Tag Archives: 60s
At first just ghostly…
Pay attention to the drumming. While the rest of the instruments and vocals sound rather moody and dreamy, the drum sounds like it’s about to explode. It adds a layer of tension, and helps set the mood. Full lyrics HERE.
Happy
The lyrics aren’t exactly progressive: If you want to be happy for the rest of your life Never make a pretty woman your wife So for my personal point of view Get an ugly girl to marry you But it’s such a playful and happy song that it’s still fun to listen to. Full lyrics …
Prudence
Prudence was a real person who was going through a bad time, and John Lennon wrote this song to cheer her up. It’s one of my favorite Beatles’ songs.
On In Out
“Turn on, tune in, drop out.” ~Dr. Timothy Leary Excerpt from Dr. Timothy Leary’s autobiography Flashbacks, ©1983: “Turn on” meant go within to activate your neural and genetic equipment. Become sensitive to the many and various levels of consciousness and the specific triggers engaging them. Drugs were one way to accomplish this end. “Tune in” …
Don’t Cheat on Cher
Two songs about trysts gone horribly wrong: Full lyrics HERE. Full lyrics HERE.
Leave a Note, Take a Letter
“Grab your coat, leave a note, and run away with me.” ~William Chapman And that reminded me of this: Full lyrics HERE.
“No, we don’t ever call them ‘beer joints…'”
Every so often a country singer decided to make a “country rap” song, and they never fail to be awful. (The Bellamy Brothers did one that was particularly cringeworthy (YouTube Link).) But I would argue that Tom T Hall has made legitimate country rap for most of his career. His songs typically focus more on …
I’m almost out of cigarettes…
The song was written by Tom T. Hall and was a hit for Bobby Bare in 1969. There aren’t a lot of songs that make you feel bad for the cheater. I like the switch in perspective. Full lyrics HERE.
Spring 66
The little one is me. It was 1966, and I was three years old. I’m sitting on the back porch steps in Marion, Ohio. Beside me is a little jar of solution for blowing soap bubbles. Grampy is sitting beside me. I don’t think anyone, not even my parents, ever loved me as much …
Deep Purple
This song was in my head, and it was really hard to find. There’s a rock group named “Deep Purple,” and this song has been covered dozens of times since it was written in 1933. That resulted in a lot of red herrings popping up in my search results. This version, by siblings Nino Tempo …
That’s Life
Frank Sinatra heard O.C. Smith’s version of That’s Life on his car radio, and was so impressed he tracked down the publisher to record his own version. His version is very different. Smith’s version is mellower, more bluesy, while Sinatra’s is more motivational-speakerish. The final line fits seamlessly in Smith’s version, but is a little …
Surfin’ Bird
I’m pretty sure I sat next to this guy in the third grade. 😉 That’s not the group, by the way, that’s a comedian mugging to the lyrics. I have no idea who he is, but somehow the dance moves at the end seem British. The full lyrics are available HERE, in case there is …
2
The two best slang words to come out of the 60s were “drag” and “groovy.” We should use those words more.
Time is Tight
I didn’t recognize this until about the 1:00 mark.
The Sunshine and the Shadows
Full lyrics HERE.
It is not he or she or them or it that you belong to…
It really reads better as a poem than as a song. Full lyrics HERE.
Yakety Sax
I feel like I should be chasing someone around.
Swap
Excerpted from Fates Worse Than Death by Kurt Vonnegut, ©1991: I was willing to believe back in the 1960s that deep meditation as practiced in India might be a way to achieve happiness and wisdom which had not been previously available to people of European and African stock. The Beatles also believed this for a …
Masters of War
I had never heard of Pearl Jam, never heard of Eddie Vedder, but then I saw him perform this on television– and never forgot it, or him. Full lyrics HERE.
I Think…
I don’t hear a guitar in there. It seems to be just a bass, a tambourine, a drum, and a sporadic keyboard. That’s a little different.
Abbie's Tree House 