Yes it is. Paul is a rarity, he's able to play these kinds of bass lines in a way that supports the songs - probably because he's a first class writer, himself. George certainly could have asked him to tone it down if he wanted to. I think Paul wouldn't have had a problem with that - he knew it was a great, great song and that it was George's, not his.
For me... the BEST song of 1969, hand down would be this one, beautiful song, beautiful voice, awesome sentiment, should have been #1 in my book!
I haven't done this yet so I guess now is the right time, here are all the #2 peaking singles of 1969. 1. I'm Gonna Make You Love Me - Diana Ross & The Supremes and The Temptations 2. Proud Mary - Credence Clearwater Revival 3. Traces - Classic IV 4. You've Made Me So Very Happy - Blood Sweat & Tears 5. It's Your Thing - The Isley Brothers 6. Hair - The Cowsills 7. Love (Can Make You Happy) - Mercy 8. Bad Moon Rising - Credence Clearwater Revival 9. Spinning Wheel - Blood, Sweat & Tears 10. Crystal Blue Persuasion - Tommy James and The Shondells 11. A Boy Named Sue - Johnny Cash 12. Green River - Credence Clearwater Revival 13. Jean - Oliver 14. Hot Fun In The Summertime - Sly & The Family Stone 15. And When I Die - Blood, Sweat & Tears 16. Take A Letter Marie - R.B Greaves Ok so Blood, Sweat & Tears and Credence Clearwater Revival were both stuck at #2 THREE!!! times in 1969, ouch.
I have all but the Oliver and Greaves numbers in my collection. As for Mercy's lone hit: There were two versions that charted, I think at one point simultaneously. There was the original version issued on Sundi (produced by Mike Apsey and Ron Resler), and then there was a redo they made after moving to Warner Bros.-Seven Arts (produced by Steve Alaimo and Brad Shapiro). WCBS-FM 101 in New York, for years, played the latter version. It was a long while before I heard the Sundi original. Now I dig that, can't stand the W-7 remake. I also much prefer the 45 edit/mix of "Spinning Wheel." Believe it or not, there's a stereo version of that edit/mix, issued on promos simultaneous to mono promos. On the stereo, the guitar solo in the instrumental break is on one channel. Likewise, the 45 edit and overdubs for "Crystal Blue Persuasion." Compared to this, the stereo LP version sounds rather bare. (The "Creeque Alley" syndrome.)
I'm not too farmiliar with those songs, but the ones I recognize I adore. The 60's really went out with a bang. The 70's are going to be interesting in this thread, there was a lot more going on.
If you put together the Spector tracks from Rock and Roll, the songs from Menlove Ave, the long version of Be My Baby (still officially not released) and the backing tracks he reused with other artists (A Love Like Yours by Nilsson and Cher and Baby, I Love You by Cher) it's a pretty good album. Much better, IMO, than the album Lennon put out.
And now for the 1969 recap of records that were #1 on Cash Box and/or Record World, but not on Billboard: --I’m Gonna Make You Love Me - Diana Ross & The Supremes & The Temptations (1 wk CB, 3 wks RW) --Soulful Strut - Young-Holt Unlimited (1 wk RW) --Touch Me - The Doors (1 wk CB) --Build Me Up Buttercup - The Foundations (2 wks on both CB & RW) --You Showed Me - The Turtles (1 wk on RW) --Proud Mary - Creedence Clearwater Revival (1 wk RW) --Time Of The Season - The Zombies (1 wk CB) --Hair - The Cowsills (2 wks CB, 3 wks RW) --Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival (1 wk RW) --In The Ghetto - Elvis Presley (1 wk on both CB & RW) --One - Three Dog Night (1 wk RW) --Crystal Blue Persuasion - Tommy James & The Shondells (1 wk RW) --A Boy Named Sue - Johnny Cash (1 wk RW) --Easy To Be Hard - Three Dog Night (2 wks RW) --Little Woman - Bobby Sherman (1 wk CB) --Jean - Oliver (1 wk RW) --Something - The Beatles (5 wks RW) --And When I Die - Blood, Sweat & Tears (1 wk CB) Note: thank you to our Thread Starter for acknowledging Something was a Billboard #1, shown as a flip side to Come Together, which is the way it was on the chart. Joel Whitburn in his Billboard chart books, however, denies this status to Something, instead claiming it peaked at #3, which it did before the 2 sides were combined. Over on Record World, Something/Come Together was #1 for 2 weeks, then Come Together/Something was #1 for 3 weeks. In my book that's 5 weeks at #1 for each side. So if you're a died in the wool Whitburn-ite, this Bud's for you. Fish n chips...
Offhand, three songs that I think were much better than any of the no. 1 hits: Keith Barbour - Echo Park Joe South - Don't It Make You Want to Go Home John and Ann Ryder - I Still Believe in Tomorrow ... and one I discovered right here on the forum: Cloud - Cool Jane As for the number two hits, Lodi was the flip side of Bad Moon Rising and I would pick it as my favourite, although the latter was awfully good too (as were the other two CCR tracks). Love Can Make You Happy by Mercy is the only one I am much more than lukewarm towards. The only one I really dislike is Spinning Wheel, (with Jean second from the bottom), but You Made Me So Very Happy and And When I Die are alright, despite the fact that the former would be better without that up-down-up key change in the bridge and the latter is the kind of gimmicky track that I normally wouldn't like, but I don't mind it. "Gimmicky" was BST's trademark. Edit: the post immediately above showed up while I was writing here. Touch Me is brilliant, and Something and Easy to Be Hard are right up there. On the other hand, Hey Little Woman ... ugh.
Huh. I very much disagree. With one exception (Just Because) the Spector-produced tracks are by far the worst stuff on that album, and (aside from Angel Baby) the outtakes are not any better. They are slow, dreary, leaden arrangements that are totally overproduced and bloated with excessive instrumentation... the very antithesis of what makes great rock 'n' roll in my opinion.
If you play the Spector tracks and then spin Born to be with You by Dion or Death of a Ladies Man by Leonard Cohen it makes a lot more sense.
This is another world wide hit that never took hold in America... Barry Ryan's "Eloise" topped out at #86 back in January, so made very little impression here, but sold 3 1/2 million copies worldwide, and was #1 in 15 countries.
I absolutely adore this song, bought the single when it came out. Been on a one man mission to bring attention to it by posting it on several threads. Bombastic and thoroughly entertaining. And obviously not American.
I've heard Eloise a few times and I can take or leave it. However, a few months ago, I came across another track by the Ryans from a couple of years earlier called I Love Her, and it was excellent ...
I'm just not a fan of Spector at all. Beyond that though, I think he was a particularly bad choice to produce an album of 50s rock 'n' roll tracks by Lennon.
This is another top 10 in 69, which I think should have reached the top spot. Just perfect pop in every way! I'm glad I got to see it performed live back in 1995.
This got nowhere near the top 10 in '69 but it should have. And the sentiments are still apropos today, maybe even more so. Speaking one to one Ain't it everybody's sun To wake to in the morning When we rise?
A surprising dearth of decent #2 hits on that list. I guess the '60s had run out of steam toward the end. Of the ones listed, I'd say the following deserved a #1 status and were quite a bit better than several actual #1 hits that year: Proud Mary - Credence Clearwater Revival It's Your Thing - The Isley Brothers Crystal Blue Persuasion - Tommy James and The Shondells Traces - Classic IV Bad Moon Rising - Credence Clearwater Revival CCR was robbed! As for the non-Billboard #1 hits, that list includes several of those #2 Billboard hits I noted above, and I'd also call out the following as #1 worthy tracks: Soulful Strut - Young-Holt Unlimited Touch Me - The Doors Time Of The Season - The Zombies Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival In The Ghetto - Elvis Presley One - Three Dog Night Easy To Be Hard - Three Dog Night Best of the whole bunch for me? Proud Mary Bad Moon Rising Time Of The Season In The Ghetto One Easy To Be Hard I've always thought of Three Dog Night as a kind of feel good, Americana, dumb US rock band, but both of those hits are really sharp and lyrically pretty deep for the upper reaches of the pop charts. Moody as heck, too.
Of the #1 hits that year, which ones are your top three? "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" - Marvin Gaye "Crimson and Clover" - Tommy James and the Shondells "Everyday People" - Sly & the Family Stone "Dizzy" - Tommy Roe "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)" - The 5th Dimension "Get Back" - The Beatles with Billy Preston "Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet" - Henry Mancini "In the Year 2525 (Exordium and Terminus)" - Zager and Evans "Honky Tonk Women" - The Rolling Stones "Sugar, Sugar" - The Archies "I Can't Get Next to You" - The Temptations "Suspicious Minds" - Elvis Presley "Wedding Bell Blues" - The 5th Dimension "Come Together" / "Something" - The Beatles "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" - Steam "Leaving on a Jet Plane" - Peter, Paul and Mary "Someday We'll Be Together" - Diana Ross & the Supremes I'd vote for: Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In Come Together / Something Someday We'll Be Together But there are three more I think are nearly as good: "Crimson & Clover" "Everyday People" "Suspicious Minds" And even though the #2's of 1969 seemed kinda weak, that's a pretty good roundup of songs. There might be fewer I outright dislike than in any of the previous years. "Dizzy" is a POS, that's gotta be Mancini's worst hit ever, and Zager & Evans don't belong in the rest of that company, but apart from that? It's a pretty stellar collection of hits.
Here's another I thought should have went much farther than #29... it was peaking right around New Years, and dropped out of the top 40 the second week of January.
I can hear why it didn't do anything here in the U.S. in 1969: too classical and not much in the way of rhythm.
Compared to Macarthur Park, though? Maybe there was only room for one classical cantata in the American songbook.
