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FESTIVE FIFTY YEARS AGO – 1962 Part five
2
Jan

December 31st 2012

Final instalment of my imaginary Festive Fifty from 1962. This is my idea of what might have been included in a listeners’ Festive Fifty chart if John Peel, or similar, had been working for the BBC in 1962.

Hope you’ve enjoyed it – you may or may not agree with the selections, which is perfectly fine by me. Happy to chat about any glaring omissions / ridiculous inclusions.

Here’s the Top Ten, followed by a full rundown of the entire Festive Fifty.

10. ROY ORBISON – Dream Baby

An example of how the right singer can transform a song.

Writer Cindy Walker, a prolific sountry singer in her own right, was not happy with this song until she heard the The Big O’s take on it, which transforms it from a fairly standard yearning ballad into a sleazy bar-room wail.

9. THE CRYSTALS – He Hit Me And It Felt Like A Kiss http://bit.ly/Vc1QMj

One of the most controversial songs of the year, this was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King after hearing that singer Little Eva (“The Locomotion”) was being regularly beaten by her boyfriend. When asked why, Eva replied that his actions came out of love for her.

The song comes across as a simple slice of life story, told without judgment.

It’s pretty shocking and it’s hard to find any hint of irony in it.

I reckon John Peel would have played it in the face of criticism from his employers, and his listeners would have picked up on it and voted it in here as a rebellious action.

But feminism and equal rights for women were a very long way away in 1962, and it is perhaps fanciful to imagine him, or any other male DJ (and I’m not sure there was any other kind of DJ then) playing it as a political statement.

8. THE CONTOURS – Do You Love Me

Written by Berry Gordy (well, that’s what it says on the label but there’s a whol can of worms there, perhaps a topic for another day) for the Temptations, who, like the Contours at the time, had no hits to their name, but, incredible as it sounds, the Temps were unaware that Gordy had a song for them to record and had disappeared to undertake another paid engagement.

So the Contours gratefully recorded it and it became a huge hit for them – indeed, their only hit.

It’s a great record, but something of a one-off novelty without a great deal of depth to it, so it may well be that the Temptations had a lucky escape. Who knows, if they hadn’t found a gospel music showcase gig when Gordy was looking for them, it could have been them who were introduced to the world with this dance cash-in rather than the sensitive, meaningful “My Girl”. On such events do our lives change.

7. DION – The Wanderer

Another record from the simple era that was the early sixties.

Sung completely without irony it is basically a celebration of shagging around that is difficult to resist.

Always wondered what precisely he meant by the “two fists of iron” line though, in the context of a song about a womaniser. Or maybe I’m reading too much into it?

6. TONY SHERIDAN AND THE BEAT BROTHERS – My Bonnie

The first big hit, at least locally on Merseyside, for the Beatles (credited here as the Beat Brothers and backing club singer Tony Sheridan.

Legend has it that this is the song that alerted future manager Brian Epstein to the band’s existence when a teenage boy came into his record shop and asked for it.

Epstein had never heard of the record or the band. Intrigued, he began to investigate the band and ended up managing them.

This record had come out the previous year but, in this alternative Peel history, would have achieved a huge head of steam during 1962, and would have gained plenty of votes from those in the know.

5) DICK DALE – Misirlou

The origins of this tune are unclear, but it was written in the late twenties by an unknown Greek writer.

It became popular throughout the Middle East in various tempos, styles and even lyrics being added.

In 1962, Dick Dale was challenged by a fan to play a song on one string of his guitar. Dale’s family was a Lebanese-American musician, and he remembered seeing one of his uncles play “Misirlou” on one string of the oud.

Speeding up the song to a rock and roll tempo and adding the crashing drums, cinematic strings and the crazed closing piano figure, the record became a massive hit, and would be covered by pretty much all the surf bands of the era.

4) DEL SHANNON – So Long Baby

This could well have struck a chord with the listeners.

Possibly the greatest “We’re through and I’ve moved on” song ever recorded, the protagonist begins by putting a brave face on it but it soon becomes clear that he is on no way over the relationship.

The minor key and oddly plaintive horn solo bring this out further.

And all this is done in just a shade over two minutes.

3) HOWIE CASEY & THE SENIORS – The Fly

1962 was undoubtedly the Seniors’ year.

Slightly ahead of the other Mersey groups in terms of making records and tightening up their live sound, this dancefloor classic captures the feel of Merseybeat 1962 in two and a half minutes.

Things would change once the Beatles started hitting their stride though.

2) BOOKER T & THE MGs – Green Onions

Organist Booker T Jones and his band were the house band for Stax Records during the sixties.

This simple 12-bar blues tune with a soulful Hammond organ lead line that pretty much defined the sound of sixties R and B.

1) THE TORNADOS – Telstar

Named after the Telstar communications satellite, which was launched into orbit in July 1962, this was written and produced by the legendary British produced Joe Meek.

It still sounds like an alien thing today, so God only knows what effect it had in 1962.

It was a ground-breaking record in many ways. Firstly, the futuristic lead line played on the clavioline, an early electronic keyboard. Secondly, it was the first record by a British band to reach Number One in the USA, very much the shape of things to come over the next couple of years during the British Invasion.

Most of all, though, all the futuristic-sounding effects were created in Meek’s recording studio, which was a flat above a shop in North London.

I’ve really enjoyed putting this imaginary Festive Fifty together and I hope you’ve enjoyed it too.

I’ll most likely do one for 1963 next Christmas. There would be a good argument for including about 20 Beatles tracks but we’ll see …

Meantime, here’s the full rundown.

FESTIVE FIFTY OF 1962

1. THE TORNADOS – Telstar
2. BOOKER T & THE MGs – Green Onions
3. HOWIE CASEY & THE SENIORS – The Fly
4. DEL SHANNON – So Long Baby
5. DICK DALE – Misirlou
6. TONY SHERIDAN & THE BEAT BROTHERS – My Bonnie
7. DION – The Wanderer
8. THE CONTOURS – Do You Love Me?
9. THE CRYSTALS – He Hit Me (And If Felt Like A Kiss)
10. ROY ORBISON – Dream Baby
11. DUANE EDDY – The Avenger
12. HOWIE CASEY & THE SENIORS – I Ain’t Mad At You
13. ISLEY BROTHERS – Twist And Shout
14. MARVIN GAYE – Hitch-Hike
15. MARY WELLS – Operator
16. DUANE EDDY – The Ballad Of Paladin
17. BOB DYLAN – Song To Woody
18. THE RIVINGTONS – Papa Oom Mow Mow
19. THE SHADOWS – Wonderful Land
20. THE TOKENS – The Lion Sleeps Tonight
21. BOBBY “BORIS” PICKETT AND THE CRYPT-KICKERS – The Monster Mash
22. THE BEACH BOYS – 409
23. DEL SHANNON – Cry Myself To Sleep
24. DUANE EDDY – Dance With The Guitar Man
25. BOB DYLAN – You’re No Good
26. ELVIS PRESLEY – Good Luck Charm
27. EVERLY BROTHERS – I’m Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail
28. HOWIE CASEY & THE SENIORS – Twist At The Top
29. MARY WELLS – I’m Gonna Stay
30. MARVIN GAYE – That Stubborn Kind Of Fella
31. LITTLE OTIS HAYES – I Out-Duked The Duke
32. BOB DYLAN – Talking New York
33. ELVIS PRESLEY – Return To Sender
34. GENE CHANDLER – Duke Of Earl
35. RAY CHARLES – Half As Much
36. THE VENTURES – My Bonnie Lies
37. EVERLY BROTHERS – I’m Not Angry
38. GINO PARKS – Fire
39. JET HARRIS – The Man With The Golden Arm
40. LORD BLAKIE – Maria
41. THE BEATLES – Love Me Do
42. RAY CHARLES – It Makes No Difference Now
43. THE TORNADOS – Jungle Fever
44. BOB DYLAN – Fixin’ To Die
45. BYRON LEE – River Bank Jump Up
46. DAPHNE ORAM – Four Aspects
47. EVERLY BROTHERS – How Can I Meet Her
48. GINO PARKS – For This I Thank You
49. LITTLE STEVIE WONDER – Wondering
50. SAM COOKE – Bring It On Home To Me

FESTIVE FIFTY YEARS AGO 1962– PART ONE (50-41)
26
Dec

December 26th, 2012

I was idly musing about music the other day, while listening to Brian Matthew’s still excellent Sounds Of The Sixties on Radio Two.

If you’re not aware of the show, give it a go.

It’s not quite the parade of obvious, familiar hits you might find on a commercial station, and they cover every sixties genre from surf to psychedelia, Motown to early metal and all points inbetween.

I got to thinking about what sort of music John Peel, or his equivalent, would have played if he’d been on the radio in the early sixties and the phrase “Festive Fifty, Fifty Years Ago” popped into my head.

It seemed so obvious, I couldn’t believe nobody had ever done it before. A quick search on the Interweb confirmed that no, they hadn’t.

(not that I could see, anyway – if I am mistaken then please send me the links so I can check out how it differs from my take)

It seemed to happily coincide with me turning fifty this year.

So here is my take on what the Festive Fifty might have looked like in 1962 if John Peel – or somebody with similar eclectic tastes in music – had been on BBC Radio in 1962, and if he had invited his listeners to write in with their favourite tracks of the year.

The general consensus among music fans about 1962 seems to be that it was not a great year.

The initial surge of rock’n’roll had run out of steam a couple of years previously.

Elvis Presley had gone into the army in 1958 and although he came out in 1960 he wasn’t really making records with the same raw power.

The charts were full of crooners.

The great years of Stax and Motown lay ahead, and the British Beat Boom was only happening in one port town in the North-West of England.

Not a classic year, then?

I beg to differ. Here is part one of the evidence, m’lud.

50. SAM COOKE – Bring It On Home To Me

One of the pioneers of soul music, that is to say, singing with a lot more raw emotion than was traditional for black singers  of the forties and fifties, Sam Cooke became a huge star, with hits not only in the black record charts but also in the pop charts, thus paving the way for the likes of  Marvin Gaye, Bobby Womack and Al Green.

This song, about infidelity, was written by Cooke against the backdrop of a troubled marriage in which both himself and his wife Barbara had a number of extramarital affairs.  Several other artists, notably Eddie Floyd and The Animals, were later to have hits with the song, which would become a standard.

In 1962 it reached No.13 in the US chart but failed to chart in the UK, although it just sneaked into the Festive Fifty.

 

49. LITTLE STEVIE WONDER – Wondering

The twelve-year-old prodigy Stevland Hardaway Morris was signed to Berry Gordy’s Tamla label and recorded his first, instrumental album, “The Jazz Soul Of Little Stevie Wonder” in 1962.  Little Stevie didn’t sing on it and most of the tracks were written by his mentors Clarence Paul and Henry Cosby but this track is one of two to be co-written by the boy genius, and features a searing keyboard solo which was entirely Stevie’s creation.

 

48. GINO PARKS – For This I Thank You.

Berry Gordy’s theory for selling records was much the same as Lee “Scratch” Perry’s a few years later – churn them out in sufficient quantity and some of them will be hits. In a year when Marvin Gaye and Mary Wells, among others, were hitting the high numbers, records like this Northern Soul classic remained unjustly ignored. Gino Parks never had a hit, but he deserved one.

 

47. THE EVERLY BROTHERS – How Can I Meet Her

By 1962 Phil and Don Everly were expanding their style to include polished pop records like this one as well as their more traditional country-rock sound. The gorgeous vocal harmonies are still intact here, though. Lennon and McCartney were big fans, and I don’t think it’s too fanciful to see the influence of this record in some of the early Beatles songwriting efforts over the next couple of years.  Lyrically, this song is the natural grandfather of  “Fit But You Know It” by The Streets. (link).

 

46. DAPHNE ORAM – Four Aspects

Daphne Oram was a sound engineer at the BBC during and after World War II. She was largely responsible for setting up the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in 1957, becoming its first director.Realising her heart lay in creating her own compositions for their own sake and not merely as background or incidental music, she left the BBC, continuing to write music and inventing a system of drawing on strips of 35mm film which were read by photo-electric cells and converted into sound. She dubbed this system “Oramics” and this short piece is an early, eerie example of the possibilities of electronic music.

 

45. BYRON LEE AND THE DRAGONAIRES – Jump Up

The world first superstar of Jamaican music, Byron Lee and his band the Dragonaires had been around since 1956 but got their first big break when they appeared in a cameo in the first ever James Bond film “Dr No”, as the hotel band performing this song. Seen by movie-goers worldwide both at the time and to the present day, it gave the sort of exposure to Jamaican music that could not be bought for money.

44. BOB DYLAN – Fixin’ To Die

Bob Dylan’s first album contained very few originals, and this is a cover of an old Bukka White song, the lyrics of which examine the effect of the protagonist’s death on his family, which is most unsual for blues songs of the time. Dylan adjusted the melody and added a few of his own (uncredited) verses, which could either be seen as a young artist taking his first tentative steps to writing his own songs, or simply continuing the folk tradition of perpetually adding verses to existing songs.

43. THE TORNADOS – Jungle Fever

I like to think Peel would have approached playing records on his show like he did in the seventies, and play the B-side of a single as frequently as the A-side. Bet he’d have said he preferred this to the more illustrious A-side, too. Does “Telstar” get into the Festive Fifty of 1962? You’ll have to wait and soo

 

42.RAY CHARLES – It Makes No Difference Now

From the “Modern Sounds in Country And Western” album which saw Ray Charles make a deliberate and wildly successful attempt to cross his more usual blues and soul music with country and western. His rich tones perfectly suit country music, and the instrumentation brings a cool, jazzy feel which is being milked by artists on Radio Two to this day. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

 

41. THE BEATLES – Love Me Do

One of the lesser Liverpool groups of the very early 60s, the Beatles’ management were, however, close friends with the publisher of Mersey Beat, who featured the band heavily during 1961 and 1962.

There was some controversy when they unexpectedly won the paper’s readers’ poll in January 1962, when  favourites Rory Storm And The Hurricanes were found to have attempted to rig the vote. The Beatle’s young manager, Brian Epstein, has done exactly the same thing, but was not found out (Rory Storm’s manager had foolishly used a distinctive green pen for his multiple votes …)

The head of steam behind The Beatles grew throughout the year, and this record finally charted for them in October. There were rumours that Epstein had bought ten thousand copies of the record with his own money, but these were strenuously denied by the band.

Tomorrow, it’s the countdown from 40 to 31. Stay cool, hep cats.