What is the first "hit" song you can remember hearing as a child?

Way too long ago to pinpoint decisively but probably something like The Witch Doctor which would have appealed to a kid's ear in the late 50s.

The Witch Doctor - David Seville

Walla Walla Bing Bang!

 

Middle of the Road - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep

 

Maybe Winchester Cathedral.

 

remember being taught to play Sloop John B. in music class ... 1st or 2nd grade I believe

 

From memory, they were a decent band, although it's been decades since I've heard any of their music. I think my curiosity has been piqued enough to look them up.

 

I was just past my 5th birthday, riding in the back seat of the car with my mom driving. Last Train to Clarksville came on the radio, and my record of Bippity-Boppity-Boo from Disney's Cinderella was no longer my favorite record. Lol

I also remember hearing Penny Lane when I was a little older. That song has always epitomized England to me. And I believe I heard the version with the piccolo trumpet ending which I really love and always miss.

And in music class we would sing Joy to the World and One Tin Soldier a few years after that

 

We had a tower to pick up all the Chicago and Milwaukee (not to mention South Bend and Grand Rapids) stations. Almost everyone in the neighborhood had a tower with a motor to rotate the antenna. How depressing that they don't know any Beatles songs! What kind of parents do they have!

 

Now you're bringing back memories. In first grade we sang Peter, Paul and Mary's "Puff The Magic Dragon". I remember it was a hot day so the teacher kept the window open, but we had a torrential storm and a flood of water came through the window while we were singing! Yikes!

 

The older songs grew on me. I have CDs with popular songs going back to 1900 (the songs, not the CDs!). My parents spent the winters in an RV park and they had recreational activities. One of their fun things to do was sing the old songs. Sounds like you'd like to be there!

 

Palisades Park - Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon (July 1962), written by Chuck Barris (of Gong Show fame). I was 4-1/2 years old. Couldn't get enough of this song! I remember hearing it on the AM radio in our old Rambler Ambassador. Later I got the 45 and played it to death.

 

The first one I remember was All Right Now by Free somewhere around 1970-71.

 

Different generation. Their parents were born long after the Beatles broke up. In their world, country was always popular, and hip hop was always around.

 

I loved the weekly sing-songs & they really got me into singing. I think I knew "Down at the old Bull & Bush" & "On Mother Kelly's doorstep" before I knew any music which was modern at the time. Wow! That's great. (I know. Lol. I'd have just joked that I thought they had gramophone records in those days not compact discs.) Those sing-alongs sound great. I'd have loved to join in.

 

We had to sing "Puff the Magic Dragon" in 1st school music class too & choir.

 

Frank Ifield - I Remember You

 

I remember hearing this on the radio.

 

I'm a baby boomer. It seems like everything, except maybe Elvis, started with the Beatles on Ed Sullivan when I was eight. After that start of the British Invasion, the first "hit" I can remember really liking is

from early 1965.

 

Age of Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In by The Fifth Dimension.

I was the youngest of six children. One of my brothers or my sister always had the radio on.

 

I was born in 1964. The first songs I distinctly remember hearing in real time are:

Georgy Girl (The Seekers)

- and -

Up, Up and Away (5th Dimension)

The beginning of a lifelong love of Jimmy Webb's extraordinary talent.

 

born 1960

Petula Clark- Downtown

 

Probably "The Most Beautiful Girl" by Charlie Rich.

 

"Sweet City Woman" by the Stampeders. Probably didn't chart in the USA though. I loved it as a pre-preschooler in the early '70s.

 

Not sure if it was a hit or not at the time, but Grand Funk Railroad’s cover of ‘Do the Locomotion’ was the first song I latched onto around 5-6 y.o. Think my folks or one of my brothers bought me the 45 RPM single of it

 

Looks like Johnny Angel in 1962. My older brother was in love with Shelley Fabares and once we heard it (we shared a room) he bought it and it was played it to death. )My parents had an old behemoth Grundig console with a heavy tone arm that carved slivers of vinyl from anything it played). He even got me to sing along.