One of the most exciting songs of the 1960s, the Beatles with ‘I Saw Her Standing There’. It’s a simple song but a good one and one that sounds much better performed live.
The early Beatles songs had a lot of flair and drive to them and can really sound alive when they are performed and this song is no exception. The idea for the lyrics are believed to have come from Paul as he was driving home one day, the music being added later in one of their usual music collaboration sessions.
The first ever time the Beatles walked into a BBC recording studio was at the Playhouse Theatre in Manchester, England on Wednesday, 7th March 1962 before a live audience to perform on ‘Teenager’s Turn’, a regular radio pop music show.
Interestingly, the Beatles’s manager, Brian Epstein had insisted that they wear ties and suits to look smart and this was to set the Beatles’s look for the next few years of appearances in public. It also set the ‘standard’ look for most groups at the beginning of the 1960s and helped influence the way teenagers dressed.
Yes, I know this was recorded by the Beatles and we’ll come to their version later, but this is about the original recording and, in fact, a very important one for this was the very first Motown hit. That is it was the first Motown song to reach number one in the Billboard charts, which it did in 1961.
The 1960s changed so many things but it was in men’s fashion that the decade perhaps had its most major, and to some, most shocking impact.
At the end of Second World War people began to pick up the pieces of their lives and men stepped out of uniform and back into suits similar to the ones they had worn before hostilities began. The world breathed again and it seemed that normal service had been resumed.
Suits after the war were mainly double-breasted, three-piece, dark blue, charcoal or perhaps a darkish brown. The material was heavy, often with a pin-stripe and with wide lapels and fairly baggy trousers complete with turn-ups.
Half-way through the 1960s decade and here are the top hits of that year, 1965. This was compiled from a list on the internet so I don’t know how it was put together save that I am almost sure it’s American.
However, each of these tracks was a hit both here and over the Atlantic so this is as close to a UK 1965 hit list as I can get.
So what else happened in 1965? To put the year in perspective, Sir Winston Churchill died, the Beatles got their MBEs, Edward Heath was elected leader of the Conservative Party, the 70mph speed limit was introduced and Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were accused of the Moors murders.
Translation between languages is a wonderful thing but in the music business perhaps there are some things that are better left untranslated!
In the late 50s and early 60s most record companies insisted that artists who had hit records made some recording in another language to help promote the record and increase sales. Communication between countries was nowhere near as sophisticated as it is today and foreign language records had a hard time gaining acceptance.
In the 1960s Gerry & The Pacemakers were the number 2 group to emerge from Liverpool – the Mecca for the emerging British rock sound. They produced a string of world famous songs but then, somewhere along the line, they lost it!
The lineup was a good one, Gerry Marsden was likeable, with an appealing voice, great stage presence and a determination to succeed. His backing, it began with his brother on drums and some friends, was good with a clean, high-spirited sound that made you want to tap your feet and listen.
Posted in Music
Tagged 1960s, 60s, beatles, epstein, gerry marsden, liverpool, mersey, mersey sound, merseybeat, pacemakers, pop, sixties
My selection of 21 tracks taken from the hits of the second half of the 1960s.
OK, so, this is my 21, if you want to add a track that you like please put the track title and artist below and I’ll consider it for the next decade-busting list I do.
