Tag: 1960s

Dusty Springfield | Just One Smile

“Despite its status as a classic record, Dusty in Memphis (1969) had less than auspicious beginnings,” (BBC). “By 1968, Springfield had scored a string of chart successes with what she called ‘big ballady things’ and her decision to make an album in Memphis, home of hard edged R’n’B grooves, was viewed with puzzlement by many.” The distance from Springfield’s native UK to Memphis was large, both in miles and in sonic difference.

“Teaming up with the crack production/arrangement team of Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin (responsible for Aretha Franklin’s Atlantic classics) also proved a bit much initially for Springfield, whose confidence in her vocal abilities was never very high … Springfield unsurprisingly resists any temptation to do an Aretha, instead relying on understatement, timing and delivery rather than vocal firepower. The songs (all by Brill building denizens) are all top notch, and Springfield’s interpretation of them is peerless … Mardin’s sensitive blend of Bacharach poise and Memphis funk provides the perfect frame for Dusty’s blue-eyed soul.”

Written by Randy Newman, “Just One Smile” was previously recorded by Gene Pitney. The tune starts in Eb minor, with plenty of harmonic sidesteps, a la the above mentioned Bachrachian influence. The tune then shifts to Bb major for the chorus (0:49 – 1:10) before reverting to the original key.

Wilson Pickett | 634-5789

Prattville, Alabama native Wilson Pickett ” … did something which always thrills the telephone company to no end: he recorded a song which featured a phone number as its title,” (Rhino). “Written by Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd, “the song came about when Pickett took a trip to Memphis in order to make another visit to Stax, where he met up with Cropper and Floyd at the Lorraine Motel. They had two songs for Pickett: ‘Ninety-Nine and a Half (Just Won’t Do)’ and ‘634-5789 (Soulsville U.S.A.),’ the latter being a driving shuffle which was an homage of sorts to a 1962 single called ‘Beechwood 4-5789’ by Motown’s Marvelettes.

Clearly, Pickett had his fans’ number: the song proved to be an even bigger hit than ‘In the Midnight Hour,’ spending seven weeks at the top of the Billboard R&B Singles chart and hitting #13 on the Hot 100 in 1966.”

A late key change (hitting at 2:31 on a tune with a run length of just under three minutes) shifts the tonality up a half step as a transition into a fading outro.

Procol Harum | Salad Days (Are Here Again)

“Formed in 1967, the sophisticated and forward-looking British band Procol Harum … recorded and released 1967’s ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale,’ a smash hit that today remains the band’s most well-known song,” (MusoScribe). “After opening for Jimi Hendrix in London in that same year, the band organized a tour.

… The band’s sound had always been a mixture of the members’ r&b influences (and) a progressive – but not overly fussy – musical bent (aided and abetted by the presence of not one but two keyboard players) … Those qualities had largely fallen out of favor with the record-buying public by 1977, so the members went their separate ways.” The band regrouped several times, including a new album, Novum, and touring in the late 2010s.

“Salad Days Are Here Again” (1967) begins in G major. At 0:31, there’s a brief shift to an F major chorus before a return to G at 0:44.

We Five | You Were On My Mind

“In 1965, We Five was near the top of the charts, with a great tune, ‘You Were On My Mind’ … I’d rate it among the best songs of the 60s,” (Brad’s All-Vinyl Finds). ” The band had a few other minor hits, but nothing else like this … (Lead singer Bev) Bivens’ voice starts out rather quietly; then there is the signature strum … Folk-rock was about to begin.

… singing the song took everything (the band) had. The released version … is take 13, with an earlier take of the shout-out-loud ending vocals spliced on from an earlier, less fatigued take … Today’s bands can multitrack and digitize their way to an essentially perfect song. But in 1965, We Five keep singing it until they exhausted themselves. They performed.“

After a start in E major, the tune shifts up a whole step to F# major at 1:25. Originally written by Sylvia Fricker and perfomed by her duo, Ian + Sylvia, in 1961, the tune was subsequently covered several times by artists in several countries. But We Five’s version was by far the most prominent version of the tune, hitting #3 on the Hot 100 chart and reaching #4 on Billboard’s year-end list of 1965’s best songs.

Many thanks to Paul G. for reminding us about this distinctive tune!

David Ruffin | My Whole World Ended

“The Temptations released one of the enduring singles of the rock and roll era when ‘My Girl’ topped the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts,” (Seattle Post Intelligencer). “The song was propelled by the sweet tenor voice of David Ruffin. During his time with the Temptations he provided the lead vocals for such hits as ‘Ain’t Too Proud To Beg,’ ‘All I Need,’ and ‘Beauty Is Only Skin Deep.’ His time with the group was short, 1964-1968, but he would help leave a lasting legacy and be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame … While he would never be as commercially successful as during his time with the Temptations, his solo releases would sell moderately well and produce some fine music.

His debut release, My Whole World Ended, (was) released during the spring of 1969. It was more emotional and rawer than the smooth soul sound of his former group. The only song that runs counter to this formula was the hit single “My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me),” which was originally written for the Temptations. It has a smooth Sam Cooke quality as it just flows along.”

In addition to typical R&B instrumentation, smooth strings and piccolo arpeggios(!) are prominently featured on the mid-tempo title track. 2:13 brings brief instrumental chorus as well as a half-step modulation.

Petula Clark | Don’t Sleep In the Subway

“Although nominally part of the British Invasion, Petula Clark’s age and pre-rock career history gave her a different perspective from the beat groups and girl singers who emerged in the early-to-mid ’60s … ” (ReBeat). “Unlike the heightened emotions of most youth-oriented pop, Clark’s best ’60s singles are decidedly human in scale, dealing with ordinary adult challenges like stressful jobs, limited prospects, and domestic discord … Because she frankly acknowledges the difficulty of these problems, her entreaties to keep your chin up and make your own happiness carry real weight.

… Clark’s 1967 hit ‘Don’t Sleep in the Subway’ is the epitome of this sort of celebration of small successes. Clark inhabits the role of a woman who, inadvertently or not, bruised her partner’s ego and now has to persuade him not to leave. There’s no outsized dramatics — she’s not pleading with him, or immolating herself before him, or trying to win him over through sheer vocal willpower. There’s even a touch of humor in Clark’s voice as if she is recognizing the ridiculousness of her partner’s huffy threats to spend the night riding the rails …

Songwriter Tony Hatch … was clearly inspired by the Beach Boys’ experimental teenage symphonies, both in terms of the immaculate, yearning melody (the chorus hints at ‘God Only Knows’) and the affinity for crossing rock with orchestral music.” After a start in G major and a rhapsodic pre-chorus, the chorus arrives in Bb major (0:50 – 1:13), complete with a gentler groove. The pattern continues from there.

Jack Jones | I’ve Got a Lot of Livin’ To Do

Grammy-award winning singer Jack Jones included “I’ve Got A Lot of Livin’ To Do,” from the 1960 musical Bye Bye Birdie, on his 1968 album Curtain Time, comprised entirely of Broadway covers. Jones appeared on many variety shows throughout his career and released dozens of records. He passed away from leukemia last week at age 86.

The track begins in Db and shifts up to D at 2:01.

Bobby Bare | Detroit City

“In his current book ‘The Philosophy of Modern Song,’ the revered musical artist Bob Dylan critiques 66 popular recordings to explain how music reveals the character of a culture,” (Detroit Free Press). “Wouldn’t you know it, Page 1 of Chapter 1 presents ‘Detroit City,’ Bobby Bare’s 1963 crossover country classic about a disillusioned Southern white man who comes north to the Motor City. Bare recorded and released the song (61 years ago). On the Billboard charts, it reached sixth on the country-western list, 16th on the pop list, and launched his successful career. ‘It wasn’t till Detroit City came along that I realized I was never going to have to get a real job, which was a big relief for a guitar picker,’ Bare told the website All Access Pass.

Bobby Sr.’s big hit came early in a musical decade best remembered in Detroit for Motown’s assembly-line brilliance; for the raucous rock-and-roll concerts at the Grande Ballroom; and for young Canadian artists like Joni Mitchell and Neil Young clubbing their way to fame around the Motor City. In addition, Dylan’s essay cites “Detroit, the home of Motown and Fortune Records, birthplace of Hank Ballard, Mitch Ryder, Jackie Wilson, Jack White, Iggy Pop, and the MC5.”

The song was originally titled ‘I Want to Go Home,’ a phrase that dominates the chorus. The record found little success when first recorded and released by Billy Grammer in 1962, but Bare loved it. ‘I heard Billy Grammer’s record of Detroit City while I was driving down the street one day and I damn near wrecked my car,” Bare said on his website bobbybare.com. ‘I thought it was the greatest song I ever heard in my life.’” The tune makes a distinctive shift from E major down to B major at 1:19. Many thanks to our regular contributoro Rob P. for this tune!

Dusty Springfield | Sweet Ride

“There’s something odd about Dusty Springfield’s (rightly earned) position in the pantheon of great female vocalists. She’s up there with Aretha Franklin and all the best soul singers, but she began her career as a pop folkie with her brothers in The Springfields,” (BBC). “She’s cited as an influence on the new generation of gutsy stars like Adele and the late Amy Winehouse, but she was a model of vocal restraint and subtlety. And, in a medium where honesty and passion are almost slightly overrated, Dusty was discreet about her feelings and her life to the point where her Pet Shop Boys-produced 1989 hit ‘In Private’ might have been about her entire life.

Despite, or because of or nothing to do with, these contradictions, the former Mary O’Brien was one of the best singers of her era – which was a decently long one, from her recordings with The Springfields to the great duet ‘What Have I Done to Deserve This’ … she was a singer very much rooted in a showbiz tradition that’s come round again to some extent.”

“Sweet Ride,” the theme to the 1968 movie of the same name, was written by Lee Hazlewood. Starting in C# major, the tune shifts up a half step to D major at 1:30. Many thanks to regular contributor Jamie A. for this submission!

Sharon Tandy | The Way She Looks At You

In 1964, Sharon Tandy moved from her native South Africa to the UK to pursue her musical career. Through the end of the 1960s, she released a string of UK singles, mostly on Atlantic, achieving moderate success. A few of the Atlantic sides were recorded at the Stax studio (à la Dusty in Memphis). Her material spans the gamut of the popular music of the period, with songs that fit into the “pop”. “soul”, and “rock” categories.

Her cover of “Our Day Will Come” is notable: Originally performed as a bossa nova by Ruby and The Romantics, the song is turned into a raw Janis/Big Brother-flavored uptempo rocker, with backup provided by Southampton band Fleur de Lys.

“The Way She Looks At You” (1968) falls neatly into the pop category. The song was written by Brian Potter and Graham Dee. Potter is best known for his collaborations with Dennis Lambert, with hits like “Don’t Pull Your Love” (by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds) and “Two Divided By Love” (by The Grass Roots). The swinging horn arrangement shouts “1960s London,” doesn’t it? The groove falls away for a harmonically dynamic instrumental transition begins at 1:39. The tune settles into a new key one half-step up at 1:50.