The 200 Best Songs of the 1960s, part 4 of 10
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Woody Guthrie
14 min read
The article discusses Arlo Guthrie having 'the biggest shoes to fill' and references Woody's talking blues style. Understanding Woody Guthrie's enormous influence on American folk music and political songwriting provides essential context for appreciating both the weight on Arlo's shoulders and why 'Alice's Restaurant' was such a significant achievement.
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Motown
20 min read
The article references Berry Gordy, The Temptations, The Contours, and the Motown studio in discussing 'Do You Love Me?' Understanding Motown's revolutionary role in bringing Black music to mainstream American audiences and its unique 'hit factory' production system illuminates why the story of which group got this song matters.
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Wall of Sound
16 min read
The article mentions Phil Spector as the benchmark for 1960s pop production. His revolutionary 'Wall of Sound' technique defined the era's sonic aesthetic, and understanding this production philosophy helps explain why the author considers certain songs the 'purest encapsulation of 1960s pop.'
140 Ode to Billie Joe by Bobbie Gentry (1967)
I was going to put “Harper Valley PTA” here, because I sing it every time the parents at the playground talk about the local PTA, but then I remembered it’s the same song as “Ode to Billie Joe,” so this one gets in on precedence.
139 I Know by Barbara George (1961)
People don’t sing in church choirs any more and that’s why we don’t have any real singers? Is this true or just a conspiracy theory?
Anyway, Barbara George was another chorister who became a great R&B singer. She was a teenager, married for three years, and a mother of one when she wrote and recorded her first and only album. Driven by a simple, catchy piano from its opening seconds and featuring George’s heartfelt, brassy vocals, this single deservedly became a crossover hit…and then George faded from music history as fast as she rocketed in. The ’60s, like the ’80s, were a time of one-hit wonders, and George will neither be the first nor the last on our list. I hope that, as the writer of this track, she actually got a payout.
138 Alice’s Restaurant Massacree by Arlo Guthrie (1967)
![Arlo Guthrie – Alice's Restaurant – Vinyl (LP, Album), [r5189370] | Discogs](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tJ_2!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F229baebf-ab87-4da0-a35c-705ae942bede_429x427.jpeg "Arlo Guthrie – Alice's Restaurant – Vinyl (LP, Album), [r5189370] | Discogs")
I wouldn’t want every song to be like this, but I’m glad one is.
Of all second-generation musicians, Arlo Guthrie had the biggest shoes to fill (sorry, Julian Lennon), and while is output is usually competent, he had one moment of genius. Woody Guthrie played a mean talking blues, but Woody Guthrie never wove a shaggy-dog story like this—not even in those CDs of endless Alan Lomax interviews: A cute little anecdote (about littering) that blossoms into an anti-war song that potentially blossoms into a movement. What a portrait of the times!
Incidentally, I assume that it is pure hell having your signature song be over eighteen minutes long, and you barely even get to jam.
137 Do You Love Me? by The Contours (1962)
A song famously earmarked for The Temptations, who were at church (!) when Berry Gordy came looking for them. The Contours were at the Motown studio, though, so Gordy tried them out, and the rest is dance party history.
“Do You Love Me?” may be the purest encapsulation of 1960s pop of any song not produced by Phil Spector (which is perhaps weird because
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