Mid-1960s Lyrics - Count Me In Quiz

Answer: Paint It Black

This song, the lyrics of which allude to depression and suicide, was a two week chart topper for the Rolling Stones in 1966. During this period, the noted producer/arranger Jack Nitzsche often contributed to various Stones' projects behind the scenes. On this piece, he actually played keyboards as well.

"Paint It Black" has aged well! It was the theme for the TV drama "Tour Of Duty" during the 1987-8, 1988-9 seasons and has been notably featured in several movies, among them "The Devil's Advocate" and "Full Metal Jacket".

Incidentally, for those who may not know, "Goodbye Cruel World" was the actual title of a big #3 hit for James Darren in 1961. It's about a fellow who joins the circus after losing at love, not quite as heavy a sentiment as expressed in "Paint It Black"!

Answer: Count Me In

This was the very successful follow-up to Gary Lewis and the Playboys #1 debut smash "This Diamond Ring". The son of actor Jerry Lewis, Gary had a brief two year run of hits in 1966-7. Ultimately, his light pop style fell out of favor; it wasn't serious or heavy enough at one end of the spectrum and bubblegum music overtook him at the other end.

Answer: Gloria

The song was originally recorded by a group named "Them" featuring Van Morrison as the vocalist. The song failed to make much of an impact in N. America only charting at #71 and part of the problem was getting the tune on the radio. The original "Them" lyrics had this line - "She come's up to my room, Just about midnight" instead of the version quoted in the question "Well she comes around here, Just about midnight". The original lyric was deemed too "suggestive" for many radio stations to air. A group from Chicago, Shadows of Knight, covered the song and the offending line was sanitized to the version noted here. It became the #10 Billboard hit.

Them disbanded in 1967 when Morrison moved to the States to become a very successful solo artist. The Shadows of Knight had a moderate #39 hit later in 1966, "Oh Yeah", but soon faded from the scene before disbanding in 1969.

Answer: Baby, The Rain Must Fall

The last two lines of each verse go this way:
"But baby the rain must fall, baby the wind must blow
Wherever my heart leads me, baby I must go, baby I must go".

The song was released by Glen Yarbrough and it peaked at #12 on the Billboard pop charts - not bad for a song that was clearly directed to an older generation of listeners. As of 2004, it would be the only occasion in Yarbrough's long, long career as a solo act or as part of a group, that he would have a song achieve top forty status despite his popularity as a performer. In 2004, Yarbrough formed a group called "The Folk Reunion" and has been on an extensive tour, often performing together with The Brothers Four and The Kingston Trio.

Yarbrough was the lead singer for The Limeliters from 1959 to 1963 before striking out on his own. Ironically, the lyrics for this song were written by Ernie Sheldon, the fellow who replaced him in The Limeliters when he went solo. The music was written by Elmer Bernstein who scored an incredible amount of music for movies as varied as "A Man With A Golden Arm", "Magnificent Seven", "Animal House" and "Far From Heaven" in 2002 just prior to his passing.

Answer: We Can Work It Out

Just another #1 for The Beatles, number eleven of twenty.

The flip side was "Daytripper" and it was a #5 hit on it's own. In many circumstances, it was difficult to gauge which side of a Beatles' disc was the "A" or "B" side or whether there was any differentiation between the two in reality. Did the Beatles do this on purpose? Or was it a situation that anything they wrote and recorded was so good that DJ's would play both sides regardless and the listening public just lapped it up?

I did a brief comparison of major acts over the years that double sided hits were a possibility... ie. the era of 45 rpm records. Stevie Wonder and Elton John have each had one double sided hit, The Beach Boys had four, The Beatles had an impressive eleven. The leader in this category was Presley with twenty-nine records that charted top forty on both sides, thus 58 top forty hits! The Beatles, in their career, only had 51 top forty hits. I guess that's why he was "The King"!

Answer: Positively Fourth Street

Pop songs are not the most conventional vehicle to take pot shots at people. Dylan does it on this hit that charted at #7 and also on the hit that just preceded this one, "Like A Rolling Stone". Both were pretty scathing indictments but we're never sure whether the object of his criticism is real or imagined.

The same can be said for other songs of this ilk - Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" and Peter Sarstedt's "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)".

Answer: Lady Godiva

"Lady Godiva" peaked at #6 on the Billboard charts and this would be Peter & Gordon's last top ten hit; they would disband the following year. When the song was released, the mayor of Coventry, where the original legendary "Lady" took her ride, deemed the song obscene and had it banned there. My how the standards of morality have changed in forty years!

Answer: Roger Miller

Roger Miller had hits with songs that were clever and amusing - "Dang Me" and "England Swings"; he charted with songs that were eccentrically zany like the ones quoted in the question and others such as "You Can't Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd" and "My Uncle Used To Love Me But She Died"; then he showed his versatility by coming up with serious and thoughtful numbers like "Engine, Engine #9", which was the lyric in this question, and "Husbands And Wives". I think his contributions to the music scene of the 1960s have been overlooked and under-appreciated.

Answer: Barbara Ann

The song was taken from the "Beach Boys Party" album and it was either recorded live or was simulated to sound like it was with lots of background laughter and party sounds. The lead singer was actually Dean Torrence from the group Jan & Dean. It reached #2 on the charts.

Answer: Wooly Bully

Domingo Samudio sang lead for a group he put together in Dallas in 1964 - Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs. They were among the first groups to introduce "Tex-Mex" rhythms to rock music. This song and another #2 hit from 1966, "Lil' Red Riding Hood", were the biggest of the group's six top forty hits before Samudio disbanded the group in 1967, opting for a solo career that never really took off.

In 1982, he left show business altogether and moved to Memphis where he became a street preacher!