No. 1 Hits Of The 60s Vol. 3 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Johnny Preston

The song was a hit for Johnny Preston, a guy from Port Arthur, Texas. The song spent three weeks at number one during the winter of 1960 and was considered part of the "teenage tragedy song" genre. It told the story of a young Indian brave's love for an Indian maid and the subsequent tragedy of the both of them drowning in a river.

The big surprise here might be that the song was written by J.P. Richardson, (a.k.a. The Big Bopper) and was released about seven months after his tragic death (along with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens).

Answer: Bert Kaempfert

"Wonderland By Night" was recorded by Bert Kaempfert and spent three weeks at number one during the cold months of 1961. Kaempfert was a German orchestra leader and this was his first hit song as a recording artist. He did however write the music for some songs which became hits for other more well known artists.

A few examples were "Strangers in the Night", the Frank Sinatra classic, and "Danke Schoen", a hit made famous by Wayne Newton.

Answer: The Twist

There have been a handful of songs that were knocked out of the number one position and then came to reclaim the spot at a later time but Chubby Checker's "The Twist" is probably the most unique song of all time in that it was a number one song during the fall of 1960, and then went to number one again as a re-release during the winter of 1962.

The song ranks at number 451 on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

Answer: Steve Lawrence

All the acts mentioned recorded the song, but it was Lawrence, who had been singing since the 1950s, both as a solo artist and with his wife Edyie Gorme, who took this song to the top of the charts. Lawrence also recorded a number of Easy Listening hits such as "Pretty Blue Eyes" and "Portrait of My Love".

The others mentioned did cover the song as well. Wynter recorded the song in the U.K. and had a number six hit, The Happenings covered the song and had a number five charting hit with the song in 1966, and although Donny Osmond was in first grade when this song was originally release, he took the song to number one as a 14 year old singing sensation in 1971.

Answer: False

It was actually "I Want to Hold Your Hand" which was released in the U.S. in late 1963, with "I Saw Her Standing There" as the B-side. Amazingly, the record company (Capitol Records) was hesitant to release the recording in the U.S. thinking that The Beatles probably couldn't make an impact on the U.S. market.(I wonder where those marketing geniuses ended up).The song ended up spending seven weeks at the top of the U.S. charts in February and March of 1964.

In the U.K., "She Loves You" was released first and was eventually replaced as the number one song on the charts by "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in late 1963.

Answer: Come See About Me

'See' if you can 'come' up with the name of the song. "Come See About Me' was the Supremes' third straight number one hit following the 1964 smash hits "Where Did Our Love Go" and "Baby Love". It was the number one song for one week during January of 1965. They would have two more number one hits after "Come See About Me" before the string would be broken.

Answer: We Can Work It Out

This was the first time in recording history that a record was designated as having a "double A-side" for release. "We Can Work It Out" and "Day Tripper" were two tracks that were laid down during the Rubber Soul recording sessions but were never used on the album. "We Can Work It Out" proved to be slightly more popular and went to number one for two weeks during January and after being knocked out of the spot by Simon and Garfunkel's "Sounds Of Silence", it regained the top spot for one more week at the end of the month. "Day Tripper" reached number five on the charts at the same time.

Answer: Kind Of A Drag

"Kind Of a Drag" was a 1967 number one hit for The Buckinghams. They were a group out of Chicago, Illinois who had five straight Top 10 U.S. hits during 1967. They followed "Kind Of a Drag" with "Don't You Care", which got as high as number six, "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", which peaked at number five, "Hey Baby They're Playing Our Song" which made it to number ten, and "Susan" which topped out at number eight.

Then as quickly as they appeared on the scene, they disappeared. They did reform in the early 1980s and became part of an oldies tour.

The continued to tour into the 2000s and in 2007 were back in the studio and put together a new CD which combined some new music as well as remakes of some of their early hits.

Answer: Judy In Disguise (With Glasses)

This song was co-written by band members John Fred and Andrew Barnard and was a direct parody of The Beatles "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds". In an ironic twist, when this song went to number one during the last two weeks of January in 1968, the song it replaced was The Beatles' "Hello Goodbye".

Answer: Crimson and Clover

"Crimson And Clover" went to number one during the first two weeks of February in 1969 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the U.S, as well as the number one spot in Canada. While credited to The Shondells, this song was a two man operation with James singing lead, and playing guitar, with drummer Peter Lucia Jr. doing the drums and background vocals. Don't be confused with another color tune "Crystal Blue Persuasion" which only reached number two on the charts in the same year. "Out Of The Blue" was a minor hit for the group in 1967, only reaching number 43 on the charts, and "Sweet Cherry Wine" was a number seven tune late in 1969.

If you enjoyed this quiz, please look for and play my others in this series.