Top Ten Songs of the 1960s

There are top ten lists of Sixties songs everywhere. The same titles often turn up. This list doesn't have "Hey Jude," or "The Twist," or "Sugar Sugar," or any of the other usual suspects. All of these songs have a sound, staying power, or something that allows them to transcend their times and remain vital over forty years later.

"The Touchables" -- Buchanan and Goodman (1960)

Stating in 1956, with "Flying Saucer, Parts 1 and 2," Bill Buchanan and Dickie Goodman had been writing scripts that incorporated snips from current popular songs. Example: "Scarpelli's gun moll, little Annie Tortoni, paid a surprise visit to The Touchables. Two days later . . . " (machine gun sound effects, Bobby Darin sings "they found little Annie all covered with ice . . . "). Theirs are the first chart hits of the top-40 era to use sampling.

"I Know" - Barbara George (1961)

Two minutes and thirty-two seconds of perfect music. It's got everything a great New Orleans song still has: catchy, infectous piano, just enough drums, clever lyrics, and a great cornet solo. The best one ever that Louis Armstrong didn't play.

"Telstar" - The Tornadoes (1962)

Electronica hits the pop charts. Producer Joe Meek created this wash of noise in a homemade studio above a handbag shop in north London. He played things backwards -- listen to the beginning and end of "Telstar" - and favored found sounds (knives and forks as percussion instruments, rhythm tracks augmented by foot stomping on the studio stairs, drummers playing not their drums, but the cases).

"Surfin' Bird" -- The Trashmen (1963)

What a great time to be ten years old, with "Bird" and "Louie Louie" charting and on the radio at the same time. Modern surfabilly traces its origins back to these four guys from the surfing capital of the upper Midwest, Minneapolis. The Ramones covered "Bird" on their Rocket To Russia album, making it an instant classic.

"Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)" -- The Shangrilas (1964)

The first hit from the first grrrl group. Two pairs of sisters from New York City brought a tough streetwise sound to girlpop. While others sang about boys and Saturday night dates, the Shangs took on abandonment ("Remember"), and death and loneliness ("Leader Of The Pack," "I Can Never Go Home Anymore.").

"Cara-Lin" -- The Strangeloves (1965)

The least-known of the Strangeloves' three garage classics. "Night Time" was also great, and Bow Wow Wow loved "I Want Candy." The original version sounds low-fi, but a new recording wouldn't sound out of place on a Raveonettes, Novaks, or Detroit Cobras CD.

"Dedicated Follower Of Fashion" -- The Kinks (1966)

Ray Davies has always been an excellent satirist. At the height of Swinging London, when the fashion world centered on Mary Quant's Carnaby Street dress shop, out came this brilliant bit of social commentary. Add it to your next road trip CD, between Blur's "Parklife" and the Boo Radleys' "Bohemian Like You."

"C'mon Marianne" -- The Four Seasons (1967)

During the British Invasion, the Seasons were America's most popular group that wasn't soul or surf. You can make mashups out of their early hits. But they had that sound that lasts. One of 2005's most successful Broadway musicals, "Jersey Boys," tells the story of the Four Seasons' career.

"By The Time I Get To Phoenix" -- Glen Campbell (1968)

Jim Webb lyrics one can actually figure out. No linemen go looking for overloads, and no cakes are left out in the rain. Writers create memorable stories by using words that paint pictures the reader can easily see and appreciate. "Phoenix" is a novel in the form of a three minute song. Listen for the phrase played after the first line of each verse that uses Impressionism to let the listener see what the woman left behind is doing (waking, working, sleeping). Did anyone else but me notice that?

"The Israelites" - Desmond Dekker and the Aces (1969)

I couldn't understand most of the words, and it definitely didn't sound like anything else on the radio. I loved it. It wasn't until song lyrics sites appeared on the Internet that I found out what they were. But, when radio stations began playing Bob Marley a few years later, I was ready.