Soundtrack of our Lives
The Day After Labor Day, 1963 was my first day at dear old Central High School. Trigonometry, Physics and American Literature awaited me there, as did embarrassing defeats on the gridiron and in the pool. It was the best of times (pick-up basketball in gym class). It was the worst of times (the fog of Right Guard antiperspirant spray in the boys’ gym locker room)
Much like the film “American Graffiti”, Top 40 radio was the soundtrack of our lives. Perhaps it is selective memory, but the music seemed invariably good. “That crap that kids listen to today can’t compare with the Greatest Hits of 1963.”
Really? Sirius Radio’s “Sixties On Six” played the #1 song on September 2, 1963. I was shocked that it was “Blue Velvet” by Bobby Vinton. Argh! Could that piece of crap been what I was humming when I received my locker combination at CHS on that very day?
The Internet is a wonderful thing. A few keystrokes and “The Top 100 Pop Songs of 1963” appeared. #1was “Sugar Shack” by the immortal Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs. No doubt Jimmy is doing “Sugar Shack” at a Des Moines Holiday Inn today. Nobody remembers it.
#2 is more like it. Everyone remembers “Louie, Louie” by the Kingsmen. No one has figured out the lyrics but the Bum-Bum-Bum…Bum-Bum beat will cause septuagenarians to rise from their wheelchairs to the dance floor every time. The remainder of the Top Ten includes classic girl group songs like “My Boyfriend’s Back” and “Be My Baby” that have aged well. It also includes #8, #9, and #10 that are legitimately forgettable:
“Dominique” by the Singing Nun. Very danceable just like “Shout”. NOT
“Blue Velvet” by Bobby Vinton. Was this really the slow dance of choice at 1963 proms?
“Go Away Little Girl” by Steve Lawrence. Remembered by no one.
Early ’60s rock wasn’t really rock at all. Thankfully, the Beatles and The Rolling Stones were waiting across the pond to rejuvenate pop music. I might very well have been humming “Blue Velvet” as I attempted to master my Central High locker combination on my first day there. Times did get better musically.
By Ed Dufton
