The great sixties countdown -the home stretch part one

Well, we're down to the top twenty.  Man, I'm gonna miss doing this!  Not to mention there are so many good songs that I just didn't fit in.  But every story has an end and this one is coming. Without further ado, #s 20-11.

20- This Guy's In Love With You, Herb Alpert, Peak position #1.  If you follow Time Machine, you saw the props this song got yesterday.  It was also the first song I (attempted to) dedicated to Laurie, many moons ago.  And the only song Herb sang on.



And for the uninitiated, that was karen and Richard Carpenter with the intro.  The man is smoooooth..

19- Scarborough Fair/Canticle, Simon and Garfunkel, pp #11.  A traditional ballad that may well go back to 1670 or beyond.  Like Hurdy Gurdy man, a Plague song as the herbs were carried to ward of the stench of the dead.  And the wedding song on The Graduate, for thosde old enough to remember.



18- Walk On By, Dionne Warwick, pp #6.  Last week, I talked about my "end of the world" songs.  Tied not by subject matter, but by a certain "feel" I knew no other way to describe.  This is the second-highest charting of those.  The horn in the chorus gives me chills.



17- Magic Town, the Vogues, pp #21.  This was a 45 we had, and maybe my favorite back then.  I can listen to this and feel the grooves it wore into my soul, wishing I too could find that place.



16. Caroline No, Brian Wilson, pp #32.  Did you not expect this one on MY chart?  Yet another, I think the fifth I've had, from Pet Sounds.



15- Last Kiss, J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers, pp# 2.  I think this has got to be on everybody's sixties list.  I remember the instant reaction when Pearl Jam covered it years later- you almost stopped in traffic the first time you heard it.



14- Love Child, the Supremes, pp#1.  I think I mentioned on TM once that when I was itty-bitty I thought when they sang "worn, torn" about her dress, I skipped over the dress part and turned it into 'war-torn" and thought it was a Vietnam song. 



13- Wichita Lineman, Glen Campbell, pp# 3.  I love soaring strings, and this song is so evocative of the subject.  "And I need you more than want you/ And I want you for all time..."



12- Rag Doll, the Four Seasons, pp #1.  I go into a near-reverent silence at the first beats of the drum at the beginning.  That first harmony  induces catatonia.



11- Georgy Girl, the Seekers, pp #2.  Could I really get by without another dance with Judith Durham? I think not!



Next week, we step through the veil into the holy of holies- the top ten, on our last installment.  See you then!