US #1s of 1964

"Hard Day's Night" by a nose over "Where Did Our Love Go"

I Get Around

is Dixie Cups the only Spector on here? Weird

"I Feel Fine," barely beating "Come See About Me"

misc. fact -- apparently the dixie cups came from the same housing project as the neville brothers and master p.

These are all 64? Shit. "Love Me Do" vs "Come See About Me" vs "I Feel Fine" vs "Rag Doll" vs "I Get Around". Okay I got it down to 5 at least.

Another fab year, hard to see past The Beatles on this one. Got to go with 'A Hard Days Night', which to me is the peak of their early work.

xp: some of the Beatles tracks were originally released in 62/63 in the UK, but took some time to migrate over

top 5:

where did our love go
house of the rising sun
i want to hold your hand
a hard day's night
baby love

The Supremes, "Where Did Our Love Go"

^^^pretty much my (possibly) favourite song of all time.

"Come See About Me," no contest, but this is an extraordinary year.

will lol if Bobby Vinton and/or "Ringo" get votes

I think I'm going "Come See About Me" too, partly because much as I love the other tracks that one sounds more like the future (in 1964) to me. Partly cos it swoons.

She Loves You. By a comfortable margin.

animals, but i think the beatles suffered due to split vote.

I don't think Spector had anything to do with the Dixie Cups' version of "Chapel of Love." It was on another label (Red Bird), not produced by him & with its clarity & minimalism sounds notably anti-Spectorian.

"i feel fine" for dope riff and "what'd I say" drums

yeah i can't find a good account of exactly how the dixie cups ended up with "chapel of love." all i remember is ronnie blamed phil for it, for one reason or another.

(maybe it was just that he delayed releasing the ronnettes' version or something.)

(and much as i love ronnie, i do prefer the dixie cups' recording)

The Beach Boys' single is better than all the Beatles cuts here. Better harmonies, better musicianship (Beatles still in their "flippin' lousy" stage), and better lyrics that describe a much wider experience than "I love you she loves you you love me yeah yeah yeah whhhhooooo"

Ronnie's claim is accurate. There was a Ronettes version & a Crystals version, neither of which were released. Afterwards, Jeff Barry & Ellie Greenwich, who co-wrote the song with Spector, were still hearing "big hit" so they brought the song to the Dixie Cups.

Incidentally, how many record labels have had their first release go to #1? That's what happened with Red Bird.

The only "flippin' lousy" Beatles song here is "Love Me Do". The rest are all A+ would jam again.

"*sigh* Nobody loves us!"

http://themusicsover.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/shangrilas.jpg

wait so there's NO Spector on this list? bizarre

"Where Did Our Love Go"

The harp alone on "Love Me Do" lifts it way beyond lousy and above a bunch of the follow-ups for me. Love the Beach Boys but, on a point of order, those Beatles "I love you she loves you" lyrics are without exception about fucking. And nothing wrong with that.

Better harmonies, better musicianship (Beatles still in their "flippin' lousy" stage), and better lyrics that describe a much wider experience than "I love you she loves you you love me yeah yeah yeah whhhhooooo"

Sometimes enthusiasm trumps polish. Lots of times, actually.

wait so there's NO Spector on this list? bizarre

Yeah, his girl groups all peaked in '63, and Righteous Bros. were a year off still.

I Get Around is totally better than the Beatles songs on here - more inventive arrangement, better harmonies and playing (as noted), a bunch of weird, unpredictable melodic turnarounds, great lyrics (and okay as those early Beatles lyrics are I'd be hard-pressed to call any of them "great" - they're very generic). Basically I never listen to that early Beatles stuff, but I still get a kick out of I Get Around, so it wins.

The Beach Boys' single is better than all the Beatles cuts here. Better harmonies, better musicianship (Beatles still in their "flippin' lousy" stage), and better lyrics that describe a much wider experience than "I love you she loves you you love me yeah yeah yeah whhhhooooo"

in the authenticity/originality sweepstakes one could argue that the Beach Boys lyrics are better because in a lot of ways they are more personal and are a reflection on the details of the singer's actual life (something the Beatles wouldn't get to for another year at least

(and yes yes I know this is a totally rockist argument so what)

i think "i feel fine" has my favorite lyrics on the list -- the "she said so" still sounds cheeky.

Beach Boys didn't get better than The Beatles until Brian Wilson became the undisputed leader of the band. "I Get Around" is too much of a "rock" song to hold up with the fantastic early Beatles stuff.

Voted "I Want To Hold Your Hand", which is fantastic and perfect in every way, and was 1000 times better than anything American that had ever been made at the time!

American music was useless between 1963 and 1964, and might as well not have been made at all.

some grade-A friday night hongro-ing there.

in the authenticity/originality sweepstakes one could argue that the Beach Boys lyrics are better because in a lot of ways they are more personal and are a reflection on the details of the singer's actual life (something the Beatles wouldn't get to for another year at least

I don't see how anyone should possibly pay attention to lyrics at all, and particularly not lyrics written before the mid 60s.

Musically, The Beatles were one level above Beach Boys by 1964. They were only equals in 1966, never before, never since.

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American music was useless between 1963 and 1964, and might as well not have been made at all.

kinda surprised you don't like Spector, tbh

(the rest of your nonsense is par for the course)

American music was useless between 1963 and 1964, and might as well not have been made at all.
http://www.backtoblackvinyl.com/images/album-artwork/big/james-brown-live-at-the-apollo-part-1-front.jpg

tho i guess it was RECORDED in 62 ... omg GEIR IS RIGHT.

except
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a7/The_Freewheelin%27_Bob_Dylan.jpg

in 3....2....1....

and
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2c/Night_Beat_cover.jpg

oh let's just say that american music is always better, come on.

not that this needs saying but Geir totally wrong as usual.

Off the top of my head, American albums released 1963:

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan
Getz/Gilberto - Stan Getz and João Gilberto
In Dreams - Roy Orbison
Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 - Sam Cooke (recorded but not released until 1985) <<<THIS ALBUM IS FUCKING AMAZING
Sam Cooke - Night Beat <<<BUT THIS ALBUM IS EVEN MORE TOTALLY FUCKING AMAZING

lolz x-posts

suck on it world
http://thebsreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/americanflag01.jpg

still might have to vote Hard Day's Night though, haha

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:p16AcBevnVes1M:http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000003BD7.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

I mean really! Elvis can go eat one!

tylerw so otm in this thread

especially about the Beatles being secret Americans

got love for plenty of these but it's "rag doll"

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― k3vin k., Freitag, 12. Juni 2009 01:08 (2 days ago) Bookmark

i wish i'd never had read anything about the songs history and the lyrics :(

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

xp Red Bird Records

That was the label Leiber & Stoller started. They released both "Chapel of Love" and "Leader of the Pack" in '64.

got love for plenty of these but it's "rag doll"

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― k3vin k., Freitag, 12. Juni 2009 01:08 (2 days ago) Bookmark

i wish i'd never had read anything about the songs history and the lyrics :(

― meisenfek, Sunday, June 14, 2009 11:29 AM (Yesterday)

why do you say?

goddam how great is ringo on "i feel fine"? some kinda faux-latin thing, just swings like hell.

why do you say?
― my god, it's full of straws! (k3vin k.), Montag, 15. Juni 2009 05:51 (17 hours ago) Bookmark

banalizes child labour.
on the other hand: agatha christie wrote a book called '10 little niggers'.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

:( @ no one else picking "Money Can't Buy Me Love"

well, the three songs that didn't get any votes are the ones I've never heard ...

You've never heard "Doo Wah Diddy"?

"And there she was just a-walkin' down the street/ Singin' doo-wah-diddy diddy-dum diddy-doo"

lolz yeah doesn't everybody know this song?!?

oops, yes i've heard that song. i was even in a band that played it. for some reason i thought the mandred mann was a cover? is that the original?

It's a cover, but the original isn't nearly as well known.

so manfred mann's is the one they play on oldies stations? lol, i don't think i've ever known that.

" (Beatles still in their "flippin' lousy" stage), "

bite your tongue! the more i revisit early beatles the more i realize what stellar musicians they were right from the get go. not to mention what a really fantastic infections bouncy energy they had in their early days. shame i'm too late to add a 10th vote for "she loves you"

do wah diddy diddy is a pretty incredible and great song, but so are another 10 or so of these songs

I removed the Beatles because they suck up too much air. Good year.

I hated "She Loves You" as a kid, still hate it

YEAH YEAH YEAH

lol

Now these are hits..

"chapel of love" too low, "hello dolly!" too high. i'm straight btw

I know a guy who played on “Chapel of Love.” /streetteam

Also never tire of the story of how it saved, and then led to the destruction of, Leiber and Stoller’s record labels.

Which also messed up some projects of the guy I know, but he bounced back, just like them.

Because of George Goldner's gambling + the Mafia?

Yeah. I see you’ve read about that.

You and I- and dow, to some extent- have been posting in parallel about that without ever actually colliding.

So I see! Reading my old posts can be very informative to me, since I'll often forget what I read just 2-3 years back.

You and me both, brother! Like I was saying in another context, these days I am older than Mr. Atoz.