# Best #1 single of the year retrospective: 1962 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 2, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1962/697254 "2014-09-02T15:25:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1962/697254/41 "2014-09-04T13:16:35Z")
Jesus, what a motley collection of choices. I picked “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” just for its originality and different-ness; you could sell me on “Telstar,” too, and I’m fine with that. Ray Charles would be a good choice too but it’s not his best song. Hell, it’s not one of his ten best. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1962/697254/42 "2014-09-04T14:23:20Z")
> [@HyacinthBucket](#): > > If you’re asking about “Unchained Melody”'s resurgence in 1990, it became a repeat hit 25 years later after being featured in the Patrick Swayze-Demi Moore film “Ghost”. If you’re asking about “The Twist”, I don’t know, sorry. Maybe more twist music becoming popular that year maybe, like The Peppermint Twist, and a huge increase in the number of dance clubs featuring it? “Unchained Melody” I was around for, so I remember that. It was “The Twist” I was curious about. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1962/697254/43 "2014-09-04T23:59:54Z")
1962 and 1963 show how _b-a-d-d_ the rock scene was at that time. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1962/697254/44 "2014-09-05T00:15:37Z")
Just recently I found out something interesting (probably only to me). Carole King and her husband (the recently deceased) Gerry Goffin wrote _The Locomotion_ while they were living in West Orange NJ. Little Eva was their babysitter. Their house was just off of the road Pleasant Valley Way which I have been on hundreds of times. While living there they later wrote _Pleasant Valley Sunday_ for The Monkees as a social commentary about suburbia. Their house is still there and the doorbell rings _The Locomotion_ when pressed. So I voted for _Telstar._ ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1962/697254/45 "2014-09-05T02:58:51Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Jesus, what a motley collection of choices. I picked “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” just for its originality and different-ness; you could sell me on “Telstar,” too, and I’m fine with that. Ray Charles would be a good choice too but it’s not his best song. Hell, it’s not one of his ten best. You want originality and different-ness? Check [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09SXTH699xE) out. You can bet no lion will get any sleep with this guy around. I voted for Bruce Channel because “Hey Baby” is a great song. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1962/697254/46 "2014-09-06T20:08:36Z")
I voted for _Telstar_, but only because it was #1 the week I was born. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1962/697254/47 "2014-09-11T02:27:02Z")
I let the lion sleep the previous year, so I’m picking it this one. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2014, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1962/697254/48 "2014-09-22T04:34:13Z")
Telstar by a country mile. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1962/697254.md?page=2)