Rockin' Remnants
Rockin' Remnants is broadcast from WVBR-FM Ithaca. Check out our webpage, like us on Facebook, and tune in to 93.5 or stream the show every Saturday night from 6-9pm! (Or download the WVBR+ app now available for iOS and Android!)
Date: 7/23/16
Host: John Simon
Feature: July 1966
Rockin' Remnants, now 'til 9 p.m. It's July 23, 1966 on your radio - Beatles, Byrds, Motown, The Robbs (!). It's summertime, friends! Let's hang out....
Birthday Calendar
July 18 - Dion DiMucci - age 77
– Brian Auger - age 77
– Martha Reeves - age 75
– Lonnie Mack - born in 1941 (d. April 2016)
July 19 - Bernie Leadon (Eagles) - age 69
July 20 – Carlos Santana – age 69
July 21 – Cat Stevens – age 67
July 22 - Chuck Jackson - age 79
– Don Henley (Eagles) – age 69
July 23 – Dino Danelli (Rascals) – age 72
Rock ‘n’ Roll Trivia
Tonight's trivia question came from a caller: "What Sixties TV show featured an appearance by The Standells?"
(scroll down to find the answer below the playlist)
Playlist
[songs in bold are from the spotlight date of DATE; yellow song titles are YouTube links; songs with * were requests; all chart information comes from the Billboard Top 100 (for chart dates before/during July 1958) or Billboard Hot 100 (for chart dates during/after Aug 1958) unless otherwise noted]
6-7pm
OPENING THEME: Good Old Rock ‘n’ Roll – Cat Mother & the All-Night Newsboys (1969, #29, produced by Jimi Hendrix)
Pied Piper - Crispian St. Peters (at #4 this week for the first of three weeks - this was actually a cover of a low-charting single for The Changin' Times, but this has become the definitive version. We kick off tonight's show with the original 45.)
Distant Shores - Chad & Jeremy (at #55, headed to #30 - one of my favorite lush orchestral odes to Summertime from the British duo who brought you A Summer Song two years earlier.)
Lady Jane - Rolling Stones (debuting at #83, headed to #24 - this was the b-side of Mother's Little Helper, which would peak at #8)
What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted - Jimmy Ruffin (at #133 this week, headed to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 - one of the truly great records from the Golden Age of Motown.)
* You Baby - Turtles (2/66; #20 - not exactly from our chart date, but the caller said that 1966 was "a great year" and that this was one of its great records. No argument from me....)
* Sunny Afternoon - Kinks (8/66; #14 - this request came in from Vancouver, where it was sunny and less humid than in Ithaca. It would land on the chart two weeks later.)
* Wild Thing - Troggs (at #2 this week - called in by a listener who was born in 1966 and said "We gotta get some Troggs!" This record would reach the number one slot next week and stay there into August.)
* I Am A Rock - Simon & Garfunkel (just off the chart after three weeks at #3 - the caller said she used to listen to this one on the jukebox at the bar she used to hang out in. One of a string of great singles for the Columbia Records duo.)
* Sunny - Bobby Hebb (at #25, headed to #2 on the Billboard chart - listener George casually dropped this comment about Bobby Hebb: "Got to see him in August 1966 at Shea Stadium with some band from England." How 'bout that??!?)
* Dirty Water - Standells (down to #16 from two weeks at #11 - this ode to Boston's River Charles was not quite on the up-and-up, as these guys were an LA band, considered by some to be early proponents of the Punk scene.)
45 Corner: On a Summer Night - Sugar Canyon (8/68; dnc - a great lost single from the Buddah Records label. The personnel on the single remains a mystery, but the imagery and ambiance perfectly capture a moment in time....)
A Summer Symphony - Lesley Gore (5/69; dnc - this was the b-side of the non-charting 98.6/Lazy Day, a tasty medley of two songs composed by the same writers. A Summer Symphony never has been - and probably never will be - released in stereo. I think it should've been a hit....)
Tar & Cement - Verdelle Smith (at #61, headed to #38 - from the "you-can-never-go-back-home" category of reflective records. It starts with a simple guitar strum and ends with an orchestra and female chorus, and brings us to the Birthday Calendar.)
(Your Love Is Like A) Heatwave - Martha & Vandellas (8/63; #4 Pop, #1 R&B for four weeks - what better song to pick for this week's birthday tribute, as temperatures soar into the 90s?)
I Don't Want To Cry - Chuck Jackson (2/61; #35 Pop, #5 R&B - born in South Carolina, he was one of the biggest stars signed to NYC's Wand Records label and one of the great Soul crooners of the era.)
Runaround Sue - Dion (10/61; #1 for two weeks - raised on Belmont Avenue in the Bronx, Dion split from the Belmonts for a solo career, and this was his biggest hit. Those are the Del-Satins on background vocals.)
Runaway Girl - Dion (10/61; dnc - another example of the buried treasure you might find on the flipside of a great single.)
Memphis - Lonnie Mack (6/63; #5 - this instrumental version of Chuck Berry's hit was Lonnie Mack's highest-charting record. Many guitarists (Keith Richard, among them) cite him as a profound influence. He passed away back in April.)
Solitary Man - Neil Diamond (down to #60 from a peak of #55 - this record has the distinction of being Neil Diamond's first charting single as a recording artist. He would go on to become one of the biggest Pop stars of the Seventies and Eighties, and Bang would re-release this single four years later when it would reach #21.)
Whole Lot Of Shakin' (In My Heart) - Miracles (at #47, headed to #46 Pop and #20 R&B - lost amid their string of great ballads is this dance number featuring the classic Motown sound of the Funk Brothers. Smokey was at the peak of his powers as a writer and singer and producer.)
5D (Fifth Dimension) - Byrds (at #54, headed to #44 - a record that has been pretty much lost to time gets its second spin in two weeks! Last week JH played it for Jim McGuinn's birthday. Cool tune.)
Race With The Wind - The Robbs (peaking on this date at #103 - these guys just couldn't break through, even with regular national television exposure on Dick Clark's "Where The Action Is." This was their biggest single.)
Paperback Writer - Beatles (down to #6 from a peak at the Top - the Beatles had recently stopped touring and were now concentrating on studio craft. This stunning single was backed by the equally-stunning "Rain." They were growing exponentially as musicians and recording artists.)
Drive My Car - Bob Kuban and The In-Men (at #94 this week, headed to #93 - The Beatles were churning out so much great material that they couldn't release it all on singles. This St. Louis-based group jumped on this one, but stalled in the lower reaches of the Hot 100.)
45 Corner: Om - Royal Guardsmen (6/67; dnc - after two big novelty hits about a flying beagle, the band released the bubblegum-flavored "Airplane Song." Buried on the b-side was this trippy and relatively sophisticated instrumental. Surprise!)
Things Go Better With Coke - American Breed (ca. 1967 - The Coca Cola Company spent a bunch of money paying popular groups to record 60-second songs promoting their product to the younger generation. Here's a classic example - a Rockin' Remnants exclusive!)
* Hanky Panky - Tommy James & The Shondells (#1 on this very date - the start of a very long and successful career for Tommy James, who'd recorded this a couple of years earlier and had it fade into obscurity until a Pittsburgh radio station started playing it. Roulette released it and it went to #1!)
Sugar & Spice - Cryan Shames (debuting at #92, headed to #49 - the highest-charting single for this Chicago quintet was their cover of the Searchers hit from three years earlier.)
* To Sir With Love - Lulu (10/67; #1 for 4 weeks - not even released as a single in England - and only as a b-side here in the States - this went on to be certified as the #1 single of the year. Lulu played a tough kid in the Sidney Poitier film. The band backing her up in the movie is none other than the Mindbenders!)
Eli's Comin' - Laura Nyro (1968; dnc - this kid from the Bronx wrote a string of great songs that were big hits for others: 5th Dimension, Three Dog Night, Barbara Streisand.... Her own versions were often the best, but Columbia doesn't seem to have ever released this as a single. Their loss.)
* Summer Night City - ABBA (9/78; dnc - it never charted here, but it was Top 5 in the UK and #1 in Sweden. Going out by request for our friend Jane. Who knew???)
Witchy Woman - Eagles (9/72; #9 - co-written by birthday guys Bernie Leadon and Don Henley, this was the band's first big hit.)
Best Of My Love - Eagles (3/75; #1 - co-written by lead singer Don Henley and featuring the pedal steel guitar of Bernie Leadon.)
Inner City Blues - Brian Auger's Oblivion Express (8/73; dnc - from the LP Closer To It, this is a great cover of Marvin Gaye's classic tune. Happy birthday Brian Auger!)
* Maybe I Know - Lesley Gore (7/64; #14 - the request was for "something by Lesley Gore." We went with this energetic summertime classic. Rumor has it that there's an Italian-language version out there, and that it may appear on a John Rudan show one of these nights....)
* The Witch Queen Of New Orleans - Redbone (11/71; #21 - the request was for "Marie LaVeau" by Bobby Bare. We couldn't find that one, but this song is about her, too. Take that!)
* Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley (9/57; #1 Pop, #1 C&W, #2 R&B - the request was for "something by The King!" Here ya go. #67 on the RS500.)
See You In September - Happenings (#41, headed to #3 - the New Jersey quartet had found their calling: updating older tunes with a new sound. This had been a moderate hit for The Tempos, but The Happenings totally inhabited it.)
Land Of Milk & Honey - Vogues (#43, down from a peak of #29 - this was one of the final raucous records from the Turtle Creek, PA outfit. They'd soon reinvent themselves as crooners of lush ballads, leaving behind a short string of great singles for the Co&Ce label.)
You Wouldn't Listen - Ides Of March (peaking at #42 - their first nationally-charting hit would remain their biggest until they added horns and signed with Warner Brothers. Then came 1971's Vehicle, and this single was lost to obscurity.)
No Particular Place To Go - Chuck Berry (11/64; #10 - Chuck had recently been released from prison after serving time on a trumped-up charge. He came back with a new string of classics, but his time had nearly passed....)
Trivia Answer
The Standells appeared in an episode of The Munsters back in 1965. You can see a short clip of it here!
Congratulations to Rob from Interlaken who won himself one free hour of bowling at Atlas Bowl in Trumansburg.
Host Next Week (7/30/16): Kim Vaughan with a spotlight
Thanks for tuning in! You can listen to Rockin' Remnants every Saturday night from 6-9pm on WVBR (93.5 FM in Ithaca, NY) or at wvbr.com/listen.
