Alright, now it’s time for the main event.  Singers whining and complaining about relationships.

It’s been pretty commonplace throughout music history for singers to moan about how horrible their life was because that one pretty girl or that one handsome man walked out on them or rejected them.  But 1963 was such a bad year for this trope, you will begin to feel nostalgia for “She Hates Me.”  Seriously.

Let’s start off with the patient zero for this trope in 1963, Lesley Gore.  You may not know her name, but she was one of the biggest music stars of the year, in that last fleeting window before The Beatles came in.  While her biggest song on the charts that year was “She’s A Fool,” her most emblematic songs were her other two hits, “It’s My Party” and “Judy’s Turn To Cry.”  “It’s My Party,” the transition music for today’s column, is quite literally about throwing a tantrum because Johnny left poor Lesley for Judy.  “Judy’s Turn To Cry,” the sequel to “It’s My Party,” ends with Lesley kissing another man, resulting in Johnny assaulting him.  How lovely.  I gave mercy to these songs because I can’t get past “It’s My Party” and its perfect chorus, and even “Judy’s Turn To Cry” sounds infectious despite the obvious melodrama.

And she’s not alone.  The list goes on.  The 4th biggest song of the year, “Rhythm Of The Rain” by The Cascades, is about moping due to a recent breakup, and how the protagonist can’t find another lover because the previous one “took [his] heart.”  Andy Williams’s hit this year was called “Can’t Get Used To Losing You.”  (I’d still rather hear it than “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” for the five billionth time.)  Bobby Vinton’s other hit from 1963, “Blue On Blue,” is more devastation about a breakup.  And this isn’t all of the songs that tackled horrible breakups in 1963.

With so many of these songs, I had to make judgment calls.  Was the song about an immediate reaction to a breakup, as with “It’s My Party,” or was it a song that framed having a breakup as being on par with dying?  There were some tough decisions.  And while this next song may sound like a surprising pick, I couldn’t give this song’s message of devastation after a breakup any sympathy.  And it was the third biggest song of the year.

“The End Of The World” – Skeeter Davis

#2 peak
#3 year-end

After flying under the radar as a country singer in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Skeeter Davis had a huge year in 1963, scoring both of her hits this year.  It’s too bad that this, her most emblematic song, is something I couldn’t imagine having you listen to regardless of mood.  If you are happy, this song will turn your smile upside down.  If you are sad, this will just make you angry.

The shame about this song is that unlike other songs we will get to on this countdown, “The End Of The World” had potential.  Skeeter Davis’s vocals are soft and heartfelt, and the music is pretty good too.  It’s one of those 12/8 songs that was beaten to death in the early 1960s, but this arrangement sounds pretty with its arpeggiated piano keys and warm string section.  I know the basic piano backing gets tons of crap these days, but it works here.  If I were rating this song on music alone, I’d probably give it a 7 out of 10.  Maybe an 8 if I’m feeling generous.  Honestly, this song sounds much better than the last two we went over.  So we have our music and our singer.  All we need here is a good or even passable set of lyrics.

Cue sound of car crash.

As with all the songs I just mentioned a minute ago, “The End Of The World” is about a breakup.  Let me just state about breakups, I understand if they make people upset.  You spend all your time with someone and now you have to find a way to get through without them.  That’s why I mentioned that I had to factor in whether or not it was an immediate reaction, or if it was just equating the problem to taking away world peace.  This song is a perfect representation of the latter.

Why does the sun go on shining?
Why does the sea rush to shore?
Don’t they know it’s the end of the world?
‘Cause you don’t love me any more

Why do the birds go on singing?
Why do the stars glow above?
Don’t they know it’s the end of the world?
It ended when I lost your love

Wow.  Your life was ruined because your beau left you.  I feel so much sympathy.  You should be awarded a Purple Heart.  DOES ANYONE REALIZE HOW TOXIC THIS MESSAGE IS?!?!

And all the questions Skeeter asks in this song make the final message of the song that much worse.  Yes, Skeeter, the sun does shine even during hard times.  Some of the worst days of my life were sunny days.  And yes, birds sing regardless of how people are feeling, and to quote a lyric from later in the song, your heart will beat because it’s a necessary vital function for you to live.  You should appreciate what you have, and not what you lost.

I get that breakups are hard, but the song’s narrator acts like her life is so much worse than everyone else’s because it happened to her.  Well let me tell you, MOST people have had a breakup.  Except for a few lucky people, you probably won’t marry your first girlfriend.  Things happen.  It’s called life.

How did we get a song that was this over-the-top in discussing a breakup? Well, rather than focus on Davis, since she is merely the singer and is just doing her job here, let’s go under the hood and take a look at the songwriters. “The End Of The World” was written with music by Arthur Kent and lyrics by Sylvia Dee. “The End Of The World” is by far the most famous song not just by Davis, but by Dee as well, as her resume is filled with lesser-known songs by Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole, and Ella Fitzgerald. According to Wikipedia (blame them if my facts are wrong), Dee was inspired to write this song due to her father’s recent death. And that to me sums up the big problem with this song. With death, I understand being this angry because you will never get another chance with that person, and that person receives no more chances in life. But in this case, a breakup, you have another chance. So we’re not on the same page here between inspiration and subject.

The closest peer I can think of to this song is not any other song from 1963, but a song from fifteen years later: “If I Can’t Have You,” written by The Bee Gees and performed by Yvonne Elliman, which also compares a breakup to a living hell.  But “The End Of The World” feels way more disappointing than that song, because while “If I Can’t Have You” is backed by generic disco music, “The End Of The World” has an inspired melody and has good instrumentation.  It could have been something.  But when your lyrics wallow in self-pity and nihilism, it’s all for naught.  Next.

UP NEXT: Oh, you wanted another topic at #6 besides whining about a ex-lover? Well, too bad!

SOURCES

IMAGE SOURCES

Single cover from Discogs

Image of car crash from NPR

Image of breakup from India.com