14 September 1967 Be sure to wear some product in your hair, I sing to myself every morning as I go about my grooming routine. (No need for me here to go into my mnemonics for moisturising or other daily ablutions.) And they said the '60s counter-culture wouldn't change the world. That this slice of … Continue reading Scott McKenzie – ‘San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)’
Tag: 60s
The Beatles – ‘All You Need Is Love’
3 August 1967 As with 'Yellow Submarine', once again we meet a Beatles song which has long outgrown being a mere pop record and instead become a communal pop-cultural touchstone. In other words, I'm pretty sure you know 'All You Need Is Love', your family member who's not into music knows 'All You Need Is … Continue reading The Beatles – ‘All You Need Is Love’
Procol Harum – ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’
22 June 1967 Ghostly organ riffing on Bach; impenetrable lyrics referencing Chaucer: would you call 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale' pretentious? Well, John Lennon was drawing on Edward Lear and the Tibetan Book Of The Dead; The Byrds had a smash hit with Pete Seeger's folk setting of a chapter from the Bible; Mick Jagger … Continue reading Procol Harum – ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’
Johnny Kelly & The Capitol Showband – ‘Black Velvet Band’
15 June 1967 When we saw and heard The Capitol Showband at number one three years earlier, with 'Down Came The Rain' and 'Born To Be With You', Butch Moore was their crooning singer and—as with all Irish showbands of the time—outdated '50s pop was their game. Now here they are in 1967 with a … Continue reading Johnny Kelly & The Capitol Showband – ‘Black Velvet Band’
The Tremeloes – ‘Silence Is Golden’
8 June 1967 I didn't know that 'Silence Is Golden' was originally by The Four Seasons. Their 1964 ur-text doesn't have the same pep or swagger as their classic Jersey Boys sound, though - it's closer to a pre-Beatles country-pop ballad. Think of Frankie Valli on a horse. This Tremeloes cover sticks to the original … Continue reading The Tremeloes – ‘Silence Is Golden’
Johnny McEvoy – ‘The Boston Burglar’
18 May 1967 Are we sure this isn't actually the Boston Strangler? I ask because we leave the light-fingered narrator "serving up full twenty years in the penitentiary" - a bit draconian for your common-or-garden spot of breaking and entering, unless he had been burglarising Trevelyan's corn. On the upside, that dolorous train trip from … Continue reading Johnny McEvoy – ‘The Boston Burglar’
The Dubliners – ‘Seven Drunken Nights’
13 May 1967 Who's the most prudish and squeamish about sex: RTÉ for banning 'Seven Drunken Nights', The Dubliners for not singing the final two verses, or the narrator for going out and getting drunk every night instead of tending to the marital bed? This isn't only an Irish trait. Carry On films from the … Continue reading The Dubliners – ‘Seven Drunken Nights’
Sandie Shaw – ‘Puppet On A String’
22 April 1967 Here's the first Eurovision winner in English, the first Eurovision winner for the perfidious Royaume-Uni, and the first Eurovision winner to top the Irish charts. In claiming this factoid triple crown for the UK, 'Puppet On A String' pipped that year's Irish entry, Sean Dunphy's bucolic ballad 'If I Could Choose', which … Continue reading Sandie Shaw – ‘Puppet On A String’
Nancy Sinatra & Frank Sinatra – ‘Somethin’ Stupid’
15 April 1967 Yes, that's the billing on the record: full names separately, with Nancy first. In 1967 this was probably a nod to the belief that the new pop music was sweeping the old pop (literally, in the case of Nancy's old pop Frank) into irrelevancy. Okay, turns out Frank Sinatra didn't disappear into … Continue reading Nancy Sinatra & Frank Sinatra – ‘Somethin’ Stupid’
Engelbert Humperdinck – ‘Release Me’
25 March 1967 In Ireland the deed was done by Petula Clark's 'This Is My Song', but in the UK the single that kept The Beatles' double-A-sided 'Strawberry Fields Forever' / 'Penny Lane' off the number one spot was this. Naturally, 'Release Me' also eventually topped the charts (with The Beatles at no. 3, still … Continue reading Engelbert Humperdinck – ‘Release Me’
