the great sixties countdown week seven

I'm a bit behind today- I've had issues with blogger (someone I was following changed their blog so my links said it didn't exist, but when I went there through an e-mail link and hit follow, it said I was following!), with youtube (couldn't get full-screen to work), and getting up this morning (birthday party for Laurie's bro-in-law last night), and had about 50 blogs to read (well at least 10).  But now we are ready, and here we go!

180- Don't Hang Up, the Orlons.  A very underrated girl group.  I remember an old commercial for some telephone company that used this 45- which, to make whatever their point was, would skip on the final "do it now" at the end.  For whatever reason, I've always remembered commercials more than shows.

179- Ronnie, the Four Seasons.  I will warn you, if you aren't a Frankie Valli fan, this may not be the countdown for you.  If it sniffed the top ten, I'll have it on here.

178- Can't Buy Me Love, the Beatles.  This was my favorite Beatles song, until Paperback Writer came out, which was my new favorite until The Long And Winding Road came out.  This, for me, is the song you play for an Alien from Planet Granite who wants to know what the Beatles were.

177- Watch Her Ride, Jefferson Airplane.  This is one of those songs I stumbled upon in researching other stuff.  Was a mid-sixties charter in 1968.




176- Dead Man's Curve, Jan and Dean.  Not only their best musically, but a chilling prophecy as it turned out.

175- Heroes And Villains, the Beach Boys.  This tune has had to grow on me to get up here and it has done just that in the last few years, especially since listening to Surf's Up, which gave me a better feel for Brian's more progressive-rock side.

174- Ride My See-Saw, the Moody Blues.  The singing, the orchestration, and of course the line, "School taught one and one is two/But right now, that answer just ain't true."


173- Next Door To An Angel, Neil Sedaka.  The part that always sticks with me here is the way he sings the line, "it used to be such a pl-ain street"... A lot of songs have that one relatively insignificant moment (like this or, for another example, the horns on MacArthur Park just before Richard Harris sings, "...and wondering, why...", or the bell at the end of How Can You Mend A Broken Heart) that really hooks me.

172- Put Your Head On My Shoulder, the Lettermen.  I'd heard this song a million times by other acts (notably Anson Williams on Happy Days), but when I saw this done by the Lettermen on TV one night, I was hooked.  From then on, they went from, "I think they're some "grandma group" to one of my favorites.  Amazing what actually listening to something can do!

171- Creeque Alley, the Mamas And the Papas.  Great fun biographical song.  Cass was probably my third favorite female voice, after Judith Durham of the Seekers and either Dionne Warwick or Marilyn McCoo of the Fifth Dimension, depending on the mood.





170- One, Three Dog Night.  Tell me you can get through the line, "It's just no good anymore since you went away/ I spend my time just making rhymes of yesterday.." without it tugging at you.

169- Mr. Tambourine Man, the Byrds.  I once heard them do this song with an extra verse, I wish I could find that again.  Given this song and All Along The Watchtower, I don't see why more people didn't cover Dylan.

168- What Am Doing Hanging 'Round, the Monkees.  Normally I wouldn't stick two videos so close together, but if you don't know this one, you need to give it a listen. Not to mention the big ass clue from Mickey that the video was lip-synched.



167- I Will Follow Him, Little Peggy March.  I told you I loved the girl singers.

166- There's A Moon Out Tonight, the Capris.  I think doing this countdown was what finally got me around to buying that doo-wop cd I keep mentioning.  Now that was when America had talent.

165- Hair, the Cowsills.  One of Laurie's favorites.  I just can't imagine how you bring so many disparate elements into one song and make it work- especially something like the "oh say can you see" part.

164- Turn Down Day, the Cyrkle.  We had the 45 of Red Rubber Ball (which is coming up later).  I just always thought these guys were cool.

163- My Back Pages, the Byrds.  I have on a CD a live performance of this song with Roger McGuinn, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Eric Clapton,Tom Petty, and Neil Young each doing a verse.  What would you pay to see THAT concert? Always my best Byrds song. And another Dylan cover!

162- Don't Let The Rain Come Down (The Crooked Little Man), the Sernedipity Singers.  Another of those kid-friendly hits from a somewhat more innocent (at least in terms of what made it to the radio) time.  And you didn't need no damn teletubbies or bubble guppies to sing it!

161- God Only Knows, the Beach Boys.  Pet Sounds was so full of great songs, it is hard not to just put this album on the list en masse.

That's it for another week.  And of course, I had to get one more problem from blogger, so I am re-typing the farewell section here that it just couldn't seem to publish the first time.  I guess the first clue should have been when spell check caught many things and gave no suggestions to any of them! At any rate, I'm sending you off with the live of My Back Pages I told you about.  It rolls on into a long, massive group jam of Knocking On Heaven's Door, so if you want to bail at the 4 minute mark, I understand.  But the song was full of so many great moments (especially for me the Neil Guitar solo at the end) that I had to post it. See you next time (if blogger doesn't cut some other damn thing off)!