Voice recording #200, Dec. 19.
Sirius XM Channel 6, the '60s.
Fifth Dimension, "Aquarius", 1969. It doesn't get much more how we perceive the '60s than this one. It truly was literally the dawning of the Age of Aquarius for a number of people at that time, in the year of Woodstock and my college graduation. That dawning added another dimension to the song. I saw the Fifth Dimension in concert at Ohio Wesleyan and being incredibly impressed with Marilyn McCoo, who carried the group with her joyful, enthusiastic singing and performing. 1,900.
Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, "Watch the Flowers Grow", 1967. I don't remember this song, and there's probably a good reason. This was slightly more exciting than watching grass grow. I really liked the Four Seasons and Frankie generally, but 4,750.
The Beatles, "Hard Day's Night (Hollywood Bowl)", mid-'60s. Must have been a live performance at Hollywood Bowl. 3,100.
Otis Redding, "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay", '67 or '68. This became very popular because Otis died after recording it. I remember hearing this at a party at the late Bill Zantiny's apartment in Columbus. He was a senior when I was a freshman, and I think he was working on a master's degree at The Ohio State University. It was as if I was at a big-boy party. Invited a girl named Sally, but I was nervous because I was afraid she was out of my league and I'm sure I didn't show her a good time. This was a good song, but I'm not sure it would have become as popular had Otis survived. 1,950.
Procol Harum, "Whiter Shade of Pale", year? I think I left the recorder running during the song, and thought I was recording my impressions when I actually had turned it off. If I didn't hear it and rate it another time, this would be above 1,000. Really liked the song and the organ.
The McCoys, "Hang on Sloopy", 1965. The McCoys were from Dayton, Ohio, so they weren't too far away to come and perform on our campus, but they might not have. I don't specifically remember seeing them. They and the Music Explosion from Mansfield were high on the charts in Ohio. 3,800.
Four Tops, "Reach Out (I'll Be There)", I think '64. Pretty good driving rhythm. 2,300.
Paul Revere and the Raiders, "Hungry", '66. The group was later known as just the Raiders. Their heyday was in the mid-to-late '60s. They haven't really held up well outside their era. This was an OK song but not their best. 4,300.
Roy Orbison, "Oh Pretty Woman" from '64. This was revived by the popularity of the movie "Pretty Woman" three decades later. Orbison was an underrated talent. His singing was excellent. One drawback on this song was that the instrumentation is mundane. He wasn't really appreciated too much because he wasn't a dynamic performer, even in the days when very few were dynamic. I'm talking about the days when even the British invasion groups sang wearing matching jackets. Ron Bliss, the publisher when I was the managing editor for Buffalo Bills Weekly, had a theory that Orbison wore dark glasses on stage because he was ugly. He wasn't photogenic, but he could sing. I'm wavering on this one, which quite likely is his best, but 1,400.
Lesley Gore, "California Nights", not sure of the year. I was surprised when I entered the '60s into the database at how many hits Lesley had during the decade. There weren't a lot of memorable ones. She's known best for the ongoing saga of "It's My Party" and "Judy's Turn to Cry". This was one of her later songs, kind of rocky. Music had turned away from her typical style. 3,700.
The Okaysions, "Girl Watcher" from '68, I believe. It was a song that might not be made today because it objectified women, and they sometimes object. It has a catchy tune. 3,900.
The Gentrys, "Keep on Dancing", '65. Because it was '65, it had organ music in it. Also pretty good drumming. Their greatest, maybe only, hit. Just checked; they did have other, far less successful hit songs. 3,600.
Johnny Rivers, "Summer Rain" from '67. My Lesley Gore comment also applies somewhat to Rivers. He had a distinct style that was his, and it lasted longer than Gore's did. He didn't change much, but by '67 the instrumentation included drums and strings that were fuller than in his earlier songs. He adds a shout out to "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". So he wasn't fighting the change, but he wasn't joining it either. This song grew on me as I really started listening to it today. 3,200.
Small Faces, "Ichycoo Park", I think '67. I mentioned this song as one about parks that pretty much sucked. Not as much as "MacArthur Park". "Ichycoo" has a little bit of what you might call music to it. 4,700.
Beach Boys, "Dance, Dance, Dance" from 1964. This is straight-up Beach Boys, before the "Good Vibrations" days. It was pretty much surfer-party dude music. 3,050.
The Monkees, "Valerie", 1968. When I listened to it, I realized it was one of the rockiest love songs. The Monkees were a made-for-TV group. When they started, I don't believe any of them played instruments; they were just singers. There is good guitar work on this song, and a good, driving beat. Good work here. 2,200.
We Five, "You Were on My Mind", '65. I think this qualifies as folk rock, and it's good. It keeps moving, has a word story. This was the year I graduated from high school, and I was becoming aware of things. I'd been to Europe the previous summer, and that probably helped. This song has some sophistication. 1,500.
Stevie Wonder, "A Place in the Sun", '62 is in my mind as the year, but he might still have been Little Stevie Wonder then. I don't this believe this is the original version. It's OK. 4,200.
Neil Sedaka, "Deck the Halls", no year listed. I'm thinking they played this just because it's a holiday song. There are a lot of holiday songs that pop stars have recorded. This one does not stand out even in the holiday milieu. 4,750.
Herman's Hermits, "I'm Into Something Good", '64. My high school friend Steve Hubbell always used the expression "That's into something" when that thing was good, and the Hermits used the expression the same way. Peter Noone, aka Herman, does a really good weekend show on Sirius XM's '60s on 6. He talks of knowing many of the bands and people in them while they all were coming up in England, and different places where he'd encounter them at gigs. He has a lot of knowledge about the scene over there. Herman's Hermits had some successes, and this was one of them. 2,100.
The Who, "Pictures of Lily", not sure of the year. I vaguely remember this one; it was not one of The Who's greatest. 4,300.
Neil Diamond, "Cherry Cherry", 1966. 3,700.
Mason Williams, "Classical Gas", 1968. It was an instrumental. This one did what good instrumental pieces do -- used different tempos and volumes of sound, instrumentation. The classical guitar really carried the melody. There are drums, horns and I believe some strings, so it's pretty musical. 3,550.
Jay and the Americans, "Wisdom of a Fool", it didn't say what year. I don't remember this one at all. I think it's a cappella. I give them some points for trying something different. 4,550.
Donovan, "Mellow Yellow", '66. Donovan Leitch was kind of a next wave of the British invasion. He was a little bit out there. In this song, he does some of what you might call whisper singing: "quite rightly." 2,200.
The Trade Winds, "New York's a Lonely Town", '65. There were some sleigh bells in this song, which I believe was another holiday tune. New York apparently is a lonely town when you're the only surfer boy around. 4,600.
Temptations, "My Girl", '66. Classic Motown. There's an orchestra, which was a typical Motown feature. 1,200.
Millie Small, "My Boy Lollipop", I'd say no later than '63. You can't go too far wrong with a song that rhymes "my boy Lollipop" with "makes my heart go giddy-up." 3,900.
Crispian St. Peter, "Pied Piper", I don't remember seeing a year, '66, maybe '68. There aren't too many songs here that feature what I think was a piccolo. It's a pretty good song, and it's a guy named Crispian. Come on! 1,900.
The Beatles, "Good Day Sunshine", I think '65. A DJ or guest host commented between songs that Beatles producer George Martin played piano on the song. It's a good-time song on the order of the Beatles' later "Here Comes the Sun". 2,800.
Wilson Pickett, "Land of 1,000 Dances", 1966. In this one, you can hear the saxophone and horns. While the song is playing, I can almost see young people in a club dancing the twist or the pony, mashed potatoes, as Wilson sings about those. 2,200.
Three Dog Night, "Eli's Coming", don't know the year. This was very rocky for Three Dog Night, their rock ingest. It moves pretty well. 2,900.
B.J. Thomas, "Hooked on a Feeling", 1968. I don't know if this was the original version, but it was the first one I heard, and definitely an early one. So this was before David Hasselhoff or "ooga chucka." I like it. 2,250.
Rolling Stones, "Lady Jane", '66. I'm not sure whether this was supposed to be about Henry VIII's wife Lady Jane Seymour, or alluding to them with a contemporary named Jane or Lady Anne. A good case for the Henry VIII scenario is that it either had a harpsichord or some way of making a guitar sound like a harpsichord out of the Reformation/Renaissance period. It's a nice tune. Just checked. It had Jack Nitzche on harpsichord and Brian Jones on dulcimer. 2,700.
Arthur Conley, "Sweet Soul Music", 1967. This is an anthology type of songs that catches us up on some particular genre of music and pays homage to some of the artists of the day. I heard it a lot in college, because down the hall Chris Ensign and Steve Croll had it on their record player -- which we had then -- and it was set up so that instead of just turning itself off at the end of the song, the needle would return to the beginning of the song. It would play constantly for hours. But it was also good music itself. 2,200.
Gene Pitney, "It Hurts to Be in Love", 1964. This must have come out in the summer, while I was in Italy, because I didn't remember hearing it until some time after I returned. It seemed to be very popular with the girls in my class. 3,200.
Shangri-Las, "Leader of the Pack", 1964. This is a stone classic. It really seems like nostalgia, reaching back to the music of a year or more earlier before the British invaded. It has the revving of a motorcycle in the song, great lyrics such as "I met him at the candy store (referring to the big biker, the leader of the pack). He turned around and smiled at me. You get the picture? Yes, we see. That's when I -- not me, but the singers, the Shangri-Las -- fell for the leader of the pack. Vroom vroom" -- sound effects, not singing. 200.
The Chambers Brothers, "Time Has Come Today", I think '67. It's a great one. Any movie, anything that has to do with time, inevitably you'll hear the Chambers Brothers and their loud ticking clock effects. 500.
The Archies, "Sugar Sugar", 1969. Pure bubblegum music. 4,300.
Dave Clark Five, "I Like It Like That", '64 or possibly '65. In the early days of the British invasion, the Beatles were clearly the kings. But I think up high, in a grouping that would have included the Stones, was Dave Clark Five. They really had some good music going. They just didn't evolve the way the Beatles did, so they just kind of got stuck and went away. This song has a nice hard edge. 2,200.
Herman's Hermits, "Wonderful World", '66. I think Sam Cooke had the original version. I heard a little-known fact on 60s on 6, that the session guitarist on the Hermits' version was Jimmy Page, later with Led Zeppelin. It's a pretty good song. I think the original was the best, but I give this one 2,400.
The Ventures, "Sleigh Ride", and I guess they're not giving the years for these holiday songs because they're timeless, right? This one you know: "It's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you." Well, you know the song but I doubt that many people even know, much less have heard, the Ventures' instrumental version in several decades. The guitar playing and picking are mindful of Duane Eddy. 4,700.
The Association, "Cherish", 1967? The Association had a number of soft songs, and this could have been the softest. It's a song of unrequited love. The dude just doesn't have the words to describe the way he feels to the woman of his dreams -- even though he does sing, "Cherish is the word." 3,700.
Jackie Wilson, "Higher and Higher", 1967. This is another guy for whom I didn't recall how much influence he had on the music world. He had a number of hits, but not many huge hits. This song has been well done by others, such as Rita Coolidge. This version is good and squarely in the soul genre. 1,900.
The Troggs, "Wild Thing", 1966. It was a pretty good year, even for this song, kind of a novelty act. Later came out a version of "Wild Thing" by Senator Kennedy: "Wild Thing, you uh make uh my haht sing." It included a line, "Teddy on the ocarina." That version went down in flames after Sen. Robert Kennedy was assassinated, just as satirist Vaughn Meader's career all but ended with the death of President Jack Kennedy. I don't know if I have heard the senator's version since '68. He shouldn't have been killed, but that shouldn't mean that we never hear anything that could be construed as mocking or poking fun at him. Also in '66, I was 18 years, home from college, working during the day where my dad worked at Seneca Foods. It was a great but disappointing season for the Pittsburgh Pirates, my favorite team. They didn't win, but were high on character and characters, such as radio broadcaster Bob Prince and catcher Jim Pagliaroni to go with Roberto Clemente and the double-play combination of Gene Alley and Bill Mazeroski. That was my favorite Pirates team, even above their World Series champions in my lifetime. The only players I didn't like were first baseman Donn Clendenon and pitcher Pete Mikkelsen, who seemed predisposed to not coming through and seeming to spell disasters in clutch situations. Prince came up with the concept of the Green Weenie, a green plastic thing that was supposed to be a hot dog but looked more like a pickle. You were supposed to wave it to help the Pirates get through tough stretches in games, kind of a precursor to the Angels' Rally Monkey. I was excited when somebody actually got me a Green Weenie. 1,200 for this classic song.
Paul Revere and the Raiders (again), "Good Things", 1966. It had a good driving beat, some harmonizing in the voices. 3,000.
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