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Next 100 TOP SONG OF 1969 - #1 Back In The USSR - The Beatles (1 Viewer)

#35  Oh Well (Pt. 1) - Fleetwood Mac

Who do you instantly think of when you hear Fleetwood Mac?  Why vocalist and lead guitarist Peter Green of course, lol.  Well before Lindsey and Princess Stevie (who joined in 74) or even Christie, heck even before Bob Welsh back in 69 their was Pete Green and a bluesy band who put out albums that sold in the hundreds of thousands.  Hardly mainstream but they were well thought of musicians.

Green would not have liked what the group eventually turned into.  He was respected as one of the greatest guitarists and composers of the time, having succeeded Eric Clapton in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers before establishing Fleetwood Mac in 1967. He presented a high profile acid misfortune in 1970 when he experienced a mental collapse and split the band, dedicating himself to religious work and declaring money as sin. A frequent story has him breaking his manager’s room with a shotgun, forcing that his royalty money to be stopped. 

THAT is a true crusader.  Point pump and threaten a guy who wants to give you royalties?

Tremendous tune, love the opening and Spanish guitar transition like stepping into a Western but I decided to cut it off before Pt 2.  Had to leave something for Pip.

I had a feeling that this was one of the groups that Pip had on his list.  

 
#35  Oh Well (Pt. 1) - Fleetwood Mac

Who do you instantly think of when you hear Fleetwood Mac?  Why vocalist and lead guitarist Peter Green of course, lol.  Well before Lindsey and Princess Stevie (who joined in 74) or even Christie, heck even before Bob Welsh back in 69 their was Pete Green and a bluesy band who put out albums that sold in the hundreds of thousands.  Hardly mainstream but they were well thought of musicians.

Green would not have liked what the group eventually turned into.  He was respected as one of the greatest guitarists and composers of the time, having succeeded Eric Clapton in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers before establishing Fleetwood Mac in 1967. He presented a high profile acid misfortune in 1970 when he experienced a mental collapse and split the band, dedicating himself to religious work and declaring money as sin. A frequent story has him breaking his manager’s room with a shotgun, forcing that his royalty money to be stopped. 

THAT is a true crusader.  Point pump and threaten a guy who wants to give you royalties?

Tremendous tune, love the opening and Spanish guitar transition like stepping into a Western but I decided to cut it off before Pt 2.  Had to leave something for Pip.

I had a feeling that this was one of the groups that Pip had on his list.  
They weren't in the "albums I love that haven't been tapped yet" category, but I did have a few of their songs on my list to consider, including this one, which definitely would have made it.

I believe it's the only Peter Green song that the band has continued to put in their setlists, having been sung over the years by Welch, Buckingham, Billy Burnette and, currently, Mike Campbell (whose previous band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, used to cover it.)  

 
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#34  Barabajagal (Love is Hot) - Donovan

I really love this tune.  Not Mellow and certainly not Yellow.  Its a bluesy tune backed by the Jeff Beck group without Rod Stewart.

Their is deeper meaning in the lyrics.  Impressed of the mention of ayahuasca.

When Donovan put "Barabajagal" together with Mickey Most and Beck it was a total experimental piece. He explained to Uncut magazine: "There was a lot of power and a certain amount of anger in it, but it was controlled mayhem; I knew there was something extraordinarily powerful that could be made with these two chords. What was going through my mind with the lyrics was that it was time to relate the shamanic, tribal history of humanity, where through the use of powerful plants like an ayahuasca, strong changes could be placed inside us that maybe we needed."

 
#33  Cloud Nine - The Temptations

David Ruffin was out and Dennis Edwards was in as the new lead singer of the Temps as the king group of Motown made history as they put out the very first Grammy winning song for a Motown song.  Unbelievable that no Motown tune had won previous to this song.

Sonically influenced by Sly And The Family Stone’s “Dance To The Music” this tune is a vast departure from earlier work done by the Temptations which referenced 'getting high' so it has been linked to drug use.  According to Tempts co-founder and surviving original Otis Williams. “I know there weren’t drug references because Norman and Barrett didn’t do drugs,” he says. “Berry [Gordy] thought that we were singing about getting high.” 

Producer Norman Whitfield:  “Man, the saying ‘Cloud Nine’ has been around for aeons,’” he recalls. “I said, ‘Yeah, you’re right there,’ because I remember, growing up, I would a hear a guy being so knocked out by the woman that he would tell me, ‘Man, the way she made love to me,’ or, ‘The way she kissed me, I was on cloud nine.’ 

 
#32  Undun - The Guess Who

Reportedly Randy Backman's favorite Guess Who song and Burton Cummings said it's one of Bachman's finest compositions and "one of the best songs ever written by any Canadian songwriter".

The B-side of "Laughing" that got play when some jocks played this instead of the A-side which prompted the record company to release it as an A-side single 4 months later. 

 
#31 More Today Than Yesterday - Spiral Starecase

Playwright Edmond Rostand wrote the famous poem Cyrano de Bergerac, his wife was Rosemonde Gérard wrote these words in a poem:

best known today as the author of the lines:

Car, vois-tu, chaque jour je t’aime davantage,

Aujourd’hui plus qu’hier et bien moins que demain.

(For, you see, each day I love you more,

Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.)

Those lines were the inspiration for the hit song in 1969.  

I've always loved the tune and I really appreciate the background since I did the research to understand the connection to Cyrano, pretty interesting stuff.

 
#31 More Today Than Yesterday - Spiral Starecase

Playwright Edmond Rostand wrote the famous poem Cyrano de Bergerac, his wife was Rosemonde Gérard wrote these words in a poem:

best known today as the author of the lines:

Car, vois-tu, chaque jour je t’aime davantage,

Aujourd’hui plus qu’hier et bien moins que demain.

(For, you see, each day I love you more,

Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.)

Those lines were the inspiration for the hit song in 1969.  

I've always loved the tune and I really appreciate the background since I did the research to understand the connection to Cyrano, pretty interesting stuff.
Damn, I was hoping this one would have escaped you. 

 
We've still got five bands that put out two albums and one band that put out three albums in '69 that have not appeared yet. And a band that put out two albums in '69 but their only appearance has been from their album in late '68. 

 
Lil explanation.  I'm no Lead-Head so I hadn't heard the tune You Shook Me in decades but assumed it was still as good as I remembered back in the day when I originally made the list and never went back to check to make sure it still ranked as high but as I just listened to it again for the first time in ages I just don't like it enough to include it so I had this tune set off to the side just in case I made a mistake.  

#30 Never Comes The Day - The Moody Blues

I would have ranked this lower and You Shook Me wouldn't have made my list but I think that is it for clerical errors so I don't have to save this one and make the last second switch.

 
Lil explanation.  I'm no Lead-Head so I hadn't heard the tune You Shook Me in decades but assumed it was still as good as I remembered back in the day when I originally made the list and never went back to check to make sure it still ranked as high but as I just listened to it again for the first time in ages I just don't like it enough to include it so I had this tune set off to the side just in case I made a mistake.  

#30 Never Comes The Day - The Moody Blues

I would have ranked this lower and You Shook Me wouldn't have made my list but I think that is it for clerical errors so I don't have to save this one and make the last second switch.
And that was the last Moodies song I had on my list -- will have to go back to their two '69 albums to see if there's anything else I like enough. 

Some early Zep songs almost sound like parodies of the blues -- their arrangement of You Shook Me is one of those. (At least they gave proper credit for it from the start.)

 
#29  Happiness Is A Warm Gun - The Beatles

Its complicated and took over 15 hours and 100 takes editing two different takes into the final song. 

John said it was a double entendre about an NRA article of the same title and with his sexual fascination for Yoko but others suggested it was referring to shooting up Smack since a loaded syringe is also known as a loaded gun.  When asked John couldn't argue with that take but denied that was his intent.

John wrote it and wanted it to build up to a climax using the falsetto.  With distinctive 'DooWop' 50s vocalizations the song is built from pieces of several different little songs, with different melodies and rhythms, and one after another, the excitement is increasing.   

Lennon:  "It's sort of a history of rock 'n' roll." Much of the imagery in the lyrics is about his sexual passion for Yoko.

 
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#28  What Does It Take (to win your love) - Junior Walker and the All Stars

This has a dream quality so it should be no surprise that this silky smooth tune was voted the top Soul Single for the year.

Having an effect on musicians like Dave Sanborn and Clarence Clemmons the solo has been an influence on top sax players up to today.

With Junior on the sax and Jonny Bristol taking lead vocals and the Andantes chiming-in with the backup vocals we see the Funk Brothers making yet another appearance providing musical backing.

 
#28  What Does It Take (to win your love) - Junior Walker and the All Stars

This has a dream quality so it should be no surprise that this silky smooth tune was voted the top Soul Single for the year.

Having an effect on musicians like Dave Sanborn and Clarence Clemmons the solo has been an influence on top sax players up to today.

With Junior on the sax and Jonny Bristol taking lead vocals and the Andantes chiming-in with the backup vocals we see the Funk Brothers making yet another appearance providing musical backing.
Love this.

Not that you can trust Wiki 100%, but the entry for this song there says Junior is on lead vocals and Bristol is on harmony vocals. 

 
#27 He's My Sunny Boy · Diana Ross & The Supremes

'Oooooh oooooh ooooh'

You have no idea how much I love this tune.  I'm gushing and I don't care, lol.

The B-Side to 'Someday We'll Be Together' so it has been overlooked.  The song is notable for being one of few releases during the late 1960s to feature the entire ensemble group as opposed to session singers The Andantes, who sometimes, but not always, filled in for Wilson and Birdsong on recordings after the departure of Florence Ballard so this was the REAL Supremes backing up Dianna Ross and it just 'feels' right.  

 
#26  Grazing In The Grass - The Friends Of Distinction

I remember when I graduated from college from CU in Colorado we went up to the mountains to celebrate.  I was ecstatic, the sun was shining as we were driving up to Rocky Mountain National Park and this song came on the radio.  Perfection....

They knocked their first single out of the park with this tune who began as the HI-Fis, then The Vocals which had my first celebrity crush Marilyn McCoo as part of that group before they broke up to eventually form The Friends Of Distinction.

Friends of Distinction frontman Harry Elston: “... two members of the Vocals — Lamont McLemore and Marilyn McCoo — went on to form the 5th Dimension, while Floyd Butler and I went on to form the Friends of Distinction.” 

The group needed a manager so who did they seek for help?  None other than HOF Cleveland Browns FB Jim Brown who carried a lot of clout.

Elston, “I had a roommate named Booker Griffin, and he knew [future football Hall of Famer] Jim Brown from back in Cleveland...

“After football, when Jim embarked upon a showbiz career, I told him about our group and asked him to manage us, and he agreed. From there we did a showcase, and a lot of record companies came around and then the next day I had to go around to the different companies and pick one — you were selecting them, not the other way around.

I didn’t realize the enormous power I had right then, and I think about it now and laugh. I ended up choosing RCA because of a producer named John Florez and his friend Ray Cork Jr., and so we signed, selected some songs, and that’s how we got started.”

 
#24  Good Morning Starshine - Oliver

 "Glibby gloop gloopy, Nibby Nabby Noopy, La La La Lo Lo. Sabba Sibby Sabba, Nooby abba Nabba Le Le Lo Lo. Tooby ooby walla, nooby abba nabba,..."

The theme song to Hair made William Oliver Swofford, into what he sang about, a superstar. Or more like a super nova as he was a flash in the pan and burned out quickly but I just love this song.

Over the years I've seen tons of UFOs and I would take long walks early in the morning looking up at the night sky and see stars and 'other things' in the sky and would begin many walks with this tune.

 
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#24  Good Morning Starshine - Oliver

 "Glibby gloop gloopy, Nibby Nabby Noopy, La La La Lo Lo. Sabba Sibby Sabba, Nooby abba Nabba Le Le Lo Lo. Tooby ooby walla, nooby abba nabba,..."

The theme song to Hair made William Oliver Swofford, into what he sang about, a superstar. Or more like a super nova as he was a flash in the pan and burned out quickly but I just love this song.

Over the years I've seen tons of UFOs and I would take long walks early in the morning looking up at the night sky and see stars and 'other things' in the sky and would begin many walks with this tune.
Did you know the singer Oliver is the older brother of ACC Commissioner John Swofford?  #gregcote #showkiller

 
Did you know the singer Oliver is the older brother of ACC Commissioner John Swofford?  #gregcote #showkiller
I didn't.

Swofford is the brother of William Oliver Swofford (1945–2000), a pop singer professionally known as Oliver who performed from the late 1960s through the late 1970s.

 
I didn't.

Swofford is the brother of William Oliver Swofford (1945–2000), a pop singer professionally known as Oliver who performed from the late 1960s through the late 1970s.
I was only vaguely familiar with the song, but on the Dan Le Batard show, Greg Cote went off on a weird tangent where he started singing it, and Dan asked him what that had to do with sports and he came up with that unexpected tie-in.

 
Nice - learning that info is a seminole moment.
Other interesting tidbits.

“It’s A Little-Known Fact That The Tan Became Popular In What Is Known As The Bronze Age.”

“There's No Rule Against Postal Workers Not Dating Women. It Just Works Out That Way.”

“It's A Little Known Fact That Cows Were Domesticated In Mesopotamia And Were Also Used In China As Guard Animals For The Forbidden City.”

Luv me sum Cliff Clavin but seriously I like bits of trivia.  Blew me away that The Spiral Staircase tune I Love You More Today Than Yesterday was connected to the story of Cyrano de Bergerac dating back to the 17th century.

 
#23  You've Made Me So Very Happy - Blood Sweat and Tears

This was originally a #39 hit for Motown artist Brenda Holloway in 1967. Holloway shares writing credit on the song with Berry Gordy, Frank Wilson and Patrice Holloway.

Blood, Sweat & Tears founder and keyboard player Al Kooper came up with the idea to cover this song, but he left the group before they recorded it. His replacement, David Clayton-Thomas, took over and sang lead on this track. Clayton-Thomas explained: "They had tried it with Al Kooper and they weren't happy with the vocals, so they never did record it. Then up at [drummer] Bobby Colomby's place one day, he was playing me a bunch of stuff that they had been considering, and I heard 'You've Made Me So Very Happy.' I said, 'Whoa, who's that? That's Brenda Holloway! I know that song!' So we did the chart and it went into the show, and we played it down at the club, and we ran up in the studio and recorded it."

 
Bracie Smathers said:
#23  You've Made Me So Very Happy - Blood Sweat and Tears

This was originally a #39 hit for Motown artist Brenda Holloway in 1967. Holloway shares writing credit on the song with Berry Gordy, Frank Wilson and Patrice Holloway.

Blood, Sweat & Tears founder and keyboard player Al Kooper came up with the idea to cover this song, but he left the group before they recorded it. His replacement, David Clayton-Thomas, took over and sang lead on this track. Clayton-Thomas explained: "They had tried it with Al Kooper and they weren't happy with the vocals, so they never did record it. Then up at [drummer] Bobby Colomby's place one day, he was playing me a bunch of stuff that they had been considering, and I heard 'You've Made Me So Very Happy.' I said, 'Whoa, who's that? That's Brenda Holloway! I know that song!' So we did the chart and it went into the show, and we played it down at the club, and we ran up in the studio and recorded it."
Big fan of BST,  including the 1968 version of the group featuring Al Kooper on lead vocals.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jqycvOTtnFU

 
#22  Ramblin' Gamblin Man - Bob Seger System

Not very often, actually never noted the video that goes with the song but on this particular vid...  Its F'ng awesome IMHO.  

Luv this video.♥️

Before Silver Bullets their was The System.

A 19-year-old Glenn Frey performed acoustic guitar and backing vocals on this song shortly before he left Detroit to find fame and fortune in Los Angeles. Frey had kicked around in a few Detroit bands, but this was his first professional recording experience. He called Seger "the most important individual" in his music career because of the support and encouragement Seger provided. Three years after moving to California, Frey co-founded the Eagles.

Aside from a love of music, Seger and Frey had another bond: They were dating twin sisters at the time.

 
#22  Ramblin' Gamblin Man - Bob Seger System

Not very often, actually never noted the video that goes with the song but on this particular vid...  Its F'ng awesome IMHO.  

Luv this video.♥️

Before Silver Bullets their was The System.

A 19-year-old Glenn Frey performed acoustic guitar and backing vocals on this song shortly before he left Detroit to find fame and fortune in Los Angeles. Frey had kicked around in a few Detroit bands, but this was his first professional recording experience. He called Seger "the most important individual" in his music career because of the support and encouragement Seger provided. Three years after moving to California, Frey co-founded the Eagles.

Aside from a love of music, Seger and Frey had another bond: They were dating twin sisters at the time.
A street in Royal Oak Michigan was renamed for Frey. A picture of it is on the back of one of Seger's more recent albums.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/boffK0TmeO0/maxresdefault.jpg

 
Bracie Smathers said:
#24  Good Morning Starshine - Oliver

 "Glibby gloop gloopy, Nibby Nabby Noopy, La La La Lo Lo. Sabba Sibby Sabba, Nooby abba Nabba Le Le Lo Lo. Tooby ooby walla, nooby abba nabba,..."

The theme song to Hair made William Oliver Swofford, into what he sang about, a superstar. Or more like a super nova as he was a flash in the pan and burned out quickly but I just love this song.

Over the years I've seen tons of UFOs and I would take long walks early in the morning looking up at the night sky and see stars and 'other things' in the sky and would begin many walks with this tune.
Love this so much. Guilty pleasure. 

 
#22  Ramblin' Gamblin Man - Bob Seger System

Not very often, actually never noted the video that goes with the song but on this particular vid...  Its F'ng awesome IMHO.  

Luv this video.♥️

Before Silver Bullets their was The System.

A 19-year-old Glenn Frey performed acoustic guitar and backing vocals on this song shortly before he left Detroit to find fame and fortune in Los Angeles. Frey had kicked around in a few Detroit bands, but this was his first professional recording experience. He called Seger "the most important individual" in his music career because of the support and encouragement Seger provided. Three years after moving to California, Frey co-founded the Eagles.

Aside from a love of music, Seger and Frey had another bond: They were dating twin sisters at the time.
I was wondering when this was gonna show up. Wasn’t expecting it to make it to me.

 
#20 Crystal Blue Persuasion - Tommy James & the Shondells

Tommy James: "'Crystal Blue' ... I was becoming a Christian... We never thought that doing something semi-religious was any big deal. We didn't think of it as being politically incorrect or anything like that. We just did what felt right. .. it turned out to be one of the hardest records I've ever made.

We ... had a set of drums, ... guitars, ... keyboards, .. by the end, we... overproduced the record. It ... wasn't right. So ... we had to un-produce the record... we just started pulling the instruments out, until we ended up with a conga drum, a bongo, a tambourine, a flamenco guitar, and a very light-sounding bass. We took out the drums completely. We took out all the keyboards except one, which was a Hammond. And basically ended up with about four instruments on it. And suddenly it became 'Crystal Blue Persuasion,' ... It has kind of an effervescent sound about it, a lot of atmospherics that just weren't there when it had all those instruments on it. ... (a) light airy sound, which ... took us about six weeks to do ... a very intricate un-production, pulling all the things out. Actually, it was tougher than putting them in because you didn't want to mess up the record, but you wanted to empty it out. So it came out and went #1 for us. 


 
#21 - I Got A Line On You - Spirit

Let the rock critics take the write up on this one.

A Billboard review brief called it "the near definitive rock single".

 Matthew Greenwald of AllMusic said it is "Driven by a fabulously funky guitar riff and some very accessible lyrics, the song is a rock classic from beginning to end."
I expect to have at least one thing from their album that came out in ‘69.

 
#18 I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye

Originally called 'Heard It Through The Grapevine' and done by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles .  Next,The Isley Brothers (couldn't track down that version) put out their version before Marvin put out his version of 'Heard It Trough The Gapevine', those versions did ok but then  Gladys Knight & The Pips version became a hit. 

Marvin repacked the name and put his spin on it singing it a tone higher than he typically sang and with a 'slight' change to the name it became "I Heard It Through The Grapevine'.

The revamped version became a soul classic and the single biggest hit for Motown and made Gaye a star.  Many others have covered it including CCR but Marvin's is considered thee definitive version.

 
#17  Touch Me - The Doors

Doors guitarist Robby Krieger wrote this song as "Hit Me," based on fights he had with his girlfriend. The lyric was, "C'mon, hit me, I'm not afraid." In a rare show of restraint, Jim Morrison insisted on changing it to "Touch Me."

One of my all-time best bits of song trivia that I heard in an interview with Ray Manzarek back in the 80s when talking about 'Touch Me'.

At the very end of the song you can hear Jim say/sing 'Stronger than dirt' which was a reference to a TV commercial for Ajax Laundry Detergent where  they tagged everything with the line 'Ajax!  Stronger Than Dirt.'

Many critics (Calling Krista) claimed this was a sellout, as the horn and string sections were not typical of The Doors. The band admitted they were trying to broaden their audience and achieve commercial success with this album, which they did.

The sax part was played by Curtis Amy, who was a popular session horn and flute player who got his biggest exposure playing on Carole King's famous Tapestry album. Jim Morrison remarked that the song was the first rock hit with a jazz solo.

 
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#17  Touch Me - The Doors

Doors guitarist Robby Krieger wrote this song as "Hit Me," based on fights he had with his girlfriend. The lyric was, "C'mon, hit me, I'm not afraid." In a rare show of restraint, Jim Morrison insisted on changing it to "Touch Me."

One of my all-time best bits of song trivia that I heard in an interview with Ray Manzarek back in the 80s when talking about 'Touch Me'.

At the very end of the song you can hear Jim say/sing 'Stronger than dirt' which was a reference to a TV commercial for Ajax Laundry Detergent where  they tagged everything with the line 'Ajax!  Stronger Than Dirt.'

Many critics (Calling Krista) claimed this was a sellout, as the horn and string sections were not typical of The Doors. The band admitted they were trying to broaden their audience and achieve commercial success with this album, which they did.

The sax part was played by Curtis Amy, who was a popular session horn and flute player who got his biggest exposure playing on Carole King's famous Tapestry album. Jim Morrison remarked that the song was the first rock hit with a jazz solo.
I never knew that was what Mr. Mojo Rising said at the end of the song.

 
#16  Oh Darling - The Beatles

Not sure why Tim didn't take this one but I love it.

Paul wrote it and even though John felt it was more his 'style' and that he should have taken lead vocals Paul wanted it.  After hearing his first attempts he felt his voice was too clean, he wanted it to sound more raw so he went to the studio days on end singing the tune as loud as he could till his voice became strained enough where he wanted.  

Years later John was still resentful and said he could have done better, lol. 

"'Oh! Darling' was a great one of Paul's that he didn't sing too well. I always thought I could have done it better – it was more my style than his. He wrote it, so what the hell, he's going to sing it." -- John Lennon

 
#15 Time Of The Season - The Zombies

What's yer name?

Whose your daddy?

It was the sixties man but this tune endures for more than a social reason, their is an unusual structure of how the song was built.

Built around the bassline heard in the intro, this song has some very effective and unusual structural components that helped it endure. The bass riff is punctuated with a hand clap and the breathy "ahhhh" vocal. These elements add sonic texture during the verses, and also show up in the two interludes.

And while most hit songs pound you with the chorus, this one doesn't. The full chorus - "It's the time of the season for loving..." takes just eight seconds and is repeated three times. That's just 24 seconds of chorus, but this minimalist approach gave the line tremendous impact, resonating with listeners at a time of social and political turmoil in America.

 

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