MUSIC LOG for GROUP 6
1960s
- “New York’s My Home,” 1961; Ray Charles.
By the time of this recording, Charles was already well on his way to establishing his reputation as the “High Priest of Soul.” This recording is from a largely instrumental album released on the ABC Jazz subsidiary label, Impulse Records. Many jazz heavies were brought in for this recording to form a old-fashioned big band (with arrangements written by the ubiquitous Quincy Jones) to back Charles’s gospel-inspired piano and vocal styles. Charles and Jones remained musically viable to the end of their lives (2004 and 2024, respectively).
- “Walking the Dog,” 1963; Rufus Thomas.
Born in 1917, Thomas began his entertainment career as a tap dancer, comedian, and singer with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels (an African-American minstrel show that toured the South during the 1930s) and with the Royal American Minstrel Show in the 1940s. He then worked as a disc jockey on WDIA in Memphis, Tennessee during the 1950s, and as a recording artist who gave Sun Records’ its first hit, “Bear Cat,” in 1953 an answer to Big Mama Thornton’s “Hound Dog” (Bowman, liner notes). By the 1960s, he was recording for the Stax label in Memphis; this tune is backed by the rhythm section of Booker T and the MGs, giving it a tasty r&b dance groove.
- “Ring of Fire,” 1963; Johnny Cash.
Partly for his rough life of courting trouble and “getting religion,” partly for his haunting baritone over unique cross-over sounds like the brass on “Ring of Fire,” “The Man in Black” has become an American icon of the world-weary renegade. Even while suffering a neurological disease toward the end of his life, Cash remained prolific with the help of producer Rick Rubin (who crafted the early sounds of rappers like the Beastie Boys and now produces The Red Hot Chili Peppers). A member of both the Rock and Roll and Country Halls of Fame, Cash’s album, Solitary Man, received critical acclaim. Though he made his first recordings in the Sun Records studios, his style never quite fit the rockabilly idiom; by this recording he was becoming well-established as a country music icon.
- “Flowers On the Wall,” 1965; Statler Brothers.
A novel take on the country music tradition of the vignette in song. The Statler Brothers represent two trends: a) the expansion of the country sound in ways that appeal to a broader popular audience and b) the emergence of four-part close harmony male groups (like the later Oak Ridge Boys or Alabama).
- “King of the Road,” 1965; Roger Miller.
In the 1960s Miller established a reputation as a singer/songwriter of unique wit; at the time of this recording he was considered the most popular performer played on coin-operated jukeboxes. His producer, as well as that of the Statler Brothers, was the influential Nashville studio guitarist and country producer Jerry Kennedy.
- “The Times They Are A-Changing,” 1964; Bob Dylan.
Aspiring songwriter Robert Zimmerman from Minnesota wanted to be like legendary folksinger Woody Guthrie from Oklahoma. His wish was granted and then some. By the time he wrote this song, he had a huge, dedicated following amid a 1960s folk revival (which had its early popular version in acts like The Kingston Trio and, later, The Mamas & The Papas, Peter, Paul and Mary, and Simon and Garfunkel). When he premiered “The Times” onstage with an electric guitar in the middle of the decade, the crowd reacted violently, booing him offstage. Soon after, Dylan abandoned the acoustic folk scene and continued to pursue an electric sound. His influence as a song writer is unparalleled in American culture, partly because of his prescience (as seen in “The Times”). His list of awards is a long one, and includes the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016.
- “Like A Rolling Stone,” 1965; Bob Dylan.
This tune was a landmark in Dylan’s career and his first million-selling single. (Do you think he was accused of selling out?) It also marks his definitive turn away from the folk scene to a more electric rock sound. It was notable for its length and the prominent use of organ (Rees and Crampton).
- “Hard Days Night,” 1964; The Beatles.
The “British Invasion” of the mid-1960s (including, notably, The Rolling Stones) was complete when the first music video, rock drama Hard Days Night, was released in American theaters in the middle of the decade. Teens were immediately transfixed by the black and white images of John, Paul, George, and Ringo scurrying from mobs to the sound of relentless cymbals, banjo-frantic guitar, and surging vocals. The Beatles had already known chart success, but with “Hard Days Night” they launched a six-year career of captivating pop audiences and dominating pop sound in a way no other group has done or is likely ever to do again.
- “Tomorrow Never Knows,” 1966; The Beatles.
This tune is the final track on Revolver. It innovates both track looping (the drum-track looping gives the effect of an inhuman sort of beat) and elements associated with the psychedelic sound in rock to come (for example, reversed guitar track and use of Eastern instruments like the sitar) . The tune also represents the Beatles’ complete immersion in the studio, which is where they spent the last few years of their careers. (This experimental phase reached its fruition in the album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.)
- “I Get Around,” 1964; The Beach Boys.
America’s pop-rock band of the 1960s was singer/songwriter Brian Wilson’s The Beach Boys. Scared of water, reclusive, and eccentric, Wilson wrote wildly popular anthems for the white middle class about surfing waves, racing cars, and dating girls. “I Get Around” features elements characteristic of most Beach Boys hits: driving surf guitar, dynamic chorus with harmony, catchy rhythmic changes, and impeccable studio production. Band leader Wilson is still active, having recently stopped through Atlanta on a tour of his former band’s songs put to an orchestra.
- “Sounds of Silence,” 1965; Simon and Garfunkel.
Friends since elementary school, Simon and Garfunkel began performing together in 1955; they appeared together on American Bandstand in 1957 as “Tom and Jerry.” This brief stint went nowhere, but the two friends stayed in touch while each of them pursued college studies and a series of solo musical ventures under pseudonyms. In 1964, they rejoined to perform as a folk-rock act in Greenwich Village coffeehouses, and recorded an LP in England, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. The album seemed to be unsuccessful until a Boston radio station decided to play this song from the album. Columbia Records re-recorded it with electric instruments. (Notes adapted from Stambler) (The song narrates one of the most famous scenes from The Graduate, a movie/music icon of the late 1960s.)
- “Are You Experienced?” 1967; Jimi Hendrix.
Though he lived only to the age of 27, Jimi Hendrix is one of the most revered rock guitarists both for his technical acumen and his theatricality. After injuring his back during a jump as a paratrooper, Hendrix appeared as a sideman for r&b groups from 1961-67 (including six months as a member of James Brown’s Famous Flames). In 1966, he moved to England and his band, The Experience, debuted in Paris that same year. His U.S. debut with the band was in 1967 at the Monterey Pop Festival; Hendrix concluded his set by dousing his guitar with lighter fluid and burning it onstage. This tune is the title cut from the first 1968 album. (Other albums that year were Electric Ladyland, Axis: Bold as Love.) (Stambler).
- “Cold Sweat,” 1967; James Brown.
Hailing from nearby Augusta, the “Godfather of Soul” has proven to be one of the few genuine pop pioneers since his chart debut with “Please Please Please” in 1956. Brown is widely recognized as the prime innovator of the funk sound, crafting deep grooves with tightly synchronized rhythm sections, as demonstrated with the start-and-stop clutches of “Cold Sweat.” Brown’s long career continued through the 80s, until late-life jailtime through the 90s extinguished it. (Still a state symbol, Brown is featured in a recent Georgia lottery commercial.)
- “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You),” 1967; Aretha Franklin.
Franklin began recording a string of r&b hits when she moved from Columbia Records to Jerry Wexler’s independent label Atlantic Records in 1967. The “Queen of Soul” has since had a singularly influential career of making definitive recordings of songs written by others (Carole King’s “Natural Woman” or Otis Redding’s “ Respect” are two prominent examples), and her own tunes as well (“Rock Steady” from 1971 is my favorite example.) Her sense of rhythm, command of band dynamics, and vocal muscle are unmatched.
- ““I Thank You,” 1968; Sam and Dave.
Beginning in church choirs and gospel groups, Sam and Dave formed a powerhouse soul duo in the early 1960s. Produced on Stax Records by Isaac Hayes, the duo (with the addition of backup singers and a brass section in 1965) produced a number of hits during the mid-to-late 1960s, including “Soul Man” in 1967, and this example from the following year (Stambler).
[#1 is recorded from Ray Charles: Genius + Soul = Jazz, Impulse AS-2, 1961, rereleased by Personality Records PRS 43001, 1989.]
[#2 is from Rufus Thomas: Can’t Get Away From This Dog, Fantasy, Inc. CDSXD 038, 1991.]
[#3-4 are from Country: The American Tradition, Sony DIDP 098776, 1999.]
[#5 is from Roger Miller: Golden Hits, Smash Records MGS-27073, date unknown.]
[#6 is from Bob Dylan: The Times They Are A-Changin’, Columbia CL 2105, date unknown (mid-1960s).’]
[#7 is from Bob Dylan: Biograph, CBS Inc. 38830-K, 1985.]
[#8 is from The Beatles: 1962-1966, Capitol Records, Inc.-EMI, SKBO, 1973.]
[#9 is from Revolver, Capitol Records-EMI, Inc. CLJ-46441, 1966.]
[#10 is from The Beach Boys: Endless Summer, Capitol Records SVBB-11307, 1974.]
[#11 is from Simon & Garfunkel: Sounds of Silence, Columbia CL 2469, date unknown.]
[#12 is from Are You Experienced?, MCA Records MCAD 11602, 1967, rereleased in 1997.]
[#13 is from James Brown, Solid Gold: 30 Golden Hits, Polygram Records, Inc. 829 254-4 Y-1, 1977 [1986].]
[#14 is from The Best of Aretha Franklin, Atlantic Recording Corp. 81280-2, 1984.]
[#15 is from The Best of Sam and Dave, Atlantic Recording Corp. CS 8218, 1969.]
[NOTES for #3, 6, 8, 10, 13, and 14 were composed by Brandon W. Laird.]