Category: Uncategorized
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“Little Town Flirt” by Del Shannon: The 9th Best Song of 1963
Author’s Note: When I originally wrote this list, this next song was ranked 5th. I decided to knock it down several spots because as I will explain, I enjoy this song in spite of its flaws, rather than consider it a nearly perfect song. As a result, I had to end up re-writing much of…
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“Our Winter Love” by Bill Pursell: The 8th Best Song of 1963
There were a lot of breakup songs in 1963, but you know what there also was a lot of? Instrumentals. That’s right. Unlike today, where virtually nothing that doesn’t involve lyrics becomes a hit song, there were no less than eight instrumentals that made the year-end charts. The majority of them related to surfing, which…
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“It’s All Right” by The Impressions: The 7th Best Song of 1963
Curtis Mayfield was a genius. One thing I’m going to get more into when I discuss the seventies is that, despite my alternative rock background, I love R&B of the seventies. With that fact out of the way, it was only natural that Curtis Mayfield’s masterpiece Superfly would be one of the last albums I…
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Peter, Paul, & Mary’s Cover of “Blowin’ In The Wind”: The 6th Best Song of 1963
Chart nerds will find that I skipped out on two shoo-in contenders on my worst list, “Candy Girl” by The Four Seasons and “Two Faces Have I” by Lou Christie. Part of the reason is because as a song, “Candy Girl” is fine: it has a unique melody, even of the song construction is clearly…
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“You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me” by The Miracles: The 5th Best Song of 1963
1963 was the year Motown really began to find its footing. After only having hits sporadically over the previous two years, Motown scored no less than six hit songs this year. Martha and the Vandellas, the group that brought us probably the ultimate Motown song “Dancing In The Street,” broke through in 1963 with “Come…
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“In Dreams” by Roy Orbison: The 4th Best Song of 1963
I wanted to open this section up with a big lecture about vocals, but then I remembered I don’t know how to sing. When I review songs as a result, I always put music, instrumentation, and lyrical content first before moving on to the vocals. But I do have an idea of how I want…
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The Worst Song of 1963
As a quick recap, here are the songs we’ve discussed so far. #10: Nino Tempo and April Stevens get lost in their “Deep Purple” dream. #9: Bobby Darin is not “The Reason I’m Living.” #8: “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days Of Summer” sure inspired the worst in Nat King Cole. #7: “It’s The End Of The World”…
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1963 Dishonorable Mentions
Before we get to what could possibly be worse than a song about being attracted to a potentially underage girl, here are a list of songs that were bad, but didn’t make the cut. “I Love You Because” – Al Martino #3 peak#21 year-end Al Martino was one of the last of a dying breed,…
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“Go Away Little Girl” by Steve Lawrence: The 2nd Worst Song of 1963
Like with many easily offended parents and grandparents, I understand the hate to the near-constant stream of songs we have been getting over the past 30 years relating to butts and explicit sex. I… I get it. I’m a guy. Women are attractive. But why do men constantly have to sink to the lowest common…
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“Still” by Bill Anderson: The 3rd Worst Song of 1963
Going through this year-end list, I came across convinced that the most influential song of the year was Elvis Presley’s “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” This is because of the bridge, where Elvis famously speaks to his love interest and equates the world to a stage. I don’t know what happened, but several artists attempted this…
Dr. Nelson Winston 