Welcome to my new column, FMera Vintage. This column will review the top 10 songs from a randomly selected Billboard chart week. I've estimated that there have been 2800 billboard Top 100 charts in Billboard's history, so I'll be using a random number generator to pick weeks. The first number chosen is 422, so the first week selected will be September 3, 1966. The "Sixties," by which I mean the cliché of the sixties in music, an era of folk and classic rock, didn't really begin until 1965, and at this point they would be kicking into high gear, no pun intended. There's also a lot of soul music on these charts, which was one of the most popular genres in this era. The mid-to-late sixties are usually thought of as a very good time for music, but will that be reflected on the maybe-behind-the-times pop chart? Let's find out.
10. Summertime: This is a unique cover of the classic George Gershwin song from the musical Porgy and Bess. Singer Billy Stewart spices things up with his take on the scat-singing tradition. Usually, scat singing involves singing nonsense words to the beat, Stewart adds strange vocal trills and stuttering to the mix. In theory, the technique would spice up the song similarly to how something like The Marcels' take on Blue Moon takes a song that can be gloomy and makes it peppy. Unfortunately, and maybe it's just my modern musical sensibilities, I find myself laughing at Stewart's singing style more than grooving with it. When Stewart sticks to the original song, it's a good, if fairly traditional, soul cover; but when he makes clicking noises along with it, I'm taken out of the song. The other big shortcoming of the song is its horrible stereo mixing. Circa 1966, stereo recording was rapidly overtaking mono recording (The former has two sources of sound, similar to headphones, while the latter has only one, similar to a gramophone.) But the new technology wasn't always used well, and this take on Summertime has some awful stereo mixing, which makes listening to it through headphones uncomfortable and unenjoyable. (3/20)
9. Blowin' In The Wind: This is a neat one: A very young Stevie Wonder covers the classic Bob Dylan song. Wonder would have been only 16 when this song was released, and probably nowhere near the household name he is now; this was one of his earliest radio hits. One thing that's interesting to note is that both the songs so far are cover songs, which we rarely see on the charts anymore; this is a huge and rarely noted change in the pop landscape since that time. There are a lot of complaints nowadays that all pop hits sound the same; that they're all recycled; so there's a hint of irony in the fact that in the years often cited as a golden age of music; there was a lot more repetition and similarity than there is today. This song is a great soul number; while it's not unique in any particular way beyond the notability of an early Wonder hit; it's very well-performed, especially for a 16-year-old. It's not hard to see why Wonder became such a huge presence later on. (14/20)
8. Working In The Coal Mine: This groovy soul song is better remembered today for its Devo cover, but it's a great song of its own right, and very, very catchy to boot. While singer Lee Dorsey didn't have any other major hits, he continued making soul music for another decade after its release. (14/20)
7. Land Of 1000 Dances: Na, na na na na, na na na na, na na na, na na na, na na na na! This is one of those songs that's so catchy, it'll pop into your head months after you've first listened to it. While the version that charted here, by Wilson Pickett, remains the most popular, the song's continued ubiquity can probably be credited to the fact that, yup, this is yet another cover. The song was originally written by Chris Kenner, and the über-catchy chorus is attributed to the Cannibal & The Headhunters cover. And since then, it's been covered by many other bands. But none of the covers have matched Pickett's original in quality or ubiquity. Na na na na! Hey! (19/20)
6. Sunny: This is an original song, although that's somewhat surprising because it was covered so frequently after its release that it seems more like a folk song. It's written somewhat like a folk song too, exactly the kind of vague but well-written song that can be done in just about any style or genre. The original is a traditional folk song, very similar to the others on the list. While it's a solid hit, its vagueness keeps it from being really memorable. (11/20)
5. Yellow Submarine: This is one of the Beatles' most controversial songs, ironically because of its lack of controversial material. Near the height of the Beatles' politicization, they released this, a novelty song for children. It's often a consensus near-bottom choice in rankings of Beatles songs, simply because it's so much more lightweight than their other music. And while all that is true, Submarine still holds up excellently as a fun, peppy pop hit. (17/20)
4. You Can't Hurry Love: Heck yeah, The Supremes! One of the biggest and best pop acts of the mid-to-late '60s, the trio cranked out poppy R&B classics at an incredible rate. Their importance and talent is almost impossible to overstate; and they're one of the greatest pop acts of all time. You Can't Hurry Love is one of their best hits, an endlessly catchy and fun song, sung and produced brilliantly. History hasn't been entirely kind to the Supremes' legacy, but make no mistake: They are easily just as talented and important as The Beatles, The Beach Boys, or any other '60s act you can name. (20/20)
3. See You In September: Yet another cover, this song was originally performed by The Tempos. Their version wasn't initially as popular, but a decade later it was included in the soundtrack to American Grafitti and is now just as well known as this version, by The Happenings. After the soul-filled charts up to this point, September sounds decidedly old-fashioned. They're the kind of act that had almost entirely ceased to exist by 1966; an easy-listening falsetto boy band in the vein of The Four Seasons. Unfortunately, this song feels like an awkward last gasp from these types of bands; instead of a capstone. (5/20)
2. Summer In The City: The Lovin' Spoonful were one of the many American bands to form in the wake of the British Invasion, and they're unique mostly in that they have a more folky, bluesy tone than most of those bands. But there's very little of that tone on this, their most popular single. "City" is a pulsing, uneasy, rocking tune, and while it's not representative of the Spoonful's catalog, it's a very strong song in its own right. The song is propulsive, and it has a strong sense of energy; while it's fairly similar to other rock songs of the era in most respects; it's maybe a bit more heavy. While the Spoonful aren't the best '60's era rock band, this song remains very strong. (17/20)
1. Sunshine Superman: Donovan is one of the first psychedelic rock acts to become super-popular, and for that he deserves a lot of respect as a precursor to later acts. But while Sunshine Superman was initially Donovan's biggest hit, it hasn't aged particularly well; as an early psychedelia song it benefited from the novelty of its new sound, but compared to late-era Beatles or Beach Boys, it doesn't hold up. The verses are annoying and repetitive, repeating the same screechy guitar part over and over again. And "Superman" has mostly faded into obscurity with age, now not even ranking in Donovan's five most popular songs on Spotify. The song was too of-its-era to have any real modern appeal. (6/20)
In general, there's a pretty stark divide here between a whole lot of mostly good soul and R&B music, one very dated 50's-esque hit, and two hippie-sounding rock tunes. That's reflective of the changing sounds popular during this era.
NEXT TIME: Random number: 1193. That means the next week I'll be covering is...
June 13, 1981
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