It’s starting to feel a lot like xmas! In both 2023 and 1963 as we find ourselves n November of the year in both time periods. Let’s jump back to the ’60s and see what it sounded like…
Songs of the month
[new] “500 Miles Away From Home” – Bobby Bare
“Be My Baby” – Ronettes
[new] “Be True To Your School” – Beach Boys
“Blue Bayou” – Roy Orbison
“Blue Velvet” – Bobby Vinton
[new] “Bossa Nova Baby” – Elvis Presley
“Busted” – Ray Charles
[new] “Can I Get A Witness” – Marvin Gaye
“Cross Fire” – Orlons
“Cry Baby” – Garnet Mimms
“Cry Baby” – Garnet Mimms And The Enchanters
[new] “Cry To Me” – Betty Harris
“Deep Purple” – Nino Tempo And April Stevens
[new] “Dominique” – Singing Nun
“Don’t Think Twice” – “Peter Paul And Mary”
“Donna The Prima Donna” – Dion Di Muci
[new] “Down At Papa Joe’s” – Dixiebelles
[new] “Drip Drop” – Dion Di Muci
“Everybody” – Tommy Roe
“Fools Rush In” – Rick Nelson
[new] “Hey Little Girl” – Major Lance
“Honolulu Lulu” – Jan And Dean
[new] “I Adore Him” – Angels
“I Can’t Stay Mad At You” – Skeeter Davis
[new] “I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonight” – Barry And The Tamarlanes
“I’m Leaving It Up To You” – Dale And Grace
“It’s All Right” – Impressions
[new] “It’s Alright” – Impressions
[new] “Little Red Rooster” – Sam Cooke
[new] “Living A Lie” – Al Martino
[new] “Loddy Lo” – Chubby Checker
[new] “Louie Louie” – Kingsmen
“Maria Elena” – Los Indios Tabajaras
“Mean Woman Blues” – Roy Orbison
[new] “Misty” – Lloyd Price
“Papa Joe’s” – Dixiebelles
“Part Time Love” – Little Johnny Taylor
[new] “Saturday Night” – New Christy Minstrels
“She’s A Fool” – Lesley Gore
[new] “Since I Fell For You” – Lenny Welch
“Sugar Shack” – Jimmy Gilmer And The Fireballs
“Talk To Me” – Sunny And The Sunglows
“That Sunday That Summer” – Nat King Cole
“The Grass Is Greener” – Brenda Lee
[new] “Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa” – Gene Pitney
[new] “Walking Proud” – Steve Lawrence
[new] “Walking The Dog” – Rufus Thomas
“Washington Square” – Village Stompers
[new] “Wonderful Summer” – Robin Ward
[new] “You Don’t Have To Be A Baby To Cry” – Caravelles
“You Lost The Sweetest Boy” – Mary Wells
[new] “Your Other Love” – Connie Francis
[new] = New to the chart this week.
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.
This month in history
Some news stories I come across are small things, but in some ways point out just how much changed. Such as this one, on the 3rd Barry E. Steiner, a 20-year old medical student at Boston University, was arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport after having flown hundreds of thousands of miles on stolen airplane tickets. At the time it was commonplace to purchase a ticket at the airline counter, have the ticket agent fill it out, and then to board the airplane. Steiner’s method was simply to reach behind an unattended counter at an airport, steal blank tickets, write in the flight number and destination of his choice, and then walk on to the appropriate plane. Yeah…a bit more security at airports today!
Then on the 18th the first electronic push-button telephone with touch-tone dialing was commercially offered by Bell Telephone in the USA to customers in the Pittsburgh area towns of Carnegie and Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
And on the 22nd United States president John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Kennedy was riding as a passenger in a Lincoln Continental motorcade in Dealey Plaza of Downtown Dallas, Texas. A story we’ve all seen at least one movie or documentary on so here’s…another one.
What’d Sadie think?
Two weeks at the top for “Sugar Shack” by Jimmy Gilmer And The Fireballs before a week for “Deep Purple” by Nino Tempo and April Stevens which is then beat out by Dale & Grace’s, “I’m Leaving It Up To You”.
Loved ’em
- “500 Miles Away From Home” – Bobby Bare
- “Bossa Nova Baby” – Elvis Presley
- “Can I Get A Witness” – Marvin Gaye
- “Louie Louie” – Kingsmen
- “Since I Fell For You” – Lenny Welch
- “Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa” – Gene Pitney
- “Walking The Dog” – Rufus Thomas
Some great tunes this month. The stand-out, in terms of a new sound on our charts is The Kingsmen’s cover of “Louie Louie”. According to wikipedia it is the world’s most recorded rock song, with published estimates ranging from over 1,600 to more than 2,000 versions. Their cover has been cited, variously, as the “rosetta stone” of garage rock, the defining “ur-text” of punk rock, and “the original grunge classic”. As wikipedia also notes, “Rock critics Dave Marsh and Greil Marcus believe that virtually all punk rock can be traced back to a single proto-punk song, ‘Louie Louie’.” In short…quite the tune.
The backstory about the original song writer and performer Richard Berry, who sold the rights before it became a real hit, is also worth a read,
“In the mid-1980s, Berry was living on welfare. Drinks company California Cooler wanted to use “Louie Louie” in a commercial, but discovered it needed Berry’s consent because he still owned the radio and television performance rights. The company asked the Artists Rights Society to locate him which led to Berry’s taking legal action to regain his rights to the song. The settlement made Berry a millionaire.”
Liked ’em
- “Be True To Your School” – Beach Boys
- “Cry To Me” – Betty Harris
- “Dominique” – Singing Nun
- “Down At Papa Joe’s” – Dixiebelles
- “Drip Drop” – Dion Di Muci
- “Hey Little Girl” – Major Lance
- “I Adore Him” – Angels
- “I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonight” – Barry And The Tamarlanes
- “It’s Alright” – Impressions
- “Little Red Rooster” – Sam Cooke
- “Loddy Lo” – Chubby Checker
- “Misty” – Lloyd Price
- “Walking Proud” – Steve Lawrence
- “Wonderful Summer” – Robin Ward
- “Your Other Love” – Connie Francis
Leave ’em
- “Living A Lie” – Al Martino
- “Saturday Night” – New Christy Minstrels
- “You Don’t Have To Be A Baby To Cry” – Caravelles
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.