We come now once again to 1965, the year in which the Official SDMB-Approved Greatest Number-One Jam of All Time (i.e., “Satisfaction”) was released. Due to the high number of #1s this year, we’re going up to #42 on the year-end Hot 100 to fill the 25 spots in this year’s poll, one of the rare ones (and indeed, the first one) in which the #1 on the year-end chart never made #1 on the weekly chart.
Dylan got my vote as well. “Like A Rolling Stone” came in at #41 on the year-end chart, but per the house rules it just barely makes it into this poll because of how many #1 disqualifications there were.
In its absence, “Wooly Bully” would have gotten my vote - it’s a silly song, but it’s damn catchy.
(Anecdotally; about 15 years ago I was involved in a long-distance relationship with a woman I had never met in person, but had talked to on the phone after talking to her online as the result of a shared interest in classic rock. Shortly after the first time she heard my voice, she wrote a lengthy email to me in which she declared that she thought I was faking the identity she knew me by, and that I must, instead, have been Domingo “Sam the Sham” Samudio, because of how much my voice sounded like his on the song “Little Red Riding Hood”.
It took quite a bit of persuasion to convince her that I was not, in fact, a '60s one-hit-wonder.)
In the absence of “Like a Rolling Stone,” I would have been torn between “Wooly Bully” and “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag.” Dylan’s inclusion saved me from having to make that choice.
“Wooly Bully” is one of those songs that it’s practically impossible not to get up and dance to, or at least move to, if it comes on the radio, jukebox, or whatever.
If Dylan had been absent, my vote would have instantly gone to Jay and the Americans. That song is still one that makes me sing along, no matter where I am. Even lip-synching, I can’t hold that end note the way Jay does.
I have been missing these polls since I was busy and hesitant to give the ones I don’t know a listen. I liked the #1 songs of 1965 which is better than this. The ones I liked are the ones I already knew. Did not like any other I liked after listening to see if they were good.
Gave my vote to Petula Clark and I did for #1 songs of 1965 also, this one was the better one.
I went with the Jolly Green Giant. I was a DJ at the time and I spun all of these “platters,” but I truly got a kick out of the beginning of that one. It began with silence and then went to…“In the valley of the Jolly, Ho, Ho, Ho…Green Giant.” I would come out of a commercial and say…“All of the lights have gone out…I can’t see…I can’t see. Where am I?” and then play the record.
That never got old…well, maybe for my listeners, but I always got a kick out of it.
I was once in a bar and the DJ spun Wooly Bully. A guy standing nearby leaning on crutches, who I did not know, spontaneously started blowing into his crutch playing ‘air sax’ during the saxophone solo.
He was awesome. I’ll never forget that moment. This was around 30 years ago.
mmm