And in the spirit of "Go Away Little Girl," I give you "Young Girl" by Gary Puckett & The Union Gap. It only made it to #2 on Billboard (somehow "Number 2" seems appropriate here) so I guess it was out of contention for this list. But it made MY Spotify playlist called "Songs for Stalkers & Other Pervs" (originally named "Songs for Rapists, Pedophiles, Stalkers & Other Pervs." Spotify made me change it a few years ago.) https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1nxTPVd2pjLsgelCLhab7G?si=79ec19a9643544ed
And Good morning little schoolgirl - OK originally from the 1930s, but covered by a few artists during the 1960s. The one I am most familiar with was Ten Years After (British blues band). Definitely not acceptable today. And OMG - little Queenie, Sweet Little Sixteen .... and so on ... but let's not forget Jerry Lee Lewis was married to a 13 year old.
Fascinating analysis but I'm wondering if it's fair to apply modern sensibilities to the 'lowlights' of the 60's. Most of the negative comments pertained to lyric interpretations at a time when, at least myself as a kid, I would only catch snippets of these songs on the radio, and didn't have the means nor mentality to fully put them in context.
That’s a fair criticism. But ultimately as I note there is a subjective nature to this. But I think it’s very important to try to understand why we feel the way we do about certain songs.
Hi Chris I've tried to buy the book in the UK but to no avail. Please see attached message from Waterstones. Just thought you'd like to know.
Hi Huw, thanks for contacting Waterstones.
I've just called the distributor for Uncharted Territory, they have it listed as temporarily unavailable, the publisher haven't gave any indication when it would become available.
I can see the order was paid using loyalty points and the balance of a gift card, if the order was cancelled the system would refund these payments back to the cards that were used at the time of order.
I like this JD and I'd go even further. It's not merely that as a kid you don't have the understanding to put the songs in context. It's that as a kid, you put songs in your OWN context; it becomes one element in the fabric of your experience, which is trippy because you are young--you are feeling and sensing more than "thinking."
However "good" or "bad" the song is, it becomes meaningful to you, charged with value, negative or positive. This is why songs can be such powerful triggers of nostalgia in older people. The song links to a feeling and time and the circumstances of your life; the words in the songs become symbols, sometimes for things that have NOTHING to do with the song itself.
So this whole idea of highlights and lowlights is not wrong; its just abstract, and a bit silly, as if the point of music criticism were to issue a final judgment. It simply doesn't meet the place music hits you when you are young. The quality of the song is almost COMPLETELY irrelevant. lol
"Young Girl" by Gary Pucket and the Union Gap will ALWAYS be a great song for me, because I first heard it when I was sick and scared in a hospital as a kid, and my parents bought me my own radio. The DJs were playing it over and over again. The man's tortured voice took me out of my body and my fear.
That’s a fair question except for Bobby Goldsboro’s “Honey”. It’s the work of a Negative Zone Shakespeare. It’s a song for George Jones, but if George Jones sucked.
I hate to even type the name of this song as I consider it is the ultimate ear-worm. It is, drum roll please, I'm Henry the VIII, I am, by Herman's Hermits.
Now I am going to go listen to great music to try to get this damn thing out of my head!
I believe I write in the book that if a team of musician scientists got together in a lab and worked for 100 years, they could not come up with something as annoying as Henry VIII
While you’re at it, Lonnie Donegan’s “The Ladies Of The Court Of King Karakticus” there’s an earworm, if you need one…( can’t find a washtub/ teachest Bass in my emojis…🌊🏄🏼♀️
Hi Huw, thanks for contacting Waterstones. I've just called the distributor for Uncharted Territory, they have it listed as temporarily unavailable, the publisher haven't gave any indication when it would become available. I can see the order was paid using loyalty points and the balance of a gift card, if the order was cancelled the system would refund these payments back to the cards that were used at the time of order.
How can you not include“They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” by Napoleon XIV? Celebrating the joys of mental illness, this song sold a million copies.
But on the highlights list, or the lowlights list?
I've had the lyrics memorized since childhood and still sing it out loud spontaneously sometimes, so I lean strongly toward highlights. But judging by my wife's reaction when I bust it out, maybe not everyone would agree.
Omigosh, I'm ordering it this minute. I own surveys, yearbooks, record guides, etc., and your book sounds like both a perfect complement and a really fun read.
I'm working on an as-yet-unreleased podcast (that no one will listen to, since it's a podcast, LOL). It identifies 1-3 songs released each year (1927 to, I hope, 2027) that really makes me want to MOVE, that engages my HIPS. Quite subjective.
For the 1960s? I Just Want to Make Love to You, Etta James (1960); Jump in Line, Harry Belafonte (1961); Twistin' the Night Away, Sam Cooke (1962); I Saw Her Standing There, The Beatles (1963); You Really Got Me, The Kinks (1964); Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, James Brown (1965); Cleo's Mood, Junior Walker & the All Stars (1966); TIE: Gimme Some Lovin', Spencer Davis Group, and Steppin' Stone, The Monkees (1967); Dance to the Music, Sly & the Family Stone (1968); and for 1969... I'm having serious trouble choosing.
It's between Born on the Bayou, Creedence Clearwater Revival; Time Machine, Grand Funk Railroad; Spirit in the Sky, Norman Greenbaum; Venus, Shocking Blue; It's Your Thing, The Isley Brothers; I Want You Back, The Jackson 5; and I Can't Get Next to You, The Temptations. I need to lose at least four! Tragic.
Note, these selections are subject to change. Right now I'm only up to the 1930s. :)
When I know what I’m going to call it, I’ll let you know. :)(Contenders: Because It Bangs, It Makes You Move, Because It’s a Bop, & The Swagger—do you prefer one or another?)
1969 was a good year for music. I also loved your inclusion of Belafonte's "Jump in the Line" from '61. I've enjoyed his album, Jump up Calypso since I was a kid! 👍
Such a fun post! Question for the Honest Broker and everyone else: the graph that shows the dramatic drop off in songs with key changes— why do you think that is and does it say something about the quality/ diversity of song-writing?
I think it’s a complex question. Most people see it as a decline in musical sophistication but in reality most of the earlier key changes were just gear shifts, meaning up a half or whole step in the last chorus—not the most sophisticated harmonic device. I think the biggest contributor to the decline is the rise of hip-hop which, in very broad strokes, builds complexity through rhythm and lyricism rather than harmony and melody. That’s my read
Something to do with algorithmic programming? Everything important (hooks, chorus etc.) has to be piled in to the first 30 seconds, no one gives much of a shit what happens after that. Likewise bridges in songs…
Some great choices here, but I submit "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" (1967) as maybe the greatest pop recording ever, at least until "What's Going On" and, later, "Deacon Blues."
Agree, but perhaps there is more in his book. Did you like Joan Osborn's version? We were fortunate to see her do it live with members of Funk Brothers. And she was a true gem to the Standing In the Shadows of Motown documentary.
Yes, she knocked it out of the park! Why she never became a bigger star has long mystified me. Her cover of "Only You Know and I Know" is equally masterful, and she's a fine songwriter as well.
I would nominate "Run Joey Run" as one of the ten worst. The local radio station in our small town must have played it every hour for a year. It's SOOO melodramatic you can't help singing along in a mocking tone. I've never met anyone not from our town who has ever heard it, so I was surprised to discover it charted and was covered in "Glee".
I actually perform the song “The Battle of New Orleans“ with my band in an electric guitar, bass and drum set-up. And while I’m certainly no fan of Andrew Jackson, I would have to point out that that particular song is about a particular period in his life rather than anything to do with his atrocities and criticisms. Not to mention the lyrics are not meant to be taken 100% accurate either. But I was largely driven to do it by the Leon Russell rendition which features a more shall, we say rockin’ beat and even an electric sitar! But just to give it a twist, I put the verses in a minor key and the chorus in the major key. It seems to take the song from a goofy novelty tune about war into a story about something that may or may not have actually happened and you just can’t quite tell. And people seem to totally dig it, to boot.
Exactly, Colin. The song is about a battle in the War of 1812, against the British--it has nothing to do with Jackson's atrocities. But nowadays, the moral majority will find ANY pretext to hop up on a soapbox of performative justice.
Shortly thereafter, Johnny Horton reinvented the wheel with Sink the Bismarck, which only made it to #3 (though it hit the top spot in Canada). It's terrible.
As a member of the now-defunct Ellie Greenwich Fan Club, I have to say that she was with him at the hospital until the end. He must have been worthy. And it turned out he lived only a block or so away from me on 72nd Street.
Crumbs, that's an impossible can of worms. Trevor Horne produced a good (BBC?) program about this, but I can't remember the title. The conclusion was (pretty much) simpler and simpler structures, less modulation, fewer freaky chords.
One Rainy Wish changes time, so does Floyd's Money which starts off in a bizarre time anyway. For mainstream(ish) pop, I'd nominate The Zombies She's Not There and The Easybeats Friday on My Mind.
And in the spirit of "Go Away Little Girl," I give you "Young Girl" by Gary Puckett & The Union Gap. It only made it to #2 on Billboard (somehow "Number 2" seems appropriate here) so I guess it was out of contention for this list. But it made MY Spotify playlist called "Songs for Stalkers & Other Pervs" (originally named "Songs for Rapists, Pedophiles, Stalkers & Other Pervs." Spotify made me change it a few years ago.) https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1nxTPVd2pjLsgelCLhab7G?si=79ec19a9643544ed
Aside from the subject matter, I think "Young Girl" is just an all-around shitty song.
No argument here!
Spotify has a conscious? Curious... did The Jaggerz and The Rapper make this list?
Young Girl has a fantastic sound though… loved it as a kid.
And Good morning little schoolgirl - OK originally from the 1930s, but covered by a few artists during the 1960s. The one I am most familiar with was Ten Years After (British blues band). Definitely not acceptable today. And OMG - little Queenie, Sweet Little Sixteen .... and so on ... but let's not forget Jerry Lee Lewis was married to a 13 year old.
Tom Scharpling had quite a bit to say about Gary Puckett:
https://youtu.be/uur01CK7u8Q?si=IZPvOCBqpgu_tC8H
I was right with you in both categories, Made my day! 🎼🎶👍🎸
Nice compilation. I would add The Bee Gees' "Nights on Broadway".
There's always Lolita Ya Ya, a much more mature piece that I recommend : )
Make sure you put The Beatles’ “Run For Your Life” on that list!
"Chevy Van" by Sammy Johns is also at least adjacent to this genre.
If I'm being honest, I enjoy the alleged lowlights far more than the songs listed as highlights.
Fascinating analysis but I'm wondering if it's fair to apply modern sensibilities to the 'lowlights' of the 60's. Most of the negative comments pertained to lyric interpretations at a time when, at least myself as a kid, I would only catch snippets of these songs on the radio, and didn't have the means nor mentality to fully put them in context.
That’s a fair criticism. But ultimately as I note there is a subjective nature to this. But I think it’s very important to try to understand why we feel the way we do about certain songs.
Agreed. But at the time, a catchy chorus on a timely subject could take a song far. Maybe not so much now.
Project your mind forward to 2085. How will some music critic judge today's music?
How about, "Was there ever been a time in the history of man when people were so self-loathing and judgmental?"
Or, "Never have people been so self-assured, and yet so incapable,."
Hi Chris I've tried to buy the book in the UK but to no avail. Please see attached message from Waterstones. Just thought you'd like to know.
Hi Huw, thanks for contacting Waterstones.
I've just called the distributor for Uncharted Territory, they have it listed as temporarily unavailable, the publisher haven't gave any indication when it would become available.
I can see the order was paid using loyalty points and the balance of a gift card, if the order was cancelled the system would refund these payments back to the cards that were used at the time of order.
I like this JD and I'd go even further. It's not merely that as a kid you don't have the understanding to put the songs in context. It's that as a kid, you put songs in your OWN context; it becomes one element in the fabric of your experience, which is trippy because you are young--you are feeling and sensing more than "thinking."
However "good" or "bad" the song is, it becomes meaningful to you, charged with value, negative or positive. This is why songs can be such powerful triggers of nostalgia in older people. The song links to a feeling and time and the circumstances of your life; the words in the songs become symbols, sometimes for things that have NOTHING to do with the song itself.
So this whole idea of highlights and lowlights is not wrong; its just abstract, and a bit silly, as if the point of music criticism were to issue a final judgment. It simply doesn't meet the place music hits you when you are young. The quality of the song is almost COMPLETELY irrelevant. lol
"Young Girl" by Gary Pucket and the Union Gap will ALWAYS be a great song for me, because I first heard it when I was sick and scared in a hospital as a kid, and my parents bought me my own radio. The DJs were playing it over and over again. The man's tortured voice took me out of my body and my fear.
That’s a fair question except for Bobby Goldsboro’s “Honey”. It’s the work of a Negative Zone Shakespeare. It’s a song for George Jones, but if George Jones sucked.
Did he write his own lyrics? ‘Summer the First Time’ is equally excruciating…
JD - totally agree. Let’s remember those songs for what they were meant to be, not some reimagined view based upon today’s feelings.
I hate to even type the name of this song as I consider it is the ultimate ear-worm. It is, drum roll please, I'm Henry the VIII, I am, by Herman's Hermits.
Now I am going to go listen to great music to try to get this damn thing out of my head!
I believe I write in the book that if a team of musician scientists got together in a lab and worked for 100 years, they could not come up with something as annoying as Henry VIII
While you’re at it, Lonnie Donegan’s “The Ladies Of The Court Of King Karakticus” there’s an earworm, if you need one…( can’t find a washtub/ teachest Bass in my emojis…🌊🏄🏼♀️
King of The Road works pretty well.
Thank you so much for sharing this, Ted! The book is available wherever books are sold. Feel free to reach out if anybody has a question.
Not in the UK! Only as a Kindle and i've a illogical aversion to using Kindles x
It should be available on Amazon, Bookshop, or Waterstones in the UK
Only Kindle on Amazon, not available yet on Waterstones. But pre-ordered it. Looking forward to a good read!
Thank you!
Hi Huw, thanks for contacting Waterstones. I've just called the distributor for Uncharted Territory, they have it listed as temporarily unavailable, the publisher haven't gave any indication when it would become available. I can see the order was paid using loyalty points and the balance of a gift card, if the order was cancelled the system would refund these payments back to the cards that were used at the time of order.
Ugh. I’m so sorry. This is incredibly frustrating. I was told that stock should return tomorrow. Could you email me this at cdallarivamusic [at] gmail
I posted a question above in the comments—would love to hear your thoughts.
Got mine on kindle last night ✅👍🏻
This was a great idea to share part of it on The Honest Broker. I am buying two copies, one for me and one for my brother.
How can you not include“They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” by Napoleon XIV? Celebrating the joys of mental illness, this song sold a million copies.
But on the highlights list, or the lowlights list?
I've had the lyrics memorized since childhood and still sing it out loud spontaneously sometimes, so I lean strongly toward highlights. But judging by my wife's reaction when I bust it out, maybe not everyone would agree.
A great song IMHO ... and on the B-side, there's the same song but played backwards - Genius!!!
Omigosh, I'm ordering it this minute. I own surveys, yearbooks, record guides, etc., and your book sounds like both a perfect complement and a really fun read.
I'm working on an as-yet-unreleased podcast (that no one will listen to, since it's a podcast, LOL). It identifies 1-3 songs released each year (1927 to, I hope, 2027) that really makes me want to MOVE, that engages my HIPS. Quite subjective.
For the 1960s? I Just Want to Make Love to You, Etta James (1960); Jump in Line, Harry Belafonte (1961); Twistin' the Night Away, Sam Cooke (1962); I Saw Her Standing There, The Beatles (1963); You Really Got Me, The Kinks (1964); Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, James Brown (1965); Cleo's Mood, Junior Walker & the All Stars (1966); TIE: Gimme Some Lovin', Spencer Davis Group, and Steppin' Stone, The Monkees (1967); Dance to the Music, Sly & the Family Stone (1968); and for 1969... I'm having serious trouble choosing.
It's between Born on the Bayou, Creedence Clearwater Revival; Time Machine, Grand Funk Railroad; Spirit in the Sky, Norman Greenbaum; Venus, Shocking Blue; It's Your Thing, The Isley Brothers; I Want You Back, The Jackson 5; and I Can't Get Next to You, The Temptations. I need to lose at least four! Tragic.
Note, these selections are subject to change. Right now I'm only up to the 1930s. :)
I would listen to that podcast! Have you listened to The History Rock N Roll in 500 Songs? Great pod!
I have! LOL
When I know what I’m going to call it, I’ll let you know. :)(Contenders: Because It Bangs, It Makes You Move, Because It’s a Bop, & The Swagger—do you prefer one or another?)
1969 was a good year for music. I also loved your inclusion of Belafonte's "Jump in the Line" from '61. I've enjoyed his album, Jump up Calypso since I was a kid! 👍
Such a fun post! Question for the Honest Broker and everyone else: the graph that shows the dramatic drop off in songs with key changes— why do you think that is and does it say something about the quality/ diversity of song-writing?
I think it’s a complex question. Most people see it as a decline in musical sophistication but in reality most of the earlier key changes were just gear shifts, meaning up a half or whole step in the last chorus—not the most sophisticated harmonic device. I think the biggest contributor to the decline is the rise of hip-hop which, in very broad strokes, builds complexity through rhythm and lyricism rather than harmony and melody. That’s my read
But I'd wither without hip hop. Again, completely subjective, but: What happened to use of a bridge in a pop song?
“AFRICA” HAS KEY CHANGES BETWEEN B & E at a pretty quick rate…
Something to do with algorithmic programming? Everything important (hooks, chorus etc.) has to be piled in to the first 30 seconds, no one gives much of a shit what happens after that. Likewise bridges in songs…
My copy should be arriving any day. As a fan of Chris’ column, looking forward to it!
(I wrote a whole column on “Honey” when I was at CNN.com. I still find it excruciating.)
Some great choices here, but I submit "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" (1967) as maybe the greatest pop recording ever, at least until "What's Going On" and, later, "Deacon Blues."
Agree, but perhaps there is more in his book. Did you like Joan Osborn's version? We were fortunate to see her do it live with members of Funk Brothers. And she was a true gem to the Standing In the Shadows of Motown documentary.
Yes, she knocked it out of the park! Why she never became a bigger star has long mystified me. Her cover of "Only You Know and I Know" is equally masterful, and she's a fine songwriter as well.
Further details on the top ten of Billboard’s year-end Hot 100 for 1966:
1. The Ballad of the Green Berets — SSgt. Barry Sadler
2. Cherish — The Association
3. (You’re My) Soul and Inspiration — The Righteous Brothers
4. Reach Out I’ll Be There — Four Tops
5. 96 Tears — ? and the Mysterians
6. Last Train to Clarksville — The Monkees
7. Monday, Monday — The Mamas & the Papas
8. You Can’t Hurry Love — The Supremes
9. Poor Side of Town — Johnny Rivers
10. California Dreamin’ — The Mamas & the Papas
I would nominate "Run Joey Run" as one of the ten worst. The local radio station in our small town must have played it every hour for a year. It's SOOO melodramatic you can't help singing along in a mocking tone. I've never met anyone not from our town who has ever heard it, so I was surprised to discover it charted and was covered in "Glee".
If you need a laugh, here it is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run_Joey_Run
I actually perform the song “The Battle of New Orleans“ with my band in an electric guitar, bass and drum set-up. And while I’m certainly no fan of Andrew Jackson, I would have to point out that that particular song is about a particular period in his life rather than anything to do with his atrocities and criticisms. Not to mention the lyrics are not meant to be taken 100% accurate either. But I was largely driven to do it by the Leon Russell rendition which features a more shall, we say rockin’ beat and even an electric sitar! But just to give it a twist, I put the verses in a minor key and the chorus in the major key. It seems to take the song from a goofy novelty tune about war into a story about something that may or may not have actually happened and you just can’t quite tell. And people seem to totally dig it, to boot.
Exactly, Colin. The song is about a battle in the War of 1812, against the British--it has nothing to do with Jackson's atrocities. But nowadays, the moral majority will find ANY pretext to hop up on a soapbox of performative justice.
Shortly thereafter, Johnny Horton reinvented the wheel with Sink the Bismarck, which only made it to #3 (though it hit the top spot in Canada). It's terrible.
Haha! It’s been awhile since I heard that one! Maybe I won’t bother…
Any Doc Pomus (Jerome Felder) fans out there?…”Save the Last Dance For Me”…
I am! Love the songs Pomus wrote with Mort Shuman, especially the many they wrote that Elvis recorded.
Dug up “Can’t Get Used To Losing You”, Suspicion, “Teenager In Love”, and “This Magic Moment” as well. Thanks for your reply!🎼🎶🎸M.
Other ace songs are ‘A Mess of Blues,’ ‘Gonna Get Back Home Somehow,’ ‘(It's a) Long Lonely Highway’ and ‘Kiss Me Quick.’
Thank you!
I had not heard "Suspicion" since the Marconi invented radio.
As a member of the now-defunct Ellie Greenwich Fan Club, I have to say that she was with him at the hospital until the end. He must have been worthy. And it turned out he lived only a block or so away from me on 72nd Street.
He misses maybe the most important element in "Ticket to Ride": Ringo's snare displacement and syncopation driving the A-Asus2 arpeggio.
Crumbs, that's an impossible can of worms. Trevor Horne produced a good (BBC?) program about this, but I can't remember the title. The conclusion was (pretty much) simpler and simpler structures, less modulation, fewer freaky chords.
One Rainy Wish changes time, so does Floyd's Money which starts off in a bizarre time anyway. For mainstream(ish) pop, I'd nominate The Zombies She's Not There and The Easybeats Friday on My Mind.