May 6, 2017 - JS - 1966

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:  5/6/17
Host:  John Simon
Feature:  Early May 1966

Tonight we visit early May 1966. Folk Rock, British Invasion, Stax and Motown and Blue-Eyed Soul and so much more - plus your requests and a ticket giveaway. It's cheap date night and you can't beat the price tag!

 

Birthday Calendar


April 30 – Willie Nelson – age 84
            – Johnny Farina (Santo & Johnny) –Age 76
           
May 1 – Judy Collins – age 78
            – Rita Coolidge – age 72

May 2 – Lesley Gore – born in 1946

May 3 – James Brown – born in 1933
            – Frankie Valli (4 Seasons) – age 83
            – Mary Hopkin – age 67

May 4 – Dick Dale – age 80
            – Nik Ashford (Ashford & Simpson) –born in 1941



May 6 – Bob Seger – age 72






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)


Monday, Monday - Mamas & Papas (first of three weeks at #1 - their one and only chart-topper!)

Good Lovin' - Young Rascals (down to #2 from a peak of #1 - an excellent re-make of the Olympics' record from the year before. One of the greatest covers of them all!)

    

Kicks - Paul Revere & Raiders (at #5, headed to a peak of #4 - featuring the great Mark Lindsay on lead vocals)


Sloop John B - Beach Boys (peaking on this date at #3 - Capitol Records was demanding a single from the band, who were busy recording their Pet Sounds LP. They picked this cover of a classic Folk song and soared to the upper reaches of the chart) 

   

Hold On, I'm Comin' - Sam & Dave (at #58, headed to #21 Pop and #1 R&B - a true Stax Records classic, featuring the blistering studio group calleed Booker T & The M.G.s)

Let's Start All Over Again - Ronnie Dove (at #27, headed to #20 - Ronnie's remarkable string of singles made him the biggest hitmaker for the Diamond Records label)

   

This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You) - Isley Brothers (at #30, headed to #12 Pop and #6 R&B - their biggest hit for the Motown family of labels. They'd go on to achieve their greatest success on their own T-Neck Records label)

     

* Over, Under, Sideways, Down - Yardbirds (bubbling under and headed to a peak of #13)

My Girl - Temptations (2/65; #1 Pop and R&B - dropping back one year as we come out of our rainy weather report in the month of May)

Everyday I Have to Cry - Gentrys (way down at #134, headed to an eventual peak of #77)

A Lover's Concerto - Mrs. Miller (debuting at #96, headed only to #95 - Mrs. Miller was the Florence Foster Jennings of her day - Capitol Records' bizarre-o novelty singer. This was the b-side of her higher-charting cover of Petula Clark's Downtown.)

   

(You're My) Soul & Inspiration - Righteous Brothers (down to #4 after a 3-week stay at #1 - this was their first release on the Verve label after leaving the Phil Spector family. Bill Medley produced the record borrowing a lot of Phil's secrets  -  including songwriters Mann and Weill....)

  

3,000 Miles - Brian Hyland (at #110 this week, headed to a lowly #99 - one of the great lost Pop singles of the Sixties, from a guy who kept reinventing himself after his debut singing about an itsy-bitsy polka-dotted bikini)

* Maybellene - Chuck Berry (8/55; #5 Pop, #1 R&B for eleven weeks - this was the very first charting single of his long, illustrious career. Chuck Berry passed away just one month ago at age 90.)

I'm So Young - The Students (5/61; #26 R&B - one of the great lost singles of the Doo Wop era, originally released in 1958.)

I'm Gonna Make You Love Me - Dee Dee Warwick (12/66; #13 R&B - the first charting version of this Gamble-Huff classic was recorded by Dionne Warwick's little sister. Two years later the Supremes and Temptations would team up for a #2 version using this exact same arrangement)

7-8pm

I'll Keep It With Mine - Judy Collins (her first single release for Elektra Records was this Bob Dylan composition, featuring some of Dylan's sidemen like Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield. This one didn't chart, but it had all the ingredients of a hit....)

    

California Nights - Lesley Gore (4/67; #16 - her last Top Twenty hit on the Mercury label was arranged and produced by Quincy Jones.)

Surf Beat - Dick Dale (1/63; dnc - buried on the b-side of his non-charting Peppermint Man.)

Crazy - Patsy Cline (10/61; #9 - C&W classic from the pen of a young Willie Nelson)

Funny (How Time Slips Away) - Jimmy Elledge (11/61; #21 - another from the pen of Willie Nelson)

I'll Find You - Valerie & Nick (4/64; #117 Pop - this duo would find their fame as songwriters for a string of Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell duet records in Detroit)

There Was a Time - James Brown (1/68; #36 Pop, #3 R&B - on the King Records label, this was a two-sided R&B smash for the "Godfather of Soul," and it autobiographically mentions that he was raised "in Augusta GA")

    

Please, Please, Please - James Brown (4/56; #105 Pop, #5 R&B - JB scored 114 charting hits on the R&B chart. This was the very first one.)

* Those Were the Days - Mary Hopkin (10/68; #2 for three weeks - one of the first two singles released on the Beatles' new record label. Unfortunately, the other one spent 7 weeks in the top slot, keeping this from being a #1 in the States. It spent four weeks at #1 in the UK, though.)

   

* Coal Miner's Daughter - Loretta Lynn (12/70; #83 Pop, #1 C&W - word came in that Loretta Lynn had had a stroke the day before, prompting this request.)

* The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore - Walker Brothers (headed to #13 Pop - these expatriate Americans were more successful in the UK, where this one spent four weeks at #1)

Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'Bout Me) - 4 Seasons (bubbling under this week, headed to #13 on the Billboard chart for the Jersey boys featuring birthday boy Frankie Valli.)

You Waited Too Long - Five Stairsteps (at #115, headed to #94 Pop and #16 R&B - the first nationally-charting single for the Chicago family group on the Windy C label.)

 

I Can't Let Go - The Hollies (peaking on this date at #42 - Evie Sands cut the original for Blue Cat Records. The Hollies' version spent four weeks at #1 in England.)

       

I Love You 1,000 Times - Platters (at #68 this week, headed to #31 Pop and #6 R&B - these venerable hit-makers got a second wind in the mid-Sixties thanks to the soulful vocals of Sonny Turner and the Detroit production of Luther Dixon.)

8-9pm




Better Use Your Head - Little Anthony & Imperials (at #129 this week, headed to #54 Pop - a slicker sound than their early Sixties ballads and a driving beat has made this one a modern-day "Northern Soul" dance floor staple)

* Light My Fire - The Doors (6/67; #1 - this was one of the biggest records of the Summer Of Love, and goes out from our friend Judy to the memory of her guy at the time on this, the anniversary of his passing)

Today In Rock History - the syndicated radio feature reminds us that this was the anniversary of the night the Rolling Stones discovered the opening lick of their first big #1, and that today is Bob Seger's birthday. See below....

(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - Rolling Stones (7/65; #1 for  four weeks - built around the signature fuzz guitar lick that Keith Richard discovered when he was inspired by the Stax Records horn section)

Night Moves - Bob Seger & Silver Bullet Band (12/76; #4 - one of a long string of hits for the Detroit rocker, in honor of his birthday)

One More Saturday Night - Grateful Dead (5/8/77 - recorded live at Cornell's Barton Hall and played tonight on the 40th anniversary weekend of one of the Dead's most revered shows)

What a Wonderful Thing - Fabulous Rhinestones (8/72; #78 - this Chicago-area group had only one charting record and this is it)

We're All Alone - Rita Coolidge (9/77; #7 - this sublime cover of the Boz Scaggs tune is a perfect song for a rainy Saturday night. Happy Birthday Delta Lady.)

Everlasting Love - Rex Smith & Rachel Sweet (6/81; #32 - the classic example of a good song being timeless. Robert Knight charted with this one in '67, Carl Carlton in '74 and these two in '81 - each hit the Top Forty and each sounds fresh and vibrant to this day)

   

My World - Bee Gees (1/72; #13 - a lost treasure from the Brothers Gibb, sandwiched between their classic Atco days and their dance floor/Disco days)

The Last Thing On My Mind - Womenfolk (at #108 this week, headed to #105 - from the pen of Tom Paxton. Their only charting record was their treatment of Malvina Reynolds' Little Boxes.)

 

A Groovy Kind Of Love - Mindbenders (at #18 this week, headed to three weeks at #2 - Wayne Fontana had left the group to become a star on his own. The remaining three soldiered on and ended up with one of the great two-minute singles of the British Invasion.)

CLOSING THEME:  Sleepwalk – Santo & Johnny (1959, #1 for two weeks - featuring the rhythm guitar work of Johnny Farina, who had a birthday earlier this week.)







Congratulations to Woody from Danby, who won a pair of tickets to see Dark Hollow at The Range on Monday May 8, 2017 (exactly forty years after the Grateful Dead's famous Barton Hall show)!








Host Next Week (5/13/17):  JS & KV with a spotlight on......Burt Bacharach!





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.