the great sixties countdown week five

Okay, I've fully updated myself on Irene- she's a bit pokier than I expected- and I'm ready to give y'all another twenty of my favorites.  And this week, the girls are going to start making their presence known.

220- Over You, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap.  The Gap had a talent for powerful choruses, and this might have been the strongest.  I miss real horns in music.  Of course, I've been saying that since Chicago hit their first #1 with If You Leave Me Now (currently on Time Machine).

219- Lightning Strikes, Lou Christie.  I used to love the high vocals like this, although a lot of songs like this one have slid for me over the years.  Probably as I started listening to the lyrics- Lou was such a male slut.

218- All Along The Watchtower, the Jimi Hendrix Experience.  How do you beat Dylan's words and Hendrix's guitar?  I loved the way this song was woven through the last season or so of Battlestar Galactica- I have the version played when Kara returned from her trip to Earth burned on CD.  Frackin' cool!

217- You're The One, the Vogues.  This is one of those bands that I didn't know how much I liked until I got their greatest hits (on tape) and saw how many of their songs I really loved.  It's a real shame that most people only know 5 O'Clock World, and that thanks to Drew Carey.

216- I Dig Rock And Roll Music, Peter Paul and Mary.  It took me a long time to realize this was just PPM trying to sound like the Mamas And The Papas instead of the real thing.  Of course, then you realize that it's kind of a backhand slap against the genre, but I get back at their "snobbery" by just digging the song.



215- Monday, Monday, The Mamas And The Papas.  Unintentional irony here, I assure you.  Anyone out there remember watching the Groovy Ghoulies, and having a song from the Mummies and the Puppies?

214- How Can I Be Sure?, The Turtles.  I wasn't much into Flo and Eddie, but this was a great song for rocking back and forth.

213- You Were On My Mind, We Five.  "And I got a feeling/ way down in my shoes, and/ way down in my shoo-oo-ooes" gives me a chill way up in the back of my neck.

212- Summer Rain, Johnny Rivers.  This was his last big hit for quite a while, and one of a handful that seemed appropriate for the occasion (I can think of at least two more songs farther on that fit this bill as well).  A wistful, sad-with-a-smile song.



211- Kicks, Paul Revere And The Raiders.  I kinda surprised myself that the raiders never got any higher on my list.  Of course, Indian Reservation and Mark Lindsay's solo stuff were all on the other side of the decade.

210- The Boxer, Simon And Garfunkel.  An underrated, oft-forgotten song from the Bridge Over Troubled Water lp, just on this side of the decade.  Frank and cold.  "Well, I'm laying out my winter clothes/ And wishing I was gone /Going home/ Where the New York City winters aren't bleeding me/ Bleeding me, going home..."

209- Dance To The Music, Sly And The Family Stone.  What a neat way to give everyone their props.  At the beginning, the Family did a lot of just fun music.


208- You Keep Me Hanging On, the Supremes.  As I may have mentioned  before, despite a semi-crush (toddler version) on Diana Ross, the Supremes weren't my biggest cup o' tea.  But I did have a weakness for "whoo-whoo" songs, and this was a good one.  One of the songs with the most good covers in history(#1 here and by Kim Wilde, and the psychedelic version by Vanilla Fudge that just misses the countdown).

207- Catch Us If You Can, Dave Clark Five.  I liked a lot of DC5 songs, but this is the one that stands out.



206- A Must To Avoid, Herman's Hermits.  I really liked the harmony.

205- A Boy Named Sue, Johnny Cash.  The biggest pop hit of a ton of great songs Johnny did in this era.  First song I ever heard with a bleep-out.  Rolling around in the mud and the blood and the beer.

204- I'll Say A Little Prayer, Dionne Warwick.  I can't say she was a crush, but she was definitely my first favorite girl.  First of four for Dionne.

203- It's the Same Old Song, The Four Tops.  This was the opening theme of some movie they showed us in grade school.  The first time I remembered hearing it, and I don't think I payed much attention to the movie thereafter.  What a heartbreaker.

202-  Teen Angel, Mark Dinning.  Another can't-be-the-sixties-without song.  If you listen to it sentimentally, it's a tearjerker.  If you listen with your head, it's downright silly- which I think is what Dinning was aiming at.

201- I Started A Joke, the Bee Gees.  This is really a strange song, when you get down to it.  Somehow, though, in listening it becomes a classic.

Wow, another twenty in the books.  Hope you enjoyed it, and until next week, here's a little fun from the countdown.