It’s 57 years and 7 months before Sadie is born and 14 years and 1 months before Thomas is…yes it’s January, 1963 so let’s hear what the new year sounds like!
Songs of the month
“Big Girls Don’t Cry” – Four Seasons
“Bobby’s Girl” – Marcie Blane
“Chains” – Cookies
[new] “Cinnamon Cinder” – Pastel Six
“Dear Lonely Hearts” – Nat King Cole
“Don’t Hang Up” – Orlons
[new] “Don’t Make Me Over” – Dionne Warwick
“Everybody Loves A Lover” – Shirelles
[new] “From A Jack To A King” – Ned Miller
“Go Away Little Girl” – Steve Lawrence
[new] “Half Heaven Half Heartache” – Gene Pitney
[new] “Hey Paula” – Paul And Paula
“Hotel Happiness” – Brook Benton
[new] “I Saw Linda Yesterday” – Dickey Lee
[new] “I’m Gonna Be Warm This Winter” – Connie Francis
“It’s Up To You” – Rick Nelson
“Keep Your Hands Off My Baby” – Litta Eva
“Limbo Rock” – Chubby Checker
[new] “Little Town Flirt” – Del Shannon
[new] “Loop De Loop” – Johnny Thunder
“Love Came To Me” – Dion
[new] “Monster’s Holiday” – Bobby Boris Pickett And The Crypt-Kickers
[new] “My Colouring Book” – Kitty Kallen
[new] “My Colouring Book” – Sandy Stewart
“My Dad” – Paul Petersen
“Pepino The Italian Mouse” – Lou Monte
“Release Me” – Esther Phillips
[new] “Remember Then” – Earls
“Return To Sender” – Elvis Presley
“Ruby Ann” – Marty Robbins
[new] “Shutters And Boards” – Jerry Wallace
“Tell Him” – Exciters
[new] “Telstar” – Tornadoes
“Telstar” – Tornados
“The Lonely Bull” – Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
“The Night Has A Thousand Eyes” – Bobby Vee
“Two Lovers” – Mary Wells
“Up On The Roof” – Drifters
[new] “Walk Right In” – Rooftop Singers
“Wiggle Wobble” – Les Cooper And The Soul Rockers
“You Are My Sunshine” – Ray Charles
[new] “You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me” – Miracles
“Zip A Dee Doo Dah” – Bob B. Soxx And The Blue Jeans
[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 day of the new year Osamu Tezuka’s “Tetsuwan Atomu” (“Astro Boy”), Japan’s first serialized animated series based on the popular manga, was broadcast for the first time.
On the 10th the American 1962 film “Cape Fear”, was finally released in the United Kingdom, but only after Thompson agreed to 161 cuts of dialogue ordered by the censors of the British Board of Film Classification in order to avoid an “X” rating.
The next day The Beatles released “Please Please Me” in the United Kingdom, with “Ask Me Why” as the B-side. The group would perform the song on TV two days later on the ITV program Thank Your Lucky Stars. “Please Please Me” would become the first Beatles’ single to reach #1 in the UK. No footage from that year, but a performance on the show from next year below.
And in a big month for ’60s brit bands, The Rolling Stones, with Mick Jagger, guitarists Keith Richards and Brian Jones, pianist Ian Stewart, bass guitarist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts first played together as a group, with a performance at The Flamingo Club in the West End of London.
No recording of that either, but here’s a Rice Krispies commercial the band apparently performed early in their career.
Then on the 23rf British MI5 agent Kim Philby, who was secretly working for the Soviet Union as a double agent for the NKVD, disappeared after having a drink with a colleague at a hotel in Beirut. Five months later, on July 30, the Soviet Union would announce that he had been given asylum there and would confirm his identity as a Soviet spy.
What’d Sadie think?
“Telstar” by the Tornados has a week at the top of the charts before “Go Away Little Girl” by Steve Lawrence has two. Then we have new-to-the-charts “Walk Right In” by Rooftop Singers rounding out the month.
Loved ’em
- “I’m Gonna Be Warm This Winter” – Connie Francis
- “Little Town Flirt” – Del Shannon
- “Don’t Make Me Over” – Dionne Warwick
- “Walk Right In” – Rooftop Singers
- “You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me” – Miracles
Liked ’em
- “Cinnamon Cinder” – Pastel Six
- “From A Jack To A King” – Ned Miller
- “Half Heaven Half Heartache” – Gene Pitney
- “Hey Paula” – Paul And Paula
- “I Saw Linda Yesterday” – Dickey Lee
- “Loop De Loop” – Johnny Thunder
- “Monster’s Holiday” – Bobby Boris Pickett And The Crypt-Kickers
- “My Colouring Book” – Kitty Kallen
- “My Colouring Book” – Sandy Stewart
- “Remember Then” – Earls
Leave ’em
- “Shutters And Boards” – Jerry Wallace
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.