I'm a little late with this one, but at last, I'm taking you back to the early autumn of 1966. Around this time, the African nation of Botswana was granted independence, and psychologist Timothy Leary formed a religion called the League for Spiritual Discovery, whose holy sacrament was...well, I think you'll figure it out. Meanwhile, here are the songs that America was "tuning in" to.
40 - "Walk Away Renee," The Left Banke
These New York teenagers scored their first and biggest hit with this pretty, aching midtempo ballad about lost love. The strings, harpsichord, and other elements that would have this classified as "baroque pop" just add to the atmosphere. The sound of a broken heart, captured on wax.
39 - "God Only Knows," The Beach Boys
One of the standout tracks from the groundbreaking Pet Sounds LP is also in that "baroque pop" family. Just a brilliantly performed and ararnged declaration of how much a loved one means. Three minutes of heaven. Possibly my favorite of their entire catalogue. And it was only a B-side. We'll encouter the A later.
38 - "B-A-B-Y," Carla Thomas
The second pop Top 40 for the "Queen of Memphis Soul" was this slinky soul ode to a special lover. "When you squeeze me real tight, you make wrong things right," she sings. That's what we all look for, I suppose. Sounds to these ears like a grittier version of a Motown track. And that's a very good thing.
37 - "Summer in the City," The Lovin' Spoonful
Emerging from the Greenwich Village folk scene, this band scored seven consecutive Top Tens in 1965 and 1966, including a #1 in the form of this rock classic about how the mornings and afternoons in an urban setting can be hard to bear, but the evenings can be rather pleasant. And oh, that distinctive keyboard riff. Good good good.
36 - "I Really Don't Want to Know," Ronnie Dove
Virginian Dove had a nice run of eleven pop Top 40s between 1964 and 1966, even though none of them charted any higher that Number 14. This one, a cover of a 1953 hit by Les Paul and Mary Ford is a country song about wondering about your lover's "number" (and I don't mean phone number), but ultimately deciding that ignorance about that subject is bliss. He has a nice country voice, and this is okay, but nothing that I couldn't have lived withoug hearing.
35 - "Wade in the Water," Ramsey Lewis
The jazz pianist's fourth Top 40 was an instrumental version of an Negro spiritual that was supposedly written partially as a means of advising escaped slaves to cross rivers and streams to through bloodhounds off their trail. This version is a joyful noise indeed. a
34 - "The Joker Went Wild," Bryan Hyland
New Yorker Hyland was only 16 when he went to #1 with the evergreen novelty "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini." Through the rest of the sixties, he'd score mostly moderate-to-minor hits, with the exception of the 1962 Top Five "Sealed With a Kiss." His penultimate Top 40 of the decade was this meh pop song about screwing up a good romantic thing. Not much to it.
33 - "7 and 7 Is," Love
These psychedelic rockers, formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, have become highly influential over the years, particularly through their 1967 album Forever Changes. Their only pop success in their time came the year before with this rolling rocker on which Arthur Lee sings lines like "I'd sit inside a bottle and pretend that I was in a can." It's just strange, wonderful, rock n' roll genius. Nothing more to say but "Oop-ip-ip, oop-ip-ip, yeah!"
32 - "Summer Wind," Frank Sinatra
Two years after Dean Martin returned to the top of the pop charts on Frank's Reprise label, Ol' Blue Eyes himself picked up his first #1 in 11 years with "Strangers in the Night." He followed up that hit with this languid jazz ballad about fleeting seasonal romance. As cool and classy as you'd expect.
31 - "Respectable," The Outsiders
This Cleveland band is best known for their 1965 Top Five "Time Won't Let Me." Their second biggest hit was this okay pop-rocker about desiring a literally untouchable girl. But I'm sorry, guys, your use of "rubbity rub dub dub" as a line is just lazy, lazy writing.
30 - "Flamingo," Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass
L.A native Herbert Alpert has been a prolific songwriter, and was the co-founder of the influential A&M Records label, but he is most familiar to the public as a jazz trumpeter who scored a batch of 60's instrumental hits with his backing band. This one is a jaunty little trifle. I can't say it reminds me of long-legged pink birds, but I think the marimba on this is pretty cool.
29 - "Almost Persuaded," David Houston
This Louisianan, a descendant of Texas revolutionary hero Sam Houston, scored 6 country #1s during this decade, but the only one to make a major dent on the pop chart was this tale of a married man who manages to resist the advances of a beautiful stranger in a bar. A fine example of the genre, and your enjoyment of it will probably be determined by how much you like country in general.
28 - "Open the Door to Your Heart," Darrell Banks
Ohio-born, Buffalo-raised Banks only managed one major hit, this solid soul number that's reminiscent of Southern R&B stars like Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett. Perhaps he could have had a revival in future decades like some of his peers, but sadly, he was shot and killed by his girlfriend's lover in 1970.
27 - "Working in the Coal Mine," Lee Dorsey
Dorsey, who we ran into in '65 with "Ride Your Pony," returns this time with his second and last pop Top Ten. It's a funky evocation of taxing manual labor that owes more than a little to Sam Cooke's "Chain Gang." Great stuff. And for the second chart in a row, I'm going to recommend that you also check out the Devo cover version.
26 - "Last Train to Clarksville," The Monkees
In 1965, TV producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider sold the idea of a Hard Day's Night-style sitcom about a rock band to a production company. They then held auditions for actors and singers to form their "Pre-Fab Four," eventually casting Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork and giving them a Beatlesque "misspelled animal" group name. Along with the show, the boys were sent into the studio with session musicians to record a debut album. The show debuted on September 12, 1966, and shortly afterward, this, their first single, would go to #1. The song is a jangly earworm about a soldier about to be sent to Vietnam calling his lover to ask her to come to him so they can spend a last night together before he ships out. People may question the "authenticity" of these guys, but there's no doubt that this is an absolute gem, one of several that they would produce in their heyday.
25 - "Psychotic Reaction," Count Five
The only major hit by these San Jose, California garage rockers was this swampy, spacey song that was inspired by a phrase guitarist Sean Byrne heard in a college health class that he thought would be a cool song title. Otherwise, it's just another song about a girl. But an excellent one. And it's the second song we've come across that's on the Nuggets compilation. You really ought to check it out.
24 - "Land of 1000 Dances," Wilson Pickett
Pickett's first pop Top Ten was a song originally written and recorded by New Orleans soul singer Chris Kenner in 1962, then taken to #30 by a Los Angeles rock band called Cannibal and the Headhunters three years later. That group added the "na, na na na," refrain to the original, and Pickett kept that addition for his breakneck celebration of a magical place where a large number of dances are performed. But Pickett only mentions five. No matter. You can come up with your own steps while enjoying this classic.
23 - "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted," Jimmy Ruffin
Mississippi-born Ruffin signed to Motown as a solo artist and session singer in 1961. Three years later, he was given a chance to join The Temptations, but lost out on the spot to none other than his younger brother, David. Finally, in '66, he scored his first and biggest hit with this immortal rumination on the "sadness and confusion" a breakup can cause. He may not have been one of Motown's most prolific hitmakers, but this is definitely an essential part in any discussion of the label's finest moments.
22 - "Turn-Down Day," The Cyrkle
Formed in Easton, Pennsylvania, this group's big break came in 1965 when Beatles' manager Brian Epstein discovered them and agreed to guide their career. The next year, they went to #2 with "Red Rubber Ball," a song co-written by Paul Simon. Their follow-up was this jaunty, piano-driven ode to a languid, lazy summer day at the beach. And I dig it. But there would be no more hits for these guys, and by the end of '67, they had broken up.
21 - "Sunny," Bobby Hebb
Born in Nashville to two blind musicians, Robert Von Hebb began his show business career at age 3, performing as a song-and-dance team with his nine-year-old brother Harold. Later, he performed with Roy Acuff, sang backup for Bo Diddley, and played trumpet in a Navy jazz band. In November of 1963, just one day after the assassination of President Kennedy, Harold Hebb was killed outside of a Nashville nightclub. Devastated by both of these events, Hebb decided to write an optimistic song in hopes of brighter days ahead, and 48 hours later, he composed this bright number that may be about a girl or the actual sun. Regardless, it became a #2 smash three years later, and is still a terrific slice of musical positivity. Great lyric, great melody, great stuff.
In Part 2: More sun, multiple transportation references, and a number of secretions from the lacrimal glands.
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