Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Those who grew up in the 1960s will remember the song title that is also the topic of this thread. They will also remember that the 1960s was a time of heightened protest, social unrest, experimentation and exploration in contrast to the 1950s.

Many changes in society were reflected in the music of the day as one would expect. In reflecting on these changes in the sixties, I was rather surprised to find that the "love and relationship" theme persisted well ahead of these other societal changes.

When I tried to think of a top ten hit that focused on something other than love, I had great difficulty coming up with a song title. One that did come to mind was "Sunny Afternoon" by the Kinks, but even it touches on significant relationship issues. Is this just a lapse in my memory? Are there a fair number of top ten hits in the US or UK that were not about love? If this is the case, why? I love a "love song" but why weren't more hit songs about other things?

Something to think about for the New Year after the hangover wears off.

Here are the lyrics to the Kinks' Sunny Afternoon.

The tax mans taken all my dough,
And left me in my stately home,
Lazing on a sunny afternoon.
And I cant sail my yacht,
Hes taken everything Ive got,
All Ive gots this sunny afternoon.

Save me, save me, save me from this squeeze.
I got a big fat mama trying to break me.
And I love to live so pleasantly,
Live this life of luxury,
Lazing on a sunny afternoon.
In the summertime
In the summertime
In the summertime

My girlfriends run off with my car,
And gone back to her ma and pa,
Telling tales of drunkenness and cruelty.
Now Im sitting here,
Sipping at my ice cold beer,
Lazing on a sunny afternoon.

Help me, help me, help me sail away,
Well give me two good reasons why I oughta stay.
cause I love to live so pleasantly,
Live this life of luxury,
Lazing on a sunny afternoon.
In the summertime
In the summertime
In the summertime

Ah, save me, save me, save me from this squeeze.
I got a big fat mama trying to break me.
And I love to live so pleasantly,
Live this life of luxury,
Lazing on a sunny afternoon.
In the summertime
In the summertime
In the summertime

1967, Top Ten for Buffalo Springfield, For What It's Worth, comes to mind.

I may be mistaken, of course, but i think that's because it's the most important thing in life, plain and simple.
"Sounds of silence" by Simon & Garfunkel - is it about love or not? Hard to say.

Really, there are probably quite a number of them. I Dig Rock 'n Roll Music, Mr. Tambourine Man, Paperback Writer, Penny Lane...just a few that came to me. All Top Ten, I think.

"Shut Down", "409", Surfin' Safari"...

Seems the only things loved here are cars and waves.

But don't sell surf music short on this account. It also gave us "Don't Worry Baby" and the BEST teen ballad of the '60s, "Warmth of the Sun". Neither made Top Ten, though.

Peter, this is a good one for the scholars and a great one for the forum.

My take is to beware of using Top Ten as your yardstick. For every great classic that made the Top Ten, there is also a gleaming pile of pollution. But what both have in common in achieving Top Ten status is plenty of backing from various corners of the music industry, and in the 1960's it was still safer to stick to the tried and true formulas..."and this one goes out to Tracy from Billy who still loves ya baby"... It's all about love, and young love---and the further back in time you go, the harder it is to find a radio song NOT about love. Although music went through a sea change in the 60's, the Top Ten hits were not as reflective of this as were the full contents of the albums that we were listening to. Phil Ochs was important, but "Shores of Santo Domingo" wasn't exactly spinning on the Close 'n Plays, nor was "Yer Blues" for that matter.

I think if you delve into the albums from which these Top Ten love songs came from, you will find more topical material--this stuff really exploded in this decade, but it was still too risky for radio.

How about "Louie,Louie?" We'll never really know what that was really about...

Thanks to all for challenging my thesis with regard to top ten songs not relating to love.

Sheena, I quite agree that love makes the world go round and it is important.

Mark, I concur that there is nothing magic about the top ten but it may reflect the main focus of interest if they were that popular.

Paul, the focus on another major event "Cars" is interesting and there all a fair number of these as you have noted.

So in addition to love, the examples provided here fall into the broad categories of cars and surfers, occupations, crime, weather and "who knows what it means."

Nothwitstanding my issues with retrieval memory processing, these songs offer quite a broad section of important interests.

Love is a great subject matter and is surely a musical theme that will never perish. Imagine if all that was left was music, what would an anthropologist or musicologist write about our society after finding a stack of records in a landfill site?

White Rabbit...West Coast Under Assistant Promotion Man...5-D....People Are Strange..Break On Through....Wolly Bully!

If music be the food of love, play on

-Shakespeare

15 tracks to make up an album, I particularly feel that the last 5 were strong statement songs, some which are relevant today.

All were top ten to meet Peter's criteria which I agree with, the vast majority made number 1, in UK of course.

Songs about surf were not big in UK, in fact to most youngsters in the sixties, Surf was a brand of detergent!

Of course you could chose a plethora of instrumental hits which had no connection with love, Telstar, a communications satellite, Apache, a North American Indian, Atlantis, a lost continent?.


The Love Less Album

Highwaymen - Michael 1961

Animals - We Gotta Get Of This Place 1964

Byrds - Mr Tambourine Man 1965

Beatles - Paperback Writer 1965

Beatles - Penny Lane 1966

Bee Gees - Massachusetts 1967

Scaffold - Lily The Pink 1968

Move - Blackberry Way 1969

Desmond Dekker - Israelites 1969

Scott McKenzie - San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair 1967

Kinks - Dedicated Follower Of Fashion 1964

Procul Harem - Whiter Shade Of Pale - 1967

Zager & Evans - In The Year 2525 1969

Barry McQuire - Eve Of Destruction 1965

Hedgehoppers Anonymous - It's Good News Week 1965

Searchers - What Have They Done To The Rain 1964

Who - My Generation

Outstanding work Roy. You have certainly illustrated that there is more to hits of the 1960s than love.

Roy: All of these were on the North American airwaves, except, I do not recall Blackberry Way. Do you still have your crystal ball set up?

And while you've got the ball out, Roy. Scaffold? Sorry, I don't recall them.