Good morning, Kittens and Dawgs! It’s fabulous to see you! Are you ready to groove to some mewsic? Our theme this week is “your choice” but we’re not finicky if you have tunes to share then we’re ready to boogie with you and we invite you step on the dance floor with XmasDolly, Stacy, Colette , and little ole me!
This is a weekly hop for mewsic enthusiasts regardless if you follow our weekly theme or not if you have mewsic to share then we’re ready to dance with you. Otherwise, I ask that you do not link non-mewsic posts below to boost traffic to your site. You’re welcome to leave your URL in comments with a brief description inviting me to check it out. Thank you!
Last month I shared two posts in this series 1960 and 1961-’65. Today, I’m concluding the 60s decade with 8 #1 One-Hit Wonders.
“Winchester Cathedral”, song composure Geoph Stephens formed the British novelty group, New Vaudeville Band, released by Fontana Records October 1966. It climbed to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart on December 3rd. A week later it was replaced with the Beach Boys, “Good Bibrations” rebounding two weeks later to knock The Monkees “I’m a Believer” off.
There were no #1 one-hit wonders in 1967 but the following year cranked out five of them beginning on January 20, 1968 with John Fred and His Playboy Band with “Judy in Disguise” written by John and fellow band member Andrew Bernard. The inspiration came from John’s misinterpretation of the Beatles song, “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” in which he thought the Beatles were singing “Lucy in disguise…”. Let me just say…John wasn’t alone. I thought THIS for YEARS!
“Green Tambourine” was written and composed by Paul Leka and Shelley Pinz. The story behind the song is about a street performer begging for money in turn playing his green tambourine. The Ohio-based group The Lemon Ripers recorded and released this song late 1967 and became the first bubblegum pop song to top the chart February 3, 1968, selling over a million copies and staying at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts for 13-weeks.
I shared the next song “Love Is Blue” in a recent 4M post but I didn’t know until now that Paul Mauriat & His Orchestra song hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart February 10, 1968 and stayed for five weeks nor did I know it was a One-Hit Wonder.
Philemon Hou composed the instrumental “Grazing In the Grass” and recorded by south Africian trumpeter Hugh Maskela in March 1968. Four months later on July 20th the jazz piece spiked the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #1. It coincidentally became the 18th biggest hit of the year. The following year, The Friends of Distinction, recorded a lyrical cover to top the R&B Top Ten charts.
To this day, I swear that I saw Jeannie C. Riley in a southwestern Virginia radio station when I was a little girl. It was about the time the next one-hit wonder “Harper Valley PTA” hit the airwaves when a very pretty, blonde woman wearing a short dress walked passed me. I’m not sure if Riley did that sort of thing or not but I told everyone that I saw her. American country songwriter, Tom T. Hall penned the lyrics to this one-hit wonder which became a global sensation with Jeannie C. Riley’s vocals. Her single sold over six million copies and Riley became the first woman to top the Billboard Hot 100 (Sept. 21, 1968) and US Hot Country Singles (Sept. 28 – Oct. 12) chart with the same song. An achievement not repeated until Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” in 1981.
I thought it interesting that American folk songwriters/singers, Zager & Evan, picked up on Americans’ technology addiction in the 60s. Thinking about such technology now is like remembering when dinosaurs roamed the earth but in their one-hit wonder “In the Year 2525” resonate a certain truth with its lyrics. We are a people doomed by our own hands with our fascination and strong need for more and more technology at our finger tips constantly. In the US, this song topped two charts Billboard Hot 100 (Jul. 12, 1969) for 6-weeks and US Easy Listening Singles (Aug. 16, ’69) for 2-weeks. I didn’t know what the words meant when I was 8 but it certainly filled me with gloomy sense which made me not care a great deal about the song. Hey, I’m a happy person!
“Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” recorded by Steam, a once fictious group, made up by songwriters Paul Leka, Gary DeCarlo and Dale Fraschuer became a Billboard Hot 100 hit on December 6th. This song gained popularity with sport fans after the Chicago White Sox organist played the tune every time a Sox slugger knocked out the opposition pitcher and the chorus is still often chanted today.
This concludes the 60s decade, song selections for these series harvested from Wikipedia. I proudly supported Wikipedia with a small one-time donation to help keep them going. I will continue with this series in November with the 70s and if you’d like to stay connected with the latest mews on Curious as a Cathy, then I invite you to join my email subscription service to get instant notification when I add new posts.
What’s your favorite one-hit wonder from the 60s?
Please tell your friends to join us on the dance floor each week and I’ll see ya around the cyber-block.
I’m joining my pal, Annie, for another edition of “Sparks” and this is what she says about her new meme series…
I believe we are meant to be lights in this world. If we allow our light to shine, we can see where we are going. It is then that we can begin to truly see each other clearly. Together, we can light up the entire world!
Our world needs more light and goodness. A found a quote that’s purrfect, wonderfully encouraging and inspiring that I decided to use on one of my photo-art creations to share my “Sparks” with you!
I shared the original, as well as my Brushstroke creation here with my Skywatch Friday buds. The warmth of the sunlight makes ones troubles melt away with a sense of calm washing over one’s entire soul. Can you feel?
One more thing before I hop off, I’d like to ask y’all to vote in yesterday’s Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree #BoTB showdown. I’m outta here for now, keep those tunes playing and your body swaying. I’ll see you tomorrow for Cathy Chats. 😉
Have a tunetastic day!
