The great 1960's countdown, week four

Once again time for my new favorite time of the week- when I share with y'all another twenty songs off the mega-list of my top sixties tunes.  Last week, I had to break Bob G's heart and tell him that Pleasant Valley Sunday didn't make the cut.  When you only (!) pick 300 songs out of a decade, you're going to break a LOT of hearts, including your own.  Let's see who gets it this week, shall we?

240- Get Together, The Youngbloods.  Lyrically, one of the best of all time.  "Some will come and some will go /We shall surely pass /When the one that left us here /Returns for us at last/ We are but a moments sunlight /Fading in the grass "...  Somehow I got this in my 4-yr-old mind mixed in with a Jan-Michael Vincent movie where he played somebody named Youngblood Hawke- my memory hears the announcer grumbling the name as if it was a piece of poop sandwich.  Nothing to do with the song, I guess, but you know how kids are. (Note- it was James Franciscus who played Youngblood Hawke- I just always THOUGHT it was JMV.  Aren't you glad I factcheck?)

239- House Of The Rising Sun, the Animals.  The Animals, I think I mentioned before, grew on me over time.  This one especially after I heard Amazing Grace sung to this tune.  Awesome!

238- Wedding Bell Blues, Fifth Dimension.  If the radio stations we listened to would have played more 5D than Up Up And Away, I'd have probably had the crush on Marilyn McCoo that I did on Diana Ross.  My dad always said that our old bartender/shopkeeper in Zulu, Bill Riley, was convinced to marry the widow Yvonne Kneuve by her playing this song.  Apocryphal? Maybe, but it worked.

237- Ticket To Ride, the Beatles.  This one gets me at the "OHHH..." before the later choruses.  Laurie told me that she never knew the Beatles did this, she had only known the Carpenters' version.  As steeped in music listening as I've been since a fetus, that one really tripped me out.

236- For Pete's Sake, The Monkees.  The closing theme for the TV show, which was usually my favorite part.




235- Stormy, Classics IV.  A moody, sad tune. "Yesterday's love was like a warm summer breeze/But, like the weather you changed..."  Santana did a great remake on this mid-seventies.

234- Don't Bring Me Down, the Animals.  You know, I think its just Burdon's gravelly voice that draws me to the Animals.  I'm not as drawn to the down-and-struggling lyrics, but as they say, "It's not what he said, it's how he said it."
 
233- Gimme Little Sign, Brenton Wood.  This one had me going because the title is NOT in the song, but as soon as he started, I said, "Oh, yeah!"  Kinda like trying to hunt down For Pete's Sake up there.



232- Turn Turn Turn, the Byrds.  The Byrds at one point WERE the sixties.  The jangling guitars and tight harmonies just conjure up incense , lava lamps, and bead doors.  Not bad for a song basically wrote by King Solomon 3,000 years ago.

231- Sugar Sugar, the Archies.  Admit it, you dug the tunes that the gang used to play on the old cartoon.  It was happy, innocent fun.  The way music should be.

230- Secret Agent Man, Johnny Rivers.  How cool was Johnny's live at Whiskey-a-go-go stuff?  One of those songs to get you moving at note #1.  I remember Saturday afternoons watching shows like Secret Agent Man and 77 Sunset Strip with my sister when I was a wee one.  Not much past the theme music, mind you, but I watched.

229.  Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'Bout Me), the Four Seasons.  I guarantee you, we'll be hearing a LOT of these guys on my countdown.  For years, one of my prized possessions was a vinyl Four Seasons Second Gold Vault Of Hits (which, curiously enough, had the earlier hits like Sherry and Rag Doll) that I got at our church garage sale at St. Louis Besancon.

228- (I Want To Take You) Higher, Sly And The Family Stone.  C'mon, who can resist "BOOM-chacalakalaka-BOOM-chacalakalaka"?

227- Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows, Leslie Gore.  Another of my crushes.

226- Ding Dong, The Witch Is Dead, the Fifth Estate.  Great Wizard of Oz inspired tune; a lot of kid-friendly tunes hit the charts back then.  Not like today, with Hannah Montana et al.

225- A Wednesday In Your Garden, The Guess Who.  An album cut from Wheatfield Soul, if not for No Time would be my favorite from these guys, who are one of my Hall Of Famers.  Always chokes me up.  Even though I never knew it until about a year ago, when I stumbled across it on Frostwire.



224- Ruby Tuesday, The Rolling Stones.  The highest charter for Mick and the boys on my chart.

223- Eight Miles High, the Byrds.  I got this on the flip side of Turn Turn Turn at Zulu when the aforementioned Mr. Riley was selling old jukebox 45s for like 50 cents a pop at the general store.  I didn't know it then, but ended up getting played more than Turn.

222- Different Drum, the Stone Poneys featuring Linda Ronstadt.  A Mike Nesmith (Monkees) composition.  What a turn down!  Started my lifelong love of Linda.

221- Ruby (Don't Take Your Love To Town), Kenny Rogers and the First Edition.  The First Edition were a highly underrated band, over shadowed by what Kenny would become.  I could listen just to the guitars on this for hours.  One of my mom's tunes, as well.

And that wraps (ALREADY???!??) another week on the countdown.  I'll leave you with a bit of harmless fun from earlier in the countdown, and if you're my age, feel free to skip around the room as you listen.  Next time!