The great sixties countdown week 9

All right, we're going to try blueberry juice (in lieu of a banana) and get rolling on the latest installment of my favorite songs of the decade of my childhood.

140- Carrie-Anne, the Hollies.  Gotta love Graham Nash.

139- Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In, the 5th Dimension.  The ultimate hippie song, even if you're not into the astrology end of it.  I'll tell you an embarrassing story here.  You may or may not know that I was the baby of my family- by 10 years.  My closest sibling in age was a sister that not only exposed me to all this good music, but taught me the basics of being  a smartass.  Being that much older, she always had me at a disadvantage (and sometimes still does).  For instance the day I was singing this song and she changed the words to "the age of a-queery-Chris".  I've always took comfort in that karma evened us up when she got married to Joe.;)

138- When I Grow Up To Be A Man, the Beach Boys.  The verse that catches me is the pleading, "Will I love my wife/ the rest of my life?"  Me and Brian both blew that one.

137- Go Now, the Moody Blues.  There's not many things I don't love about the Moodies.  Or this song- the pounding piano, the rich background vocals, the rushed lead that gives you a chance to catch your breath at, "We've already said..."




136- Unchained Melody, the Righteous Brothers.  Many of you knew this song from its revival in Ghost.  Some of us remember its first run.  Another great Phil Spector wall-of-sound production, especially the strings at the very end.

135- Message To Michael, Dionne Warwick.  As I've said before, Dionne was one of my girls from an early age.

134- Yes I'm Ready, Barbara Mason.  We used to have this 45, and I loved it when KC (of the Sunshine Band) and Terri DiSario redid it in the 80's.  Love the soaring strings!  She was 17 when she wrote and recorded this.



133- Johnny Angel, Shelley Fabres.  I never could watch Coach without this song playing in the back of my mind.

132- Hello, Mary Lou, Rick Nelson.  I loved anything by Rick- except Lonesome Town.  If there was ever a song to encourage suicide back then, that was it (Not saying I didn't like it- I just couldn't handle LISTENING to it).  Thank God most of his stuff was more upbeat.

131- Dock Of The Bay, Otis Redding.   I don't think any song ever captured the isolation of its own lyrics like this one.  A classic even if he hadn't had to die to push it to #1.

130- Denise, Randy and the Rainbows.  Another one from my doo-wop CD.  Don't you love when music was innocent and corny was okay?

129- Save It For Me, the Four Seasons.  This one was buried deep in my subconscious until I got that Gold Vault of Hits lp at the rummage sale.  Frankie's vocals on the fade-out do it for me.

128- Navy Blue, Diane Renay.  Perhaps the dumbest song I ever loved.  Can't help it, I fell in love with the vocals, not the lyrics.

127- The End Of The World, Skeeter Davis.  A song you can't help singing along with.

126- Penny Lane, the Beatles.  We've started the turn into the homestretch for me with these last two songs.  There was always something about 1966-67 Beatles for me.  Glad I didn't know what "four of fish and finger pie in summer" was back then.

125- In My Room, the Beach Boys.  Practically the theme song for unpopular guys like me in the teenage years- kind of my version of At Seventeen.  One of my favorite high school teacher's favorite song.

124- Can't Find The Time, Orpheus.  A gem I found in route to looking for other things, and a cult classic. Can't help but tear up anytime I play it.



123- Don't Worry Baby, the Beach Boys.  First remember BJ Thomas' version, then heard the original on Endless Summer.  My all time favorite headphone song.

122- Wear Your Love Like Heaven, Donovan.  This was the music to a commercial for a perfume called Love's Baby Soft, and I fell in love with the girl in the ad.  Took me years to finally track it down (and a copy of Joel Whitburn's Billboard book).

121- Rhythm Of The Rain, the Cascades.  Another one of those you can't help but sing along to.  I love when he pleads with the rain, does that seem fair?

Well here we are at the end again, and you can see that it isn't just mainstream hits that will weave their way into the upper reaches.  So until next time, here's one of those off the beaten path tunes.