The Swinging Sixties

This surely was the pivotal decade for music evolving in to what it has become today. The Supergroups and Superstars who first appeared on the scene during these years are too numerous to mention but this page is not about them, anyway. This is about those songs which many of us know by name, perhaps even know some of the words to, but will not necessarily recall the identity of the performing artist. This is a site about mega-hits by the lesser known names of, The Swinging Sixties." Below I have selected one track from each of the ten years, accompanied by what I hope you will find entertaining videos from the archives of YouTube. To play any of the videos on this page, simply click on the large arrow in the centre of the screen and wait for it to load.

This was actually a cover version of a track by Paul Evans and The Curls but proved far more successful than the original release. The group consisted of Elaine Avon, her husband and her sister-in-law and this song reached No 3 in the US in 1960.

The introduction to this song alone by bass singer Fred Johnson makes it a "doo-wop" classic, still widely recognised today. This video shows a live performance of the song by the original artists but was obviously recorded some years after the original release date of 1961.

Bruce Channel was almost a victim of his own success with this massive hit. It was his own composition and he struggled to successfully follow up this 1962 success. The track's inclusion in the 1980's film, "Dirty Dancing," brought it back to prominence and only a few years ago it was the unofficial anthem of revellers at Munich's Oktoberfest Beer Festival.

This ingenious, thought-provoking and touching monologue was the work of country singer T Texas Tyler in the 1940's but Wink Martindale was the man who first took it in to the charts in 1963. Its words have since been adapted to suit many different circumstances and tell many different tales but the original version is surely by far and away the best.

Proby was nothing if not a great showman. The first time that his gyrations caused his trousers to split on stage in Luton in 1964, the horrified management brought his act to a hurried close due to his "mistake," but when the same thing happened the next two nights in succession, the tour was cancelled, prominent public figures demanded his deportation back to the USA - and naturally, the generated publicity was phenomenal! The following was probably his biggest hit, from 1964.

There can be little doubt that the legendary Bob Dylan was the over-riding influence, particularly in the early works, of Donovan Leitch. This hit from 1965 is a typical example, as the music of the time began to veer ever further towards what would soon become recognised as, "Flower Power."

This song by the relatively unknown at the time Simon and Garfunkel was an unusual choice for The Bachelors and a departure from their more traditional offerings. It perhaps depicted, however, just how much social consciences were changing in the year of 1966 and proved a Top 10 hit for them in the UK.

Perhaps the definitive anthem of the entire hippy and "flower power" movement, this massive hit in 1967 brought Scott McKenzie instant international stardom. The accompanying video here sums up the times perfectly.

This was a band who perhaps served both as a throwback to the sounds of earlier times and as a taster for what was to become more popular in the early part of the 70's. This 1968 classic was a big hit on both sides of the Atlantic and was similarly covered very successfully by Billy Idol in the 1980's.

This 1967 John Denver composition strangely did not become a hit until released as a single by Peter, Paul and Mary in late 1969. It was the penultimate US number one of the decade, so let us say farewell to this monumentous time period and make our departures...on a jet plane...