# Best #1 single of the year retrospective: 1964 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 6, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662 "2014-09-06T15:47:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/21 "2014-09-06T18:23:13Z")
Oh, and as a sidenote - IIRC, Paul McCartney actually wrote “A World Without Love” when he was 15 or 16, making it even more impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/22 "2014-09-06T20:38:26Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > Of course, I wasn’t born yet. Starting to get into the really good years for music. We’re getting into the years where I actually remember hearing some of this stuff contemporaneously. (I turned seven in 1964.) When we get to 1969 or 70 when I started hearing pretty much everything contemporaneously, my views will get much more pronounced! (Of course, after about 1974 or 75, when I started losing interest in top 40 type music, my views will contract again, but what the hell. You know?) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/23 "2014-09-06T20:48:56Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Went with IWTHYH because it’s still awesome. This. I thought this would be a good chance to show my hip knowledge and erudition\*…but I have to answer the OP truthfully. \*Which would have meant, what, in this case? The Supremes? The Animals? Satchmo? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/24 "2014-09-06T20:53:08Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > As far as pure cultural impact, I have to go with _Hold Your Hand_… The follow on tune of _She Loves You_ pretty much sealed the deal. Funny that, in the year before, _IWTHYH_ was the follow-on tune to _She Loves You_. And \*Love Me Do \*came out in 1962! Neat to observe just from this list of #1’s how the American public went backwards through their catalogue, catching up with the English fans. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/25 "2014-09-06T21:16:30Z")
The local top 40 station did their own local hit list every week of the top ten songs. My one memory of it is the week that 9 of the 10 were Beatles songs. The tenth? “We Love You, Beatles.” (By The Carefrees. I had to look that up.) The best of these six Beatles songs is “I Feel Fine,” with its fine harmony and fine instrumentation. And yet they did a bunch of songs that year that were even better. So I’m breaking ranks and voting for “I Get Around,” and one of the catchiest hooks ever written. Brian Wilson is our great mad genius. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/26 "2014-09-06T21:40:45Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Funny that, in the year before, _IWTHYH_ was the follow-on tune to _She Loves You_. And \*Love Me Do \*came out in 1962! Neat to observe just from this list of #1’s how the American public went backwards through their catalogue, catching up with the English fans. In the United States, Capitol records, which had “first dibs” on the Beatles records, decided that the earlier recordings weren’t right for the U.S. market, therefore leased the songs to minor labels, which in 1964 suddenly found themselves with extremely valuable rights. Thus, in the U.S. chart-topper _She Loves You_ was on the Swan label, while _Love Me Do_ was released on the obscure Tollie label, which also got _Twist and Shout_ (went to #2). Meanwhile, Tollie’s parent label, Vee-Jay, released _Please Please Me_ (#3) and _Do You Want to Know a Secret_ (#2). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/27 "2014-09-06T21:43:17Z")
“Hard Day’s Night” was the first Beatles song I really, really liked (I was nine in 1964). Tied for second: Peter and Gordon, Beach Boys, Dean Martin. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/28 "2014-09-06T21:54:53Z")
I \*love \*I Get Around, Oh Pretty Woman, House of the Rising Sun, and others. That said, every Beatles song listed here trumps every one of the others. I went with **A Hard Day’s Night**. mmm ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/29 "2014-09-06T23:31:55Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > Oh, and as a sidenote - IIRC, Paul McCartney actually wrote “A World Without Love” when he was 15 or 16, making it even more impressive. Huh. I knew that he gave it to Peter Asher while living with the Asher family; never knew it was already “old” by then. I think he wrote the middle eight (“So I wait, and in a while…”) after Peter & Gordon decided to record it. Speaking of the Asher family, those of you who are old enough to remember Jane should take a moment to google recent photos of her. She has aged _very_ well. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/30 "2014-09-06T23:39:09Z")
I knew going in I was going to pick a Beatles song. I just wasn’t sure which one. I narrowed my choices down to “A Hard Day’s Night” and “I Feel Fine” and ended up choosing the former. My non-Beatles runners up: “Oh, Pretty Woman” (even though I think it’s way overplayed), “Where Did Our Love Go”, “Come See About Me”, “The House of the Rising Sun”, and “I Get Around”. It should tell you something about the crop of 1964 #1s that I would’ve easily chosen any of those songs over anything offered in 1962 or 1963. Next up is another excellent year: 1965. I went over to Wikipedia and looked at what hit #1 that year. So far, I’ve narrowed my choices down to 16. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/31 "2014-09-07T02:36:28Z")
Hard Day’s Night seems to be getting the most love here so far, but I’m more partial to Can’t Buy Me Love. The Beach Boys’ first #1 is also a real gem. As the 2nd poster on this thread, “shit just got real”. There’s some great music for the next eight years or so. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/32 "2014-09-07T03:27:56Z")
Listen to the 4th chord on the final (if not earlier) run of “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah” - that was a progression that had never (I suspect) been heard in pop music - kinda a warning shot that 3-chord rock was about to be seriously out-gunned. I don’t know enough about music theory to say why that chord stuck out, or even what the 4th chord in that progression _“should”_ have been. I remember my ears catching it and thinking “what is going on here?”. For the next 8 years the Beatles, then John as a solo act, would be repeatedly re-defining rock. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/33 "2014-09-07T04:31:19Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > I don’t know enough about music theory to say why that chord stuck out, or even what the 4th chord in that progression _“should”_ have been. That’s the celebrated sixth chord: G major with an E on top. It’s the tonic chord of the song, so it _is_ the expected chord to resolve on, except for that extra note that gives it a piquant twist. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/34 "2014-09-07T04:52:26Z")
I agree with **Sir Prize** , “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” by the Shangri-Las is the best song of this year, or maybe “Girl From Ipanema” by Getz/Gilberto which was only a #5. From the actual list I’ll go with “A Hard Day’s Night,” great song and interesting arrangement. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/35 "2014-09-07T05:37:53Z")
No love for _Leader of the Pack_? It makes me laugh every time I hear it, but I didn’t vote for it either. I went with _Hard Day’s Night_. I’ll be in the club car on the Beatles train for the next few stops. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/36 "2014-09-07T11:47:17Z")
I very nearly picked “Hard Day’s Night” because of that unique, crazy chord at the start. Music theorists and guitarists are still trying to figure out exactly how it was done. I wound up voting for “I Feel Fine” because I’ve always enjoyed it, it has one of the first classic Harrison riffs, and the feedback, intentionally included as a touch of electronic music, was revolutionary. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/37 "2014-09-07T12:09:36Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > I very nearly picked “Hard Day’s Night” because of that unique, crazy chord at the start. Music theorists and guitarists are still trying to figure out exactly how it was done. Psst! Here you go: [Beatles - Totally Cool! The Hard Day's Night Chord - Unravelled! - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=635502) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/38 "2014-09-07T12:59:36Z")
Rock and Roll is popular again! I had to go with the House of the Rising Vox Organ. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/39 "2014-09-07T16:48:14Z")
I also was looking forward to this poll, with the Beatles coming over and all. It’s a refreshing change from the bubblegum crap that hit #1 so often in the previous years. Nevertheless, I voted for House of the Rising Sun. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662/40 "2014-09-07T18:57:13Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Listen to the 4th chord on the final (if not earlier) run of “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah” - that was a progression that had never (I suspect) been heard in pop music - kinda a warning shot that 3-chord rock was about to be seriously out-gunned. > I don’t know enough about music theory to say why that chord stuck out, or even what the 4th chord in that progression _“should”_ have been. The “Andrews Sisters” chord. It was George’s idea (Harrison). As always, IF I remember correctly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1964/697662.md?page=3)