The Top Hits of 1965 Trivia Quiz

Answer: (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

Although this hit was ranked number one for the year, it wasn't The Rolling Stones' biggest hit of all time. Based on chart performance, "Honky Tonk Women" had 1301 points in 1969 and was the sixth ranked song of that year but "Satisfaction" only earned 1186 points to lead the pack in 1965, primarily because of its short 14-week tenure within the Hot 100.

In an analysis of this quirk, the phenomenon of songs having a short chart life peaked during the mid-1960s. It's because of quick chart exits that only eight songs earned over 1000 points in 1965 and but six recordings reached that standard in 1966. Perhaps it was because of the volume of great songs being released at the time that they constantly pressured older records off the charts faster than in the past. Conversely, maybe these songs weren't really that good and, as a result, their attrition from the charts was perfectly normal for songs of average worth. Or, perhaps we teenagers of the era just got bored real quickly but by 1967, things returned to normal.

The Stones decided to release this song in the U.S. rather than their homeland first to coincide with their tour of North America. When it became a smash hit there, they then released it in the U.K. where it hit Number One two months later. By then, they were back home and touring in support of the record in England. Things couldn't have worked out more perfectly for the group!

Answer: You've Lost That Loving Feeling

The song was written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill, recorded by The Righteous Brothers and produced by Phil Spector with his famous "Wall Of Sound". It accumulated 1146 points during its 16 weeks on the Hot 100, two of them at Number One. It was a simultaneous Number One hit in Great Britain but barely... Cilla Black's version there provided ample competition. Since then, hundreds if not thousands of cover versions have been recorded. Among the more successful were Dionne Warwick's Number 16 hit in 1969 and the Number 12 hit in 1980 for Hall and Oates. Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway's version reached Number 71 while Long John Baldry and Kathi MacDonald took it to Number 89 in 1979.

The Righteous Brothers, Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield, got together in 1962 and struggled as an entity until their collaboration with Spector as their producer. Three more top 10 hits followed immediately: "Just Once In My Life", "Unchained Melody" and "Ebb Tide" before their association with Spector, a personally tenuous one, ceased. With Medley assuming the producer hat, they immediately had another Number One hit, "(You're My) Soul And Inspiration" in 1966, but then the magic seemed to wear off and Medley broke away for a solo career in 1968. They reunited in 1974, scored another top 10 with "Rock And Roll Heaven" but further efforts didn't do as well and the rest of their careers were spent touring the oldies circuit. Hatfield passed away suddenly while on tour in November 2003 shortly after their induction into the R&R Hall of Fame in March of that year. A visit to their website suggests that Medley has also let The Righteous Brothers die with Hatfield's passing.

Answer: Wooly Bully

Domingo Samudio (Sam the Sham) started playing in bands in the mid-1950s and among his band mates was another Tex-Mex legend, Trini Lopez. Following graduation from high school, Domingo joined the U.S. Navy and was stationed in Panama, returning to Texas in 1962 upon discharge.

He joined a band shortly later and when the leader of the group packed it up, Domingo assumed control, and as a unit, they became Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs. Early recording efforts were fruitless. When they were about to record this song, it was intended to be named "Hully Gully" as in the dance but when told they couldn't use that title, Sam improvised the lyrics and named the song "Wooly Bully" after his cat.

They had one more big hit, "Lil' Red Riding Hood" in 1966 and four more middling chart successes before Sam went solo in 1970 and moved to Memphis.

He dabbled in street preaching there and recorded some gospel music but by the 1990s he returned to recording secular music and did a few "oldies" tours. As of 2005, he continues to record and tour, still based out of Memphis.

Answer: Downtown

People in America were just discovering what others around the globe had known for some time... Petula Clark was a very talented singer.

Originally a child TV star in her native England, she first achieved recording success in 1954 with a cover of The Gaylords hit, "The Little Shoemaker", a record that peaked at Number Seven in the U.K. but hit Number One in Australia. Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, she continued to have charting hits in both of these markets but it was in Europe, particularly in France, Belgium and Italy, where she scored her biggest successes, singing in the languages native to those countries. Her French songs also made her extremely popular in Quebec, Canada.

Following "Downtown", Clark would have 15 more records achieve top 40 status in the U.S., six of them top 10s, all within four years. Since the late 1960s, she has done almost everything one could do in the entertainment industry from TV, to movies and the stage, to concert tours and long-term engagements at music halls. As of 2005, she continues to be an active performer and seems to schedule about four months a year for shows in Branson, Missouri. "Downtown" achieved 1084 points from those two weeks at Number One as part of a 15 week chart run in the Hot 100.

Answer: I Can't Help Myself

For many people, myself included, it was always assumed the song's title was "Sugarpie, Honeybunch"... it's certainly the most memorable part of the lyric! Some resources now actually list the song as "I Can't Help Myself (Sugarpie, Honeybunch)" but officially there is no parenthetical title to the song.

The Four Tops consisted of Levi Stubbs, Renaldo Benson, Lawrence Payton and Abdul Fakir. Formed in 1954 in Detroit, they stood together as a combo without any personnel changes for an amazing 43 years. It's remarkable that the usual pitfalls of stardom - fame, fortune and personal egos - did not impact this group as it did most of their musical peers. It took the death of Payton in 1997 to finally break up the original unit. Ex-Temptation Theo Peoples took Payton's spot and the group carried on undiminished into the new millennium. Unfortunately, Benson passed away in July 2005 and Stubbs, who has been battling cancer for several years, recently retired in concession to his disease. More on the achievements and vicissitudes of the group will be forthcoming in a later quiz.

Answer: none of these

If you recognized the other choices as Number One hits of The Supremes from 1966 or 1967 rather than from their run of Number Ones from 1964-5, you hit the jackpot. This song's title was "Come See About Me". Of their first five Number Ones, this song seemed to lack the lyrical hook that the others had and to me, it is the least memorable of the five.

But who's to argue with success... it charted for 13 weeks and spent 12 weeks in the top 40 on its way to gathering 1047 points.

Answer: True

The Four Seasons weren't dormant in 1964... in fact, "Dawn (Go Away)" at Number Three, "Ronnie" at Number Nine and "Rag Doll" at Number One for two weeks all cracked the top 10 but didn't accumulate enough points to reach the elite 15. "Rag Doll" was ranked number 20, "Dawn" was number 27 and "Ronnie" hung on for number 87.

"Let's Hang On!" was the 18th top 40 hit the group had since their debut hit "Sherry" in 1962. Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe composed most of their hits but writing credits were accorded to Crewe, Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell for this one. Although the group would continue to be a factor on the charts for another couple of years before their comeback success in 1975, this would be their highest charting hit for the balance of the decade. Its chart performance in 1965 earned 1032 points.

Answer: Turn! Turn! Turn!

This hit, derived from the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes (chapter 3, verses 1-8), had, to stay in the biblical mode, an interesting genesis. During the 1950s, Seeger adapted the biblical verses somewhat and composed the music that he described in typical modesty as "A Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" arrangement. He never got around to putting it on vinyl until November of 1962 as part of a live LP recorded at The Bitter End folk club in NYC, "The Bitter And The Sweet". The Limeliters also recorded it around the same time and Jim McGuinn, later to become Roger McGuinn and the leader of the Byrds, was employed as The Limeliters' back-up guitarist. In 1964, Judy Collins recorded the song for another album and again McGuinn was a session musician and apparently quite instrumental in arranging the music and the phrasing of the song for that LP. After the success of "Mr. Tambourine Man", The Byrds were contemplating what song to follow it up with when McGuinn recalled "Turn, Turn, Turn!" and induced the group to take a stab at it. With further adjustments to the arrangement, McGuinn's wonderful 12-string guitar work, the unique Byrds' harmonies and a young audience that already was reacting negatively to the Viet Nam war, the song became an instantaneous hit.

With its three week stint at Number One and 14 weeks in the Hot 100, it garnered 1024 points, the eighth and final song to reach the 1000 point plateau that year.

Answer: Help!

The top Beatle song for 1965, "Help!", generated 994 points based on a 13 week chart run and those three weeks at Number One. It topped the U.K. charts in August for three weeks, then hit Number One in the U.S., Australia and Canada for the same first three weeks of September.

This was primarily a John Lennon composition and the lyric suggests that he was undergoing some tumult in his life. It was a genuine plea for help although none of the other Beatles were aware of it at the time. McCartney admitted some years later that he did not realize that Lennon was that psychologically depressed and in need of comfort and reassurance. Apparently, they all regarded it as just another clever Lennon lyric without any significant personal overtones.

Answer: Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter

The band formed in 1963 in Manchester, England and was a few notches below some of the other local groups at the time, most notably The Hollies and The Mindbenders. Things changed significantly in early 1964 when their lead singer failed to show for a gig and 16 year old Peter Noone jumped into the breach. Within a year they had their first big hit, the Billboard Number 13 and their only U.K. Number One "I'm Into Something Good"... and indeed they were.

Their record producer, Mickie Most, accurately assessed the group's potential. They certainly would not be rivals to The Beatles. Peter Noone was not Mick Jagger. They didn't compose their own songs. On their first recording sessions, they didn't even play their own instruments - session men like Jimmy Page did the honors. What they could do, however, was record down to earth, safe pop songs thus filling the void created when other groups were exploring new musical paths.

This song was included on the first Hermits' album to be released in America. Some DJ heard it and somehow convinced MGM to release it as a single and away it went up the charts. Curiously, this hit, that was Number One in North America and Australia, was never released as a single in the U.K. Mickie Most thought it just sounded too 1930ish, something the illustrious George Formby might have done and concluded that whomever might have bought the record in the U.K. was not the market he wanted the Hermits affiliated with.

The group did rather well for a year or so with nine consecutive releases charting in the top 10. The end of their popularity coincided with the arrival of The Monkees, a homegrown group that reflected the exact talents the Hermits had with the bonus of a TV show to promote them. When Noone left the group in 1970, two original members carried on the group name into the new millennium touring the oldies circuit while Noone went on to form his own touring "New Hermits" group and act as a VJ on MTV's VH1 channel.

Answer: Yesterday

I find it ironic that "Yesterday" could only maintain a chart life of 11 weeks... today, it is probably heard somewhere in the world every minute of every day on the radio, in a live performance or in some elevator or shopping mall, courtesy "muzak".

It was wholly composed by McCartney and essentially, it was a solo recording by him augmented with a string quartet. No other Beatle was in the studio when he recorded it. Although it is well known that this song has been recorded by more different acts than any other of the rock era, only one other performer has managed to turn it into a top 40 hit - Ray Charles in 1967 at Number 25. McCartney made it a point to note that he wasn't particularly fond of Charles' rendition.

Answer: I Feel Fine

There are four observations to be made about this record.
1. It is noteworthy for being the first recording to utilize "feedback" as a component of the music. The first note was a sustained "buzz" created when McCartney pressed his guitar against an amplifier. Probably other groups of the day, like The Who or The Yardbirds, experimented with this technique when jamming or perhaps even in live performances but The Beatles were the first to have the temerity to try it on a record.
2. This was the second Beatles song to hit Number One simultaneously in all the major markets - America, Canada, The U.K. and Australia.
3. This was the first song since David Seville's "The Witch Doctor" in 1958 to debut on the Billboard Hot 100 inside the top 40. Two other 1965 records would duplicate the feat later in the year - "Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter" by Herman's Hermits and "I Hear A Symphony" by The Supremes.
4. This was primarily a Lennon composition and contrary to his lyrics in "Help", he was positively bubbly in this song. It makes one ponder what happened in the few months in between to foster the vulnerable pessimism expressed in "Help".

Answer: I Got You Babe

Probably a lot of people will remember this as the song Bill Murray keeps waking up to in the movie "Groundhog Day". It was the first and biggest hit of Sonny & Cher's recording career together. They went on to record another seven top 40 hits over the next 18 months but after "The Beat Goes On", a Number Six hit in early 1967, the well ran dry.

They devised a nightclub act and spent the balance of the decade performing in Vegas. Fred Silverman, an executive with CBS, spotted their act and this led to their successful TV show from 1971 to 1974 and, back in the limelight, they also had three more top 40 hits.

When their marriage dissolved in 1974, so did their act and they went their separate ways. Sonny Bono became a restaurateur in Palm Springs then a politician until his accidental death skiing in 1998. Cher went on to a long career in the entertainment business as an Academy Award winning actress and pop singer.

Answer: a diamond ring

This song was the first of seven consecutive top 10 singles Gary Lewis and The Playboys would record. Not bad for a band whose lead singer wasn't that accomplished as a vocalist, who rarely played their own instruments on any of their early recordings and who didn't compose their own material. Makes one wonder how they did it! It certainly helped that Gary's dad, comedian and actor Jerry Lewis, had contacts in the industry, among them next door neighbor and record producer Snuffy Garrett. Garrett arranged for studio time for the group to work on their "sound" and recruited top-notch session musicians to play the music, Leon Russell and Jim Keltner for example. Finally, their choice of compositions was non-threatening and eminently listenable. "This Diamond Ring" was originally earmarked for The Drifters who rejected it and it became The Playboys biggest hit. Lewis was drafted into the military in 1967 and when discharged in 1968, their style was no longer in vogue and they disbanded before the end of the decade. Lewis still performs the oldies circuit with a new, ever changing band of Playboys.

Answer: My Girl

Like the The Four Tops, The Temptations also scored their first Number One in 1965 with this hit. Altogether, they would have four Number Ones over their lengthy career. In fact, their success closely parallels that of the Four Tops in terms of their hit production and longevity except for one thing... The Four Tops remained together for over forty years with no personnel changes while The Temptations' components were in constant flux enduring twenty personnel shuffles up to 2005. Only Otis Williams remains from the original contingent.

Smokey Robinson who, of course, wrote "My Guy" for Mary Wells also composed "My Girl". He was intending to record it himself but instead passed it on to The Temptations. Whether that was his choice or a Motown management decision is unclear.

Answer: Love Potion #9

The Clovers version only reached Number 23 on the charts, one of the rare occasions where a cover charted higher than the original. A third cover by The Coasters in 1972 didn't quite fare as well stalling at Number 76, their last charting record of any kind. The composers were Lieber and Stoller who wrote several Presley hits in the late 1950s, early 1960s.

This was The Searchers biggest of their 14 charting hits, surpassing a couple of songs that I personally thought were much superior -"Needles and Pins" and "Don't Throw Your Love Away", both in 1964. They charted at Number 13 and Number 16 respectively. The group was founded in 1960 by John McNally and Mike Pender and they kept the group together until finally splitting up in 1985. As of 2005, McNally continues to front a band of "original" Searchers while Pender started up his own "New Searchers" group. Both groups continue to tour and record in the U.K.

Answer: I Got You (I Feel Good)

In the mid-1980s when I purchased my first Joel Whitburn book of the Top 40 hits of the rock era, I was positively astonished to note that James Brown had 44 of them. I might have had a passing familiarity with this song and perhaps his other big hit from 1965, "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag", although I'm certain that I knew that song more from Otis Redding's cover version in 1969. But that might have been the extent of my knowledge of his body of work. When I picked up a couple of LP's from the library to hear what I had been missing, I was not surprised that local radio wasn't playing his music in Calgary, Alberta, Canada - there would have been absolutely no market for his style of funkified R&B where I lived. It simply didn't resonate with the primarily white, middle class component of our populace. If it wasn't pop or country and western, it wouldn't get played and Brown's music definitely was neither.

By the late 1980s when this song was featured in the movie, Calgary's demographics had changed quite a bit. But not that much! This song became a staple on oldies radio but you still never heard any of his other stuff. I guess the point was driven home in 2001 or 2002 when Brown scheduled a performance at our arena with a capacity of 17,000. The attendance was, I believe, under 2,000 in a city with a population of close to 1,000,000. I guess it's just not our style!

Answer: Like A Rolling Stone

At six minutes, 13 seconds, it was the longest big hit of the rock & roll era to that point, probably taking the honor away from Marty Robbins' 1960 hit "El Paso" or Ray Charles' "I Can't Stop Loving You" from 1962 which both ran a little over four minutes. At the time, radio stations didn't like to play songs longer than three minutes but this proved that they would if the song was a hit with the listeners. It wasn't long before several epic length songs would hit the market - "Hey Jude" and "MacArthur Park" come immediately to mind.

It seems that the "beautiful people" of Greenwich Village formed social cliques in the early 1960s and serious rivalries formed between various groups. Think of it as "artsy-fartsy" gang wars! Dylan apparently wrote this song about a snooty debutante, a former member of the Andy Warhol group. The lyrics tell her story and it's not a very complimentary one!

Answer: Ferry Cross The Mersey

Gerry Marsden formed the group in 1959 and in the early 1960s, they were arguably the most popular band in Liverpool, even over the Beatles. Both groups hit their stride in the U.K. in 1963 and The Pacemakers beat the Beatles to the punch in establishing themselves with a Number One hit. During that year, both groups would have three Number One U.K. hits with their first three releases. Clearly, they were neck and neck! But ultimately, The Beatles kept churning the hits out and adapted themselves to stay right at the forefront and at the cutting edge of popular music.

The Pacemakers could not, or did not adapt and by 1966, they were a footnote in musical history. Their total contribution to the Billboard charts included seven top 40 hits, three top 10s, zero Number Ones... not exactly Beatles type numbers.

Answer: England

"England swings like a pendulum do
Bobbies on bicycles, two by two
Westminster Abbey, the tower of Big Ben
The rosy red cheeks of the little children"

That was the essence of the song. Pretty simple stuff and maybe he did it as a tribute to the British groups that had changed the face of the music scene in the U.S.; maybe he had toured England and liked it - I just don't know. "England Swings" peaked at Number Eight on the charts right toward the end of the year.