MUSICAL DECADES - 1960s - Girlfriends

We've taken a look at how girls saw their boyfriends back in the 1960s (see Part 1 and Part 2). Perhaps it's time now to see how the guys viewed their girlfriends in song.

Del Shannon (born Charles Weedon Westover; December 30, 1934 – February 8, 1990) was an American Rock and Roll and Country musician, and singer-songwriter who is best known for his 1961 Number 1 hit, "Runaway". He followed it with "Hats Off to Larry", which peaked at Number 5 (and Number 2 on Cashbox) in 1961, and the less popular "So Long, Baby", another song of breakup bitterness. "Runaway" and "Hats Off to Larry" were recorded in a day.

Del's "Little Town Flirt" reached Number 12 in 1963, as did the album of the same title.

The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson; their cousin Mike Love; and their friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by their vocal harmonies and early surf songs, they are one of the most influential acts of the rock era. The group, led by their principal songwriter and producer Brian, pioneered novel approaches to popular music form and production, combining their affinities for jazz-based vocal groups, 1950s rock and roll, and black R&B to create their unique sound.

"Wouldn't It Be Nice" is a song written by Brian Wilson, Tony Asher, and Mike Love and released as the opening track on their 1966 album Pet Sounds. The song was also released as a single two months after the album's release.

Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons is an American rock and pop band that became internationally successful in the 1960s and 1970s. The Vocal Group Hall of Fame has stated that the group was the most popular rock band before the Beatles. They are one of the best-selling musical groups of all time, having sold an estimated 100 million records worldwide.

"C'mon Marianne" is a song composed by L. Russell Brown and Raymond Bloodworth and popularized by The Four Seasons in 1967. It was the last Four Seasons' single to reach the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the 1960s, and their last Top Ten hit until "Who Loves You" in 1975.

The Dave Clark Five (also known as "The DC5") was an English pop rock group. They were the second group of the British Invasion on The Ed Sullivan Show, appearing in March for two weeks after the Beatles had appeared for three straight weeks in February 1964. They appeared on the show 18 times—the most of any British Invasion band.

For some time the Dave Clark Five was more popular in the US than in their native UK, but had a renaissance in the UK between 1967 and 1970. They had 17 records in the Top 40 of the US Billboard chart and 12 Top 40 hits in the UK between 1964 and 1967. The group disbanded in late 1970. On 10 March 2008, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"Glad All Over" is a song written by Dave Clark and Mike Smith. In January 1964, it became the group's first big hit, reaching Number 1 on the UK Singles Chart. In April 1964, it reached Number 6 on the American Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the first British Invasion hit by a group other than The Beatles. It was Number 1 in Ireland, Number 3 in Australia and Number 2 in Canada. It reached Number 4 in the Netherlands and Number 16 in Germany. "Glad All Over" was the Number 2 selling single of 1964 in the UK (behind "Can't Buy Me Love" by The Beatles), estimated at one million units.

Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and sound engineer. He charted 16 Top-40 hits in the United States, four in the Top 10. In the United Kingdom he had 22 Top-40 hits, and 11 singles in the Top Ten. He also wrote the early 1960s hits "Rubber Ball" recorded by Bobby Vee, "He's a Rebel" by the Crystals, and "Hello Mary Lou" by Ricky Nelson. In 2002, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"It Hurts to Be in Love" is a song written by Howard Greenfield and Helen Miller. The song was one in a long line of successful "Brill Building Sound" hits created by composers and arrangers working in New York City's Brill Building at 1619 Broadway.

The song was originally intended to be sung by Gene's childhood friend and sometime collaborator Neil Sedaka, but Neil's employers at RCA Victor refused to release his new recording because he had not recorded it in their studios, as stipulated by his contract. Neil attempted another recording of the song in RCA's studios, but the results were unsatisfactory. Howard Greenfield and Helen Miller, the song's co-writers, offered it to Gene instead, and the existing musical track was used, replacing Neil's lead vocal with Gene's. Everything else was Neil's, including his own arrangement and backing vocals, piano-playing, and usual female backup singers. Gene ended up with a top ten hit.

Robert “Bobby” Lee Hatfield (August 10, 1940 – November 5, 2003) was an American singer, best known as one half of The Righteous Brothers. He sang the tenor part for the duo, but his most recognizable work is his 1965 recording of "Unchained Melody" which he performed as a solo.

"Unchained Melody" is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. North used the music as a theme for the little-known prison film Unchained (1955), hence the song title. It has since become a standard and one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century. According to the song's publishing administrator, over 1,500 recordings of "Unchained Melody" have been made by more than 670 artists, in multiple languages.

Of the hundreds of recordings made, it was the July 1965 version by the Righteous Brothers, performed as a solo by Bobby Hatfield, that became a jukebox standard for the late 20th century. This version achieved a second round of great popularity when it was featured in the film Ghost (1990).

This ends Musical Decades for this week. Thanks for listening and I hope to see you here next time.

(The information used in this post is from Wikipedia.)

Dominique "Nik" Petersen is an aficionado of "oldies" music and the author of the interactive book set, Partners Forever. Read more at the website:

www.nikdesignsgraphics.com