I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for Lesley Gore (and her music) since I was a kid. And, anyway, it’s my party and I’ll vote how I want to . . .
Virtually every magazine has issue dates before the cover dates. The cover date was a signal to newsstands when to take the issue *off *the rack.
There must be some magazines in existence that don’t follow this; there are some that are subscriber only and never go on public sale. But as a general rule, you should assume that every magazine you see is postdated.
I have Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Hot 100 Charts: The Sixties, basically a photocopy of every one of the 520 charts. I can’t tell you how very, very cool it is as an artifact of the 60s. During high school I tried to get to Jay’s records in downtown Rochester every week to pick up their handout of the top 100 chart, but I was lucky if I made it half the time. Having every one - you can watch songs moving up and down! - is a completist’s nirvana.
Dale & Grace’s “I’m Leaving It All Up to You” is number one for the week ending November 23, 1963 (which would have appeared on November 17) and also for the next week, ending November 30, 1963. “Dominique” does not become number one until the week ending December 7, 1963.
And the charts include the “Bubbling Under the Top 100” as well. Did anyone know that the same week “Dominique” hit number one, Jerry Lee Lewis ranked 120 with “Hit the Road, Jack”?
And that after “Dominique,” Bobby Vinton made number one with “There! I’ve Said it Again” and then fourteen weeks of The Beatles.
FWIW, the way Billboard “week ending” charts work is that sales are tracked from Monday-Sunday of Week X, and airplay is tracked from Wednesday of Week X to Tuesday of Week Y. That information goes into the chart in the issue published on Thursday of Week Y, as the chart for the week ending on Saturday of Week Z.
So, for example, the most recent version of the Hot 100, which was published yesterday, September 4th, is for the week ending September 13th, and was formulated using sales data from August 25-31, and airplay data from August 27-September 2. (The current #1, in case you’re wondering, is “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift, which is a catchy little ditty if not one of her best songs.)
In fact, there are actually TWO “youngest evers” on this list - the youngest boy and the youngest girl. (cite)
IYHO. I’d say it’s both.
One of the forgotten geniuses who wrote for Creem (well,* I* forgot his name) referred to the years when “the heinous Franky/Bobby’s of South Philly” ruled the charts.
I picked “My Boyfriend’s Back” because I’ve a weakness for girl groups–the Chiffons might have been a better choice. And I like “Surf City” because Surf Music Rules! Then there’s the old folky who likes “Walk Right In”…
But, damn, things would pick up in a few years.
The producer for “It’s My Party” was Quincy Jones, just starting out. He had a tall stack of demo records and they went through them until one wasn’t totally awful.
Gore had tons of talent. She’s underrated today, but she surounded herself with talent, had a long string of hits, and matured into a fine singer. “California Nights” is a masterpiece from a young Marvin Hamlish.
The best you can say about “It’s My Party” is that it was fine teen pop. It’s definitely fluff. So was “Judy’s Turn to Cry,” the “answer” song follow-up. So were a lot of her songs. Nothing wrong with that.
And yet not a single Frankie/Bobby from Philly had a single number one or a number one single in the 1960s.
Agreed! I went with “He’s So Fine” (huge girl group fan that I am), but I wish I could’ve voted on “Be My Baby,” my fave single of all time.
1963 was a year or two before I started listening to music on the radio, and I still don’t remember exactly how I came across Fingertips, it must have been some Motown TV retrospective, because I don’t remember ever hearing it on the radio on the 60’s and 70’s.
I DJ’d in the 80’s and as soon as I heard it, I couldn’t wait until the next time I did a party. I would always put it on as the last song of the night and it would always get the same reaction. A few people would know what it was, but most people had never heard it, and wouldn’t know what hit them until it was over, they’d just be sitting there with a weird look.
And I always had to play it a second time, and everybody would go nuts. Only problem is it’s so short, but maybe that’s a good thing.
I wonder if any current day DJs ever thought to do a remix and somehow extend it a little bit.
Geez, worst year ever. I voted for “Walk Like a Man,” but only because the other choices were so awful. No WONDER kids were so pumped by the British Invasion.
This reminded me of a line from Madame Sousatzka:
Jenny: I’m a singer. I write my own songs.
Manek: Did it sell many copies?
Jenny: It got to number 94. For a week.
Manek: Hey, that’s really good.
“Walk Right In” is one of the few I actually remember hearing back in those days (I was 4 in '63). I think I count as an old folky too, since I always tuned in to Hootenanny on Saturday nights back in the fall of '63. Although somehow in the dim recesses of my memory I thought I remembered “Walk Right In” as a boogie-blues/jazz number (with horns & drums & such) rather than folk; it would fit that genre better than the folk treatment it got.
It was originally a jug band piece, recorded by Cannon’s Jug Stompers in 1929. It fits more in the string band/jug band tradition. The Rooftop Singers didn’t use a jug, but the sound of their 12-string guitars provided a similar bass line.
“Deep Purple” was Babe Ruth’s favorite ( a different recording, of course).
The 1963 version of “Deep Purple” was Ritchie Blackmore’s grandmother’s favorite song, so they named the band after it. Wasn’t that sweet of ol’ Ritchie?
Wow, what a snoozer of a year. I picked Fingertips just to give Stevie props, while it’s really not a best-of-the-year (admittedly though amazing for a 12-yr-old).
But somehow I completely missed Surf City. How did that happen? There may be great tunes on the list that I don’t recognize by name.
Me too (I was 6). The rest I remember from hearing them later.