And here we are…listening to songs just 9 years before this ol’ timer was born! Happy Halloween to all and here’s the songs of February, 1968…
Songs of the month
“Am I That Easy To Forget” – Engelbert Humperdinck
“Baby Now That I’ve Found You” – Foundations
“Bend Me Shape Me” – American Breed
“Bottle Of Wine” – Fireballs
“Chain Of Fools” – Aretha Franklin
“Darlin’” – Beach Boys
“Daydream Believer” – Monkees
“Different Drum” – Stone Poneys
[new] “Everything That Touches You” – Association
“Goin’ Out Of My Head / Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” – Lettermen
“Green Tambourine” – Lemon Pipers
“Hello Goodbye” – Beatles
[new] “I Can Take Or Leave Your Loving” – Herman’s Hermits
“I Heard It Through The Grapevine” – Gladys Knight And The Pips
“I Second That Emotion” – Smokey Robinson And The Miracles
[new] “I Thank You” – Sam And Dave
“I Wish It Would Rain” – Temptations
“I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonight” – Tommy Boyce And Bobby Hart
“If I Could Build My Whole World Around You” – Marvin Gaye And Tammi Terrell
“Itchycoo Park” – Small Faces
“Judy In Disguise” – John Fred And His Playboy Band
[new] “Just As Much As Ever” – Bobby Vinton
[new] “Just Dropped In” – First Edition
“Love Is Blue” – Paul Mauriat
“Love Power” – Sandpebbles
“My Baby Must Be A Magician” – Marvelettes
“Nobody But Me” – Human Beinz
[new] “Simon Says” – 1910 Fruitgum Co.
[new] “Skip A Rope” – Henson Cargill
[new] “Some Velvet Morning” – Nancy Sinatra And Lee Hazelwood
“Spooky” – Classics Iv
[new] “Sunday Morning” – Spanky And Our Gang
“Susan” – Buckinghams
“Tell Mama” – Etta James
[new] “The Dock Of The Bay” – Otis Redding
[new] “The End Of Our Road” – Gladys Knight And The Pips
[new] “There Is” – Dells
“To Give” – Frankie Valli
“Tomorrow” – Strawberry Alarm Clock
[new] “Valley Of The Dolls” – Dionne Warwick
[new] “Walk Away Renee” – Four Tops
[new] “We Can Fly” – Cowsills
[new] “We’re A Winner” – Impressions
“Woman Woman” – Gary Puckett & The Union Gap
[new] “Words” – Bee Gees
[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 6th The Beatles, Mike Love, Mia Farrow, Donovan and others traveled to India to visit Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at Rishikesh in India’s Uttarakhand state, a visit that would have a profound impact on them and culture for decades.
And on the 16th “The world’s first 9-1-1 emergency call” was placed in Haleyville, Alabama, by Alabama Speaker of the House Rankin Fite, from the Haleyville City Hall; the call was routed by the operator to the city’s police station, where it was referred to U.S. Representative Tom Bevill. Who knew that emergency calls were a relatively “new” thing in the scheme of things. Except it wasn’t the world’s first, here Wikipedia shows its biases, The United Kingdom had introduced the 9-9-9 emergency call in 1937. Different digits, same idea.
For the latter I love that the public were advised only to use it in an ongoing emergency if “for instance, the man in the flat next to yours is murdering his wife or you have seen a heavily masked cat burglar peering round the stack pipe of the local bank building.” Very cartoon-esque badies! Sadie would love it.
I also just love these local news human-interest stories about historical events that come up on Youtube when you search. It’s so “one thing happened that was interesting in this town once folks!”.
On the 25th “Zap Comix”, the first successful title of the underground comix genre, an alternative to standard comic books, published its first issue. The book was drawn and written by 24-year old San Francisco cartoonist Robert Crumb, and his wife Dana sold the initial copies in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood along with two other people. The next day, a small distribution company, Third World Distribution, would purchase 500 copies for distribution in outlets throughout the Bay Area.
What’d Sadie think?
Sadie, who now definitely understands that we are telling people about this, wants
everyone to know she loves Human Beinz’ “Nobody but me” and “Skip A Rope” by Henson Cargill.
She did also wonder, “how do you get it onto everyone’s phones?” to which I had to disappoint her to say it doesn’t go to _everyone_, just a few people who have chosen to read it and mostly they’re related to her!
It’s a week at the top for “Green Tambourine” by the Lemon Pipers before Paul Mauriat’s “Love Is Blue” takes it for the rest of the month.
Loved ’em
“I Can Take Or Leave Your Loving” – Herman’s Hermits
“I Thank You” – Sam And Dave
“Just Dropped In” – First Edition
“Skip A Rope” – Henson Cargill
“Some Velvet Morning” – Nancy Sinatra And Lee Hazelwood
“The Dock Of The Bay” – Otis Redding
“The End Of Our Road” – Gladys Knight And The Pips
“Walk Away Renee” – Four Tops
“We’re A Winner” – Impressions
“Words” – Bee Gees
“Some Velvet Morning” is a particular personal favourite. It was slightly disappointing to red that Lee Hazlewood said of it, “It’s not meant to mean so much. I’m not a druggie, so it was never to do with that.” Given he was such a key figure in psychedelia! I also only noticed explicitly for the first time, because I’d read it, that his verses are in 4/3 and hers in 3/4.
Liked ’em
“Everything That Touches You” – Association
“Simon Says” – 1910 Fruitgum Co.
“Sunday Morning” – Spanky And Our Gang
“There Is” – Dells
“Valley Of The Dolls” – Dionne Warwick
Sadie would also like to suggest that “Simon Says” is about “like, an easy game of Simon Says for kids maybe, because they say ‘Simple Simon Says….’”. Makes sense! She is certainly the target audience for the song, which was apparently in the new-ish genre of “bubble gum pop” that was, “marketed to preteens as the evolving genre of rock music was beginning to target older adolescents and adults with darker lyrics and heavier rhythms”.
Leave ’em
“Just As Much As Ever” – Bobby Vinton
“We Can Fly” – Cowsills
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.
