Yesterday's Gone

Wrapping up the month of 1965 with Brenda Lee

What The World Needs Now

My birthday buddy Jackie DeShannon singing some Bacharach.

Quivers down the backbone

Beach babe Donna Loren sings "Shakin' All Over" on Shindig!



Searching youtube for "Shindig", "Hullabaloo", or "Ready Steady Go" brings hours of enjoyment if you're predisposed to that sort of thing!

My Guy

More Shindig! Here's the Beatles' favorite girl singer Mary Wells.

Nowhere To Hide

Another Shindig! appearance by Martha & the Vandellas

Good bad, but not evil

More 1965. The Shangri-La's performing "Great Big Kiss" on Shindig!

Long Live Love

Sandie Shaw on "Top Of The Pops".

Flowers in the Spring

This was #1 in America and England on the day I was born.

Second verse same as the first

More Patty Duke, singing "I'm Henry VII, I Am" from the episode "Partying is such sweet sorrow" on "The Patty Duke Show".



She sings this as Cathy, Patty's identical cousin who adored a minuet, the Ballets Russes, and crêpes Suzette, but somehow still sang in a Peter Noone cockney accent. Her backing band (The Shindigs) featured James Burton (of Elvis/Ricky Nelson fame) on guitar.

Queen Of The House

Jody Miller wasn't related to Roger, but put out this great "answer song" to his 1965 blockbuster hit.

And they all went to heaven in a little row boat

Here's "The Clapping Song" by Shirley Ellis, which was the inspiration for Tom Waits' "Clap Hands".



Many people remember "The Name Game", but fewer remember this followup.

Don't Just Stand There

Patty Duke on "Shindig!"



Not sure if this is a lip-sync or actual performance, but notice Leon Russell on bass and Billy Preston on keyboards. If this were five years later, Patty would be singing "Don't just stand there, relieve the people of Bangladesh!"

Listen to the rhythm of the gentle bossa nova

The song that followed "Come See About Me" to #1 on the U.S. charts, also performed on the Sullivan show.



I'm not sure why the Supremes are in color while this song is in black & white while it was a later show. 1965 seems to be the line between color and B&W on TV.

Come See About Me

More Supremes. This time on the "Ed Sullivan Show". In living color!



This is another one of my favorites. The graphic shows 1964, but I'm including it in my 1965 countdown, because it stayed in the charts through Jan 1965, hitting #1 45 years ago this week, just above "I Feel Fine". There wasn't a bad #1 hit during all of 1965 -- the "Green Berets" and "Winchester Cathedrals" didn't come til '66!

Back In My Arms Again

The Supremes on "The Mike Douglas Show" in 1965. I could be wrong, but Diana appears to actually be singing, not just lipping the words.



I love this song! When I saw "Standing In The Shadows Of Motown", I started re-listening to classic Motown singles, to marvel at the tightness and energy of the backing tracks. As well as the recording and production. Anyone who thinks hyper-compression is a modern phenomenon should listen to early Motown records, where almost everything was squeezed hot and tight to sound good on AM radio.

It is the evening of the day

Another version of "As Tears Go By" by Nancy Sinatra.



Is there anything more "1965" than Nancy Sinatra singing a bossa nova version of a Stones song?

(Oh yeah, all these January songs are by chicks.. Can you dig it?)

Year Of The Month

I've been negligent in my blog updating for the past two months, due to the standard vacation and holiday distractions, but I'm going to try to get back to the grind. I can't do daily posting anymore, but I'm going to aim for 20 entries per month, which equates to two days out of every three. Which ain't bad (as Meat Loaf said).

With that in mind, I'm embarking on a new monthly blog theme. Last year, I did artists of the month, but this year I'm changing it to years of the month. Which means doing my own "Music: What Happened?" or "10 @ 10" for a certain year of my life, with twenty songs from each year over the course of a month.

And my first year is 1965, the first year of my life and the 19th year of Marianne Faithfull's life, when she still looked sweet and innocent. Marianne's (superior cover) version of "As Tears Go By" came out before the Stones' (inferior original) version, which didn't really fit their sound. Song #1 from 1965.

The Future Of Reality

Happy New Year, everyone!



Here's a mix of 25 songs from the year just passed.

2009: The Future Of Reality
01. All The Pretty Girls - fun.
02. Back To Life - Even
03. California Girl - Cheap Trick
04. Crimson Enemy - The Bats
05. DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshake - Art Brut
06. Easy On The Eye - Trashcan Sinatras
07. Eyes On The Horizon - Brendan Benson
08. Flipside - The Soundtrack Of Our Lives
09. Gogol Was Rollo - Doug Gillard
10. Heart Of Stone - The Raveonettes
11. I Need To Know Where I Stand - Rhett Miller
12. Imaginary Fried - Telekinesis!
13. Know Your Enemy - Green Day
14. Let The Good Times Crawl - Young Fresh Fellows
15. Long Time Gone - 7 Worlds Collide
16. Marvellous Year - Don McGlashan & Seven Sisters
17. Norman Bleik - I Was A King
18. Oslo - The Disciplines
19. People Got A Lotta Nerve - Neko Case
20. Prophets - AC Newman
21. Rambling Through The Avenues Of Time - Flight Of The Conchords
22. Saturday Groovers - Robyn Hitchcock Venus 3
23. Tomorrow's Gone Tonight - Tommy Keene
24. Tomorrow Never Knows - Bruce Springsteen
25. The End - John Wesley Harding

Download: Part1 Part2