60'S POP, ROCK AND SOUL

The 60's was my most memorable era.  One identifies with certain songs when your life is in transition, and this was the decade when I moved around the most.  It began when I was a sophomore at Stanford, and ended when I was in my PhD program at LSU (here is a photo of the Baton Rouge campus sent to me by Dan Bent, who was also there at that time, just around the  period when Pearl and I arrived to live just left of where the scene ends).  In between, I got married, spent some time in the U.S. Army and had, without knowing it, begun my roots search, to become, perhaps, Book #4.  

Thus, the PBS My Song series on:

Entertainment started with Davy Jones (above left), who, as you know, passed away on 29February2012.  He sang "Daydream Believer," and here he is in his prime (the really young guy singing) with the Monkees.   Paul Revere followed with "Kicks."

All the You Tube versions from this program were deleted, so you will get the originals, save for Jefferson Starship below.

Came the Vogues with "Turn Around, Look at Me."
The Jefferson Starship is hardly the same group, but their current lead singer, Cathy Richardson, is fabulous, and at least as good as Grace Slick was.  Richardson sang "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit."

Roger McGuinn, one of the five Byrds performed "Mr. Tambourine Man."  Here is the 1965 original.    The next was the quintessential college party raunch song of the Kingsmen, "Louie, Louie."

Percy Sledge sang "When a Man Loves a Woman" and Chad and Jeremy did "A Summer Song:"

Mitch Ryder did "Devil with a Blue Dress, and The Ventures played the "Theme from Hawaii Five-O:"

Here is the new Hawaii Five-O theme.
The Miracles with Smokey Robinson did "Ooo Baby Baby" and Eddie Floyd sang "Knock on Wood:"

Then Peter Noone, lead singer of Herman's Hermits, who co-moderated with Davy Jones, sang:  "I'm into Something Good," "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am" and "There's a Kind of Hush."  It's a long story as to the name of the group, but it had to do with a close resemblance between Noone and Sherman of Rocky and Bullwinkle, they took out the S and....  The question as to which is more important, the music or the lyrics, is answered in "Henry the 8th." who was not a king of France, but the singer, who was the eighth husband of a widow who married only Henries.  The words are inane and come from a 1910 tune.

"This Diamond Ring" came from Gary Lewis and The Playboys, followed by "96 Tears" — ? Mark  and The Mysterians:

Gary is the son of Jerry Lewis and ? Mark is Rudy Martinez.  The group got their name from the Japanese film, The Mysterians.  In 1966 they might have been the first punk rock group.

"Hey There Lonely Girl" by Eddie Holman and  "Na, Na, Hey, Hey, Goodbye" by Gary DeCarlo:

"Classical Gas" by Mason Williams ended the show.  Williams was also a stand-up comic and wrote for The Smothers Brothers and Saturday Night Live.

The show was okay, but keep in mind that one list has the following as the top ten of the 60's, and none of the above is represented:

1. Will You Love Me Tomorrow - Shirelles
2. Georgia On My Mind - Ray Charles
3. Only The Lonely - Roy Orbison
4. Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go - Hank Ballard & the Midnighters
5. Stay - Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs
6. Chain Gang - Sam Cooke
7. Save The Last Dance For Me - Drifters
8. Shop Around - Miracles
9. The Twist - Chubby Checker
10. Cathy's Clown - Everly Brothers

While another has:

1.  Hey Jude  by The Beatles
2.  The Theme From "A Summer Place" by Percy Faith
3.  Tossin' And Turnin' by Bobby Lewis
4.  I Want To Hold Your Hand by The Beatles
5.  I'm A Believer by The Monkees
6.  I Heard It Through The Grapevine by Marvin Gaye
7.  Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures) by The 5th Dimension
8.  Are You Lonesome Tonight? by Elvis Presley
9.  In The Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus) by Zager & Evans
10. It's Now Or Never by Elvis Presley

And only one made it.  Many of my favorites are not anywhere above.  Perhaps someday I'll post my top ten.  In any case, this was a most memorable decade for me.

-