As we finish off July in 2024, where it feels like things are warming up, we tune our ears back to the first month of 1967…
Songs of the month
“A Place In The Sun” – Stevie Wonder
“Born Free” – Roger Williams
[new] “Colour My World” – Petula Clark
“Coming Home Soldier” – Bobby Vinton
“Cry” – Ronnie Dove
“Devil With The Blue Dress / Good Golly Miss Molly” – Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels
“East West” – Herman’s Hermits
[new] “Gallant Men” – Senator Everett Mckinley Dirksen
[new] “Georgy Girl” – Seekers
“Good Thing” – Paul Revere And The Raiders
“Good Vibrations” – Beach Boys
[new] “Green Green Grass Of Home” – Tom Jones
“Happenings Ten Years Time Ago” – Yardbirds
“Help Me Girl” – Eric Burdon And The Animals
[new] “How Do You Catch A Girl” – Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs
[new] “I Had Too Much To Dream” – Electric Prunes
“I Know I’m Losing You” – Temptations
[new] “I Need Somebody” – Question Mark & The Mysterians
“I’m A Believer” – Monkees
“I’ve Passed This Way Before” – Jimmy Ruffin
[new] “It’s Now Winter’s Day” – Tommy Roe
[new] “Kind Of A Drag” – Buckinghams
[new] “Knight In Rusty Armour” – Peter And Gordon
“Mellow Yellow” – Donovan
[new] “Music To Watch Girls By” – Bob Crewe Generation
“Mustang Sally” – Wilson Pickett
[new] “Nashville Cats” – Lovin’ Spoonful
[new] “Nothin’ Yet” – Blues Magoos
“Single Girl” – Sandy Posey
“Snoopy Vs The Red Baron” – Royal Guardsmen
[new] “Stand By Me” – Spyder Turner
“Standing In The Shadows Of Love” – Four Tops
[new] “Steppin’ Stone” – Monkees
“Sugar Town” – Nancy Sinatra
“Talk Talk” – Music Machine
“Tell It Like It Is” – Aaron Neville
“Tell It To The Rain” – Four Seasons
“That’s Life” – Frank Sinatra
[new] “Try A Little Tenderness” – Otis Redding
[new] “We Ain’t Got Nothin’ Yet” – Blues Magoos
[new] “Where Will The Words Come From” – Gary Lewis And The Playboys
[new] “Wild Thing” – Senator Bobby
“Winchester Cathedral” – New Vaudeville Band
“Words Of Love” – Mamas And Papas
“You Keep Me Hangin’ On” – Supremes
[new] = New to the chart this week.
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.
This month in history
In a sweet start to the new year, on the 1st the residents of the small town of Ellington, Connecticut, saved the life of a private pilot whose radio had failed while he was flying through fog and rain. After townspeople heard a low-flying, but not visible, plane, the Ellington Fire Department brought three fire engines and its 25 volunteer firemen to the town’s unlit airstrip at Hyde Field, and dozens of people followed in their cars. Lionel Labreche, a trooper with the Connecticut State Police, directed everyone to park on either side of the runway and to light it up with their headlights. The pilot, Frank Robinson, was able to spot the revolving lights of the fire trucks and then the lit runway; he commented later, “It was wonderful the way they did it. If they hadn’t… I’d have ended up in the woods.”
Then on the 15th The Rolling Stones appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” for the second time, but only after acceding to a demand by Sullivan to alter the words of their hit song, “Let’s Spend the Night Together”. After Sullivan reportedly said, “Either the song goes or the Stones go,” Mick Jagger sang the refrain as “Let’s spend some time together.” Times they were still a’changing!
And on the 27th, tragedy struck the space race when Apollo 1 was destroyed by fire at Launch Complex 34 at Cape Kennedy, killing all three of the American astronauts on board. At 6:31 in the evening, the three men were inside the capsule of the Saturn rocket, engaged in a full-scale simulation of the planned February 21 launch, and were wearing their pressurized space suits while in a pure oxygen atmosphere. A spark from a short-circuited wire ignited a flash fire that swept the cabin moments after it was noticed by Grissom. America’s manned space program would be grounded for 20 months for improvements, which would include an atmosphere of 60% oxygen and 40% nitrogen on future missions and a cockpit hatch that could be opened within seconds.
What’d Sadie think?
The faux-Beatles manage a number 1 run worthy of the real thing with “I’m A Believer” by the Monkees dominating for the whole month.
Loved ’em
Ear-worm of the week is the excellent “Georgy Girl” by the Seekers. Here’s a film of them performing it live:
Strangely their was no audio from the performance so the recorded version is played on top of the footage of them singing at the Myer Music Bowl in their home town of Melbourne.
I’ve not seen the film the tune is hte soundrack to, but it was good slice of swingin’ 60s london by all accounts.
- “Georgy Girl” – Seekers
- “Steppin’ Stone” – Monkees
- “Try A Little Tenderness” – Otis Redding
Liked ’em
- “Green Green Grass Of Home” – Tom Jones
- “I Had Too Much To Dream” – Electric Prunes
- “I Need Somebody” – Question Mark & The Mysterians
- “It’s Now Winter’s Day” – Tommy Roe
- “Kind Of A Drag” – Buckinghams
- “Knight In Rusty Armour” – Peter And Gordon
- “Music To Watch Girls By” – Bob Crewe Generation
- “Nothin’ Yet” – Blues Magoos
- “Stand By Me” – Spyder Turner
- “We Ain’t Got Nothin’ Yet” – Blues Magoos
- “Where Will The Words Come From” – Gary Lewis And The Playboys
Leave ’em
- “How Do You Catch A Girl” – Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs
- “Nashville Cats” – Lovin’ Spoonful
- “Wild Thing” – Senator Bobby
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.