To celebrate my baby girl's 4th birthday today, we're posting some of her favorite songs this year. Before you leave this page and think "oh brother...," Zoe has impressive taste in music, which all you '60s fans will surely approve. Yes, that's my girl listening to The Zombies' Odessey And Oracle album on our turntable. She requested it, so I had to document the evidence, of course! While she still enjoys the songs that were in her birthday feature last year (here), here are the newest ones in her playlist.
Before I even knew what "the birds and the bees" really meant, I loved to sing along to this Jewel Akens' song. Now it cracks me up to see Zoe enjoying the same catchy tune. Reminiscent of 1950s honky tonk-style hits (like Fats Domino's "Blueberry Hill"), this international hit was released in 1964 and reached #2 on the US Cash Box singles chart and #3 on the Billboard chart. Although considered a one-hit wonder, Akens did have other minor hits and even toured with The Monkees. He just passed away this past March at the age of 79. Here's a classic TV performance of "The Birds & the Bees."
It's not surprising that my daughter loves one of the most influential records in pop music history, but her favorite selection from The Beach Boys' 1966 Pet Sounds is not one of the popular ones. Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love with Brian as the producer, "I'm Waiting for the Day" is considered art rock and is very experimental as a combination of an orchestral ballad and a modern rock song. Using our beloved "Wrecking Crew" studio musicians, this positive song features a very exciting instrumentation such as timpani, bongos, strings, flute, English horn, ukelele, organ, bass, and drums. Nothing like driving in your car and hearing your child singing all the lyrics.
Here's another surprising tune from Zoe's playlist: Harry Nilsson's "Mr. Tinker." While his 1968 album Aerial Ballet includes great songs like "Everybody's Talkin'" (a huge hit in '69) and "One" (later covered by Three Dog Night), my daughter is drawn to this beautiful and melancholy number. The arrangement and instrumentation is excellent and so moving as the lyrics tell a story of Mr. Tinker the tailor. Nilsson is such a unique songwriter and I love his variety; even cooler that my kid enjoys the deep tracks like this. And we're in good company: he was the favorite artist of The Beatles!
I guess I must play quite a bit of '60s Baroque Pop around the house because Zoe has caught on to
how great it is! While she does love the well-known "Walk Away Renee"
by The Left Banke, she really enjoys their second hit single, "Pretty
Ballerina." Released in December of 1966 and reaching #15 on the Billboard
chart, this haunting tune is not your typical pop song of the era, featuring
beautiful string/oboe accompaniment and the soaring vocals of Steve Martin
(Caro). Definitely an under-rated band!
While it's appropriate that my kid has a
Bubblegum pop tune amongst her favorites, I think the underlying reason she
loves this song may be due to the fact that she thinks it's about a large,
furry Star Wars character of the same name. In March of 1969, Ohio Express's
"Chewy Chewy"became their second million seller and reached #15 in
the US, #6 in Australia, and #2 in Canada. While Ohio Express was a studio
creation by Super K Productions, they had their biggest success during this time
with singer Joey Levine, however, the touring group included a completely
different of musicians. Nothing like a little Bubblegum to get the happy juices flowing.
This next gem comes from the wonderful 1968 album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. A collection of thematic vignettes of English town and hamlet life, written by The Kinks' own Ray Davies, "Animal Farm" is wonderful, 'pastoral escape' that makes excellent use of the Mellotron, simulating string and woodwind backing tracks. Although the record is widely considered one of the most influential and
important works by the Kinks, it failed to chart upon release, and only
sold about 100,000 copies; it was released November 22, 1968, the same day The Beatles released their White Album. Now this Kinks album is ranked amongst Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Another under-rated album now in that list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, The Zombies' Odessey and Oracle definitely caught my daughter's attention but with the most unexpected song. Recorded at Abbey Road Studio in 1967, "Beechwood Park" has a smooth groove complete with a mellow guitar intro, dreamy lyrics, and the breathy vocals of the talented Colin Blunstone. Although one of the biggest songs of the '60s came from this album ("Time of the Season"), Zoe is fascinated by this extraordinary beauty by my beloved Zombies.
And seriously, what kid wouldn't like a song about an octopus's garden? From The Beatles' last recorded album, Abbey Road, released in 1969, "Octopus's Garden" was drummer Ringo Starr's most successful songwriting effort, and was inspired by a trip to Sardinia aboard Peter Sellers' yacht (yes, the hilarious British actor, long story). I still have my parents' original Abbey Road album and now course, the love of this childhood favorite of mine has been passed down in the family.
Zoe has a dear friend named Caroline, so as soon as she caught the lyrics of this Neil Diamond classic, she requested to hear "Sweet Caroline" every time we drove in the car (where we do most of our music-listening). Released in September of 1969, this soft rock song reached #4 on the Billboard chart and eventually went platinum for sales of one million singles. In recent years, Diamond revealed that he was inspired by a picture of President JFK's daughter, Caroline, riding a horse as a young child. In recent years, the song has become popular at sporting events, especially at the Boston Red Sox home games.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An American orchestra leader and film composer, Hugo Montenegro is best known for his interpretations of the music from Spaghetti westerns, especially the cover version of the main theme from the 1966 film The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Originally composed by Ennio Morricone, Montenegro's version was his biggest pop hit in 1968, reaching #2 on the Billboard chart, #3 in Canada, and four weeks at #1 in the UK. Zoe loves this song, especially the whistling, and refers to it as "the cowboy song." This was also a favorite of my dad's, and our family had a joke about the lyrics, or what I suppose are lyrics. We called this song "Egg roll," because it sounded like a bunch of cowboys attempting to talk while eating a hot egg-roll. Seriously, what are they saying/grunting? Here's one of the most iconic scores in film history with clips from the classic movie.
While Zoe does enjoy The Temptations' "My Girl," she is even more interested in the lesser-known cover version of the same song by The Mamas & The Papas. Originally written by Smokey Robinson and Ronald White, this tender interpretation was first heard on the group's 1967 album Deliver, and was later released as the B-side of "Do You Wanna Dance" in 1968, although it charted rather poorly. With a new, ascending vocal intro, this version is a textbook-example of The Mamas & The Papas' harmonious sound that can surely put a smile on anyone's face. Gotta love my kiddo's variety!
Bubblegum: Part 1
Appealing to pre-teens and teenagers, Bubblegum Pop was basically a studio creation of anti-hippie music in 1960s featuring short, catchy, and upbeat jingles. While (some critics say) bubblegum influenced the punk rock genre of the late '70s and is still a label for pop artists today, the classic era of bubblegum peaked from 1967 through 1972. Sharing the same overriding simplicity with garage rock acts of the time, the genre was mostly a 'singles' phenomenon, created on the assumption that teenagers were more likely to afford singles rather than a whole album. If you think you know bubblegum and would rather check out for the next month, please stick around; it may become a secret guilty pleasure.
American pop music singer-songwriter Tommy Roe possibly had the most bubblegum hits during that era. After gaining international fame with the #1 hit "Sheila" in 1962 (his first single), Roe continued to release several Top-10 hits throughout the decade. In 1969, earned his third gold disc award with his transatlantic chart-topper "Dizzy," which reached #1 in the US, UK, and Canada. Released that February, this worldwide hit sold over two million copies by mid-April. Written by Roe with Freddy Weller, "Dizzy" is known for its multiple key changes (eleven total!), giving it a dizzying effect (well, at least, for the musicians playing it). A featured performance on a short-lived TV series called The Music Scene, here's some groovy, bubblegum goodness.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mainly active from 1967 through 1970, Ohio Express was a manufactured, musical recording unit created by Super K Productions and its head producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffrey Katz (who coined the term 'bubblegum music'). Using several different musicians and acts to release their music (as well as a separate touring group), their best known songs were recorded by studio musicians out of New York. In 1968, this musical "concoction" finally had a breakthrough with the international hit "Yummy Yummy Yummy," reaching #4 in the US, #5 in the UK, #7 in Australia, and #1 in Canada. Two months after its release, it sold over one million copies and was granted a gold disc in June of 1968. However, in later years, the song has become more of a cheesy staple, listed as #8 of the top 10 songs with silly lyrics (in Time Magazine, 2011).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Originating in New Jersey in 1965, Jeckell & the Hydes joined the Super K Production team in '67 and were renamed 1910 Fruitgum Company (apparently guitarist Frank Jeckell came up with the name after finding a candy wrapper in his attic). After their first successful single of "Simon Says," they went on to have a string of bubblegum hits including "1, 2, 3, Red Light" in 1968. Charting the highest in Canada hitting #1, it also reaching #5 in the US, #3 in New Zealand, and #7 in Australia, earning a gold disc in September. The group also toured in the late '60s, opening for major bands like The Beach Boys. The group disbanded by 1969, but their signature bubblegum sound continues to bring back memories for those youngsters of the era.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first song to be credited as a bubblegum chart-topper was actually by a psychedelic pop band from Ohio, The Lemon Pipers. Joining Buddah Records (the same label as Ohio Express and 1910 Fruitgum Company) in 1967, this rock group changed their sound in order to keep their job with the label, thus releasing "Green Tambourine" at the end of that year and hitting #1 in the US by February 1968. With the worldwide success of this psychedelic bubblegum song (already featured way back during Psychedelic Week), the band felt pressured to by the label stay in the bubblegum genre, dubbing their songs "funny-money music." From their second album in 1968, they released another psychedelic bubblegum single "Jelly Jungle (Of Orange Marmalade)," which only managed #51 on the charts, although it used similar studio effects like "Green Tambourine," including the tape echo (audio delay) applied to the end of the word "marmalade." It's actually pretty cool stuff, but unfortunately, the band left the record label in 1969 and later dissolved. Here's a clip of a promo video featuring the fascinating "Jelly Jungle."
Check back next week for more unwrapping of classic Bubblegum Pop!
And seriously, what kid wouldn't like a song about an octopus's garden? From The Beatles' last recorded album, Abbey Road, released in 1969, "Octopus's Garden" was drummer Ringo Starr's most successful songwriting effort, and was inspired by a trip to Sardinia aboard Peter Sellers' yacht (yes, the hilarious British actor, long story). I still have my parents' original Abbey Road album and now course, the love of this childhood favorite of mine has been passed down in the family. 
An American orchestra leader and film composer, Hugo Montenegro is best known for his interpretations of the music from Spaghetti westerns, especially the cover version of the main theme from the 1966 film The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Originally composed by Ennio Morricone, Montenegro's version was his biggest pop hit in 1968, reaching #2 on the Billboard chart, #3 in Canada, and four weeks at #1 in the UK. Zoe loves this song, especially the whistling, and refers to it as "the cowboy song." This was also a favorite of my dad's, and our family had a joke about the lyrics, or what I suppose are lyrics. We called this song "Egg roll," because it sounded like a bunch of cowboys attempting to talk while eating a hot egg-roll. Seriously, what are they saying/grunting? Here's one of the most iconic scores in film history with clips from the classic movie. 
