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”