The 200 Best Songs of the 1960s, part 2 of 10
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Bubblegum music
12 min read
The article repeatedly references bubblegum pop as a genre, discussing The Box Tops and The Lemon Pipers in this context. Understanding the specific characteristics, history, and cultural moment of bubblegum music would enrich the reader's appreciation of why these songs mattered.
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Anthology of American Folk Music
11 min read
The article directly references the Harry Smith Anthology when discussing Roscoe Holcomb and the 'Old Weird America' sound. This compilation was enormously influential on the 1960s folk revival and provides essential context for understanding the era's musical archaeology.
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Quincy Jones
16 min read
Mentioned as the producer of Lesley Gore's 'It's My Party,' Jones was a towering figure in 1960s music production. His career spans jazz, pop, and film scoring, and understanding his production philosophy illuminates the sophisticated arrangements the article praises.
(Come see me November 15, 11–2, at the Hagemann Memorial Author Showcase, East Haven Senior Center, 91 Taylor Avenue, East Haven, CT)
Remember the rules: One cut per artist. That’s the main rule. Part 1 (#181–200) is here, part 3 (#141–160) here.
180 Cry like a Baby by The Box Tops (1968)
A very weird rock ’n’ roll song made weirder by the fact that it also pure pop, and a little bubble-gummy. It also has everything thrown in, an electric sitar (!), an opening John-Cale-y organ drone, a backup girl-group (but only for the second half), a muted breakdown section that they may have just forgotten to fill in, and a gruff “rock” vocal curiously low in the mix. That’s too many ideas for one song! But the gestalt works, because the bubblegum poppiness is so very poppy. The electric sitar sounds pretty sweet, like something from a Men without Hats album. An opening organ drone is **always cool**. By the time the horns and strings come in, their excess just sounds natural.
179 It’s My Party by Lesley Gore (1963)
Now that’s good melodrama! This track combines busy and complicated production values (Quincy Jones produced) with the raw emotion of a genuine teenager: Lesley Gore, unlike most of the people on this list, was an actual Baby Boomer, and only sixteen when she knocked this one out.
Early rock ’n’ roll is powered by pure punk teenage emotion; by the ’60s people (esp. but hardly exclusively Phil Spector) had learned to couple that raw emotion with the kind of emotional background that is anything but raw; eventually music “grows up,” which is a weird thing for music to do, and a teenage party will sound like a ridiculous topic to write a song about. But that’s too bad. It was a glorious moment, when a song like this could make sense.
178 Meet Me at the Twistin’ Place by Johnnie Morisette (1962)
By 1962, all of America had fallen in love with, become disenchanted with, and then fallen in love all over again with the Twist! That’s when Sam Cooke wrote and produced this single for Johnnie Morisette, and, like…who’s Johnnie Morisette? No one knows, because not even the combined powers of Sam Cooke and the Twist could keep this single from obscurity, which is UNJUST! Because this song is great! “Man, I sure wish I
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