I was looking at a list of the hundred top singles of 1969. It was perhaps surprising how many of them I could remember but back then I was quite obsessed with music and kept up with the charts and latest releases even though I much preferred full albums.
Anyway, for nostalgic entertainment purposes, I decided to pick just three of my favourite songs from the list to share here with you - in no particular order. Maybe next week I will do the same for 1970. Enjoy!
Peter Sarstedt - "Where Do You Go To My Lovely?":-
Elvis Presley - "In The Ghetto":-
Fleetwood Mac - "Man of the World":-
"As the snow flies"... What a classic of an Elvis song. Any one for Karaoke?
ReplyDeleteWe can do a duet. You can be Garfunkel and I'll be Simon.
DeleteWhat - you didn't pick The Archies!
ReplyDeleteFor Elvis of that year, I'd choose Suspicious Minds.
Get Back by The Beatles would be on my list.
I think the Sarstedt song truly awful. I'd have Wedding Bell Blues simply
because it was written by Laura Nyro.
Many great songs appeared that year. I have always like the Peter Sarstedt song. It alludes to a privileged jet set kind of lifestyle beyond my imaginings and it was so different from other 1969 songs. I guess we would all pick different songs from the list.
DeleteI think my favourite of 1969 would have been The Boxer by Simon & Garfunkel.
ReplyDeleteSo many great ones to choose from.
A great song that almost made my top three.
DeleteThe Elvis song could be written today and just be as relevant.
ReplyDeleteA simple but powerful message. The song was written by Mac Davis.
DeleteOh my Lord. You and I certainly had different tastes in music.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that is true but let's see what 1970 brings next week.
DeleteI've never heard of Peter Sarstedt or that tune, though I know the others.
ReplyDeleteI guess he was a one hit wonder over here Bob.
DeleteI like your first two choices but Fleetwood Mac was around in 1969? I guess it must have been. I don't know the song at all.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, they were around in 1969 and a couple of years before that but not with the line up that became a supergroup.
DeleteBefore Stevie Nicks then.
DeleteAh, Fleetwood Mac, much under-rated in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteAre you being sarky Will?
DeleteI remember 69 my last year at school ...
ReplyDeleteSon of a Preacher Man. Dusty Springfield.
Lily the Pink. The Scaffold.
Build Me Up, Buttercup Baby. The Foundations.
For Once in My Life. Stevie Wonder.
My Cherie Amour. Stevie Wonder.
Yester-me, Yester-you, Yesterday. Stevie Wonder.
Something's Happening. Herman's Hermits.
Blackberry Way. The Move.
If Paradise is Half as Nice. Amen Corner.
I'm Gonna Make You Love Me. Diana Ross & the Supremes.
Wichita Linesman. Glen Campbell.
All I Have to Do is Dream. Glen Campbell & Bobbie Gentry.
I'll Never Fall in Love Again. Bobbie Gentry.
I Heard it Through the Grapevine. Marvin Gaye.
Gentle on my Mind. Dean Martin.
You've Lost That Lovin Feeling. The Righteous Brothers.
The Games People Play. Joe South.
Pinball Wizard. The Who.
Get Back. Here Comes the Sun. The Beatles.
In the Ghetto. Elvis Presley.
Bad Moon Rising. Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Je t'aime. Jean Birkin & Serge Gainsborough.
Good Morning Starshine. Oliver.
A Boy Named Sue. Johnny Cash.
It's Getting Better. Mama Cash.
Sugar, Sugar. The Arches.
Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town. Kenny Rogers.
He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother. The Bee Gees.
Lay Lady Lay. Bob Dylan.
Something's in the Air. Thunderclap Newman.
I mourned the deaths of Mama Cass and Dusty Springfield.
Thunderclap Newman passed away recently.
I am still besotted by Jane Birkin who made a good film with Dirk Bogarde who played her papa.
You can see her being interviewed by Russell Harty (YouTube).
Jaycee is right.
DeleteThe Boxer (Simon & Garfunkel) has all the directness of a folk song and the depth of the great black novel Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.
I have always been of the mind that the boxer in the song is a Negro.
Other songs of 69.
On Days Like These. Matt Monro.
Happy Heart. Andy Williams.
"I think I was reading the Bible around that time. That's where I think phrases such as "workman's wages" came from, and "seeking out the poorer quarters". That was biblical. I think the song was about me: everybody's beating me up, and I'm telling you now I'm going to go away if you don't stop." - Paul Simon speaking about "The Boxer"
DeleteI thought the Marvin Gaye one was later, I remember hearing it in the 80s, but I'm in Australia so maybe it took that long to cross the ocean.
DeleteWhat a wonderful list of late 60s tracks! I can recall all of these, and they reinforce my belief that the 60s was a brilliant time for rock and pop music. One of your other commenters was/is a Beatles fan - I always preferred the Rolling Stones though.
DeleteI was really into music then too but only recognize the Elvis song. Hadn't heard those other two. Heard it through the grapevine was a favorite at college and I always was a Beatles fan so any of theirs!
ReplyDeleteSo many great songs in 1969 to choose from.
DeleteAh - back in the days when songs were sung, and you could understand every word!
DeleteWith the exception of your third song on the list - Man of the World, I remember all of those listed by Haggerty - and others!
If you ever get around to watching "Heartbeat" (set in Yorkshire) - many of those songs are background music. Irritatingly often only the first verse or two, but enough to make me start humming!
I remember the Elvis song, such a sad one. Never heard the Fleetwood Mac one and really? Peter Sarstedt? I hated that! Still do.
ReplyDeleteI could sing nearly every word of the songs on Haggerty's list !
ReplyDeleteEven though I was only 1 year old in 1969, I know nearly all the songs listed by you and the other commenters.
ReplyDeleteSon of a Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield is one of my all-time favourites.
I love all kinds of music. At the moment I am into Charles Aznavour believe it or not, lol
ReplyDeleteELO was one of my favourite groups of the past and I do a pretty good job of some of their songs on the old ukelele, lol
I'm still here lurking in the background, things are not easy at home but will resume blogging when I can get my heart back in it.
Briony
x
ELO were, and still are one of my favourites - Queen was the other. I have most of ELO's music from You Tube and saved to My Favourites on my computer.
DeleteElodie Frege & Charles Aznavour: Parlez-moi d'amour.
DeleteYouTube.
The famous 1930 recording by Lucienne Boyer (YouTube) was on the playlist of the film *Henry and June* which examined Henry Miller's Paris years.
A song evoking the terrible 1930s which saw the rise of Fascism, Stalinism and WWII.
*The sad, dishonest decade* as W.H. Auden called it in his poem September 1939.
Elvis might have been messed up but he had such an amazing voice. Love that song.
ReplyDeleteI misquoted Auden. Unforgivable.
ReplyDeleteHe described the Thirties as *the low dishonest decade* referring to the appeasement of Hitler and the apologists of Stalin by fellow travellers.
*September 1, 1939* can be read online.
The poet was in a bar on Fifty-second Street, New York, when the radio announced that Britain was at war with Germany.
Ian Sansom wrote a book on that fateful moment :
*September 1, 1939: W.H. Auden and the Afterlife of a Poem*.