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OLD 55's Yearly Top 10 Singles Of The Rock Era


OLD 55

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A good post Steel. Someone once said in another Site I used to frequent that he believed the 60s could be divided into two halves musically (and even socially); the first, light and breezy Pop, and the second the emergence of many different "heavier" Music Cultures/ Genres.

:P

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WELCOME BACK KATIE!!!

I just went and got my "Best Of The Easybeats" CD and have been playing it while I prepared the 1967 Top Ten. So if there's any mistakes, blame them.

:)

Here's the TOP TEN SINGLES OF 1967.

1. TO SIR WITH LOVE / LULU

2. The Letter / The Box Tops

3. Ode To Billie Joe / Bobbie Gentry

4. Windy / The Association

5. Groovin' / The Young Rascals

6. Somethin' Stupid / Nancy & Frank Sinatra

7. Daydream Believer / The Monkees

8. Light My Fire / The Doors

9. Happy Together / The Turtles

10.Hello, Goodbye / The Beatles

11.Respect / Aretha Franklin *

.................................................

* Had to include that, because it's a Classic !

What a Great Top Ten. !!!

A great year for me personally too, because I met my future Wife on 26 July. She was going with another guy at the time, and I'd just been dumped. She tried to set me up with a girl friend of hers, but of course True Love prevailed.

.................................................

Who saw the Movie "To Sir With Love" ? No wonder the self-titled song was such a Hit. It brought a lump to our throats and the handkerchiefs out when Lulu sang it towards the end. Do you know it didn't even chart in the U.K. ? I was amazed to read that, because Lulu is a Scottish Lass and very popular there.

The Doors ? I'd never heard of them before, but gee that organ sounded great, so I bought the single. Ray Manzarek is a wonderful keyboardist.

I love the harmonies of The Turtles. I think I'll get my "Best Of" CD of theirs and play it now. Lots of "feel good" songs on it, especially "Elenore".

And of course "Hello, Goodbye" is my favorite Beatles song. It was also the Yearly Top Song in the U.K.

ahead of Engelbert Humperdink's "Last Waltz", which was our favorite in Australia.

:)

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Thanks for your comment RonJon. I appreciate some feedback. :headphones:

Here's the TOP TEN SINGLES OF 1968.

1. HEY JUDE / THE BEATLES

2. I Heard It Through The Grapevine / Marvin Gaye

3. Love Is Blue / Paul Mauriat & His Orchestra (Instrumental)

4. Honey / Bobby Goldsboro

5. People Got To Be Free / The Rascals

6.(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay / Otis Redding

7. This Guy's In Love With You / Herb Alpert

8. Mrs. Robinson / Simon & Garfunkel

9. Love Child / Diana Ross & The Supremes

10.Judy In Disguise (With Glasses) / John Fred & His Playboy Band

.................................................

I don't know if anyone actually reads my "Trivia" but here goes anyway.

* Hey Jude spent 9 weeks at #1 in the U.S., 2 weeks in the U.K., and a record breaking 15 weeks in Australia.

* This Guy's In Love With You was the first Burt Bacharach/ Hal David composition to reach #1 in the U.S.(finally).

* The title of Judy In Disguise With Glasses is a parody of the Beatles' Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.

.................................................

Beatles' protege Mary Hopkins had the #1 song in the U.K. with Those Were The Days. It was kept from #1 in the U.S.and Australia by Hey Jude.

The Beatles of course had the #1 song in Australia with Hey Jude.

:P

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I know them all...This Guys In Love With You...Herb Albert....My Dad owned a restaurant back then and I remember this song playing alot while I would help out my dad in the kitchen....and didn't Dionne Warwick do a version of this song also????

Heard It Through The Grapevine and Dock Of The Bay are a couple of my favorites...great tunes.

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Yes Laurie and Edna, you're both correct. :thumbsup:

It was released in 1969 and retitled "This Girl's In Love With You".

Off the top of my head, I remember that Herb Alpert phoned either Burt Bacharach or Hal David (forget which) and asked "did they have a love song they'd written that they thought should have been a Hit ?" Herb wanted a song to sing solo to his (then) new bride on an upcoming T.V. Special featuring him and the Tijuana Brass.

Dionne Warwick has probably sang almost every Bacharach/David song at some time. She was the main "vehicle" for their sixties songs, but had an acrimonius split with Burt in the early 70s (money was involved of course) but they later patched it up.

I have 6 different "Burt Bacarach Songs/ Various Artists" Albums, and she sings at least a third of the songs on them.

:)

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Katie, there were vocal versions of # 3 too; probably Andy Williams' and Frank Sinatra's are the best known (although my favorite is where it's used in a 1969 Medley of two songs, "I Can See A Rainbow/ Love Is Blue" by R & B Group, The Dells).

Love Is Blue Lyrics

Blue, blue, my world is blue

Blue is my world since I'm without you

Gray, gray, my life is gray

Cold is my heart since you went away

Red, red, my eyes are red

Crying for you alone in my bed

Green, green, my jealous heart

I doubted you and now we're apart

CHORUS:

When we met how the bright sun shone

Then love died, now the rainbow is gone

Black, black, the nights I've known

Longing for you so lost and alone

Gone, gone, the love we knew

Blue is my world since I'm without you.

:P

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TOP TEN U.S. SINGLES FOR 1969

1. AQUARIUS; LET THE SUN SHINE IN (MEDLEY)/ THE 5TH DIMENSION

2. In The Year 2525 / Zager & Evans

3. Get Back/ The Beatles with Billy Preston

4. Sugar, Sugar / The Archies

5. Everyday People / Sly & The Family Stone

6. Honky Tonk Women / The Rolling Stones

7. Dizzy / Tommy Roe

8. Wedding Bell Blues / The 5th Dimension

9. I Can't Get Next To You / The Temptations

10.Crimson And Clover / Tommy James & The Shondells

.................................................

Some Trivia:

* Elvis Presley had his first U.S. #1 for over 7 years with Suspicious Minds on 1st November (my Wedding Day).

* In The Year 2525 was the measuring stick for all "One Hit Wonders" for many years.

* The Archies were a Group of studio musicians, (which included Ron Dante and Andy Kim) based on the T.V. cartoon series. It's difficult to think of a more infectious song than Sugar, Sugar. You just can't help singing along with it.

* I think Crimson & Clover is just a GREAT song, with it's double tracking/ delay/ reverb. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts covered it successfully in 1982, but couldn't reproduce the amazing sound of the original.

.................................................

UK TOP SONG: Sugar, Sugar / The Archies #1 for 8 weeks.

AUSTRALIA TOP SONG: Star Crossed Lovers / Neil Sedaka #1 for 7 weeks. I don't think it was released in any other Country !

..................................................

535/136

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One has not really heard "Crimson and Clover" until hearing the full 6 minute version with the 3 minute guitar solo two thirds of the way through. Radio stations hardly ever play that version.

The sheer impact of originality and vanguard rock pioneering of '65, '66 and '67 top hits were never again reproduced in the industry, as evidenced by the fall-off of the '68 top ten. Great music has come and gone since then, but we perhaps will never see the like of that three year span in signifigant influencial rock and roll, as well as popular music, again.

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I like Ron Dante... he´s a "hits-maker" (he was the voice in "Tracy", the Cuff links and he also had other groups, I think...) and I just saw he´s producing an album for... Trini Lopez!! (yes, shame on me, I like Trini Lopez too! :doh: One can be also a fan of Tuxedo Moon, The Ramones and The Cars at the same time... :P or not???)

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Katie, there were vocal versions of # 3 too; probably Andy Williams' and Frank Sinatra's are the best known (although my favorite is where it's used in a 1969 Medley of two songs, "I Can See A Rainbow/ Love Is Blue" by R & B Group, The Dells).

I never heard any lyrics for "Love is blue" but it helped me for my grammar exams, I learned all the "verbes transitifs" (in French) in that year with the music of "Love is Blue"... :grin:

My lyrics were:

"Faire, rendre, nommer, élire,

proclamer, créer, instituer... etc" I still know them all but I won´t bother you no more... :laughing:

I know mostly all the songs since... 66?

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One has not really heard "Crimson and Clover" until hearing the full 6 minute version with the 3 minute guitar solo two thirds of the way through. Radio stations hardly ever play that version.

I don't think I've ever heard it. How about you Katie? I'll seek it out ! Thanks Steel.

;)

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I never heard any lyrics for "Love is blue" but it helped me for my grammar exams, I learned all the "verbes transitifs" (in French) in that year with the music of "Love is Blue"... :grin:

"L'Amour Est Bleu". !!!

Edna, I love Trini Lopez' music. He has a limited vocal range, but can really put a song across; a bit like Johnny Rivers, one of my favorite singers. I have an old vinyl Album (somewhere in a box) and a "Best Of" CD of his. I've even learnt a few Spanish words from him.

:)

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That´s funny, I have three Trini Lopez albums (promo stuff that came to my house when I was 5 or 6, my father was a journalist), all of them in English, and I never heard him sing La Bamba or those hits... I started to learn English by myself with these records, and also with the first Beatles singles, in 1962...

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TOP TEN U.S. SINGLES FOR 1969

1. AQUARIUS; LET THE SUN SHINE IN (MEDLEY)/ THE 5TH DIMENSION

2. In The Year 2525 / Zager & Evans

3. Get Back/ The Beatles with Billy Preston

4. Sugar, Sugar / The Archies

5. Everyday People / Sly & The Family Stone

6. Honky Tonk Women / The Rolling Stones

7. Dizzy / Tommy Roe

8. Wedding Bell Blues / The 5th Dimension

9. I Can't Get Next To You / The Temptations

10.Crimson And Clover / Tommy James & The Shondells

It pains me to admit this, but 1969 was the year of my birth. The Beatles, The Stones, Sly & the Family Stone and The Temptations...not too shabby. :bow:

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Phil, I agree with you on those Rock Legends you mentioned. Pat Boone's versions of Tutti Frutti and Ain't That A Shame are just pale imitations, but you've gotta give him credit for his ballads. None of those Rockers could have sang Love Letters In The Sand or April Love like him.

:)

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