Singing Nuns and Green Tambourines Edition Part 1

Summary

Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
Episode: Singing Nuns and Green Tambourines Edition Part 1
Release Date: March 14, 2025
Host: Chris Melanfi

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Introduction

In the inaugural part of the "Singing Nuns and Green Tambourines Edition," Chris Melanfi delves into the eclectic landscape of 1960s music, challenging the commonly held perceptions of the decade's popular sounds. Through a meticulous examination of Billboard's Hot 100 charts, Melanfi uncovers a decade rich with diverse genres that often get overshadowed by iconic movements like the British Invasion and Motown.

Challenging the Popular Perception of the 1960s

Melanfi begins by juxtaposing the romanticized image of the 1960s with the reality of its chart-topping hits. He asserts, “If you remember the 60s, you really weren't there” (05:53), suggesting that the decade's musical landscape was more varied and nuanced than popularly remembered. Contrary to the fiery protest anthems and rebellious rock tracks often associated with the era, the charts were dominated by a myriad of genres ranging from easy listening to novelty records.

Categories of Forgotten 60s Hits

1. Easy Listening

Definition & Influence:
Easy listening dominated the early to mid-60s, providing a soothing alternative to the burgeoning rock and roll scene. This genre encompassed a blend of pop and country, movie scores, and torch ballads from artists who were favorites among adult listeners.

Notable Artists & Hits:

• Connie Francis: Achieved multiple number ones between 1960 and 1962, becoming the top female vocalist of the decade (24:42).
• Henry Mancini: With classics like “Moon River” from Breakfast at Tiffany's (24:36) and the love theme from Romeo and Juliet (27:49), Mancini exemplified the genre's sophistication.
• Skeeter Davis: Her melodramatic hit “The End of the World” reached number one on the easy listening chart and number two on the Hot 100 in 1963 (28:02).

Cultural Impact:
Despite its prevalence, easy listening has largely faded from collective memory, overshadowed by rock, pop, and soul hits. Melanfi notes, “Easy listening pervaded the whole decade” (28:28), highlighting its significant yet underappreciated role in 60s music.

2. Pre-Rockers / Non-Rockers

Definition & Influence:
This category includes veteran artists and new wave of non-rock-oriented performers who maintained a traditional pop sound amidst the rock revolution.

Notable Artists & Hits:

• Frank Sinatra: Despite disliking rock and roll, Sinatra continued to chart with hits like “My Way” (30:45).
• Dean Martin: Scored hits such as “Everybody Loves Somebody” in 1964, a peak year for Beatlemania (31:48).
• Engelbert Humperdinck: His song “Release Me” famously blocked Beatles’ hits from reaching number one (32:36).

Cultural Impact:
These artists catered to an older demographic, offering a stark contrast to the youthful energy of rock and pop, thereby enriching the 60s musical tapestry.

3. Instrumental Hits

Definition & Influence:
Instrumental tracks were a significant presence on the charts during the early 60s, providing a diverse auditory experience beyond vocal performances.

Notable Artists & Hits:

• The Tornadoes: “Telstar” became one of three instrumentals to hit number one in 1962 (37:01).
• Acker Bilk: “Stranger on the Shore,” a number one hit in 1962, remains a quintessential example (13:59).
• Paul Mauriat: His cover of “Love Is Blue” became a major hit in 1968 (34:59).

Cultural Impact:
The decline of instrumentals began in the 1980s with the rise of corporate radio formats favoring lyrical tracks. Today, instrumentals are primarily confined to dance clubs and stadiums, marking a stark departure from their mainstream 60s prominence.

4. Novelty Records

Definition & Influence:
Novelty songs introduced humor, whimsy, and unconventional themes to the charts, reflecting the playful side of 60s pop culture.

Notable Artists & Hits:

• The Royal Guardsmen: “Snoopy vs. the Red Baron” reached number two in 1967 (41:43).
• Shirley Ellis: “The Name Game” became a beloved number three hit in 1965 (42:16).
• The Singing Nun: “Dominique” by the Singing Nun, an unusual chart-topper from Belgium, marked December 7, 1963, as a notable moment (04:06).

Cultural Impact:
Novelty songs were integral to the 60s pop landscape, offering lighthearted relief during turbulent times. However, their legacy has diminished, now largely preserved through digital platforms like YouTube.

5. Hippie Hits by Trend Hoppers

Definition & Influence:
Late 60s saw the rise of bubblegum pop and trend-hopping bands that capitalized on the hippie movement without embodying its genuine ethos.

Notable Artists & Hits:

• The Lemon Pipers: “Green Tambourine” was a number one hit in 1968 (45:47).
• 1910 Fruit Gum Company: Known for trippy songs like “Simon Says” (45:44).
• Ohio Express: With hits like “Yummy Yummy Yummy” reaching number four in June 1968 (47:18).

Cultural Impact:
While many of these acts have faded into obscurity, a few like “San Francisco” by Scott McKenzie and “I Got You Babe” by Sonny and Cher have endured, capturing the essence of the era's bubblegum pop.

The Role of "Mad Men" in Reviving Forgotten Hits

Melanfi highlights the television show "Mad Men" as a pivotal force in resurrecting obscure 60s tracks. The show's meticulous selection of period-accurate music introduced contemporary audiences to forgotten gems like:

• Acker Bilk's “Stranger on the Shore”
• Jeannie C. Riley’s “Harper Valley PTA”
• Petula Clark’s “I Know a Place” (17:34)

By integrating these songs into its narrative, "Mad Men" not only enhanced the show's authenticity but also curated a rediscovery of the diverse musical landscape of the 1960s.

Conclusion and Tease for Part Two

As Part 1 concludes, Melanfi emphasizes that the 1960s were a complex and multifaceted decade in music, far from the monolithic image often portrayed. He hints at an expansive exploration of even more forgotten hits and categories in Part Two, promising listeners a deeper dive into the rich, yet overlooked, musical tapestry of the 60s.

“The 60s was a phenomenon of the late 60s, not well remembered by 21st century audiences.” (43:38)

Listeners eager to continue this musical journey are encouraged to tune in for the next installment, where Melanfi will explore additional forgotten chart-toppers and their stories.

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Notable Quotes

• Chris Melanfi (05:53): “If you remember the 60s, you really weren't there.”
• Chris Melanfi (28:28): “Easy listening pervaded the whole decade.”
• Chris Melanfi (32:36): “Release Me” by Engelbert Humperdinck blocked the Beatles from hitting number one.
• Chris Melanfi (43:38): “The 60s was a phenomenon of the late 60s, not well remembered by 21st century audiences.”

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Timecodes

• 05:53 - Discussing popular perceptions vs. chart realities of the 60s.
• 24:36 - Henry Mancini’s contribution to easy listening.
• 24:42 - Connie Francis’ dominance in early 60s charts.
• 27:49 - Skeeter Davis’ “The End of the World.”
• 28:02 - Inclusion of Skeeter Davis in "Mad Men."
• 28:28 - Continued prevalence of easy listening.
• 30:45 - Frank Sinatra’s late 60s hits.
• 31:48 - Dean Martin’s 1964 chart success.
• 32:36 - Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Release Me.”
• 34:59 - Transition to instrumental hits.
• 37:01 - The Tornadoes’ “Telstar.”
• 40:45 - The Royal Guardsmen’s “Snoopy vs. the Red Baron.”
• 41:43 - Shirley Ellis’s “The Name Game.”
• 42:16 - "Mad Men" featuring Shirley Ellis’s hit.
• 43:38 - Conclusion on the memory of hippie bubblegum pop.
• 45:44 - Introduction to hippie trend-hopping hits.
• 45:47 - Ohio Express’s “Yummy Yummy Yummy.”
• 47:18 - Longevity and memory of hippie hits.

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Credits

• Host & Writer: Chris Melanfi
• Producer: Kevin Bendis
• Supervising Producer: Joel Meyer
• Slate’s Editor-in-Chief: Hilary Fry

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Stay Tuned:
Don't miss Part Two of this episode, where Chris Melanfi will continue exploring the forgotten and fascinating hits of the 1960s, uncovering stories behind the tunes that shaped a generation yet slipped through the cracks of music history.

Subscribe:
Subscribe to "Hit Parade" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or visit slate.com/hitparadeplus for early-access episodes, bonus content, and more.

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Transcript

[Ann]

You don't wake up dreaming of McDonald's fries. You wake up dreaming of McDonald's hash browns.

[Chris Melanfi]

McDonald's breakfast comes first.

[Kevin Bendis]

Ba da ba ba ba. I was never really a runner. The way I see running is a gift, especially when you have stage four cancer. I'm Ann. I'm running the Boston Marathon presented by bank of America. I run for Dana Farber Cancer Institute to give people like me a chance to thrive in life even with cancer. Join bank of America and helping Anne's cause. Give if you can@b of a.com supportan what would you like the power to do? References to charitable organizations is not endorsement by bank of America Corporation.

[Chris Melanfi]

Copyright 2025 hey There Hit Parade listeners. What you're about to hear is Part one of this episode. Part two will arrive in your podcast feed at the end of the month. Would you like to hear this episode all at once? The day it drops? Sign up for Slate Plus. It supports not only this show, but of Slate's acclaimed journalism and podcasts. Just go to slate.com hitparadeplus you'll get to hear every Hit Parade episode in full the day it Arrives plus Hit Parade the Bridge, our bonus episodes with guest interviews, deeper dives on our episode topics, and pop chart trivia. Once again, to join, that's slate.com hitparadeplus thanks and now please enjoy part one of this hit Parade episode. Welcome to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate magazine about the hits from coast to coast. I'm Chris Melanfi, chart analyst, pop critic and writer of Slate's why is this Song Number one Series on today's show. If you've seen a documentary about or a feature film set in the 1960s, you've probably heard songs like this one. Scott McKenzie's San Francisco Be sure to wear flowers in your hair, a hippie totem of the 1967 Summer of Love centered in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury district.

[Ann]

In the streets of San Francisco.

[Chris Melanfi]

Gentle indeed, San Francisco, the song was a sizable national hit, reaching number four on Billboard's Hot 100 in that summer of 67. And so were several other groovy 67 hits, like the Jefferson Airplane's stoner anthem White Rabbit, a number eight Summer of Love hit, One pill makes you larger.

[Ann]

And one pill makes you small, and the ones that mother gives you.

[Chris Melanfi]

British art rock band Prokil Harem's blissed out soulful neoclassical reverie, A Whiter Shade of pale, a number five hit in the summer of 67 so it was.

[Ann]

A lady.

[Chris Melanfi]

And on the R B side, the romantic Strivers anthem Ain't no Mountain High Enough by the immortal Motown duo of Marvin Gaye and Tammy terrell. A number 19 pop hit in the summer of 67.

[Ann]

Oh baby, there ain't no mountain high enough Ain't no valley low enough, ain't no river.

[Chris Melanfi]

All of these artists are either in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame or closely associated with the iconography of the Summer of Love movement. But none of these hits did as well that summer as a perky sunshine pop jam called Windy by the Association. Um, yes, the Association. A six man harmony vocal group from Los Angeles. They spent four weeks nearly the entire month of July ATOP the Hot 100. Their perky cheeky hit, not their first number one by the way, dominated the Summer of Love over songs that are far better remembered from that period.

[Ann]

Everyone knows it's Windy and Wendy has stormy eyes.

[Chris Melanfi]

This is the story of the music of the 1960s. Contrary to reputation, the decade was much frillier and campier than many remember. As the oft repeated saying goes, if you remember the 60s, you really weren't there. But it's actually more nuanced than that. The way the 60s has been remembered is often a little off. A study of the charts reveals a very different image of that peak baby boomer decade. The popular perception is that the 60s sounded like this.

[Ann]

Then you better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone. Or the times are changing.

[Chris Melanfi]

Or this.

[Ann]

If you look closer, it's easy to chase the tracks of my tears.

[Chris Melanfi]

Or this. When in reality on the radio and hence on Billboard's charts, the 60s sounded more like this.

[Ann]

I sign the sway Roses are red, my love, her violets are blue.

[Chris Melanfi]

Or this, I'm Henry the Eighth, I.

[Ann]

Am Henry viii, I am, I am, I got married to the widow next door, she's been married seven times before. Or this, you made me so very happy, I'm so glad you.

[Chris Melanfi]

These forgotten 60s hits paint quite a different picture of the decade as it was actually lived. The boomers who made the 60s what they were tell us they were changing the world. But much of the time they were just throwing a really far out party. Today on Hit Parade, we'll take a groovy road trip through the most overanalyzed decade of American cultural history and revel in the frippery, the fleeting hitmakers, the filler that frequently topped the charts. Sure, it was the decade of the British Invasion, Motown, surf rock and psychedelia. But it was also the decade of dance crazes, teen fads and the just plain bizarre hits that pacified the populace in a turbulent time. Like the moment when, just after the sudden death of our 35th president, America took refuge in an acoustic pop song in French credited to a Belgian woman in a holy sister's hab. And that's where your hit parade marches today, the week ending December 7, 1963, when Dominique by the Singing Nun reach number one on Billboard's Hot 100. It's one of the 1960s oddest chart toppers, but it's certainly not alone among fleeting blockbusters that have fallen, by the way, six decades later, what do these forgotten 60s smashes tell us about the way we lived then? Which ones deserve to be rescued from the dustbin of boomer history? And were the 60s really all that great? Short answer they were, but also strange. So join us in our avocado colored kitchen as we stir up some neglected bops from a very kitschy decade. Stick around. This episode is brought to you by Defender for those who embrace the impossible, the Defender 110 is ready for the adventure. This vehicle has been reimagined with modern design for a new generation of explorers. With a striking exterior that boasts compelling proportions and Precise detailing, the Defender 110 masterfully combines style with capability. The Defender is built with a durable, lightweight monocoque architecture to provide extra strength for your next great adventure, and its tough, rigid body design exudes confidence, so when you're behind the wheel, you will too. Engineered to meet challenges head on and tested to the extreme, the Defender empowers you to explore with confidence and embrace the impossible whether you're off road or on ready for a wide range of adventures. The Defender family also features the two door Defender 90, the Defender 110, and the Defender 130, which seats up to eight. A vehicle made to go further, the Defender 110. Learn more at land roverusa.com defender this podcast is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Shifting a little money here, a little there, and hoping it all works out well? With the name your price tool from Progressive, you can be a better budgeter and potentially lower your insurance bill too. You tell Progressive what you want to pay for car insurance and they'll help find you options within your budget. Try it [e-mail] progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law not available in all states ever since December 202024 right after we put out our Hit Parade episode on the history of hit songs spawned by advertising I've been immersed in a full start to finish rewatch of Mad Men, the television show about a fictional ad agency in the 1960s. The show finished its seven season run almost exactly 10 years ago in May of 2015. There was a lot of great music in Mad Men, including its memorable theme song as well as its score by veteran film and TV composer David Carbonara. But as a chart historian, what really thrilled me about the show was its use of period accurate 1960s pop songs like this 1962 number one hit, British clarinetist Mr. Acker Bilk with his smash instrumental Stranger on the Shore. This ditty played in the background of several Mad Men episodes, the kind of oral wallpaper that 60s Americans would have found familiar, but 21st century TV audiences wouldn't know at all. Stranger on the Shore was America's number one song of 1962, but it's rarely heard today. Well, everywhere except on Hit Parade. We've included this proto British Invasion ditty in several episodes. This podcast, Mad Men, was full of forgotten 60s hits like this. A few seasons later, as the show's antihero Don Draper walks into a 1968 house party with his fellow admin Playing on the stereo is the shady, sassy 1968 hit Harper Valley PTA by Jeannie C. Reilly.

[Ann]

I can still recall the words she had to say. She said, I'd like to address this meeting off the Harper Valley pta.

[Chris Melanfi]

Mad Men showrunner Matthew Weiner was a notorious stickler for details, and he and his music supervisors were careful to use songs that were not only period accurate but also not too obvious. They mostly avoided songs that signpost the 60s the way it's been presented in other media, like for example, this cheesy network TV miniseries from a quarter century ago. NBC presents the movie event of a generation.

[Ann]

I'm going to Vietnam.

[Kevin Bendis]

Do you really think they want to see black men free?

[Chris Melanfi]

The decade that moved us shook us.

[Ann]

I want his name now.

[Chris Melanfi]

Or this well meaning PBS pledge drive perennial from about a decade ago featuring folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Join us for 50 years with Peter, Paul and Mary.

[Ann]

If I had a hammer, I'd have her in the morning.

[Chris Melanfi]

It's an anniversary special featuring America's favorite.

[Ann]

Folk group, the Answer my Friend, singing.

[Chris Melanfi]

The songs that changed history and became the soundtrack of our lives right up through this CNN documentary on the 60s from about half a decade ago.

[Ann]

Turn on, tune in, drop out.

[Chris Melanfi]

And as for the movies, the less said about the 1994 Best Picture Oscar winner and Boomer Hagiography Forrest Gump the better.

[Ann]

I got to see a lot of the countryside. We would take these real long walks.

[Chris Melanfi]

Mind you, all of the songs you just heard in those TV and film clips by the Jefferson Airplane, Peter Paul and Mary the Birds and Jimi Hendrix, respectively, were top 20 hits on the Hot 100. But none of them was as big a hit as those songs by Acker Bilk or Jeannie C. Reilly or, say, Petula Clark's I Know a Place, a now rarely heard 1965 number three hit, which was also featured on Mad Men.

[Ann]

I am like the More Wisdom Ten.

[Chris Melanfi]

Years ago, as Mad Men was winding up its run, I wrote an article for NPR Music celebrating the show's music and dissecting the song selections Weiner's team chose. You can think of this Hit Parade episode, therefore, as an expansion of that article, in which I argued not only that Mad men got the 60s mostly right, at least according to the charts I wasn't alive then, but also that it was a much quirkier decade on the Hit Parade than we remember today. Mind you, the 60s were was no more or less quirky than any other decade of pop. There are always random left field or forgotten chart toppers. The 70s, for instance, gave us such number ones as the Streak, the Morning after, the disco version of the Star wars theme, and even Chuck Berry's legendarily awful My Ding a Ling. Seriously, a live, sniggering double entendre of a song. This was a number one hit for the father of rock and roll, but.

[Ann]

Held on to mon dingling.

[Chris Melanfi]

And this randomness persists to the present day. The 2000 and twenties have given us fleeting chart toppers with titles like Trolls, Permission to Dance, Rich Men north of Richmond, and From Drake and sza Slime you out. This one will not go down as either artist's greatest hit.

[Ann]

Slime youe Out, Slime youe Out, Slime you Out.

[Kevin Bendis]

Damn.

[Chris Melanfi]

So, yeah, all decades have their share of forgettable smashes, but the 60s wasn't just any decade.

[Ann]

I think it's time we stop, children. What's that sound everybody loves?

[Chris Melanfi]

It's iconic in the history of American culture and the history of rock, soul and pop. It's been lionized by the baby boomers who lived through it and by generations of rock fans, even those who weren't alive then. The popular image of the 60s is one of fiery protest and social unrest, but by and large, that's not how the decade turned out on the charts. A Lot of Schlock topped the Hot 100 in the 60s.

[Ann]

And honey, I miss you and I'm Being good.

[Chris Melanfi]

Moreover, songs that are now regarded as 60s totems, celebrated songs that are rightly praised, underperformed on the charts from A Change is Gonna Come, which, as we noted in our Sam Cooke episode of Hit Parade, only made it as far as number 31 in 1965.

[Ann]

It's been a long, a long time coming But I know a chain's gonna.

[Chris Melanfi]

Come to to the who's My Generation? A number 74 hit in 1966 to Purple Haze, which, whether Jimi Hendrix kissed the sky or kissed this guy, topped out at number 65 in 1967. Now you might protest, what about the Beatles and Motown? Sure, a lot of the 1960s great musical reputation rests on the output of the Fab Four and their British Invasion peers.

[Ann]

She's got a Ticket to Ride, she's.

[Chris Melanfi]

Got a ticket to Ride and on Berry Gordy's genius assembly line of Detroit R B turned national pop classics. But the Beatles only accounted for 18 of the decade's 204 number one hits on the Hot 100. Motown, including its subsidiary labels, accounted for 20 of those number ones. That left plenty of weeks for the 60s charts to be topped by the likes of Mr. Ackerbilk or Bobby Goldsboro or the Archies.

[Ann]

Sugar, oh, honey, honey, you are my.

[Chris Melanfi]

Candy girl and hey, your mileage may vary. I happen to love Sugar, Sugar. But I still contend that the 60s is the most misaligned decade. Between its fiery reputation and its kitschy reality, at least the Archies get some airplay. Today. There are whole categories of 60s hits that are ignored by oldies, radio and cultural memory. Memory in the modern era. So let's walk through some of those categories of hits to identify why they fell by the wayside. The first forgotten 60s hit category is easy listing. In July of 1961, Billboard magazine launched its first easy listening chart to track a popular radio format that mollified older listeners and those of any age who were just alienated by rock and roll. Within the first year of this new chart, crooner Jack Jones peaked just outside of the Easy listening top 10 with his gentle standard Roses and Lollipops, a song that Mad Men aptly employed in its second season. Set in 1962, it starts 14 or.

[Ann]

40 their kids in their heart.

[Chris Melanfi]

Over the next decade and a half, this mellow music chart went by various names. For a few years in the mid-60s, it had the strange, almost sheepish title Middle Road singles. But for most of the 60s and 70s it was easy listening, until finally in 1979, the chart converted to the name by which we know this radio format today, Adult contemporary. So soft radio music designed to waft in the background has been with us a long time. But in the 60s, especially the early 60s, easy listening was a chart juggernaut. Sometimes easy listening music was just pop crossed with country, as on the multiple number ones by Connie Francis, who topped the hot 103 times between 1960 and 62. Connie Francis was the top female vocalist on the charts from the late 50s through the mid-60s, and even if you ranked her just among 60s acts, she places eighth for the whole decade among all artists, according to chart historian Joel Whitmer, sandwiched between the Beach Boys and James Brown. Sometimes easy listening was movie music, as in the classics from Oscar winning composer Henry Mancini. He topped the easy listening chart in 1961 with his Breakfast at Tiffany's song Moon River. And eight years later, at the end of the decade, Henry Mancini topped both the easy listening chart and the Hot 100 with the love theme from Romeo and Juliet. And sometimes easy listening hits even came from teen idols and youthful icons. The airwaves were taken with torch ballads from the likes of Brenda Lee, Ricky Nelson, Gene Pitney or skeeter Davis. The 21 year old Davis took her melodramatic classic the End of the world to number one on the easy listening chart and number two on the Hot 100 in 1963.

[Ann]

Why do the stars glow above? Don't they? I know it's the end of the world.

[Chris Melanfi]

Mad Men, in another period Accurate Move, prominently featured the Skeeter Davis song in an early episode. But in later seasons the show reminded viewers that easy listening pervaded the whole decade. A party scene from the show's last season prominently featured Blood, Sweat and tears. You've made me so very happy I'm.

[Ann]

About to lose my mind. You made me so very happy I'm.

[Chris Melanfi]

So glad you came in the schmaltzy rock adjacent Blood, Sweat and Tears dominated the charts in 1969. Happy was one of three number two hits from BST's self titled 1969 album, which topped the album chart and even won that year's Album of the Year Grammy Award. Yet you won't hear this easy listening group mentioned in most remembrances of the late 60s. So is easy listening still with us by another name? Of course it is. Turn on Light fm or whatever your local adult contemporary station is called, and within an hour you'll probably be greeted by mellow hits like Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga's recent smash die with a smile. But the 60s version of Easy listening was overtaken in our collective memory by more youthful rock, pop and soul hits. Even though Connie Francis was less than 30 years old when she scored all of her big hits, her material came to seem wise beyond her years, to her credit, and to a fault. While I'm on the subject of music enjoyed by adults in the 60s, adults like the characters on Mad Men who by the way, were all born before the baby boom and mostly disdained rock and roll, a related forgotten 60s hit category was the pre rockers or non rockers, like this graying hitmaker much more.

[Ann]

Than this I Did It My Way.

[Chris Melanfi]

Frank Sinatra, who hated rock and roll, was 53 in 1969 when he scored his final top 30 pop hit with his cover of Paul Anka's My Way. Sinatra had never really gone away throughout the 60s 60s. We'll touch on his number one hits later. But Sinatra was not alone. Several of his Rat Pack peers were still scoring hits in the 60s with songs that sounded like rock had never happened. Dean Martin topped the Hot 100 in 1964, the year of peak Beatlemania, with Everybody Loves Somebody, Everybody Loves Somebody.

[Ann]

Falls in Love Somehow.

[Chris Melanfi]

And it wasn't just the old guard. There were post rock hit makers in the 60s who didn't always rock, like Wayne Newton, Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. Humperdinck's Release Me was a number four hit in America in 1967 and in the UK, infamously, Humperdinck's song was a number one that blocked the Beatles, Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields forever from hitting the top.

[Ann]

Release Me and Let Me Love Again.

[Chris Melanfi]

Also not exactly rocking in the mid-60s, was a new wave of Latin flavored Anglo hit makers, not all of whom were actually Latin. As we've discussed on several prior Hit Parade episodes, Herb Alpert, a young Jewish man from Los Angeles, recorded his trumpet playing under the group name the Tijuana Brass. Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass recorded a string of smash albums, five of which went to number one on the Billboard LP chart more than any 60s act except the Beatles or Brazilian band leader Sergio Mendez. The bossa nova flavored pop that he recorded with his band Brazil 66 was closer to jazz than rock, like his cover of the Burt Bacharach Hal David cocktail classic the look of Love, fronted by vocalist Janice Hansen, which hit the top five in 1968. Though jazzy standards like these would never fully disappear. Today, arrangements like these are typically heard around Christmas. Even a younger, modern crooner like, say, Michael Buble does best with his holiday hits.

[Ann]

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

[Chris Melanfi]

As for the old standards like Sinatra's My Way to Us in the 21st century, they are time capsules of another era of sophisticated pop. It doesn't jive with our cultural impression of the 60s.

[Kevin Bendis]

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[Chris Melanfi]

Warbyparker.Com a third category of hit that crushed in the 60s but is virtually gone now is one we covered in full in an earlier episode of Hit Parade. The instrumental wordless hits were huge back then. The Tornadoes Telstar, a bizarre surf rocker named after a NASA communications satellite, played on a pro protosynthesizer called a Clavioline and produced by the eccentric British musician Joe Meek, was one of three instrumentals to hit number one on the Hot 100 in 1962 alone. The other two were the aforementioned Stranger on the Shore and David Rose's Body the Stripper. Back then, you really could make an instrumental hit about anything. Top 40 radio was more eclectic in the 60s, and instrumentals served as a side dish to the big hits by crooners, teen idols and rock and roll combos. Mad Men celebrated the instrumentals. A half dozen of these lyric free hits were sprinkled throughout its episodes, including the Theme from A Summer Place, Telstar and when the show arrived at the late 60s, Paul Marriott's harpsichord inflected cover of the French song Love Is Blue, one of the biggest hits of 1968. So why are instrumentals such a time capsule? As I chronicled in our prior Hit Parade episode, the instrumental began to tail off on the charts in the 1980s as radio grew more corporate and playlists were driven by programmers and advertisers who wanted songs that couldn't be mistaken for jingles. The instrumental remains relatively rare on pop radio to this day. Nowadays you're much likelier to hear a wordless jam in a dance club or a stadium. And you're also likelier to hear instrumentals from decades past than anything contemporary. Many 60s instrumentals, like this Quincy Jones classic soul bossa nova, were also kitschy, even bordering on tongue in cheek. Which brings up a fourth category of forgotten 60s hit novelty records.

[Ann]

Hello Mother, hello Father. Here I am at Camp Granada. Camp is very entertaining.

[Chris Melanfi]

The decade was positively packed with silly spirits singles, comedy records, instructional dance crazes, British Invasion records that sounded like novelties.

[Ann]

I got married to the widow next.

[Chris Melanfi]

Even songs about comic strips or cartoons. I mentioned the Archies earlier, and this bit of whimsy about Snoopy the beagle from Charles Schulz's Peanuts comic strip was a number two hit for the Royal Guardsman in 1967.

[Ann]

With a big black nose, he flew to the sky to seek revenge, but the Baron shot him down.

[Chris Melanfi]

Forget our modern age of social media and TikTok memes. The 60s was the era of shitposting songs on the charts.

[Ann]

They're coming to take me away Haha they're coming to take me away Ho ho to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time and I'll be happy to see those nice young.

[Chris Melanfi]

Men Mad Men captures even this aspect of the decade, as when Don Draper and his kids stop by a diner in 1965 and hear Shirley Ellis's playful novelty hit the name game, a number three hit that year. We're now long past the age where purely whimsical singles make the top 10, unless you count the funniest tracks by Kendrick Lamar or Sabrina Carpenter, and they're more snarky than silly.

[Ann]

But the ceiling fan is so nice and we could live so happily if no one knows that you're with me I'm just kidding.

[Leon Nayfawk]

Really?

[Chris Melanfi]

Really. To be sure, novelty songs do live on in our culture, but they are now largely relegated to YouTube. Even Weird Al Yankovic only releases his singles to the interwebs now.

[Ann]

I'm that bad type make your mom a sad type make your girlfriend mad type Might seduce your dad type I'm the bad guy.

[Chris Melanfi]

But back in the 60s, novelty songs were part of a well balanced pop diet. Okay, so so I've recapped the 60s categories of easy listening, pre rock instrumentals and novelty hits. But let's be fair, there were trendy, trippy, plugged in and turned on hits on the charts in the 60s, weren't there? Sure, I've mentioned hits by the Jefferson Airplane, the Buffalo Springfield and Proko Harem. These are the fiery hits that live on as symbolic 60s these totems. But any fad or fashion can be co opted by the mainstream. And that brings up one last forgotten 60s pop category. Hippie Hits by Trend Hoppers welcome back to the age of groovy Bubblegum green tambourine. The Lemon Piper's toothless version of psychedelia was a number one hit in 1968. The five man Ohio band never came close to the top 40 again. By the late 60s it seemed that scoring a hippie hit was quite literally child's play. A New Jersey group who called themselves the 1910 Fruit Gum Company cracked the top 10 with trippy songs about kids games like 1, 2, 3, Red Light and I kid you not, Simon says.

[Ann]

Do it when Simon says.

[Chris Melanfi]

Some of the same musicians who spawned 1910 Fruit Gum Company also concocted a made up band called the Ohio Express. The band members, the group didn't really have a permanent lineup, were photographed wearing modish hippie suits and ties, but their music was pure bubble gum. Their biggest hit, a number four in June of 1968, was literally called Yummy Yummy Yummy. Mind you, some trend hopping hippie hits have turned out to be classics. Sonny and Cher's I Got yout Babe, which reached number one in the summer of 65, was one of the first big pop hits to explicitly address the generation gap. Even though Sonny Bono was already over 30 years old when it was recorded and the record was mostly played by polished LA studio musicians, not hippie freaks, Cher was the only actual baby boomer performing on I Got yout Babe.

[Ann]

I got you babe.

[Chris Melanfi]

It must also be said that the song we led off this hit parade episode with Scott McKenzie's San Francisco be sure to wear flowers in your hair was itself a bandwagon jumper, not exactly an organic product of the summer of love. It was written by the Mamas and the Papas John Phillips at the behest of producer Lou Adler to help promote the 1967 concert they were organizing, the Monterey Pop Festival.

[Ann]

If you're going into San Francisco, be sure to.

[Chris Melanfi]

Basically the single was a good hearted advertisement for the festival and by extension the song's titular city. But Scott McKenzie's heartfelt vocals turned it into a genuine anthem. So San Francisco and I Got yout Babe are trend hopping hippie hits that have endured. I Got yout Babe was also featured in an episode of Mad men. Occasionally, Matthew Weiner's show would showcase a major, more indelible 60s hit. But by and large, hippie bubblegum pop was a phenomenon of the late 60s, not well remembered by 21st century audiences. Nowadays, trippy hippie music tends to come from the jam band scene, not pop radio, and bubblegum pop tends to be closer to electronic club music, like this Justin Bieber single, a number two hit in 2020 whose title was coincidentally Yummy. But talk to any boomer who was a teen tween or younger in the late 60s and they will express genuine affection for their era of bubblegum. And why not all generations get the pop they deserve. So far we've played you just some of the forgotten 60s hits that were revived by Mad Men or that fit into these broader categories of disregarded pop that I've identified. But across that heady decade, there were some even bigger chart toppers that deserve resurrection, either as neglected classics or bizarre curios. And in the second part of our show. We'll take a spin through a couple dozen of them when we come back. We go year by year through the 1960s, looking past the British Invasion and Motown classics to relive the unheralded decade in pop. I'll warn you, some of these hits may smell like brill cream or patchouli, but I promise they will, as one hit puts it, turn you on, tune you in, and turn your eyes around. Non Slate plus listeners will hear the rest of this episode in two weeks. For now, I hope you've been enjoying this episode of Hit Parade. Our show was written, edited and narrated by Chris Melanfi. That's me. My producer is Kevin Bendis, our supervising producer is Joel Meyer, and Slate's editor in chief is Hilary Fry. Check out Slate Slate's roster of [e-mail] podcasts. You can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you get your podcasts, in addition to finding it in the Slate Culture feed. If you're subscribing on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find the show. Thanks for listening and I look forward to leading the Hit Parade back your way. We'll see you for Part two in a couple of weeks. Until then, keep on marching on the one I'm Chris Melanfi.

[Unknown]

I'm Leon Nayfawk, and I'm the host of Slow Burn Watergate. Before I started working on this show, everything I knew about Watergate came from the movie all the President's Men. Do you remember how it ends? Woodward and Bernstein are sitting at their typewriters, clacking away. And then there's this rapid montage of newspaper stories about campaign aides and White House officials getting convicted of crimes. About audio tapes coming out that prove Nixon's involvement in the coverup. The last story we see is Nixon resigns. It takes a little over a minute in the movie. In real life, it took about two years.

[Ann]

Five men were arrested early Saturday while trying to install eavesdropping equipment.

[Chris Melanfi]

It's known as the Watergate Incident.

[Unknown]

What was it like to experience those two years in real time? What were people thinking and feeling as the break in at Democratic Party headquarters went from a weird little caper to a constitutional crisis that brought down the President. The downfall of Richard Nixon was stranger, wilder, and more exciting than you can imagine. Over the course of eight episodes, this show is going to capture what it was like to live through the greatest political scandal of the 20th century. With today's headlines once again full of corruption collusion and dirty tricks. It's time for another look at the gate that started it all. Subscribe to Slow Burn now. Wherever you get your podcasts.