(Note: Though the song is usually referred to as “The Sound of Silence” (singular), the original single is listed as “The Sounds of Silence” (plural) both on the record label and in Billboard, and thus is the title used here.) Simon & Garfunkel’s 1964 debut album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. is a typical relic of [...]
Archive for the ‘Year’ Category
151) Simon & Garfunkel – “The Sounds of Silence”
Posted in 08, 1966, tagged simon & garfunkel on May 29, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
150) The Dave Clark Five – “Over and Over”
Posted in 05, 1965, tagged british invasion, the dave clark five on May 14, 2012 | 6 Comments »
The Dave Clark Five were the first UK group to challenge The Beatles’ dominance of the US pop charts, launching “Glad All Over” into the Top 10 in March 1964. Nearly two years and 12 singles later (all but one of which went Top 40), the group finally scored their only number-one hit. Their solid [...]
149) The Byrds – “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There is a Season)”
Posted in 07, 1965, tagged pete seeger, the byrds on May 9, 2012 | 1 Comment »
After the success of “Mr. Tambourine Man,” The Byrds stuck to the Bob Dylan songbook, releasing “All I Really Want to Do” as their second single and covering “Spanish Harlem Incident” and “Chimes of Freedom” on the Mr. Tambourine Man LP. To allay charges that they leaned too heavily on Dylan for material, they scrapped [...]
148) The Supremes – “I Hear a Symphony”
Posted in 08, 1965, tagged girl groups, motown, the supremes on April 16, 2012 | 1 Comment »
After “Nothing But Heartaches” broke The Supremes’ run of number-one records – failing to even scrape the Top 10 – it was time to rethink the formula. “I Hear a Symphony” offered a more complex take on the Supremes sound, even more than “Stop! In the Name of Love” had been. “Symphony” may have been [...]
147) The Rolling Stones – “Get Off of My Cloud”
Posted in 08, 1965, tagged british invasion, the rolling stones on April 9, 2012 | 4 Comments »
When an artist scores a big hit, typically the aim is to try to replicate that success on some level. Often this replication is quite literal, with the follow-up expressly geared to trigger fond memories of its predecessor. One approach is to hew as closely to the previous hit as possible, changing just the minimum [...]
146) The Beatles – “Yesterday”
Posted in 08, 1965, tagged british invasion, the beatles on March 30, 2012 | 6 Comments »
The Beatles have been ubiquitous for so long that it’s easy to take their best-known songs for granted. “Yesterday” in particular has reached saturation point, regularly topping “best song” polls and logging among the most recorded cover versions of any song. Its gentle acoustic style and backwards-looking lyrics place it among the handful of Beatles [...]
145) The McCoys – “Hang On Sloopy”
Posted in 07, 1965, tagged the mccoys on March 23, 2012 | 2 Comments »
And now for a song that’s brainless on purpose. “Hang On Sloopy” is just as derivative and opportunistic as “Eve of Destruction,” but with the benefit of working in a genre where eloquence and sincerity trail distantly behind the goal of getting kids dancing. Instead of ripping off Bob Dylan’s protest songs, “Hang On Sloopy” [...]
143) The Beatles – “Help!”
Posted in 08, 1965, tagged british invasion, the beatles on February 28, 2012 | 3 Comments »
Earlier in 1965, “Ticket to Ride” had introduced a new page in the Beatles songbook: an anti-love song alternating between dejection and sarcasm with an unsteady, lumbering beat to match. “Help!” at first blush seems a throwback to the snappy pop and three-part harmonies that had defined the group’s early singles, with just enough of the post-Hard Day’s Night folkiness to fit [...]
142) Sonny and Cher – “I Got You Babe”
Posted in 07, 1965, tagged sonny and cher on February 2, 2012 | 4 Comments »
The Byrds proved the burgeoning counterculture could be prettied up for the mainstream, but Sonny and Cher watered it down and sweetened it enough that conventional pop fans would hardly know what they were drinking. But the hippie generation’s Steve and Eydie weren’t bandwagon jumpers, exactly. Sonny Bono had co-written the proto folk rock “Needles [...]
