed after lobbying by local leaders with the assistance of the Girl Scouts. Starring Dick Van Dyke and Bob Newhart, the movie “Cold Turkey” (about the fictitious town of “Eagle Rock, Iowa” quitting tobacco “cold turkey”), would not be released until 1971.
And then on the 15th the Woodstock Festival began as an estimated 200,000 people arrived at the dairy farm of Max Yasgur in Sullivan County, New York, near the town of Bethel in the Catskill Mountains. Complaints were made to local authorities by people living next to Yasgur’s 600-acre (240 ha) farm, and heavy rainfall turned the fields into what a UPI reporter called “a sea of mud, sickness and drugs at the hippie-style Woodstock Music and Art Fair”.
What’d Sadie think?
Three more weeks for novelty song, “In The Year 2525” by Zager & Evans before “Honky Tonk Women” by the Rolling Stones has 2 weeks at the top.
I’ve never substantiated this, but it always seems like we get more new songs on the charts mid-year. My working theory is that it would have been summer in the USA and thats a good time for releases to catch consumers on holiday?
Loved ’em
- “A Boy Named Sue” – Johnny Cash
- “Give Peace A Chance” – Plastic Ono Band
- “Green River” – Creedence Clearwater Revival
- “Lay Lady Lay” – Bob Dylan
- “Nitty Gritty” – Gladys Knight And The Pips
Liked ’em
- “Birthday” – Underground Sunshine
- “Easy To Be Hard” – Three Dog Night
- “Get Together” – Youngbloods
- “Hurts So Bad” – Lettermen
- “I Can’t Get Next To You” – Temptations
- “I’d Wait A Million Years” – Grass Roots
- “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” – Tom Jones
- “It’s Getting Better” – Mama Cass
- “Laughing” – Guess Who
- “Marrakesh Express” – “Crosby Stills And Nash”
- “Oh What A Night” – Dells
- “Put A Little Love In Your Heart” – Jackie Deshannon
- “Reconsider Me” – Johnny Adams
- “Share Your Love With Me” – Aretha Franklin
- “Soul Deep” – Box Tops
- “Sugar Sugar” – Archies
- “What Does It Take” – Jnior Walker And The All Stars
- “Workin’ On A Groovy Thing” – 5Th Dimension
Leave ’em
- “Along Came Jones” – Ray Stevens
- “Keem-O-Sabe” – Electric Indian
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.