Quite a curious tale, this. You'd expect the 60s Number 1s to be the best. This was the decade, after all, when popular became great, when the two bands considered the greatest of all time were also the two biggest. This was the decade of Motown, of folk-rock, of the British Invasion, of Psychedelia, and all of these were completely in the mainstream. Yet, curiously, the Number 1s very often miss the mark.
There are very few Motown Number 1s in the UK - just three. No Stax or Aretha Franklin. No Dylan, no Who. I'd say that, generally, the Beatles songs that got to Number 1 are not their best songs. They're still great, but, if I'm making a list of my favourite Beatles songs (which I have done), only 2 of my favourite 20 got to Number 1. This is less true of the Rolling Stones, where their Number 1s are really great, some of their best ever songs.
The main issue, of course, with ranking the Numbers 1 of the 1960s, is, of course, the early stuff. The pre-enlightenment stuff. Obviously, there were many great songs before 1963, but they didn't make it to the top of the UK singles charts, clearly. Working my way through the songs I didn't know before 1963 was such a slog. More even than I thought it would be. The best part of the whole thing is it gave me the best insight I've ever had as to what hearing the Rolling Stones for the first time was actually like - when It's All Over Now finally turned up on my playlist, it was like a bolt of lightning.
Saying that, one of the fun parts of doing this has been discovered unknown or barely noticed gems. There were more in the 70s but still a few here. But we start with ...
186. Cliff Richard - Congratulations. Well, I've always hated Congratulations, and that's that. Cliff will not, in general, fare too badly here, but I have 40 years of loathing for this song.
185. Johnny Preston - Running
Bear. Of its time, shall we say.
185. Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas - Little Children. Of its ...
184. Jet Harris and Tony Meehan - Diamonds. These two were in the Shadows. There is so much Shadows-related stuff in the early 60s, and, with all due respect to Hank's skilz, it is a bit heard-one, heard-em-all.
183. The Shadows - Dance
On! As above.
182. Frank Ifield - Confessin'. Frank Ifield had four Number 1s. Did you know that? Four!
180. Elvis Presley - Wooden Heart. Presley's Number 1s in the 60s were mainly twee, unbecoming, tat, this being the epitome of that.
179. The Temperance Seven - You're Driving Me Crazy. Well, I know there weren't seven of them.
178. Jimmy Jones - Good
Timin'
177. Cilla Black - Anyone Who Had a Heart. Slightly ludicrous to put this magnificent song (probably one of the best songs on the whole list) so low, but I'm Team Dionne Warwick.
176. The Four Pennies - Juliet
175. Frank Ifield - The
Wayward Wind. Not Frank Field.
174. Elvis Presley - Good
Luck Charm
173. Floyd Cramer - On the
Rebound
172. Des O'Connor - I Pretend
171. Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames - Get Away
170. The Shadows - Foot Tapper. There isn't really all that much to say about many of these. Only so much fun being relentlessly specifically derogatory. I'll save it up.
169. Frank Ifield - Lovesick Blues. A Hank Williams cover.
168. Michael Holliday - Starry
Eyed
167. Georgie Fame - The
Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde
166. Elvis Presley - Surrender. Never meant shit to me.
165. The Shadows - Wonderful
Land
164. Frankie Vaughan - Tower
of Strength
163. Petula Clark - Sailor. Sounds like it will be more fun than it is.
162. Frank Ifield - I Remember You. The Ifield Supremacy.
161. Elvis Presley - Return
to Sender
160. The Bachelors - Diane
159. Elvis Presley - She's
Not You
158. Cliff Richard and the Shadows - I Love You. I will say, somewhat to my surprise, Cliff sounds much more coherent and engaged than Elvis in the 60s. Apart from Congratulations, none of his Number 1s set my teeth on edge, and a few of them, as we'll get to, are great.
157. Adam Faith - Poor
Me
156. Marmalade - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da. My first encounter with several Lennon-McCartney songs (I didn't even know it was the Beatles at that point) was a Learn the Piano book we had, with basic versions of the tunes and the words underneath. Even then, with Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, I thought "what the hell's that?"
155. Gary Puckett and the Union Gap - Young Girl. Actually quite a good tune, but you know ...
154. Elvis Presley - Crying
in the Chapel
153. Peter and Gordon - A
World Without Love
152. Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas - Bad to Me
151. The Shadows - Kon-Tiki
150. Eddie Cochran - Three Steps to Heaven. Probably an unfair placing but I'd heard this was a classic record, and I think I just thought it would be better ...
149. Gerry and the Pacemakers - I
Like It
148. Jim Reeves - Distant
Drums
147. Eden Kane - Well
I Ask You
146. Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames - Yeh, Yeh
145. Ken Dodd - Tears. Sold a really vast number of copies.
144. The Searchers - Don't
Throw Your Love Away
143. Cliff Richard - The
Minute You're Gone
142. Elvis Presley - It's
Now or Never
141. Engelbert Humperdinck - The Last Waltz. So we're out of the sludge and generally now at least have records with a bit of character.
140. Hugo Montenegro - The
Good, the Bad and the Ugly
139. Esther & Abi Ofarim - Cinderella
Rockefella. Well, this is an odd record.
138. Anthony Newley - Why
137. Ricky Valance - Tell Laura I Love Her. There is so much tragic death in the Number 1s of the 60s. Really, people couldn't get enough of it ...
136. The Marcels - Blue
Moon
135. Amen Corner - (If Paradise Is) Half as Nice
134. Helen Shapiro - You
Don't Know
133. The Honeycombs - Have
I the Right?
132. Gerry and the Pacemakers - How Do You Do It?
131. Mike Sarne with Wendy Richard - Come Outside. Actually quite funny.
130. Emile Ford and the Checkmates - What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?
129. The Highwaymen - Michael
128. The Rolling Stones - Little Red Rooster. The lowest Stones Number 1. People always talk disparagingly about them being a blues covers band, and I kind of get it here.
127. Jackie Trent - Where Are You Now. And what else did Jackie Trent do, of course? She wrote the theme for Neighbours.
126. The Seekers - I'll
Never Find Another You
125. Johnny Tillotson - Poetry in Motion
124. The Overlanders - Michelle
123. Scott McKenzie - San
Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)
122. Sonny & Cher - I Got You Babe. Now a bad vibes record.
121. The Dave Clark Five - Glad
All Over
120. Elvis Presley - Are
You Lonesome Tonight? At least this song is very Elvissy.
119. The Archies - Sugar, Sugar
118. Long John Baldry - Let the Heartaches Begin
117. The Equals - Baby,
Come Back
116. Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg - Je t'aime... moi non plus
115. The Everly Brothers - Walk Right Back / Ebony Eyes. Walk Right Back is good, Ebony Eyes is another death record. The Everly Brothers always, of course, make a proper nice noise.
114. The Searchers - Sweets for My Sweet. I see, with this and Baby Come Back, I've really put the records pop-reggaefied by midlanders in the mid-90s close together.
113. Tom Jones - It's
Not Unusual
112. Herman's Hermits - I'm
Into Something Good
111. Elvis Presley - (You're
the) Devil in Disguise
110. The Beatles - From Me to You. So this is the lowest Beatles Number 1, and really, although I've said their Number 1s are not my favourite Beatles songs, none of them are bad. Not even close. You'd be happy to hear all of them on a rainy day. From Me to You is a great record, by any standards. But I suppose there has to be some differentiation, and I've never loved it.
109. Frank Sinatra - Strangers in the Night. Haunted by Ray Stubbs' version of this on Celebrity Fame Academy.
108. The Monkees - I'm a
Believer.
107. Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich - The Legend of Xanadu
106. Petula Clark - This
Is My Song
105. The Everly Brothers - Temptation
104. Cliff Richard and the Shadows - Please Don't Tease
103. The Scaffold - Lily
the Pink
102. Anthony Newley - Do
You Mind?
101. Fleetwood Mac - Albatross
100. Tommy Roe - Dizzy. This is, not surprisingly, a much better record than the Vic Reeves cover.
99. Gerry and the Pacemakers - You'll
Never Walk Alone
98. B. Bumble and the Stingers - Nut
Rocker
97. The Troggs - With a Girl Like You. Gave this a listen a few days and initially thought "that's not much of a song" but it's absolutely been going around my head since.
96. Cilla Black - You're My World. As a sworn Dionne Warwick supporter/loather of Cilla's voice, I expected to put this lower, put actually her voice does fine on this, and it's a very nice song, so I can't honestly put it too low.
95. John Leyton - Johnny
Remember Me. Quite a fun, imaginative instance of the creepy-death songs those 60s kids loved.
94. Thunderclap Newman - Something
in the Air
93. Joe Cocker - With
a Little Help from My Friends
92. The Beatles - All
You Need Is Love
91. The Tremeloes - Silence
Is Golden
90. Frank and Nancy Sinatra - Somethin' Stupid
89.The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man. What's a bit weird is that I love the sound of the Byrds, so much so that when I had Pandora radio where you could build a playlist around an artist (seemed so innovative at the time) my first one was "Sounds like the Byrds", - but I just don't dig the Byrds. They're all so annoying in their grooviness. and just a bit empty. This record adds a little and takes so much more from Mr Tambourine Man.
88. Roger Miller - King
of the Road
87. Johnny Kidd and the Pirates - Shakin'
All Over
86. Lonnie Donegan - My
Old Man's a Dustman
85. The Move - Blackberry Way. When I was writing about the Number 1s of the 1970s, I expressed mild remorse at being served at a bar ahead of the rock innovator Roy Wood, but I looked Roy Wood up and he's well Ukippy-Brexitty, so I feel less remorse now.
84. The Beatles - Paperback Writer. I couldn't figure out why McCartney had written Paperback Writer until I found our why he'd written it - as a challenge based on something his aunt said. Which makes sense. It sounds like an exercise in songwriting. It's good, but I've never loved it.
83. The Beatles - Can't Buy Me Love
82. The Spencer Davis Group - Somebody Help Me. Steve Winwood is really, as a lot believe but not enough for it not to be true, say, one of the unsung greats.
81. Roy Orbison - Only the Lonely. Don't turn me home again, I just can't face myself alone again.
80. Elvis Presley - (Marie's
the Name) His Latest Flame / Little Sister
79. Cliff Richard and the Shadows - The Next Time / Bachelor Boy
78. Manfred Mann - Do Wah Diddy Diddy. Paul Jones is another classic guy, still singing like a demon in his 80s. The odd fact that rock'n'roll really took off in the 1960s because the British middle and upper class boys really committed hard to it. Paul Jones has always had the air of an amiable family GP, but, boy, could he sing the "blues".
77. The Searchers - Needles and Pins. A fine record, but haunted by the wedding band and and feckin' and's version of it in The Commitments.
76. Peter Sarstedt - Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)? Just for a laugh, ahahaha
75. Sandie Shaw - Puppet
on a String
74. Engelbert Humperdinck - Release
Me
73. The Hollies - I'm Alive. As mentioned before, I think the Hollies are one of the most interesting bands of the 60s.
72. Sandie Shaw - Long
Live Love
71. The Rolling Stones - The
Last Time
70. Roy Orbison - Oh Pretty Woman. Somehow that's a very funny title for a song, depending on how you emphasize it.
69. Danny Williams - Moon
River. One of the greatest songs.
68. Helen Shapiro - Walkin'
Back to Happiness
67. Bee Gees - I've
Gotta Get a Message to You
66. Mary Hopkin - Those Were the Days. Produced by McCartney as well. and just a great tune.
65. Zager and Evans - In
the Year 2525
64. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bad Moon Rising. Well, did you know this is one of the tiny handful of songs on this list with over a billion spotify listens? Did you?
63. The Kinks - Tired
of Waiting for You
62. The Beatles - I
Want to Hold Your Hand. I gather some people liked it.
61. The Rolling Stones - Honky
Tonk Women
60. The Beatles - Lady Madonna
59. The Seekers - The Carnival Is Over. An authentically melancholy lyric and melody.
58. The Rolling Stones - It's
All Over Now
57. Shirley Bassey - Reach
for the Stars / Climb Ev'ry Mountain.
56. Brian Poole and the Tremeloes - Do You Love Me. This is a reasonable effort by the Tremeloes at capturing the excitement of the original Contours version. This song was written by Berry Gordy himself. What an incredible man...
55. The Beatles - The Ballad of John and Yoko. I think I only properly heard this when I was about 17, and it really thrilled me. The chorus seemed really daring.
54. The Shadows - Apache. As I said, the Shadows are a bit one-and-done for me. But this is the one - their most famous and memorable song.
53. The Tornados - Telstar
52. Ray Charles - I
Can't Stop Loving You
51. The Beatles - A
Hard Day's Night
50. Tom Jones - Green, Green Grass of Home. Bit of a sucker for the green, green grass of home.
49. Tommy James and the Shondells - Mony Mony
48. Bee Gees - Massachusetts. I think when I first heard this I thought it was called "My Seducers".
47. Nancy Sinatra - These
Boots Are Made for Walkin'
46. The Beatles - Help!
45. Manfred Mann - Pretty
Flamingo
44. The Animals - The
House of the Rising Sun. Call Dave van Ronk ...
43. The Everly Brothers - Cathy's
Clown
42. Desmond Dekker and the Aces - Israelites
41. The Beach Boys - Do It Again. This is very Mike Love's Beach Boys and it kind of pumps along, but, I don't know, it's a good tune ...
40. Roy Orbison - It's
Over
39. The Beatles - She Loves You
38. Elvis Presley - Can't Help Falling in Love / Rock-A-Hula Baby. Ok, this is good ...
37. The Kinks - Sunny
Afternoon
36. The Beatles - Hello, Goodbye. Even Hello, Goodbye, I had it a bit lower, and then you just think, if anyone else had done this, it would have been their best, catchiest, most imaginative song ...
35. Manfred Mann - Mighty Quinn. After the crash, Dylan laid down lots of basic tracks with the band for other folk to have hits with, and it was a fair success. Quinn the Eskimo is one of his most throwaway, most catchy songs.
34. Cliff Richard and the Shadows - The Young Ones.
33. The Foundations - Baby
Now That I've Found You
32. The Moody Blues - Go Now. Really into the classic "Best Hits of the 60s" petrol station compilations here ...
31. Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale. Fucked if I know, Terry ...
30. The Spencer Davis Group - Keep On Running
29. The Crazy World of Arthur Brown - Fire. Still the unchallenged craziest ...
28. The Beatles with Billy Preston - Get Back. Tucson is in Arizona, yeah!
27. Chris Farlowe - Out of
Time. Young Jagger wrote some nasty songs, all right
26. The Beatles - I Feel Fine. Because of its basic title, I always associate this with first flush of Beatles, but it's just at the transition to the next level, and it is a step up in sound and sophistication, but also just a great tune.
25. The Supremes - Baby Love. In the good ol' US of A, the Supremes had 12 Number 1s. just absolutely swept the board, but here it was only one. This isn't my favourite Supremes song, but it's pretty magical.
24. The Walker Brothers - Make
It Easy on Yourself.
23. Del Shannon - Runaway. No Amitri, but a pretty good Del.
22. Bobbie Gentry - I'll Never Fall in Love Again. No Landed, but a pretty good Gentry.
21. The Rolling Stones - Get
Off of My Cloud
20. Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World
19. The Beatles - Yellow Submarine / Eleanor Rigby. What were the Beatles? They were this, I guess.
18. Small Faces - All or
Nothing
17. Unit 4 + 2 - Concrete and Clay. I half-knew this song, I guess. It's in a couple of cool films and it's on Kevin Rowland's My Beauty, but I'd never really properly noticed it until this week and it is a C-H-O-O-N tune! I think, right now, it is my favourite song in the world.
16. The Righteous Brothers - You've
Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
15. The Beatles - Hey
Jude. From the album The Best of the Beatles.
14. Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through the Grapevine
13. The Beatles - Ticket
to Ride
12. The Rolling Stones - (I
Can't Get No) Satisfaction
11. Cliff Richard and the Shadows - Summer Holiday. You know, there's Cliff Richard who is the weird, impossibly uncool, guy of our lifetimes and the Cliff Richard who is the really marvellous film star/singer of his prime, and all that stuff really is great. I love the song and the film Summer Holiday, and that's that.
10. Sandie Shaw - (There's)
Always Something There to Remind Me
9. Love Affair - Everlasting Love. Notwithstanding that this is a tune for the ages, I also like the fact that the band look like a bunch of Kent toughs from the mid-2000s.
8. The Rolling Stones - Jumpin'
Jack Flash. Just really really good.
7.The Walker Brothers - The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore. This was written by Bob Crewe, who wrote some songs, let me tell you ... Big Girls Don't Cry, Can't Take My Eyes off You, this, Lady Marmalade, Bye Bye Baby, Silence is Golden ... some songs.
6. The Kinks - You Really Got Me
5. The Beatles - Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out. WCWIO remains my favourite Beatles song, and, honestly, if this was We Can Work It Out /Day Tripper, it might be Number 1, but the fact that Day Tripper, which I don't really love, goes first, is unignorable... so 5 it is.
4. The Rolling Stones - Paint
It Black
3. The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations. It needs to be said over and over again how much it was Carl Wilson who lifted the Beach Boys to the highest level of beauty. His lead vocal on this, on God Only Knows, on so much.
2. Four Tops - Reach Out I'll Be There. Levi Stubbs was nooooo joke.
1. Dusty Springfield - You Don't Have to Say You Love Me. Someone's got to put Northfields on top ... apparently, Dusty Springfield needed over 40 takes to get this to her satisfaction. Rather like Rihanna, though obviously very different, she just had a voice perfectly suited to recording. Perhaps this is slightly contrarian, whimsical Number 1, but I also think, of its type, it's simply the best there is.
So there we go, that was the 60s, where something or other began between the end of the "Chatterley" ban and the Beatles' first LP, apparently.
I will, I think, go from this to the 2010s, but that will take a lot longer, and I may give up, if it's too arduous, though it is a task of some professional worth.
Otherwise, I think the Number 1s of the 80s are probably best, on balance, just about, against the quality of the music in general. Like, I think a lot of the very best songs of the 1980s were Number 1s, and I think that's less true of the other decades. But hey, what do I know?
