825 The Proclaimers “He’ll Understand” 1965

A Welsh Christian group singing American southern gospel (www.1960schristianmusic.com).
“‘THE PROCLAIMERS’ are a group with a difference! As they travel from town to town singing at Youth Clubs, Hospitals, Café’s, Churches and chapels, their aim runs much deeper than to just entertain. While their presentation is of a high standard, the message behind each song conveys the sincerity of their faith as they unfold the story of God’s Love towards us and how He gave His Son a sacrifice for our sin. The City of Cardiff is the home of ‘THE PROCLAIMERS’ and although they come from different walks of life, they unite to spread the gospel in song” (Messages with a Lilt album notes, 1965). 

The Proclaimers “He’ll Understand”

824 Wilson Pickett (1941-2006) “In the Midnight Hour” 1965

“if Pickett wasn’t the first, he has a strong claim to being the greatest purveyor of Pentecostal-style vocal pyrotechnics on the pop scene, virtually everyone described the singer as ‘his own worst enemy’...Born in 1941 in a two-room sharecroppers’ shack in rural Alabama, Pickett was scarred by physical abuse and poverty...and he remained a difficult loner, subject to extreme mood swings and paranoid rages. Music provided some release, but playful pugnaciousness turned to brutal violence when he was drunk, which was often – and that was before the cocaine” (Elijah Wald, New Statesman, Apr. 2017). 

Wilson Pickett “In the Midnight Hour”

823 The Peacemakers “Satisfied” 1965

“whilst living in Frinton, Justyn Rees regularly found himself in the coffee bars of surrounding towns looking at the sad and lonely faces of local young people. It stirred in him the desire to communicate his faith in Jesus Christ, and before long he was playing his guitar to them and singing about the answer Jesus had provided to his problems. Having established himself as both guitarist and vocalist, Justyn was invited to form a guitar group to provide the music for a series of meetings being conducted in London by his father Tom Rees. So 'The Peacemakers' emerged as one of Britain's first Christian beat groups, and soon they were playing all over Britain and Europe, making records and broadcasting on TV and Radio” (Internet Archive, https://archive.org/stream/discogsimages). 

The Peacemakers “Satisfied”

822 Odetta (1930-2008) “Baby, I’m in the Mood for You” 1965 and “Water Boy” 1954

“Some people sing; Odetta testified. Martin Luther King Jr. called Odetta…‘the queen of American folk music.’ In a career spanning nearly 60 years, she wrapped her booming, classically trained contralto around traditional hymns, work songs and pop tunes. A solid, inspiring figure at 1960s civil rights events, Odetta brought art-song precision to the gospel and blues repertoire. If a line could be drawn from Mahalia Jackson to Janis Joplin, it would have to go through her. Born Odetta Holmes in Birmingham, Ala., and raised in Los Angeles, she sang in musical theater as a teenager, and in the early ‘50s helped form the vanguard of the folk-music movement. Bob Dylan said that her 1956 LP, Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues, was ‘the first thing that turned me on to folk singing.’ She returned the favor by recording an album of Dylan songs in 1965” (Richard Corliss, Time, 15 Dec. 2008). 

Odetta “Baby, I’m in the Mood for You”

Odetta “Water Boy”

821 Phil Ochs (1940-1976) “I Ain’t Marchin’ Anymore” 1965

“Some of you may have been lucky enough to frequent a Phil Ochs performance or caught a glimpse of him at demonstrations and rallies prior to his suicide in 1976. For those like me, who only encountered him through his albums, yes vinyl, or not at all, he was lauded as a musical spokesman of the 1960s. His song, ‘I Ain’t Marchin’ Anymore’ was one of the anthems of the anti-Vietnam War Movement. He was a committed activist who never compromised. In 1964, Phil joined the Mississippi Caravan of Music to help break the back of Jim Crow. He went South to support the domestic warriors on the front lines and then used his songs to educate those who were unaware of southern racial injustice or were unable to make the journey” (Susan J. Erenrich and Jon F. Wergin, Grassroots Leadership and the Arts For Social Change, 2017).

Phil Ochs “I Ain’t Marchin’ Anymore”

820 Roger Miller (1936-1992) “King of the Road” 1965

“The Jimmy Dean show gave Roy Clark, Patsy Cline, and Roger Miller their first big breaks and introduced the world to many country music artists.”
Jimmy Dean: “First of all, I’d have to say that Roger Miller was the most spontaneously creative human being I’ve ever met. I mean just off the top of his head. There was a comedic side of him, but there was also a very serious side. I remember I interviewed him on a syndicated show that I had and I asked, ‘Who is roger Miller?’ And he said, ‘Well, he’s a composite of an awful lot of different people.’ And he was. He was a multifaceted human being. Did you hear about the award he presented me?...Well, we introduced ‘King of the Road’ on our television show, and shortly thereafter he sent us the Golden Doorknob Award. It has a little plaque below the golden doorknob that says, ‘To Jimmy Dean, for a million doors you opened for me’” (Lyle E. Style, Ain’t Got No Cigarettes: Memories of Music Legend Roger Miller, 2005).

Roger Miller “King of the Road”

819 Barry McGuire (1935- ) “Eve of Destruction” 1965

“Unlike other popular songs ‘Eve of Destruction’ was a political dissent song stressing the point that man was on the brink of nuclear annihilation. The significance of the piece was that it was the first protest song dealing with specific issues to reach this height of popularity…In September of 1965, when ‘Eve of Destruction’ was at the top of the national charts, a questionnaire was administered to a stratified sample of sociology students at San Francisco State College ranging from incoming freshmen to graduate students. This choice of sample was predicated upon two considerations: (1) sociology students are generally regarded as more ‘liberal’ in their political views; and (2) the capricious nature of the Top Forty and a local campaign to ban ‘Eve’ from the airwaves prompted the use of the most readily accessible sample” (R. Serge Denisoff and Mark H. Levine, The Public Opinion Quarterly, Spring 1971). 

Barry McGuire “Eve of Destruction”

818 The McCoys “Hang On Sloopy” 1965

“The long and winding road as a rock musician all began for Derringer (1947- ) back in his native Dayton, Ohio, and nearby Indiana, where he grew up with the name Rick Zehringer. (He changed it for his first record with The McCoys.) Derringer got his first guitar at the age of nine and quickly proved his musical talents. ‘I went and jammed with my uncle, who was also a musician,’ recalls the compact and muscled Derringer. ‘We passed the hat and made $40. Then my brother started playing drums, and a neighbor kid wanted to play bass, so I showed him how. Pretty soon we called ourselves The McCoys.’ The name came from a song they played from an album by the Ventures. ‘I started playing in the school marching band, too, so I got to play a number of instruments and learned dance band and Big Band music’” (Kay Kipling, Sarasota Magazine, Apr. 2001). 

The McCoys “Hang On Sloopy”

817 Martha and the Vandellas “Nowhere to Run” 1965

“The fourth pop Top Ten single by Martha Reeves (1941- ) and the Vandellas is a tale of a tortured love affair with a far darker tone than all but a few other Motown hits of the era. As Martha wails about running from a man who's ‘no good for me,’ being haunted by his face ‘every step I take’ and whenever she looks in the mirror, and concludes there’s ‘nowhere to run, nowhere to hide,’ this appears to be a portrait of an abused woman who can’t bring herself to break free. It’s disturbing, but compelling. For Reeves, the song evokes “how I felt after seeing 18- and 19-year-old kids coming back from Vietnam with injuries” (Steve Sullivan, Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, 2013). 

Martha and the Vandellas “Nowhere to Run” 

816 Bob Marley (1945-1981) and the Wailers “One Love” 1965

“The millenarian-messianic cult of Rastafarianism that Marley championed through his music draws some of its ideology from the teachings of back-to-Africa advocate Marcus Mosiah Garvey. Born on August 17, 1887, in the city of St. Ann’s Bay in the Jamaican parish of St. Ann, Garvey (nicknamed ‘Mose’) was one of eleven children sired by a once prosperous printer. He was descended from the Maroons, originally a band of fifteen hundred African slaves released by their Spanish masters in 1655, who fled to the impenetrable interior of Jamaica as Cromwell’s forces invaded the island. (Maroon is a corruption of the Spanish word cimarron, meaning unruly)” (Timothy White, Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley, 1899). 

Bob Marley and the Wailers “One Love”

815 The Mamas and the Papas “California Dreamin’” 1965

John Phillips: “‘This is the summer of ’65. All of us were living in their (Cass Elliot and Jimmy Hendricks) apartment. We had a couple of cats and all the girls would beg for money for cat food on Sunset Strip. The money actually went to the cat food. Denny (Doherty) and I were taking steaks out of supermarkets—wearing big coats. We were taking a lot drugs at the time. It seemed like the thing to do. We were expanding our minds. We had no idea it was Russian roulette, at the time.’”

“Many of their hijinks came to an end when Barry McGuire…introduced the members of The Mamas and The Papas to his producer, Lou Adler of Dunhill Records.” The group sang background for McGuire’s first album, Hang On, Sloopy. McGuire recorded their song, California Dreamin’, but Adler asked the group to record their own version featuring Denny Doherty. When the song became a hit in November, it “would define the ‘California’ sound and lifestyle for an entire generation of Americans” (Doug Hall, The Mamas & The Papas: California Dreamin’, 2000). 

The Mamas and the Papas “California Dreamin’”

814 The Lovin’ Spoonful “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice” 1965

“None of the musicians who got caught up in the early-‘60s folk boom was better situated than Sebastian to become immersed in it. His father, also named John, was a noted classical harmonica player who was open to a wide variety of music. While the elder Sebastian didn’t teach his son to play the haromonica (one of the many instruments Sebastian has played well over the years), he did help introduce him to some of his early influences… ‘I had a wonderful early life, which included people like Sonny Terry, Josh White and Burl Ives, who was an old friend of my dad. Woody Guthrie sleep on our floor. Burl said, I’ve got this friend and he’s in from Oklahoma and he doesn’t have a place to stay’” (Mike Boehm, Los Angeles Times, 2 April 1993). 

The Lovin’ Spoonful “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice”

813 The Lovin’ Spoonful “The Other Side of Life” 1965

“Lovin’ Spoonful was formed a the end of 1964 by John Sebastian (born on March 17, 1944, in New York City), a Greenwich Village folk music veteran who’d played harmonica on albums by Judy Collins, Tom Rush, and other folkies, and guitarist Zal Yanovsky, a former member of the folk-rock group the Mugwumps (alongside future Mamas & Papas Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty). With Steve Boone on bass and Joe Butler on drums, they named their group from a line in the song Coffee Blues by the great bluesman Mississippi John Hurt, with whom Sebastian had played in the Village” (Steve Sullivan, Encyclopedia of Great Popular Recordings, 2013). 

The Lovin’ Spoonful “The Other Side of Life”

812 The Lovin’ Spoonful “Do You Believe in Magic” 1965

“In addition to folk and rock, jug band music (particularly Jim Kweskin’s band) was a key influence on the group, and very evident on the debut hit. ‘The element that they brought that was different from other folk influences was that they tended to not only put a lighthearted spin on their music, but they also adapted really odd instruments to use in the studio,’ Steve Boone told Richie Unterberger in Turn! Turn! Turn! The ‘60s Folk-Rock Revolution. ‘We were one of the few folk-rock bands that played on all our records…no studio musicians involved’” (Steve Sullivan, Encyclopedia of Great Popular Recordings, 2013). 

The Lovin’ Spoonful “Do You Believe in Magic”

811 Gary Lewis (1945- ) and the Playboys “This Diamond Ring” and “Save Your Heart for Me” 1965

“For three decades Tommy ‘Snuff’ Garrett was one of the most successful pop, country and middle-of-the-road producers. As a teenager, he became a disc-jockey in Lubbock, where he championed Buddy Holly’s work, and Wichita Falls, before joining Liberty records in Hollywood. At Liberty he was to work with the post-Holly Crickets but Garret’s first success was with Johnny Burnete, whose ‘Dreamin’’ he produced in 1960. He also discovered Bobby Vee, whom he first recorded at Norman Petty’s studio before concocting a series of string-laden hits in 1960-3 for the singer. Garrett also worked with Gene McDaniels but achieved his greatest commercial success with Gary Lewis and the Playboys. Led by the son of comedy actor Jerry Lewis, the group had seven Top Ten hits in 1965-6…With arrangements by Leon Russell, Garrett produced five albums by the band” (Phil Hardy, The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001). 

Gary Lewis and the Playboys “This Diamond Ring”

Gary Lewis and the Playboys “Save Your Heart for Me” 

810 The Kinks “Tired of Waiting for You” and “A Well Respected Man” 1965

“The north London suburb of Muswell Hill is perhaps best known for the serial killer Dennis Nilsen, who disposed of his victims in an Edwardian semi long since boarded up but oddly (given our obsession with notoreity) without a blue plaque. Not far from the infamous Cranley Gardens address is the secondary modern where Ray Davies and his younger brother Dave went to school in the Fifties. A plaque there commemorates the Kinks; Muswell Hill was as important to the brothers' band as Liverpool was to the Beatles...Ray Davies was born in 1944 to a Smithfield slaughterman, Frederick Davies, and his wife, Annie. At William Grimshaw secondary (now Fortismere School) he discovered George Orwell and asked a classmate called Rod Stewart to help form a band. (Stewart was kicked out when his voice was found to be unpleasantly raspy)” (Ian Thomson, The Daily Telegraph, London, March 21, 2015). 

The Kinks “Tired of Waiting for You” 

The Kinks “A Well Respected Man”

809 The Impressions “People Get Ready” 1965

“Born in Chicago on June 3, 1942, Curtis Mayfield sang with the Northern Jubilee Gospel Singers, and joined the Impressions in 1957…From the beginning, said Mayfield, he modeled the Impressions’ sound on the music that had inspired him: ‘Gospel was your foundation and there’s been many a song coming from the black church.’ His fellow Impressions were Sam Gooden and Fred Cash. Having grown up on Chicago’s South and West Sides, Mayfield said that while listening closely to Martin Luther King, Jr., and other black leaders of the time, the ideals of his songs were rooted most deeply in the local community. At all times, his vision was generous, inclusive, proud, and hopeful” (Steve Sullivan, Encyclopedia of Great Popular Recordings, 2013). Listed on the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

The Impressions “People Get Ready”

808 Herman’s Hermits “I’m Henry the VIII, I Am” and “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter”1965

“One of the more lightweight British beat groups of the sixties, Herman’s Hermits were one of the most commercially successful. The exaggerated ‘Englishness’ of material like ‘Mrs Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter’ and music-hall star Harry Champion’s 1911 song ‘I’m Henry the Eighth, I Am’ made the group especially popular in America...Peter Noone and the group then appeared in the teen movies When the Boys Meet the Girls (1965) and Hold on! (1966). Their soundtracks yielded further hits” (Phil Hardy, The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001).

Herman’s Hermits “I’m Henry the VIII, I Am”

Herman’s Hermits “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter”

807 Roy Head (1941- ) and the Traits “Treat Her Right” 1965

“The son of migrant farmers from South Texas, Head moved with his family to San Marcos when he was a high schooler and sought out musicians who shared an affinity for the hard-driving rhythm and blues he grew up loving. His first band was a trio with [Tommy] Bolton and [Gerry] Gibson called the Treys. Even after adding [Dan] Buie, [Bill] Pennington and [Clyde] Causey (who joined the service after high school and was replaced by George Frazier), the band was called the Treys. But one day a radio announcer mistakenly introduced them as ‘the Traits’ and the name stuck. ‘It didn't feel right being in a six-piece band called the Treys,’ Buie says… Around 1960, the frontman asked that his name be put before the band's and they became Roy Head and the Traits. ‘Roy was 110 percent into making a living from music,’ Buie says, ‘but the rest of us kinda had the attitude that we were having fun and all, but it would soon be time to go to college and get jobs’” (Michael Corcoran, Austin American-Statesman, Oct. 20, 2007). 

Roy Head and the Traits “Treat Her Right”

806 The Vince Guaraldi (1928-1976) Trio “Linus and Lucy” 1965

“There must have been times in 1963 when Vince Guaraldi was riding high on his surprise hit ‘Cast Your Fate to the Wind,’ when he thought: This is what I’ll be remembered for. Not that he have minded. He said taking requests for it was like signing the back of a check…He’d mostly be remembered for it, too, if soon after he hadn’t written the music for a TV Christmas special that CBS didn’t have much hope for” (National Public Radio, Fresh Air, 2012). 

“Charles Gompertz, a reverend in San Francisco, heard ‘Cast’ on the radio. He hired Guaraldi to write a jazz mass to be performed at the city's newly built Grace Cathedral. Guaraldi spent 18 months writing the music for his trio and a 68-voice choir. The score, performed live in May 1965, was a unique blend of jazz, Latin music and waltz tempos, said [Derrick] Bang: ‘It had not been done in the U.S. up until that time.’ A radio broadcast of ‘Cast’ also led to another job. [Producer Lee] Mendelson heard the song and hired Guaraldi in 1963 to provide the music for ‘A Boy Named Charlie Brown,’ a documentary film on [Charles] Schultz” (Pete Barlas, Investor’s Business Weekly, Dec. 23, 2010). A Charlie Brown Christmas album is listed on the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

The Vince Guaraldi Trio “Linus and Lucy”

805 The Graham Bond Organization "Train Time" and “Tammy” 1965

“for many the founding father of the British R&B movement, Bond, who died aged 36 in 1974, was ultimately denied the wider acclaim afforded those he mentored and inspired, such as Jack Bruce, Stevie Winwood and Jon Lord. He was a pioneer of the combination Hammond organ and Leslie speaker cabinets to add rich textures to jazz and blues material, providing a gateway for the harder rock and even prog musicians who followed. Check the record shelves of just about every British musician who started out in the mid-60s and you’ll find a copy of the Organization’s game-changing album The Sound of ‘65”  (Terry Staunton, Record Collector, April 2013). 

The Graham Bond Organization "Train Time"

The Graham Bond Organization “Tammy”

804 The Four Tops “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch” 1965

“On record, the Four Tops were oh-so-smooth. On stage, one of ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine’s’ ‘100 Greatest Groups Of All Time’ was downright sensational…The Four Tops crossed over to mainstream audiences via TV programs like ‘Hollywood A Go-Go,’ ‘The Mike Douglas Show’ and ‘Ed Sullivan.’ On Murray The K’s 1965 TV special ‘It’s What’s Happening Baby,’ they are shown playfully slinging popcorn and soft drinks as they perform ‘I Can’t Help Myself’ for an integrated pre-teen crowd” (Science Letter, 11 Nov. 2008). 

The Four Tops “I Can’t Help Myself”

803 Wayne Fontana (1945- ) & the Mindbenders “Game of Love” & “A Groovy Kind of Love” 1965

“The Mindbenders were originally formed in Manchester in 1963 as the Jets. They signed with the Fontana label and changed their name to Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders. Their initial recordings were the covers of American numbers, which were included in the basic repertoire of most groups in the north west of England at the time…Wayne Fontana and the group went their separate ways in October 1965” (Harry Bill, The British Invasion: How The Beatles and Other UK Bands Conquered America, 2004). 

Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders “Game of Love”

Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders “A Groovy Kind of Love”

802 Richard Fariña (1937-1966) and Mimi Baez Fariña (1945-2001) “Reno Nevada” and “Mainline Prosperity Blues” 1965

“Richard Fariña's Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me (1966) provides an intriguing example for anyone who followed the rise of the counterculture from the mid-1950s. Until his death—motorcycle accident on the night of his first and only novel’s publication party, just short of his thirtieth birthday—he seemed to be at the center of what was happening” (Robert Murray Davis, World Literature Today, May-June 2006).

Nancy Carlen, producer of the Big Sur Festival said of Mimi, younger sister of Joan Baez, and former ad man Richard Fariña, “Dick and Mimi were a really unusual act. Most people were doing a traditional thing or a blues thing or a protest thing. They were combining folk music with Eastern music and poetry and rock and roll. They were completely original and creative” (David Hajdu, Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña and Richard Fariña, 2001).

Richard and Mimi Fariña “Reno Nevada”

Richard and Mimi Fariña “Mainline Prosperity Blues”

801 The Envoys “Door” 1965

"No matter how you slice it, the conclusion is inescapable: with regard to ‘Jesus rock’ the British were there first. And not just a couple isolated bands – this was clearly a movement. The Envoys obviously had their ears in tune with the ’60s sounds of the Beatles, Hollies and all the rest. Kicking off with the chorus of “there’s nobody like Jesus”, this obscure single captures two of the best samplings of the whole gospel beat phenomenon, jangling along with a full-tilt high-energy electric sound. Male lead vocals, with female bgvs" (The Archivist, 4th edition by Ken Scott). "The Envoys Gospel beat group came into existence as a result of a Sunday school party novelty item but in October 1963 was pushed into a last-minute spot at a church rally which launched the group into a continuing series of appearances at church-based rallies, coffee - bars, in prisons and remand homes and secular places of entertainment such as beat clubs, dance halls and cinemas" (https://www.classicchristianrockzine.com/2014/12/the-envoys.html). 

The Envoys “Door”

800 Bob Dylan (1941- ) “Positively 4th Street” 1965

“He had also been accused, often enough, of sexism as an artist and as an individual…’Positively 4th Street’…was a young man settling scores on his own behalf. As for his attitude towards women, pick an album. Dylan’s inability to see beyond his precious Madonna/whore caricatures has been criticized for decades” (Ian Bell, Time Out of Mind: The Lives of Bob Dylan, 2013). 

Bob Dylan “Positively 4th Street”

799 Bob Dylan (1941- ) “Desolation Row” 1965

“The individual’s private experiences are needed to understand more fully the nature and aim of the political fight which, in turn, make him more aware of the value and precariousness of happiness. Dylan realizes that his public commitment can only be worth what he is worth; it cannot be a refuge or an excuse for his own failures” (Maurice Capel in The Dylan Companion, 1990). 

Bob Dylan “Desolation Row”

798 Bob Dylan (1941- ) “Ballad of a Thin Man” 1965

“JH: Did you go into the folk field, then, because you had a better chance of ‘making it’?
BD: No that was an accidental thing. I didn’t go into folk music to make any money, but because it was easy. You could be by yourself, you didn’t need anybody. All you needed was a guitar…
JH: Why did you give up the folk sound?
BD: I’ve been on too many other streets to just do that. I couldn’t go back and just do that. The real folk never seen Forty-second Street, they’ve never ridden an airplane. They’ve got their little world, and that’s fine” (Bob Dylan and Joseph Haas in Bob Dylan: The Essential Interviews, 2006). 

Bob Dylan “Ballad of a Thin Man”

797 Bob Dylan (1941- ) “Like a Rolling Stone” 1965

Bob Dylan: “If you’re talking about what breakthrough is for me, I would have say, speaking totally, ‘Like a Rolling Stone.’ I wrote that after I had quit. I’d literally quit, singing and playing—I found myself writing this song, this story, this long piece of vomit, twenty pages long, and out of it I took ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ and made it as a single. And I’d never written anything like that before and it suddenly came to me that this is what I should do” (Greil Marcus, Like a Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads, 2005). 

Bob Dylan “Like a Rolling Stone”

796 Bob Dylan (1941- ) “Maggie’s Farm” 1965

“MM: Do you prefer songs with a subtle or obvious message?
RD: Uh, I don’t really prefer those kinds of songs at all. Message? You mean like…? What song with a message?
MM: Well, like ‘Eve of Destruction,’ and things like that.
RD: Do I prefer that to what?
MM: I don’t know, but your songs are supposed to have a subtle message.
RD: Subtle message? (chuckling). Where’d ya hear that?
MM: In a movie magazine. 
RD: Oh, my God (lighting a cigarette and smiling). We don’t discuss those things here” (Bob Dylan and Michelle McFee in Encounters with Bob Dylan: If you See Him, Say Hello, 2000). 

Bob Dylan “Maggie’s Farm”

795 Bob Dylan (1941- ) “Subterranean Homesick Blues” 1965

“Dylan is always dressed informally—the possibility that he will ever be seen in a tie is as remote as the possibility that Miss Baez will perform in an evening gown…A wanderer, Dylan is often on the road in search of more experience. ‘You can find out a lot about a small town by hanging around its poolroom,’ he says” (Nat Hentoff in Bob Dylan The Early Years A Retrospective, 1990).

Bob Dylan “Subterranean Homesick Blues”

794 Bob Dylan (1941- ) “Mr. Tambourine Man” 1965

“On the day he made Another Side in June 1964, Dylan recorded a version of a new song, ‘Mr. Tambourine Man,’ but he wisely decided it was too important to include in an album completed in a one-off session. He played the song twice at the Newport Folk Festival in late July, to rapturous applause and cheers” (Sean Wilentz, Bob Dylan in America, 2010). 

Bob Dylan (1941- ) “Mr. Tambourine Man”

793 Bob Dylan (1941- ) “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” 1965

Emerson “merely anticipated nearly every American rebel-hero, whose early defiance and integrity all to often come finally to mean their agents can drive a harder bargain for the ads and product endorsements to which fame must, it seems, inevitably lead…Indeed, the advertising industry above all depends on peddling, as Dylan points out in ‘It’s Alright, Ma’, an Emersonian vision of the individual’s powers” (Mark Ford in Do You, Mr. Jones? Bob Dylan with the Poets and Professors, 2003). 

Bob Dylan “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)”

792 Bob Dylan (1941- ) “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” 1965

“when I first recorded I just went in and recorded the songs I had. That’s the way people recorded then. But people don’t record that way now, and I shouldn’t record that way either because they can’t even get it down that way anymore. To do what I used to do, or to do what anybody used to do you have to stay in the studio a long time to get that right. Because, you know, technology has messed everything up so much” (Bob Dylan and Bernard Kleinman in The Bob Dylan Companion: Four Decades of Commentary, 1998). 

Bob Dylan (1941- ) “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”

791 Jackie DeShannon (1941- ) “What the World Needs Now Is Love” 1965

“Today, she’s considered a pioneer for women in the music industry. ‘I didn’t do it consciously. When I was writing songs or performing or producing or dabbling in movies or even putting my career on hold to go to art school, I was just following my muse. A woman who did that then was criticized for having no direction. Today they call it versatility’” (Biography, April 2002). 

Jackie DeShannon “What the World Needs Now Is Love”

790 The Crusaders “Had to Turn Away” 1965

The group formed in 1958 as The Keynotes, renamed the Crusaders in 1960 and Insight in 1966 (not to be confused with the Crusaders based in southern California). They were based at Brownhill Road Baptist Church in southeast London. Their music evolved from southern Gospel to blues to heavy rock (www.1960schristianmusic.com).

“My memories of the Keynotes, Crusaders, Insight. I first attended Brownhill Baptist Church in 1963. I went with my father to see what facilities they had for teenagers as the church I had been attending was small and only catered for children up to about 12 years old. The day we attended was the Sunday School anniversary and I was astounded to see the Keynotes playing a song or two in the service. As a budding guitarist I was sold on the place and have been there ever since, currently playing guitar in the worship band every Sunday. The line-up then was David Hawken – vocals, Keith Churchman – lead quitar, Les Bamber – rhythm guitar, Adrian White – bass guitar and Tim Anderson – drums. Over the years the name changed through the Crusaders to Insight and the line- up changed – Keith and Tim stayed throughout, Bruce Duncan replaced David as vocalist, Bob Frost replaced Adrian as bass guitarist and Les left and wasn’t replaced. I got involved with them as I had a Morris 1000 van and together with Keith who also had a van became their unofficial roadie. They played Christian coffee bars throughout the South-East and either myself or Jeff Whyler would often present the gospel message to the young people. Some of us went most weeks to a local bible study group run by someone from another local church” (Dave Bridle, personal e-mail). 

The Crusaders “Had to Turn Away”

789 The Count Five “Psychotic Reaction” 1965

The band was formed by Pioneer High School students in San Jose and became noted for their hit, “Psychotic Reaction.” “What would such a song as ‘Psychotic Reaction’—or the thousands like it in the garage repertoire—have to do with the idea of an avant garde?...Garage bands discovered the potentially endless variety in their minimal technique. And ironically, their dogged devotion to the fundamentals fostered the more ‘sophisticated’ rock that would follow” (Michael Hicks, Sixties Rock: Garage, Psychedelic, and Other Satisfactions, 1999). 

The Count Five “Psychotic Reaction”

788 Albert Collins (1932-1993) “Dyin’ Flu” 1965

“Collins was an exciting blues performer whose records conveyed the euphoria of a blues club on a good night. Initially influenced by Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown and T-Bone Walker, he became a guitarist of comparable status and influence among both black and white musicians. He grew up in Houston, Texas, forming his first band in his late teens but didn't record until 1958, with the locally popular instrumental 'The Freeze'. This was, for him, the birth of the cool: his subsequent singles for Bill Hall's labels in 1962-3 were all given titles like 'Frosty' and 'Sno-Cone' and later transferred to the album The Cool Sound of Albert Collins. His playing is characterized by the use of a D minor tuning and high capo positions, which yield a shrill and biting attack” (Phil Hardy, The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001). 

Albert Collins “Dyin’ Flu”

787 The Dave Clark Five “Catch Us if You Can” and “Over and Over” 1965

“Dave Clark was a young movie stuntman who taught himself to play drums and formed a band to raise money for his local soccer team. The bass player was a lighting engineer, the guitarist a progress clerk…Everything the Beatles did, the DC5 did, only later and lamer. Dave Clark made it onto Ed Sullivan, indeed, more times than the Fab Four” (Alex Beam, Forbes, Oct. 1995). 

The Dave Clark Five “Catch Us if You Can”

The Dave Clark Five “Over and Over”

786 Lou Christie (1943- ) “Lightnin’ Strikes” 1965

“His outrageous falsetto was, on its own, enough for me to become a fan, but Lou Christie had plenty more. Unforgettable bubblegum hit? Check. Major statement album? Check. Sexual ambiguity? Check. Four octave range? Check… Lou Christie was raised on a farm near Pittsburgh - the second of six kids - with 200 chickens and crab apple trees: ‘The sophistication level was pretty much nil.’ His dad worked in the local steel mill. Lou wanted to be a singer, and coerced his sister Amy and friends into singing harmonies, working their way through various doo-wop outfits. Lou was adaptable, singing the lowest bass and highest tenor in his school choir. Doing an audition in a local church crypt in the early 60s, Lou first met his future writing partner Twyla Herbert” (Bob Stanley, Record Collector, Sept. 2017). 

Lou Christie “Lightnin’ Strikes”

785 Ralph Carmichael (1927- ) “He’s Everything to Me” 1965

Ralph Carmichael had been a popular arranger for stars such Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, and Ella Fitzgerald. After being asked to write music for the Billy Graham film, The Restless Ones, Carmichael said, “‘Dear Lord, help me write music to match this magnificent documentation of your love.’ I had already lived through a music change in the secular field with Roger Williams. I had spent years learning to write pretty chords and voicings for strings, brass, and woodwinds. Then suddenly the new ‘kids’ music was influencing even the adult performers…I felt there was a change coming in the gospel field as well. I knew I had to do more than use violins for the ‘good guy’ and oboe for the ‘bad guy.’ The music had to be as relevant as this film and its message” (Ralph Carmichael, He’s Everything to Me, 1986).  

Ralph Carmichael “He’s Everything to Me”

784 The Byrds “Turn! Turn! Turn!” 1965

“If anyone doubted the Byrds’ supremacy as one of the biggest acts in popular music, they couldn’t now. One number-one record might have been considered a fluke, but the Byrds seemed to posses the magic touch. The band’s twelve-string approach had suddenly become the sound of the season. Time magazine went as far as to credit the Byrds with inventing an entirely new musical movement called ‘folk rock,’ and throughout 1965 it seemed that just about everyone and their mother was releasing a jingle jangly folk rock record” (Rick Menck, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, 2007).

The Byrds “Turn Turn Turn”

783 The Byrds “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better” and “All I Really Want to Do” 1965

“When the Byrds began playing at Ciro’s they attracted a whole new clientele, the likes of which no one in Los Angeles (or anywhere else for that matter) had ever seen before. These were freaky beatnick types dressed in spangles and bells, scantily clad teenage girls from the San Fernando Valley looking for a place to spend the night, painters and poets, drug addicts, young Hollywood starlets and scores of fellow musicians....These strange folks in thir denim and leather and suede, smelling of something stronger than cigarettes, spinning around the dance floor like mad gypsy dancers, would eventually become known as hippies. The whole counterculture youth movement in America started at Ciro’s” (Rick Menck, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, 2007). 

The Byrds “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better”

The Byrds “All I Really Want to Do”

782 The Byrds “Mr. Tambourine Man” 1965

“How do you describe the moment when something changes your life? You may think I’m exaggerating here. I’m not. When the needle dropped on track one side one of the Byrds’ Greatest Hits and the glorious spiraling riff that begins ‘Mr. Tambourine man’ came wafting out of the speakers into the room it was as if I had suddenly ingested the most glorious drug on planet earth” (Ric Menck, The Notorious Byrd Brothers, 2007). 

The Byrds “Mr. Tambourine Man”

781 Paul Butterfield Blues Band “Shake Your Money Maker” 1965

“[Mike] Bloomfield became a major rock star when he joined the Butterfield Blues Band…Their appearance at the Newport Folk Festival in the summer of 1965, in particular their backing of Bob Dylan’s electric set, stirred up heated debates over authenticity and folk” (Ulrich Adelt, Blues Music in the Sixties: A Story in Black and White, 2010). 

“At the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, Bloomfield, plus Butterfield's rhythm section, was recruited at short notice to provide the controversial electric accompaniment for Dylan … That performance and his contributions to Butterfield's first two albums established Bloomfield as the American guitar hero and a rival for such players as Eric Clapton” (Phil Hardy, The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001). 

Paul Butterfield Blues Band “Shake Your Money Maker”

780 Paul Butterfield Blues Band “Mystery Train” 1965

Louis Myers, blues guitarist: “this kid, this Paul Butterfield, white boy playin’ harp, he play pretty good, he play well enough to play as good as Junior, on some things, you know. But now I had been minglin’ with this kid all the time, this Paul Butterfield. I caught him when he was playin’ down in Old town. I used to go down there and sit in with him, on the guitar, but they never undertaken that I could play harmonica. Most of the majority of peoples didn’t know I played harp, you know. Till this drummer, Sam Lay, told him that I played harp too, so finally one night he told me to sit in on the harp. I guess he was huntin’ sounds, you know? Most of these cats hunt sounds” (Jim O’Neal, Amy Van Singel, The Voice of the Blues, 2013).

Paul Butterfield Blues Band “Mystery Train”

779 Paul Butterfield Blues Band “Born in Chicago” 1965

“Michael Bernard Bloomfield was born on July 28, 1943, as the son of affluent Jewish parents and grew up in Gencoe, a suburb of Chicago. After receiving a transistor radio for his bar mitzvah, he listened to rockabilly and the blues on southern radio stations and eventually began to join African American blues musicians on Chicago’s South Side on stage where the audience received the white blues guitarist as a novelty act” (Ulrich Adelt, Blues Music in the Sixties: A Story in Black and White, 2010). 

Paul Butterfield Blues Band “Born in Chicago”

778 Solomon Burke (1940-2010) “Got to Get You Off My Mind” 1965

“An extremely influential pioneer of classic, Gospel-rooted soul music with nearly two dozen chart hits for Atlantic Records between 1961 and 1969, the King of Rock ‘n’ Soul was born in a Philadelphia church loft on March 21, 1940, and...was a choir soloist—which, with his powerful voice and charismatic personality, quickly led to his own radio program, Solomon’s Temple, and frequent stage appearances billed as The Wonder Boy Preacher” (Gary von Tersch, Sing Out!, Nov. 2010). 

Solomon Burke “Got to Get You Off My Mind”

777 James Brown (1933-2006) “I Got You (I Feel Good)” 1965

“It happened at a base [Vietnam], while we were doing our thing, and playing the music as loud as possible. Suddenly, all the shooting that was always going on in the background, just over the hills it seemed, stopped…The other side was enjoying our music just as much as our own boys” (James Brown, I Feel Good, 2005). 

James Brown “I Got You (I Feel Good)”

776 The Beatles “Yesterday” 1965

“McCartney has been thinking lately about pre-rock standards’ heavy influence on the Beatles’ songwriting—he and Lennon were already in their teens before they first heard Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly. ‘We grew up watching Fred Astaire films, and then it was kind of swept aside by rock & roll, but we still have that influence…we were influenced by rock & roll—blues to some extent—but also, without knowing it, the melodic element of the Beatles, and some of the structural elements, came from the backs of our brains, which was this old stuff that our parents had sung’” (Brian Hatt, Rolling Stone, 2012). 

The Beatles “Yesterday”

775 The Beatles “We Can Work It Out” 1965

“Brought together by their common love of rock-and-roll, Lennon and McCartney were psychologically cemented by the harsh coincidence of losing their mothers in their early teens. But though they never lost their basic respect for each other’s talent, their temperaments were too individual to allow much practical coexistence as songwriters. For most of their career, their partnership was a fiction, each writing (and, as a rule, singing), his own songs. That said, their close creative proximity generated the electric atmosphere of fraternal competition which was the secret of The Beatles’ extraordinary ability to better themselves” (Ian MacDonald, Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties, 1994). 

The Beatles “We Can Work It Out”

774 The Beatles “Ticket to Ride” 1965

“The months of June and July [1965] were unusually busy ones, even given the frequently frantic schedule of the Beatles. On June 12, the Beatles were awarded the prestigious M.B.E. (Member of the Order of the British Empire), an honor which they accepted in their typically glib fashion, much to the chagrin of some older M.B.E. holders” (Terence O’Grady, The Beatles: A Musical Evolution, 1983). 

The Beatles “Ticket to Ride”

773 The Beatles “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” 1965

In the film Help’s “otherwise nondescript soundtrack instrumentals…the 21-stringed Hindustani sitar was utilized to create an eery effect. The instrument caught George Harrison’s fancy, so he bought one for himself. Within a few months he was carting his new toy to the recording studios, embellishing John’s ‘Norwegian Wood’ with a simple sitar riff. That was only the beginning of an infatuation that was to result in the first major contribution of ‘the quiet Beatle’ to the direction of his band” (Nicholas Schaffner, The Beatles Forever, 1977). 

The Beatles “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”

772 The Beatles “Michelle” 1965

“At a certain moment in each session Martin would leave John and Paul and cross the cable-strewn floor to George Harrison, waiting apart from the others, unsmiling with his Gretsch rehearsal guitar. George would then play to Martin whatever solo he had worked out for the song. If Martin did not like it he would lead George to the piano, tinkle a little phrase, and tell him to play that for his solo. Such was the origin of the guitar in ‘Michelle.’ ‘I was,’ Martin admits, ‘always rather beastly to George.’…As for Ringo, he sat patiently in a corner of the studio, waiting to be called to sing his song or drum as directed, whiling away hours when he was not needed in card games” (Philip Norman, Shout!: The Beatles In Their Generation, 2005). 

The Beatles “Michelle”

771 The Beatles “In My Life” 1965

“Not only didn’t any of the Beatles have formal training, none could read a note. To stem the lack of communication, they developed a rapport with the eloquent [George] Martin that facilitated discussions about music free of theory-loaded jargon. ‘Give it some color here,’ they might suggest. ‘Make it punchier.’ On one number, ‘In My Life,’ which required an instrumental bridge between the verses, John’s instruction got whittled down to ‘play it like Bach.’ Exchanges like that galvanized Martin, who took up each of their abstract ideas as a challenge” (Bob Spitz, The Beatles: The Biography, 2005). 

The Beatles “In My Life”

770 The Beatles “Help” 1965

Lennon said in a Playboy interview, “When Help! came out, I was actually crying out for help. Most people think it’s just a fast rock’ n’ roll song. I didn’t realize it at the time; I just wrote the song because I was commissioned to write it for the movie. But later, I knew I was really crying out for help. So it was my fat Elvis period…I was fat and depressed and I was crying out for help” (Tim Riley, Tell Me Why: A Beatles Commentary, 1988). 

The Beatles “Help”

769 The Beach Boys “Help Me Rhonda” 1965

“the more Murry [Wilson] urges the boys to relax, the tenser the mood becomes…This is the sound of the Beach Boys recording ‘Help Me, Rhonda’ on February 24, 1965. The tacking tape…is an astonishing document that reveals why the song they’re singing—destined to be the group’s second number one single and one of the most beloved songs of their entire career—is both an infectious sing-along and also a tale of heartbreak whose exuberant chorus pivots on a plaintive cry for help” (Peter Carlin, Catch a Wave, 2006). 

The Beach Boys “Help Me Rhonda”

768 The Beach Boys “California Girls” 1965

“Borne up by his success, fueled by a limitless supply of drugs, food, books, and new, powerful friends, and pushed forward by his ambition and insecurities, Brian ventured further into his own musical imagination. Murry had urged him to trim the grand orchestral prelude to ‘California Girls’ (‘Simplify son! Simplify!’ he’d pleaded), but Brian would have none of it” (Peter Carlin, Catch a Wave, 2006).

The Beach Boys “California Girls”

767 Fontella Bass (1940-2012) “Rescue Me” 1965

“Fontella Bass was 25 when she cut ‘Rescue Me,’ the 1965 hit that became an anthem of deliverance for Vietnam War protesters and soldiers alike. Though she cowrote the tune with Carl William Smith and Raynard Miner, she didn't begin receiving credit -- or royalties -- until 1990.” She said, “The record came out, and my name was not on the sleeve [as cowriter]. And when I asked about it, [the people at the record company] told me, ‘Don't worry, we're gonna change that.’ But they never did. Here I was, a million-seller with no money. But I wanted to move on. I moved to France for three years. But before I did, I sang commercials for Nehi soda, Lincoln-Mercury, AC Spark Plugs and Sears. I made more in commercials than with ‘Rescue Me’” (People, 6/19/1995). 

Fontella Bass “Rescue Me”

766 The Temptations “My Girl” 1964

Smokey Robinson: “I’ve had so many surprises in my career as a songwriter, but ‘My Girl’ is one of the biggest. It’s my international anthem. Whenever I perform, I typically do a short medley of Motown songs that I wrote for the Temptations. The last one is always ‘My Girl.’ I can be in a foreign country where people don’t speak English and the audience will start cheering before I even start singing ‘My Girl.’ They know what’s coming as soon as they hear the opening bass line” (Marc Myers, Anatomy of a Song, 2016). Listed on the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

The Temptations “My Girl”

765 Isabel Baker (1949?-?) “I Like God’s Style” 1965

This sixteen-year old was not the first to sing religious rock music as some Internet writers claim  who ignore black gospel stalwarts such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe and James Cleveland, British Christian beat bands like the Pilgrims, or the Pentecostal tradition of Brother Claude Ely. But Isabel Baker was ahead of her time in terms of having the gumption to write and perform enough of her own songs in rockabilly style for an entire album. Whatever one thinks of the quality of her voice and music, the Internet has deservedly rescued Isabel from obscurity. (See also the freek_kinkelaar  September 18, 2017 review at www.discogs.com/Isabel-Baker-I-Like-Gods-Style/release/5582426). 

Isabel Baker “I Like God’s Style”

764 The Animals “We(’ve) Gotta Get Out of This Place” 1965

“‘We Gotta Get Out of This Place’ was our ‘We Shall Overcome,’” observed Bobbie Keith, who served as an Armed Forces Radio DJ in Vietnam from 1967 to 1969. “We listened and danced to the tune in a state of heightened awareness that many of us might not make it back out. We counted our blessings each time the song played, that we were still alive. The song conjures up the fire flares and rockets that illuminated the sky each night as helicopters whirled overhead, creating an ominous musical cacophony that the war, ever present, was all around us—would the rockets hit us tonight?—as we danced, listened, and sang along, shouting the words, ‘We gotta get out of this place, if it’s the last thing we ever do.’ It has become the vets’ national anthem” (Doug Bradley, Craig Werner, We Gotta Get Out of This Place: The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War, 2015). 

The Animals “We Gotta Get Out of This Place”

763 The Animals “It’s My Life” 1965

Eric Burdon: “One teacher who did reach me was Bertie Brown, a Second World War veteran with some wonderful stories…It was Bertie Brown who saw something a little extra in me. He put my name forward to be considered as one of the Secondary Modern students to attend further education as an experiment. It’s an everlasting example to me of how one individual’s interest in another can totally change the course of life” (Eric Burdon, I Used to Be an Animal, But I’m All Right Now, 1986). 

The Animals “It’s My Life”

762 The Animals “(Please) Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” 1965

“The Animals were one of the most impressive groups of the British beat boom of the mid-sixties. Their hit singles were drawn from the best American songwriters of the era and delivered with clarity and passion by Eric Burdon. Originally a jazz combo led by keyboards-player Alan Price, the group became the Animals and turned to rhythm and blues with the arrival of singer Burdon in 1962. They soon became the leading band on Tyneside, were spotted by producer Mickie Most and moved to London's thriving club circuit in 1964” (Phil Hardy, The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001)

The Animals “(Please) Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”

761 Herb Alpert (1935- ) and the Tijuana Brass “A Taste of Honey” 1965

“Alpert reached out to an older, more traditional—and at the time largely disenfranchised—pop audience…” However, his cofounded A&M Records with Jerry Moss became famous for establishing successful rock artists such as Peter Frampton and Janet Jackson as well as avant-garde performers like Procol Harum and Captain Beefheart (Ben Edmonds, Linda Paulson, Contemporary Musicians, 2005). 

Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass “A Taste of Honey”

760 The Zombies “Tell Her No” 1964

“Two events proved to be particularly significant. The first was the purchase of a Hohner Pianet for Rod [Argent]...The other defining event in 1964 was their winning the Herts Beat band competition, the prize for which was £250, plus ‘possible’  interest from booking agents and record labels. This was a big contest with tremendous local interest, and when the Zombies prevailed …, it provided the affirmation needed for them to attempt to continue as a professional act. Most of the group's members were preparing to enter college, but upon winning the contest, they decided to remain in the group. The first prize also helped them overcome parental reservations” (David Moskowitz, The 100 Greatest Bands of All Time, 2015).

The Zombies “Tell Her No”

759 The Zombies “She’s Not There” 1964

“They were a most unlikely group to reach the success that they did, as none of the members had ever played in a band before. Their story could form the basis for one of those against-all-odds coming-of-age movies, but for real. The band was formed by a group of schoolmates in St. Alban's, a historic market town located about 22 miles north of London... At the time of their formation, Hugh Grundy had never played a drum set. He taught himself the basics at their first rehearsal and learned patterns from listening to records of American R&B groups. Paul Arnold played on a homemade bass. They puzzled through a number of names, including the Mustangs and the Sundowners, finally settling on the Zombies” (David Moskowitz, The 100 Greatest Bands of All Time, 2015). 

The Zombies “She’s Not There”

758 The Yardbirds “I Wish You Would” 1964

“On a summer’s day in 1964, the soon-to-become highly influential English band, The Yardbirds—Eric Clapton (on lead guitar), Keith Reif (vocals/harmonica), Chris Dreja (rhythm guitar), Paul Samwell-Smith (bass) and Jim McCarty (on drums)—travelled to the Quay Street, Manchester studios of Granada Television to record their fifth TV appearance…’In those days,’ [Reif] remarked to an American reporter, ‘you were told, no instructed, you had to turn-up and mime to a pre-recorded track, but we said no. We stood our ground, we weren’t going to do that. We were a live band, a good one at that, and we weren’t going to just stand and lip-sync our songs. We either sang live or we wouldn’t perform at all” (Keith Badman, Record Collector, 2017). 

The Yardbirds “I Wish You Would”

757 Bobby Womack (1944-2014) and the Valentinos “It’s All Over Now” 1964

“the first real money Womack made was courtesy of The Rolling Stones’ 1964 cover of It’s All Over Now, written by Bobby and performed with his four siblings as The Valentinos on Sam Cooke’s SAR label…With good reason, many consider the 60s to be soul music’s real heyday, and though Womack is a relatively minor figure in that decade, his contribution is a sold representation of much that was good in the genre” (Tim Brown, Record Collector, Sept. 2013). 

Bobby Womack and the Valentinos “It’s All Over Now”

756 J. Frank Wilson (1941-1991) and the Cavaliers “Last Kiss” 1964

“‘Last Kiss’ was one of the last of the particular genre known as ‘death rock’, in which teenagers sang about teenage lovers who meet horrifying deaths from accident, suicide, and fatal disease…The son was written and originally recorded without success by Wayne Cochran who, during the 60s had built up a career as a Caucasian verison of James Brown. Wilson got together with the Cavaliers while he was serving in the Air Force in San Angelo, Texas, and upon his discharge in 1962 the band stayed together to play in the area” (The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, 2006). 

J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers “Last Kiss”

755 Mary Wells (1943-1992) “My Guy” 1964 and “You Beat Me to the Punch” 1962

“At age twenty-one, a mere five years after Motown had plucked her from obscurity, Wells had come to consider herself hard-done by the company that had lifted her from poverty to the top of the music world. Considering that her first song for Motown was a hit, and that in four years she had risen from number 41 to number 1 on the pop charts, it’s not surprising she felt this way. Mary saw herself not only as the Girl Who Beat the Beatles, but the Woman Who Made Motown a Success” (Peter Benjaminson, Mary Wells: The Tumultuous Life of Motown’s First Superstar, 2012). 

Mary Wells “My Guy”

Mary Wells “You Beat Me to the Punch”

754 Doc Watson (1923-2012) “Tom Dooley” 1964

Tom Dula was a lover of Ann Melton and her cousin, Laura Foster. After Tom contracted syphilis, Laura mysteriously disappeared. “Tom was arrested, condemned and taken to Statesville for execution. Evidence strongly pointed to Ann as an accomplice, but Tom refused to implicate her…Ann was eventually tried, but acquitted for lack of evidence. Locals claimed her remarkable beauty had swayed the all-male jury. But the mountain folk had their retribution. Years later, as Ann lay dying—according to some who claimed to have stood at her bedside, including the grandmother of famed folksinger Doc Watson—she screamed that she could see black cats crawling up the walls, and the fires of hell at the foot of her bed” (Ron Soodalter, American History, February 2014). 

Doc Watson “Tom Dooley”

753 Dionne Warwick (1940- ) “Walk On By” 1964

Dionne Warwick: “It’s hard to talk about Hal David without talking about Burt Bacharach too. It’s even hard for me to talk about the two of them without talking about myself as well, because to me we’re a team and the three of us belong together. Recognition for the three of us happened at about the same time. When we met I was doing background for a group named The Drifters, and after the session they asked if I would like to do demonstration records. That was the beginning of Us” (Hal David, What the World Needs Now, 1970).  

Dionne Warwick “Walk On By”

752 Cindy Walker (1918-2006) “You Don’t Know Me” 1964

Though Cindy Walker is known for writing country music hits, “You Don’t Know Me,” written for Eddy Arnold in 1955, has been performed by rock luminaries such as Ray Charles, Manfred Mann, Rick Nelson, and Elvis Presley. She wrote “Dream Baby” for Roy Orbison and dozens of songs for Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, whose western swing was a precursor of rock and roll. “It never dawned on Walker that, as that rare female hit songwriter, she was bucking tradition… ‘The one thing that everybody in the music business is always looking for is a good song,’ she says. ‘If you could write some, it didn’t matter if you’re male, female, orangutan’” (Michael Corcoran, All Over the Map: True Heroes of Texas Music, 2005). 

Cindy Walker “You Don’t Know Me”

751 The Supremes “Baby Love” 1964

“remarkably enough, the heady flight to the top didn’t spoil them. At least, not in the beginning. For three wonderful years, they didn’t forget their roots. They came out of high school together, had to grudgingly accept backup work at Motown for $2.50 a session, and even after their starship took off, the bonds between them remained strong. They were truly soul sisters” (Ebony, Oct. 1986).

The Supremes “Baby Love”

750 The Supremes “Where Did Our Love Go” 1964

“It was a dream fulfilled. Three girls rising out of the Detroit ghetto, to notch 12 number one hits, and to be heralded by Dick Clark as ‘the group that put Motown on the map.’ There were indeed Dreamgirls—Diana Ross, Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson—and they reigned Supreme. ‘Where Did Our Love Go?’ was their first spectacular success. It bumped the Beatles out of the number one slot in 1964, and immediately catapulted the girls into the bright lights…There big, all right. Only the Beatles and Elvis eclipsed them” (Ebony, Oct. 1986). Listed on the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

The Supremes “Where Did Our Love Go”

749 Sunny (1943- ) and the Sunglows (aka Sunliners) “Talk to Me” 1962

“Idelfonso ‘Sunny’ Ozuna was born September 8, 1943, in San Antonio, Texas. Ozuna, along with Little Joe, Ruben Ramos, and Augustin Ramirez, is one of the key musicians of the ‘La Onda’ generation…Ozuna was instrumental in the formation of San Antonio’s now-legendary ‘Westside Sound’—a hodge-podge of conjunto, polka, soul, R&B, blues, and rock, as interpreted by (mostly, but not conclusively) young urbanite Mexican-American musicians…Nightclubs, concert halls, and beer joints across the city soon set the stage for what is largely considered the ‘golden age’ of San Antonio music during the 1950s and 1960s” (Kenneth L. Untiedt, Jerry Young, Cowboys, Cops, Killers, and Ghosts: Legends and Lore in Texas, 2013). 

Sunny and the Sunglows “Talk to Me”

748 Terry Stafford (1941-1996) “Suspicion” 1964

Born in Hollis, Oklahoma, “This tall, local sports champion was also a fan of Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly, artists into whose repertoires he would dip when singing with his school group. With his parents’ blessings, he began a show business career in Hollywood where, after two years as a nightclub entertainer, he was spotted by John Fisher and Les Worden who had just founded Crusader Records” (The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, 2006). 

Terry Stafford “Suspicion”

747 Little Millie Small (1946- ) “My Boy Lollipop” 1964

“‘My Boy Lollipop’ was released at a moment of heightened tension over immigration and the politics of British citizenship: the years following World War II had seen an uptick in the number of migrants of color coming to England from the colonies, and by the 1960s, the government was responding to anti-immigrant sentiment by imposing new immigration restrictions…Representations of Millie Small and her voice were contradictory: in some contexts she was represented in ways that bolstered imperial power and respectability politics; in others, she was a symbol of aspiration and new possibilities for black Britons” (Alexandra Apolloni, Journal of Popular Music Studies, Dec. 2016). 

Little Millie Small “My Boy Lollipop”

746 The Shangri-Las “Leader of the Pack” 1964

“‘Leader of the Pack,’ a Morton-Barry-Greenwich collaboration, was another melodramatic epic, a Romeo and Juliet teenage tragedy with all the contemporary trappings—a leather jacketed rebel without a cause, a good girl whose love will save him, and (via the appropriate sound effects), a motorcycle. Released in the fall of 1964, the record’s focus on death…kicked off considerable controversy, resulting in the song’s being banned in Britain. But in the U.S…., it went to number 1, and paved the way for a further two years of hits from the group” (Gillian G. Gaar, She’s a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll, 2002). 

The Shangri-Las “Leader of the Pack”

745 The Shangri-Las “Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand)” 1964

“The records of the Shangri-Las plumbed the depths of teenage angst with a high sense of melodrama that had been completely absent from other girl group records. The group, twins Mary Ann (1948-1970) and Margie Ganser (1948-1996), and sisters Betty (1946- ) and Mary Weiss (1948- ), grew up in Queens, and began singing together in high school, performing at local sock hops and talent shows” (Gillian G. Gaar, She’s a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll, 2002). 

The Shangri-Las “Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand)”

744 The Searchers “Needles and Pins” 1964

Jack Nitzsche “began working in a steel factory in Muskegon, Michigan, as a dance-band sax player at night. At the same time, Nitzsche took a correspondence course in orchestration, dreaming of working as a film composer. In pursuit of this dream he moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s, where he began working with the various small labels. He met Sonny Bono (later of Sonny & Cher) who was then working for the small Specialty label, and the duo wrote a pop song, ‘Needles and Pins,’ that was later a top hit for the British Invasion group the Searchers” (Howard Ferstler, Frank Hoffman, Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, 2005). 

The Searchers “Needles and Pins”

743 The Searchers “Don’t Throw Your Love Away” 1964

“The Searchers were one of the best groups to emerge from the Mersey scene. Mike Predergast (1941- ) and John McNally (1941- ) originally teamed up as an instrumental duo, naming themselves the Searchers after the John Wayne movie…The Searchers toured the States in April 1964 during which time they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. After seeing them, noted jazz critic Nat Hentoff commented, ‘the initial impression was more favourable musically than had been the case with the Beatles and the Dave Clark Five’” (Bell Harry, The British Invasion: How the Beatles and Other UK Bands Conquered America, 2004).    

The Searchers “Don’t Throw Your Love Away”

742 Buffy Sainte-Marie (1941- ) “Cod’ine” and “Now That the Buffalo’s Gone” 1964

“Born on the Piapot Plains Cree First Nation Reserve in the Qu’Appelle Valley of Saskatchewan, Buffy Sainte-Marie was part of the mass adoption of Aboriginal children outside of Canada. Raised in Maine, Sainte-Marie considers herself to be fortunate in that her adoptive mother, who was part Mi’kmaq, encouraged her daughter to explore her Aboriginal identity.” Sainte-Marie: “Some men in the Indian movement have not wanted to hand the microphone to me, and never wanted to give credit to women. Just look at the ‘stars’ of the Indian movement in the ‘60s—there were a lot of women feeding those guys, patching them up, being nurses and telling them what to say. Because women—even oppressed women—we are very often the brains behind the whole thing” (Fiona Muldrew, Suzanne McLeod, Herizons, Winter 2018). The album It’s My Way is listed on the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. 

Buffy Sainte-Marie “Cod’ine”

Buffy Sainte-Marie “Now That the Buffalo’s Gone”

741 The Ronettes “Walking In the Rain” 1964

Ronnie Spector (1943- ): "when we heard about people being junkies or dope addicts, I would ask my mother, where? Let me see one. Because I wasn't a tough, streetwise kid at all, but I just - we just did all the dances, you know. And by living in Spanish Harlem, you learned all the dances anyway. I mean, you could just look out the window and people were on the corner singing and stuff. And it was just how we—and I loved it, from the time I was 3 years old when my whole family applauded me. I remember the song. It was (singing) Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and a file gumbo 'cause tonight I'm going to meet my ma cher amio...And I said, that's what I want to be the rest of my life. I want to perform" (Fresh Air, 29 Aug 2017).

The Ronettes “Walking In the Rain”

740 The Rolling Stones “Time Is On My Side” 1964

“the Stones arrived at Chess Records at 2120 South Michigan Avenue. They walked into the studio and saw a big black man with a familiar-looking face, up on a ladder, painting the place. It was Muddy Waters. Keith: ‘He was painting the goddamn ceiling, dressed all in white, with white paint like tears on his face, ‘cause he wasn’t selling any records at the time. That throws you a curve: here’s the king of the blues painting a wall. When we started the Rolling Stones, our main aim was to turn other people on to Muddy. We named the group after him’” (Stephen Davis, Old Gods Almost Dead: The 40-Year Odyssey of the Rolling Stones, 2001). 

The Rolling Stones “Time Is On My Side”

739 Johnny Rivers (1942- ) “Memphis” 1964

Born John Henry Ramistella, “This handsome, geographically mobile, prolific but unknown composer/performer from southern Louisiana would morph into Johnny Rivers as he meandered from New York City to Nashville to Las Vegas to Los Angeles between 1958 and 1962…Everything changed for Johnny Rivers in 1964 when his lively performances before dance club audiences at the newly opened Whisky a Go-Go created a buzz within the L.A. music community” (B. Lee Cooper, Popular Music and Society, 2013). 

Johnny Rivers “Memphis”

738 The Righteous Brothers “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” 1964

“in 1962, Bill Medley (1940- ) and Bobby Hatfield (1940-2003) were singing in a vocal-harmony group in Southern California called the Paramours. When the band broke up later that year, Medley and Hatfield began singing as a duo at local clubs. According to Medley, one night when they finished a song, a Marine from a local base shouted out, ‘That was righteous, brother.’ Soon after, Medley and Hatfield were recording for Moonglow Records when they were asked to come up with a name. ‘The Righteous Brothers’ sounded about right” (Marc Myers, Anatomy of a Song, 2016). Listed on the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

The Righteous Brothers “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’”

737 Martha and the Vandellas “Dancing in the Street” 1964

Martha Reeves (1941- ): “When I heard Marvin’s [Gaye] version it was sung in a male register. I thought it was a good song, but not really in my key. So they said, ‘OK, Martha, give it your treatment,’ and I came up with the melody. To be honest, I didn’t like the song at first, but when I put myself into it and made it my own, it became the anthem of the decade” (Steve Sullivan, Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, 2013). Listed on the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

Martha Reeves and the Vandellas “Dancing in the Streets”

736 Otis Redding (1941-1967) “Security” 1964

“Otis Jr attended the Ballard-Hudson Senior High until the tenth grade, but then finances got tighter and he dropped out to help feed the family. ‘My mother and father used to go to parties when I was a kid…We used to go out to a place called Sawyer’s Lake in Macon. There was a calypso song out then called Run, Joe. My mother and daddy used to play that for me all the time. I just dug the groove. Ever since then I’ve been playing music’” (Geoff Brown, Otis Redding: Try a Little Tenderness, 2001). 

Otis Redding  “Security”

735 Elvis Presley (1935-1977) “Viva Las Vegas” 1964

The songs written for the film Viva Las Vegas “were a miserable lot, with few exceptions; Elvis’s pell-mell filming schedule was mking it virtually impossible for his publishing companies to live up to their obligations…One of the few exceptions with Viva Las Vegas was Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman’s title cut, a shimmering appraisal of the neon-lit city…which curiously only became a classic decades after its original release” (Ernst Jorgensen, Elvis Presley A Life in Music, 1998).  

Elvis Presley “Viva Las Vegas”

734 Gene Pitney (1940-2006) “I’m Gonna Be Strong” and “It Hurts to Be in Love” 1964

“Pitney’s career initially flourished with two major hits, the Spector-influenced ‘It Hurts to Be in Love’ and the Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil-penned ‘I’m Gonna Be Strong.’ Surprisingly, most of Pitney’s subsequent recordings scored higher on the British charts than at home. In the process, he earned the respect of the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, who wrote ‘That Girl Belongs to Yesterday’ for Pitney to record, making him the first American to record a Stones composition” (Ken Burke, Contemporary Musicians, 2003). 

Gene Pitney “I’m Gonna Be Strong”

Gene Pitney “It Hurts to Be In Love”

733 The Pilgrims “Heaven’s the Place for Me” 1964

Southeast London Christian band formed in 1962 that transitioned from Shadows beat style to Rolling Stones rhythm and blues (www.1960schristianmusic.com). “On any given night you could see The Who, The Birds or countless other groups playing all over London…but few people know there was another scene going on all over England. A Christian beat scene…One of the best of these Christian beat groups was The Pilgrims” (one-way.org). 

The Pilgrims “Heaven’s the Place for Me”

732 Peter (1944- ) and Gordon (1945-2009) “A World Without Love” 1964

“Peter and Gordon were also known as Asher and Waller (their last names) and, originally, as Gordon and Peter! They were not managed by Brian Epstein. Better yet, Peter’s sister Jane was a sweetheart of Beatle Paul McCartney, so (you guessed it) Peter and Gordon were handed Lennon-McCartney songs to record and release. The first, ‘World Without Love,’ was Top 20 in England, but #1 in the states. These two singers did affect Beatle haircuts, and Peter was probably the world’s first redheaded moptop! They sang deep in an echo chamber, and were about as well received in the United States as any group short of the Beatles themselves” (Michael Bryan Kelly, The Beatle Myth, 1991). 

Peter and Gordon “A World Without Love”

731 Roy Orbison (1936-1988) “Oh, Pretty Woman” 1964

“In ‘Oh, Pretty Woman,’ Claudette inspired not only the biggest hit Roy would ever have; for years to come, ‘Pretty Woman’ would occupy a special place in the hearts of all pop and rock fans…it came directly form Roy’s heartfelt adoration of women in general and of Claudette in particular. That he should have let ambition come between him and his wife when he obviously worshiped her made the steady, irreversible erosion of their marriage even more poignant” (Ellis Amburn, Dark Star: The Roy Orbison Story, 1990). Listed on the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

Roy Orbison “Oh, Pretty Woman”

730 Phil Ochs (1940-1976) “There but for Fortune” 1964

“Smart, funny, good looking and blessed with a distinctive voice, Phil Ochs (1940-76) moved from his family’s home in Ohio to New York’s Greenwich Village in the early 1960s, where his apartment became the epicenter of the folk music scene. Ochs gained fame for his political songs, often drawn directly from the newspaper…Ochs was ambitious and to further his career moved in 1967 to Los Angeles, where his material, previously accompanied by his solo guitar, came to be swathed in orchestral arrangements, which was not always well received. A bipolar alcoholic, he took this hard, though he stayed active in anti-war protests and helped organize the Youth International Party (Yippies) in 1968” (John Hiett, Library Journal, 15 October 2011). 

Phil Ochs “There but for Fortune”

729 Manfred Mann “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” 1964

“Manfred Mann was one of the biggest bands of the 1960s, along with The Beatles and the Stones. And Paul Jones, the band’s original lead singer, could easily have been the front man for the Rolling Stones instead…’When it all happened for the Stones, I didn’t feel the least bit envious. I just thought, ‘Okay, well maybe I made the wrong decision, but perhaps it will turn out to be the right one. Let’s wait and see what happens. However, the next time somebody asked me to be in their band, I said yes!’ It was an invitation to sing and play harmonica with Manfred Mann (1940- ), an accomplished South African jazz pianist who was forming a group with drummer Mike Hugg, saxophone player Mike Vickers and bass guitarist tom McGuinness” (David Wigg, Daily Mail (London), 17 June 2006). 

Manfred Mann “Do Wah Diddy Diddy”

728 Little Anthony (Gourdine) (1941- ) and the Imperials “Goin’ Out of My Head” 1964

“Mr. Gourdine grew up in the Fort Greene projects in Brooklyn. His father was a saxophone player and his mother a gospel singer…Little Anthony and the Imperials had their greatest success during their brief association with the songwriter and producer Teddy Randazzo and Don Costa, a regular arranger for Frank Sinatra…When it ended in a dispute over royalties,” their “hit-making days were over” (Stephen Holden, The New York Times, 3/31/1989). 

Little Anthony and the Imperials “Goin’ Out of My Head”

727 The Kinks “You Really Got Me” 1964

Dave Davies: “I always like how our band sounded at clubs—coarse and sort of stripped down. Months earlier, I had passed a radio shop a few doors up from my parents’ house on Denmark Terrace. In the window I saw a small teal space-age Epico amp for 10 quid. I bought it, but when I got home, I was alone and had a moment of teenage inspiration or rage. I had just learned to shave, so I took one of my razor blades and slashed up the amp’s speaker cone. I had no idea whether what I had done would work, but when I plugged in the guitar, I was blown away by the raucous sound that came out. It was gritty” ” (Marc Myers, Anatomy of a Song, 2016).  

The Kinks “You Really Got Me”