14 January 2009

OMG! The Fabulous sixties


Inspired by the title of Moi's Blog, I had to googulate til I could find Simon and Garfunkel's "Hazy Shade of Winter" and I was catapulted back into the glorious sights and sounds of the Sixties!




Yes, folks ... 'talkin'bout my generation'
"A defining chapter in America's past, the '60s shaped a generation and sculpted a political landscape that can still be seen today. The story of the '60s is illuminated with images of freedom protests, atom bombs, flower power, and a nation divided by war."


This time included all of high school and college. I lived in Chicago (sort of) do I experienced the upheavals which included the assasinations of JFK, RFK , MLK as well as the deaths of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendricks.
Chicago was the site of Democratic Convention and the ensuing riots in '68. I was actually living downtown at that time with the soldiers and the tanks and the shooting and looting. Mighty scary.I protested the killings at Kent State and was nearly evicted from my apartment.

Then there was music, ahh the music--All the time. It truly was a sound track for my life.




Top Ten 60s One Hit Wonders:
1. Wipe Out - The Surfaris2. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida - Iron Butterfly3. Do You Love Me - The Contours4. Venus - Shocking Blue5. The Girl From Ipanema - Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto6. Gimme Gimme Good Lovin' - Crazy Elephant7. Wooly Bully - Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs8. Hot Rod Lincoln - Johnny Bond9. Nobody But Me - The Human Beinz 10. Money (That's What I Want) - Barrett Strong
Top Ten 60s Dance Songs:
1. The Twist - Chubby Checker2. Build Me Up Buttercup - Foundations3. Sugar Pie Honey Bunch - Four Tops4. I Want You Back - Jackson 55. More Today Than Yesterday - Spiral Staircase6. Heatwave - Martha and the Vandellas7. Ain't Too Proud To Beg - Temptations8. The Loco-Motion - Little Eva9. Jimmy Mack - Martha and the Vandellas10. Sweet Soul Music - Arthur Conley
Top Ten 60s Teenage Death Songs:
1. Last Kiss - J. Frank Wilson2. Dead Man's Curve - Jan & Dean3. The Water Was Red - Johnny Cymbal4. Teen Angel - Mark Dinning5. No Surfing Today - the Four Seasons6. The Leader of the Pack - Shangra-Las7. Paint It Black - Rolling Stones8. Moody River - Pat Boone9. Tell Laura I Love Her - Ray Peterson10. Ode To Billy Joe - Bobbie Gentry
Top Ten 60s Rock and Roll Party Tunes:
1. Twist and Shout - Isley Brothers (or
Beatles)2. Devil With a Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly - Mitch Ryder & Detroit Wheels3. Born To Be Wild - Steppenwolf4. In The Midnight Hour - Wilson Pickett5. I'm A Believer - The Monkees6. Gimme Some Lovin' - The Spencer Davis Group7. Hang on Sloopy - McCoys8. Mustang Sally - Wilson Pickett9. Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry10. Time Won't Let Me - Outsiders
Top Ten 60s Songs Mom and Dad Hated
1. Let's Spend The Night Together - Rolling Stones2. Rainy Day Woman # 12 & 35 - Bob Dylan3. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida - Iron Buttefly4. Louie Louie - Kingsmen5. I Fought The Law - Bobby Fuller Four6. They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! - Napoleon XIV7. I Think We're Alone Now - Tommy James & the Shondells8. Light My Fire - the Doors9. Psychotic Reaction - Count Five10. Who's Makin' Love - Johnny Taylor
Top Ten 60s Songs Everybody Hated
1. I Dig Rock and Roll Music - Peter, Paul and Mary2. Ringo - Lorne Greene3. Palisades Park - Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon4. 98.6 - Keith5. Winchester Cathedral - New Vaudeville Band6. Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini - Bryan Hyland7. Somethin' Stupid - Frank and Nancy Sinatra8. Do The Freddie - Freddie and the Dreamers9. The Tra La La Song - The Banana Splits10. In The Year 2525 - (Exordium and Terminus) - Zager and Evans
The Top Ten 1960s Fad Songs:
1. The Twist - Chubby Checker2. Name Game - Shirley Ellis3. Sugar Sugar - The Archies4. Born Free - Roger Williams5. Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf6. Simon Says - 1910 Fruitgum Company7. To Sir With Love - Lulu8. Wildwood Days - Bobby Rydell9. Yummy, Yummy, Yummy - Ohio Express10. South Street - Orlons
The Top Ten 1960s Preachy Songs:
1. Give Peace A Chance - John Lennon2. Abraham, Martin and John - Dion3. Harper Vally P.T.A. - Jeannie C. Riley4. The "In" Crowd - Dobie
Gray5. Eve of Destruction - Barry McGuire6. Stand By Your Man - Tammy Wynette7. Teach Your Children - Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young8. People Got To Be Free - The Rascals9. Where Have All The Flowers Gone? - Kingston Trio10. Whats Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser out Of Me) - Jerry Lee Lewis11. What The World Needs Now Is Love - Jackie DeShannon
Top Twenty 60s Hits That You Need To Make Your Collection Complete:
1. Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond 2. You've
Lost That Lovin' Feeling - Righteous Brothers 3. Red Rubber Ball - Cyrcle 4. Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell 5. It's The Same Old Song - Four Tops 6. Happy Together - The Turtles 7. Son Of A Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield 8. She Loves You - Beatles 9. Green Onions - Booker T. & The MG's 10. Sunshine Superman - Donovan 11. Runaround Sue - Dion and the Belmonts 12. Where Did Our Love Go - Supremes 13. California Sun - Rivieras 14. A Whiter Shade of Pale - Procul Harum 15. 96 Tears - ? and the Mysterians 16. Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan 17. I Got You Babe - Sonny and Cher 18. Got To Get You into My Life - Beatles 19. Pushin Too Hard - The Seeds 20. The Boxer - Simon and Garfunkle
The Top Ten Weirdest Songs of the 60s:
1. Maxwell's Silver
Hammer - The Beatles2. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida - Iron Butterfly3. A Boy Named Sue - Johnny Cash4. Star Spangled Banner - Jimi Hendrix5. If You Wanna Be Happy - Jimmy Soul6. Surfin' Bird - The Trashmen7. Fire - The Crazy World of Arthur Brown8. Tip-Toe Through the Tulips With Me - Tiny Tim9. Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show - Neil Diamond10. My Pal Foot Foot - The Shaggs
The Top Ten 1960s "influenced" Songs:
1. White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane2. MacArthur Park - Richard Harris3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Beatles4. Red Red Wine - Neil Diamond5. Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix Experience6. The Star Spangled Banner - Jimi Hendrix7. I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night) - The Electric Prunes8. Tiny Bubbles - Don Ho9. Incense and Peppermints - Strawberry Alarm Clock10. You Keep Me Hangin' On - Vanilla Fudge
oh boy, oh boy, oh boy,I could just listen to some of those songs over and over and Sing!
And for a special treat: find and download the original LONG version(18:49) of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly. (I couldn't find it on youtube)

Hippies and Free Love and Sex, Drugs, and rock'n'Roll, End the War.


I was on my own living fast and loose. I spent a year in Los Angeles with part time jobs, no support system and a dream of breaking into hollywood (didn't happen, in case you didn't notice.)

Lived poor and in debt, collected pop bottles and when I had 13 cents I bought a taco! I got to see the Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane,Dionne Warwick, Muddy Waters, Ella Fitzgerald and Judy Garland.

While in LA I saw, Ann-Margaret, Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball and David Jansen-good times.

At the end of the decade I lost both my parents, my brother returned from four years in the Navy and I finally got my self back in the game. I started Nursing School in 1973 and the rest, as they say, is history.

2 comments:

moi said...

Cool retrospective! I love the Grace Slick-helmed Jefferson Airplane, and, in fact, most of the music of the '60s, which was so varied. How fascinating that you lived through it all, flower power in hand.

A.Fanny said...

Jest lookit them two hippie gals! Fer sure yu've come a long haul from them days!

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