Your Favorite Song of the 60's

[Jolly Blue Giant]

I know that everyone has personal preferences and "favorite" or "best" is completely subjective. But when I look at the top 100 songs of '61,'62.....'69, the internet is utterly ridiculously wrong naming the top song from each year as crap songs like: "I'm a Believer" by the Monkees, or "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies (are you f.. kidding me???), or "Come Together" by the Beatles (not even a top 15 song of the Beatles IMO), etc..blah, blah, blah - complete nonsense. In time, I might start a separate thread for each decade up to about the 90's when good music died 

But for now, I'll stick to the 60's. I was pretty young in the first couple of years of the decade and didn't follow music as I grew up on a dairy farm doing chores until dark and the using my tinny transistor radio next to my bed to listen to Yankee games when it was bedtime. My parents were into Elvis, which never did anything for me. I think music became a big deal to me after reaching puberty and finding something more interesting to me than baseball...girls!!!...which is still bit of a problem, LOL

When I started getting into music, I was a huge fan of The Beach Boys, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Four Seasons, the Supremes, The Who, Mama's and Papa's, Three Dog Night, Beatles, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Tommy James and the Shondells, etc., that is, during my early teens...by the time I was in my later teens, it was Grand Funk Railroad, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Jethro Tull, etc.

For the 60's, I struggled with choosing between "California Dreaming" by Mamas and Papas; "Heard it through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye (will always be the best rendition - sorry CCR - and will always be on my top songs list); (Sittin' on) "The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding; "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks, "I Can See for Miles" by The Who; "I think we're alone now" by Tommy James; "Happy Together" by the Turtles; "A Day in the Life" by the Beatles (should've been my no.1...but I'll call it my no.2), etc

With all that said, 60 years later, the one song that still sticks out to me, as I'm attempting to name my favorite song of the 60s, was a collaboration between best friends who hung out together, George Harrison and Eric Clapton in 1967 during their "druggie days". The song is called "Badge" because when Clapton put a tune to Harrison's written lyrics, Harrison's writing was so bad that he couldn't tell that he wrote "Bridge" (or maybe they were just too f-d up), and after releasing the song from Cream, they didn't bother to change it...it was too late. The (supposedly) is about a young and very pretty girl (groupie) who followed them around and was getting in over her head trying to keep up with their sordid drug and unscrupulous bedroom antics, and they continually warned her that she was a nice kid and should try to go back to a normal life with normal boys. I have no idea whatever happened to her. Anyway, my top choice...and I don't particularly care for Clapton's music, especially after he left Cream (crank it up...LOL):

[Sem]

Good stuff Ric. Now you have me thinking....

[LennG]

Ric

You are asking a lot here. Myself, I was and still am a fan of what was called Doo-Wop music, mostly from the late 50s into the pre-Beatle '60s. I still listen to this type of music mostly, but I have others.
If you say the 60s you are going from this type of music, Doo-wop then incorporating every song from the Beatles, and really into Woodstock,  which really makes it hard. I was never a fan of what was known as hard rock, heavy metal, and all those types of music, so my favs would not get to that type of music.

I was just a huge fan of the Beatles and I still feel their Sgt Pepper Album was and still is the best album ever made, so if I had to take a true #1 song, it would be 'Day in the Life'

That said I would like honorable mention to

Born To Be Wild-- Steppenwolf
House of the Rising Sun--The Animals
Whiter Shade of Pale--Procal Harem
The Boxer--Simon and Garfunkel
Pretty Woman--The GREAT Roy Orbison
Can't Help Falling In Love--Elvis
Stand By Me--Ben E King
One of my all-time greatest--The Worst That Can Happen by Johhny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge

Unchained Melody--The Righteous Brothers

Theme from the Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Anything by the Early Bob Dylan
Anything b Johhny Cash

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Good call. I went to a concert with a reunion of doo wop bands and they were great - sensational even and I loved it

Music in the 50s-60s went from Elvis/Tom Jones, Ricky Nelson...to Doo Wop...to cutsie songs from Leslie Gore, Everly brothers, into the car/motorcycle/surfing groups Beach Boys, Jan and Dean...to the Beatles who revolutionized music during their short career

I still like some of them. Two songs I still listen to is "You Don't Own Me" and "Lost in the 50s" when I feel like crying

Sung by Saygrace and G-Easy, not Leslie, but a recent remake that is excellent (they made the song for "Suicide Squad"...even got some rap mixed in. But I did love Lesle, may she RIP. Saygrace has a beautiful voice and nails Leslie's hit song. The immortal line that still hits home with me, "I'm young, and I love to be young...I'm free, and I love to be free"...sends shivers down my spine

"Lost in the 50s" Ronnie Milsap (might even qualify as doo wop...more like shoo wop...lol)

Funny story. When my wife and I put the little ones to bed, we'd play this song and slow dance around the living room. What I didn't know, was that my 3-yr old son learned the song from his bedroom. 6 or 7 years later, he had joined the elementary school choir. At some point, the teacher asked the kids if there was any song they'd like to sing as a group, and my son shot his hand in the air and said, "Lost in the 50's". The teacher said, "wow...great song...how on earth do you know it?" and he replied, "my mom and dad play it when I'm supposed to be asleep"...lol

Lost in the 50s should go down in history as one of the best romantic songs ever written

[LennG]

Great call on Lost in the '50s.
Great story also.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Great call on Lost in the '50s.
Great story also.

Hard to play it anymore since it brings back so many memories. I get too sentimental and regret my life's decisions. My wife and I were so in love at that time. She looked at me with adoring eyes, and I right back. We had 4 kids back to back to back and money was tight. Then I started climbing the corporate ladder and started putting in 70 hour work weeks combined with travel to the far east, Europe, practically every major city in America, etc. We grew apart and my work was my life and we grew apart as she started her education ending up as a Nurse Practitioner, and me a retired old coot. I'll regret if for the rest of my life. Now my kids are grown and half my grandkids are grown...all the weddings, the funerals, the table games, the laughs, the hard times...are but a memory that I hang on to 

The good old days



Christmas present from my kids a couple weeks ago...one of my kids and one of my grandchildren (a little glare on them from the glass in the picture frames. Unfortunately, one of my grandkids and great grandson weren't in the picture. I'll post a separate one of them

My kids now (I lost my oldest son right after his 20th birthday...devastating). 4-year captain of the lacrosse team, 2-yr captain of the football team, and a loving kid with a huge heart and big ambitions

[ozzie]

Without too much thought and just off the top of my head, my favorites from the 60s are from the Beatles.
I saw her standing there - 1963
The night before - 1965
While my guitar gently weeps- 1968

No doubt there are countless others but these 3 popped into my head right away.

[GordonGekko80]

Nice thread... Love it. 

Simpathy for the Devils from the Stones... 

"Pleased to meeeeet yooouu..." 

Else...

Gimme Shelter - Stones
Paint It, Black - Stones
I can't get no satisfacion - Stones
You can't get always what you want - Stones
Son of a Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield
Happy Together - The Turtles
Hey Joe - Jimi Hendrix
Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix
The Lion Sleeps Tonight - The Tokens
Higher & Higher - Jackie Wilson
The Sound of Silence - S & G
Fortunate Son - Creedence Clearwater Revival
I Got You (I Feel Good) - James Brown
Gimme Some Lovin' - Spencer Davis Group
Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin

Ain't no Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell
(I sing that to my wife when she's having a bad day... and it lights her up every time).

What's also funny is that some of the above have been used in some recent Disney and Dreamworks movies and the kids love the music, too.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Without too much thought and just off the top of my head, my favorites from the 60s are from the Beatles.
I saw her standing there - 1963
The night before - 1965
While my guitar gently weeps- 1968

No doubt there are countless others but these 3 popped into my head right away.

Good call. I forgot all about "The Night Before", a more traditional sound of the Beatles before they added different instrumentation that changed all that. One of the more interesting things they did to create different sounds was introduced in "Strawberry Fields Forever" where Lennon put thumbtacks in the hammers of a piano to give it a tinny ring, now called a jangle piano...as well as a melatron, a slide guitar, swarmandal (Indian harpsichord), timpani, and maracas. They were quite genius in developing new creative sounds for music

I'm sure you are aware that the guitar playing in "While my Guitar Gently Weeps" was played by Clapton. There was an ongoing rumor that the band wanted to replace Harrison with Clapton, but they were such close friends Clapton would never agree

A lot of people criticize Clapton's guitar playing, but to me, that is and was his greatest accomplishment. He never had the technical virtuoso lightning fingering like the well known guitarists like Eddie Van Halen and others. But speed does not necessarily translate into artistic quality in my opinion...even though I admire the technical geniuses. Clapton felt the music and the guitar was part of his being...he set the tone and the mood bringing out the quality of a song by melding real feeling into the lyrics - a true artist. Hence, the reason he was asked to do the guitar portion of "While my Guitar Gently Weeps". Few guitarists could pull off what he did in that song. Another guitarist that isn't a speed demon, but is uniquely part of his being, is Santana

[LennG]

Hard to play it anymore since it brings back so many memories. I get too sentimental and regret my life's decisions. My wife and I were so in love at that time. She looked at me with adoring eyes, and I right back. We had 4 kids back to back to back and money was tight. Then I started climbing the corporate ladder and started putting in 70 hour work weeks combined with travel to the far east, Europe, practically every major city in America, etc. We grew apart and my work was my life and we grew apart as she started her education ending up as a Nurse Practitioner, and me a retired old coot. I'll regret if for the rest of my life. Now my kids are grown and half my grandkids are grown...all the weddings, the funerals, the table games, the laughs, the hard times...are but a memory that I hang on to 

The good old days



Christmas present from my kids a couple weeks ago...one of my kids and one of my grandchildren (a little glare on them from the glass in the picture frames. Unfortunately, one of my grandkids and great grandson weren't in the picture. I'll post a separate one of them

My kids now (I lost my oldest son right after his 20th birthday...devastating). 4-year captain of the lacrosse team, 2-yr captain of the football team, and a loving kid with a huge heart and big ambitions

GREAT, GREAT Pix Ric.

We also get sentimental around the end of the year. We usually start by looking over our wedding pix, then moving on to when our kids were born, and then on to their Bar Mitzvah stuff. In fact, while looking this last time, I just couldn't believe I was so thin, my darling wife so young and gorgeous, and me with a full head of brown hair. Oh, the good old days. I don't have any of these pix on my computer so it is hard to post any. I'll see if I can scan some and give you a peek ar us in the younger days.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

GREAT, GREAT Pix Ric.

We also get sentimental around the end of the year. We usually start by looking over our wedding pix, then moving on to when our kids were born, and then on to their Bar Mitzvah stuff. In fact, while looking this last time, I just couldn't believe I was so thin, my darling wife so young and gorgeous, and me with a full head of brown hair. Oh, the good old days. I don't have any of these pix on my computer so it is hard to post any. I'll see if I can scan some and give you a peek ar us in the younger days.

That would be nice Lenn. I shouldn't have posted that "Lost in the 50s" last night because when I played it, all kinds of sentimental feelings came back and put me in trance...looking back at life from an age I never thought I'd get. When it's all said and done, my family is my greatest blessing and achievement if it can be called an achievement 

I need pictures to remind me I was young once. The "Circle of Life" and my circle is nearing completion...LOL. I can't help but wonder what's in store for my grandkids...especially my latest who's 14 months old. I hope it's better than I think it will be

But, ahhh, the good old days with hopes and dreams and anxious to get started slaying the world

[T200]

Good call. I forgot all about "The Night Before", a more traditional sound of the Beatles before they added different instrumentation that changed all that. One of the more interesting things they did to create different sounds was introduced in "Strawberry Fields Forever" where Lennon put thumbtacks in the hammers of a piano to give it a tinny ring, now called a jangle piano...as well as a melatron, a slide guitar, swarmandal (Indian harpsichord), timpani, and maracas. They were quite genius in developing new creative sounds for music

I'm sure you are aware that the guitar playing in "While my Guitar Gently Weeps" was played by Clapton. There was an ongoing rumor that the band wanted to replace Harrison with Clapton, but they were such close friends Clapton would never agree

A lot of people criticize Clapton's guitar playing, but to me, that is and was his greatest accomplishment. He never had the technical virtuoso lightning fingering like the well known guitarists like Eddie Van Halen and others. But speed does not necessarily translate into artistic quality in my opinion...even though I admire the technical geniuses. Clapton felt the music and the guitar was part of his being...he set the tone and the mood bringing out the quality of a song by melding real feeling into the lyrics - a true artist. Hence, the reason he was asked to do the guitar portion of "While my Guitar Gently Weeps". Few guitarists could pull off what he did in that song. Another guitarist that isn't a speed demon, but is uniquely part of his being, is Santana

I'm not a big guitar aficionado but I do appreciate greatness. One of my favorite artists, and someone I consider a musical genius, Prince, was featured in this all-star collab of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" for George Harrison's Rock HoF ceremony.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MC6s9HHonU

Simply incredible!

[Jolly Blue Giant]

I'm not a big guitar aficionado but I do appreciate greatness. One of my favorite artists, and someone I consider a musical genius, Prince, was featured in this all-star collab of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" for George Harrison's Rock HoF ceremony.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MC6s9HHonU

Simply incredible!

I've watched that video many times and know full well that Prince was an incredible musician...not only with a guitar (for which he is near the top of all lists for his virtuosity), but also piano, vocals, etc. I've always liked the video of him practicing prior to a concert in Tokyo instructing the other musicians what they should do and when to come in, while flawlessly playing, with "feeling", a difficult piano piece. He was incredible...almost unfair to the human race that one person should possess so much musical talent

[GIANTS1]

thats a impossible task

[LennG]

Ric

Had the bring this topic back. I emailed my brother and he had a couple of pix of me and my wife and very young first child on his computer. He forwarded them to me so I hope this works.