The #1's of the 1960's - A Decade Study

As we get closer and closer every day to the end of our current decade, it’s easy to wonder what the defining features of the last ten years will be to generations to come. Music has always been important to each generation, and the 1960’s were no exception – especially to the relatively new Billboard Magazine and their Hot 100 List.

The ’60’s have always had a special place in my heart. One, I’m a HUGE Beatles fan, and the ’60’s saw their beginnings and their American Invasion. Two, my mom’s parents that I’m very close to were in their late teens and early twenties in the ’60’s, so the music my grandmother listened to and my mom grew up hearing have become very familiar to me. Three, what an aesthetically pleasing decade both on the visual and audible side of things – hence why they’re getting a blog post dedicated to them.

Billboard Magazine started their Hot 100’s list in 1958, so I will be skipping 1958 and 1959 just for time and space’s sake and instead will be focusing on the Year End #1’s from 1960-1969.

1960 – Theme from A Summer Place by Percy Faith You don’t find a lot of purely instrumental music at the tops of charts anymore, but even if you didn’t previously know this song by name, you’d know it once you heard it. Percy Faith covered this piece in 1959 before the premiere of the Sandra Dee film of the same name later on that year. It ended up spending nine weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, which at the time was a record amount of time. You may recognize it from it’s many, many appearances in popular films like National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978), Batman (1989), Con Air (1997), Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Dark Shadows (2012), and The Shape of Water (2017).

1961 – Tossin’ and Turnin’ by Bobby Lewis As today’s kids would say, this song is a bop for sure. Bobby Lewis originally recorded this song in late 1960, and it ended up spending seven weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1961. It’s super upbeat, a fun dance track, and was even included on the soundtrack for National Lampoon’s Animal House in 1978. I couldn’t sleep at all last night/Just a’thinkin’ of you/Baby, things weren’t right/Well, I was tossin’ and turnin’, turnin’ and often/Tossin’ and turnin’ all night

1962 – Stranger on the Shore by Acker Bilk What do you know, another instrumental piece! Both written and originally performed by Acker Bilk on clarinet, the piece’s original name was Jenny after his daughter, whom he composed the piece for. Originally released in the UK and then the US in 1961, it ended up being the theme song for a BBC young adult drama also called Stranger on the Shore. In May 1962, this song became the first British recording to chart in Billboard in the United States, spending seven weeks at #1. It’s also certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.

1963 – Surfin’ U.S.A. by The Beach Boys If you’ve been in America for longer than four seconds, then you’ve heard the iconic Beach Boys hit Surfin‘ U.S.A. It’s on the universal unofficial summer playlist for good reason – you can dance to it, you can hum along easily even if you don’t know the words, and it’s all about good, clean, All-American fun. Brian Wilson (one of The Beach Boys) wrote the lyrics to the tune of Chuck Berry’s song Sweet Little Sixteen and recorded it with the rest of the band to be released in early 1963. Wilson talked with the brother of his girlfriend at the time who was a big surfer guy to get all of the surf spots named in the song (La Jolla, Manhattan, Pacific Palisades, etc). The song initially charted at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, but ended up being named as the top selling single of 1963 and has since been covered multiple times and featured in films such as Teen Wolf (1985) and Rush Hour (1998). You’d catch ’em surfin’ at Del Mar/Ventura County line/Santa Cruz and Trestle/Australia’s Narabine/All over Manhattan/And down Doheney Way/Everybody’s gone surfin’/Surfin’ U.S.A.

1964 – I Want to Hold Your Hand by The Beatles As I mentioned earlier, I love The Beatles. This was their first #1 in America, where it stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks before being replaced by another one of their singles, She Loves You. This kicked off the famous British Invasion and also ended up becoming The Beatles’ best selling single worldwide – more than 12 million copies!! John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote I Want to Hold Your Hand in the basement of the home where McCartney was renting a room. Oh yeah, I’ll tell you something/I think you’ll understand/When I say that something/I wanna hold your hand/I wanna hold your hand/I wanna hold your hand

1965 – Wooly Bully by Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs Here’s another song that you probably know by sound, even if you don’t remember the title. Sam Samudio, the frontman of Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs, wrote this song and it was picked up and released by MGM in 1965. Similar to Surfin’ U.S.A., this song never charted at #1 with Billboard but was the highest selling song of the year in 1965, the first American song to hit a million copies sold in the middle of the British Invasion and has also been certified gold by the RIAA. Matty told Hatty about a thing she saw/Had two big horns and a wooly jaw/Wooly bully, wooly bully/Yeah, drive/Wooly bully, wooly bully, wooly bully

1966 – California Dreamin’ by The Mamas and The Papas Originally recorded by Barry McGuire, The Mamas and The Papas made this song an American classic in late 1965, peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and making it to #1 for the 1966 Hot 100 Year-End list. The song is now considered one of the greatest rock hits of all time, making it into spot #89 on Rolling Stone‘s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The lyrics, written by John & Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and The Papas, invoke feelings of longing for the warmth and sun of Los Angeles during a cold New York winter. All the leaves are brown and the sky is grey/I’ve been for a walk on a winter’s day/I’d be safe and warm if I was in L.A./California dreamin’ on such a winter’s day

1967 – To Sir with Love by Lulu Written by Don Black and Mark London, this song served as the theme to the 1967 film of the same name starring Academy Award winning actor Sir Sidney Poitier playing teacher Mark Thackery. It charted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 list for 5 weeks and was also 1967’s #1 Year-End Top 100 song. It’s now been covered multiple times over the years and is certified gold by the RIAA. If you wanted the sky, I would write across the sky/In letters that would soar a thousand feet high/To sir, with love

1968 – Hey Jude by The Beatles How can you talk about The Beatles without discussing Hey Jude? I mean, I guess if it hand’t charted #1 in the ’60’s I’d have no choice, but that’s neither here nor there. While credited to the Lennon-McCartney writing team, Paul McCartney is the one who actually did the writing on this song. The lyrics are written to John Lennon’s son Julian, nicknamed Jules, encouraging him to take a positive outlook on a negative situation (Lennon leaving Julian’s mother for Yoko Ono). The band actually split during the recording of this song, with Ringo Starr walking away and returning shortly after to film promotional footage for the song, and Lennon and George Harrison having a huge argument over the guitar part of the song. The song’s themes of being encouraged to find love transcend the years, and it doesn’t matter that the full length of this song exceeds 7 minutes – I’ll listen to it all day long and I know tons of others who will say the same thing. Hey Jude, don’t make it bad/Take a sad song and make it better/Remember to let her into your heart/Then you can start to make it better

1969 – Sugar, Sugar by The Archies In my opinion, this song has that special ’60’s sound. Written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim, it was originally recorded by the cartoon band The Archies (Ron Dante, Toni Wine, and Andy Kim). The song peaked at #1 on the Hot 100 Chart where it stayed for four weeks and ended up as the top song of the year on the Year-End list. I just can’t believe the loveliness of lovin’ you/I just can’t believe it’s true/I just can’t believe the wonder of this feelin‘, too/I just can’t believe it’s true/Ah, sugar/Ah, honey, honey/You are my candy, girl/And you got me wanting you

I hope you enjoyed this “Decade Study” of sorts – I look forward to doing more as we head into this next decade!!