The Music of 1962

I Can’t Stop Loving You by Ray Charles Is a popular song written and composed by country singer, songwriter and musician Don Gibson.

Ray Charles Single: The song was covered by Ray Charles in 1962, featured on Charles’ Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, and released as a single. Charles’ version reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962, for five weeks.

This version went to number one on the U.S. R&B and Adult Contemporary charts.[2][3] Billboard ranked it as the No. 2 song for 1962. Charles reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in July 1962, staying for two weeks.

Big Girls Don’t Cry by The Four Season is a song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio and originally recorded by The Four Seasons.

It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 17, 1962, and, like its predecessor “Sherry,” spent five weeks in the top position. The song also made it to number one, for three weeks, on Billboard’s Rhythm and Blues survey.

According to Gaudio, he was dozing off while watching the John Payne/Rhonda Fleming/Ronald Reagan movie Tennessee’s Partner (1955) when he heard Payne’s character slap Fleming in the face. After the slap, Fleming’s character replied, “Big girls don’t cry.” Gaudio wrote the line on a scrap of paper, fell asleep, and wrote the song the next morning

Hey Baby by Bruce Channel is a song written by Margaret Cobb and Bruce Channel, and recorded by Channel in 1961, first released on LeCam Records, a local Fort Worth, Texas label.

After it hit, it was released on Smash Records for national distribution. He co-produced the song with Major Bill Smith (owner of LeCam) and released it on Mercury Records’ Smash label. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, starting the week ending March 10, 1962.

The song features a prominent riff from well-known harmonica player Delbert McClinton, and drums played by Ray Torres. Other musicians on the record included Bob Jones and Billy Sanders on Guitar and Jim Rogers on bass. According to a CNN article from 2002, while touring the UK in 1962 with The Beatles, McClinton met John Lennon and gave him some harmonica tips. Lennon put the lessons to use right away on “Love Me Do” and later “Please Please Me”. Lennon included the song in his jukebox, and it is also featured on the related compilation album.

The song was used in the 1987 hit film Dirty Dancing in the scene where Johnny and Baby dance on top of a tree’s log

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do by Neil Sedaka is a song recorded by Neil Sedaka, and co-written by Sedaka and Howard Greenfield. Sedaka recorded this song twice, in 1962 and 1975, in two vastly different arrangements, and it is considered to be his signature song.

Loco-Motion by Little Eva is a 1962 pop song written by American songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King. “The Loco-Motion” was originally written for Dee Dee Sharp, but Sharp turned the song down.

The song is notable for appearing in the American Top 5 three times, each time in a different decade: in 1962 by the American pop singer Little Eva,(U.S. No. 1); in 1974 by the American band Grand Funk Railroad (U.S. No. 1); and finally in 1988 by the Australian singer Kylie Minogue (U.S. No. 3).

The song is a popular and enduring example of the dance-song genre: much of the lyrics are devoted to a description of the dance itself, usually performed as a type of line dance. However, the song came before the dance.

“The Loco-Motion” was also the second song to reach No. 1 by two different musical acts. The earlier song to do this was “Go Away Little Girl”, also written by Goffin and King. It is one of only nine songs to achieve this feat

He’s a Rebel by The Crystal is a pop/rock song credited to the girl group the Crystals (although actually recorded by the Blossoms), reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in November 1962. Written by Gene Pitney and produced by Phil Spector, it is an example of the Spector-produced girl group sound.

Green Onions by Booker T. and the MG’s is an instrumental composition recorded in 1962 by Booker T. & the M.G.’s. Described as “one of the most popular instrumental rock and soul songs ever”, the tune is twelve-bar blues with a rippling Hammond M3 organ line by Booker T. Jones that he wrote when he was just 17. The guitarist Steve Cropper used a Fender Telecaster on “Green Onions”, as he did on all of the M.G.’s instrumentals.

The track was originally issued in May 1962 on the Volt label (a subsidiary of Stax Records) as the B-side of “Behave Yourself” on Volt 102; it was quickly reissued as the A-side of Stax 127, and it also appeared on the album Green Onions.

According to Cropper, the title is not a marijuana reference; rather, the track is named after the Green Badger’s cat, Green Onions, whose way of walking inspired the riff.

Green Onions” entered the Billboard Hot 100 the week ending August 11, 1962, and peaked at No. 3 the week ending September 29, 1962. The single also made it to No. 1 on the R&B singles chart, for four non-consecutive weeks, an unusual occurrence in that it fell in and out of top spot three times.

It first appeared on the UK Singles Chart on December 15, 1979, following its use in the film Quadrophenia; it peaked at No. 7 on January 26, 1980, and stayed on the chart for 12 weeks.

Johnny Angel by Shelley Fabares is a song written and composed by Lyn Duddy and Lee Pockriss. The song was originally recorded by both Laurie Loman and Georgia Lee, however these two versions were not successful. It first became a popular hit single in 1962 when covered by Shelley Fabares who took it to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. British singer Patti Lynn had a moderate hit with her cover of “Johnny Angel” the same year on the UK Singles Chart.

“Johnny Angel” is the debut pop single by Shelley Fabares. Her cover version of the song was released in 1962 on the Colpix label. The track was the first single taken from Fabares’ debut solo album Shelley!, which was produced and arranged by Stu Phillips.

The single premiered on an episode, “Donna’s Prima Donna” of Fabares’ sitcom, The Donna Reed Show, during the fourth season (episode 20). It also has a sequel song entitled “Johnny Loves Me”, which tells the story of how the girl won Johnny’s heart.

Johnny Angel” hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 7, 1962, during a 15-week run on the chart. It was a number one hit on the Top 100 Best Sellers chart in April 1962 as published by Cashbox. It charted at number one in both Canada and in New Zealand. “Johnny Angel” also peaked at number 41 on the UK Singles chart. It sold over one-million copies and was awarded a gold disc

Do You Love Me by The Contours is a 1962 hit single recorded by The Contours for Motown’s Gordy Records label. Written and produced by Motown CEO Berry Gordy, Jr., “Do You Love Me?” was the Contours’ only Top 40 single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. Notably, the record achieved this feat twice, once in 1962 and again in 1988. A main point of the song is to name the Mashed Potato, The Twist and a variation of the title “I like it like that”, as “You like it like this”, and many other fad dances of the 1960s.

Surfin’ Safari by The Beach Boys is a song by American rock band The Beach Boys, written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love. Released as a single with “409” in June 1962, it peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also appeared on the 1962 album of the same name.

The Beach Boys first recorded the song at World Pacific Studios on February 8, 1962 in what was the band’s second ever recording session. However, the recordings from that session, engineered by Hite Morgan, would ultimately remain unreleased until the late sixties. The only difference instrumentally on this early version as opposed to the officially released version was the presence of Al Jardine on guitar instead of David Marks.

The instrumental track as well as the vocals for the officially released version were recorded at Western Recorders on April 19, 1962. The session, produced by Brian, featured David Marks and Carl Wilson on guitar; Brian Wilson on bass guitar and Dennis Wilson on drums. The song features Mike Love on lead vocals with backing vocals by Brian, Carl & Dennis Wilson and Mike Love. Also recorded during that session were “409”, “Lonely Sea” and “Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring”. This session was recorded and given to Capitol Records as a demo tape. The label was impressed and immediately signed the band to their first major label. “Surfin’ Safari” and “409” would be the band’s first single to be issued under Capitol Records.

The “Surfin’ Safari” single backed with “409” was the band’s second single and the first single to be released on the band’s new label Capitol Records[1] in the United States in June 1962. Originally Capitol Records felt “409” should be the ‘A’ Side, and first promoted the car song (according to Beach Boys biographers Badman, Gaines and Carlin) instead of “Surfin’ Safari”. However, as noted in the booklet to the 1993 CD box set Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys, radio station airplay in Phoenix, Arizona jump-started the B-side into a major nationwide hit (to date no copy of the first Capitol single with “409” as the A side has been discovered). The Billboard issue of July 14, 1962 cited Detroit as the major market of its national “break out”.

The single peaked at the number 14 position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with “409” also charting at number 76, making it the band’s first double-sided hit single. It placed at number 10 on the Cash Box sales chart, and number 5 on UPI’s national weekly survey used by newspapers. According to English pop music statistician Joseph Murrells in The Book of Golden Discs, 1978 edition, it placed number 3 on one of the four major national charts then recognised, probably Variety. Certainly its regional sales backed up these higher placings (than Billboard). As well as its Capitol-record sales in New York, it was No. 1 in Los Angeles, San Diego, Dallas, Minneapolis, Buffalo and Hartford; and top five in Chicago, San Francisco, Phoenix, Tucson, Nashville, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Springfield MASS.

Capitol A&R executive Nick (Nik) Venet, who signed the group and is listed as producer on their first two albums, is quoted in the Steven Gaines book as saying regarding the release that “The biggest order Capitol had from a single market all year [1962] was from New York City – where there was no surfing. It sold approximately nine hundred thousand records, but not enough for a gold.”

In October 1962, the “Surfin’ Safari” single was the first to be released by the band in the United Kingdom. However, given mediocre reviews at best, the single failed to make any impact on the charts. It did qualify as the Beach Boys’ first international chart-topper, however. By the end of September, it had peaked at number seven in Australia’s Music Maker chart — only reaching the Billboard top 20 the following week — then in November spent three weeks at number one in Sweden (both charts cited by contemporary issues of Billboard). In Germany, the World Pacific Studios recording of the song was used as the single release instead of the more well-known version. The single failed to chart.

In January 1970, the World Pacific Studios sessions recording of the song was issued on Trip Records as the B-side of a “Surfin'” single re-issue. The single however failed to make any impact on the charts

Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley is a pop ballad originally recorded by American singer Elvis Presley and published by Gladys Music, Elvis Presley’s publishing company. It was written by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore and George David Weiss. The melody is based on “Plaisir d’amour” (1784), a popular romance by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini (1741–1816). It was featured in Elvis Presley’s 1961 film, Blue Hawaii

Elvis Presley’s version of the song, which topped the British charts in 1962, has appeared in numerous other films, including the 2000 film Coyote Ugly, the 2002 Disney film Lilo & Stitch, the 2016 film The Conjuring 2 and the pilot episode of Sons of Anarchy. Other films that feature the song include Overboard, Honeymoon in Vegas, The Thing Called Love, Was It Something I Said?, Fools Rush In, Love Stinks, Happily Ever After and Blade Runner 2049 . The single is certified by the RIAA as a Platinum record, for US sales in excess of one million copies. In the United States, the Elvis Presley version of the song peaked at number two on the pop chart and went to number one on the Easy Listening chart for six weeks.

During Presley’s late 1960s and 1970s live performances, the song was performed as the show’s finale. Most notably, it was also sung in the live segment of his 1968 NBC television special, and as the closer for his 1973 Global telecast, Aloha from Hawaii. A version with a faster arrangement was used as the closing for Presley’s final TV special, Elvis in Concert.

Sheila by Tommy Roe a song written and recorded by Tommy Roe. The single reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on September 1, 1962, remaining in the top position for two weeks and peaking at number six on the R&B charts.

Roe originally conceived the song as “Frita”, based on a girl from Roe’s high school. The song was auditioned to a record producer from Judd Records, and while response was enthusiastic, it was suggested that the name be changed. By coincidence, Roe’s Aunt Sheila was visiting, which inspired the final title of “Sheila.”

The original version of the song was recorded by Roe for Judd in 1960 (misspelled as “Shelia”) and backed by another original song, “Pretty Girl”. The songs were recorded with his then backing group the Satins and the female vocal group, the Flamingos. The record failed to make an impact on the charts. The song was later featured on the compilation album Whirling with Tommy Roe in 1961, featuring tracks from Al Tornello. It was also included on the compilation, The Young Lovers in 1962.

The ABC recording of the song is done in the style of the Lubbock sound, made popular by Buddy Holly and the Crickets in the late 1950s; the strumming pattern, tempo, and chords (both songs are in the key of A) bear particularly strong resemblance to the Crickets’ “Peggy Sue”; Roe’s vocals are similar to Holly’s. The song became the title track of Tommy Roe’s debut studio album, Sheila in 1962.
The Beatles recorded on 1962 at the Star Club in Hamburg.

The song was also covered by the Greg Kihn Band on their 1981 album RocKihnRoll.

In 1969, Roe was presented by the Recording Industry Association of America with a gold record for accumulated sales of over one million copies

 

Telstar by The Tornados is a 1962 instrumental written and produced by Joe Meek for the English band the Tornados.[2] The track reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in December 1962 (the second British recording to reach No. 1 on that chart in the year, after “Stranger on the Shore” in May), and was also a number one hit in the UK Singles Chart. It was the second instrumental single to hit No. 1 in 1962 on both the US and UK weekly charts.

Background

The record was named after the Telstar communications satellite, which was launched into orbit on 10 July 1962. Written and produced by Joe Meek, it featured either a clavioline or the similar Jennings Clavioline, both keyboard instruments with distinctive electronic sounds. It was recorded in Meek’s studio in a small flat above a shop in Holloway Road, North London. “Telstar” won an Ivor Novello Award and is estimated to have sold at least five million copies worldwide.

“This was one of the first sci-fi-influenced pop songs,” observed Tim Wheeler of Ash. “For its time it was so futuristic and it still sounds pretty weird today. It features Matt Bellamy’s dad George on guitar… You can hear traces of it in Muse. ‘Knights of Cydonia’ was definitely him tipping his hat to his dad.”

Plagiarism claim

A French composer, Jean Ledrut, accused Joe Meek of plagiarism, claiming that the tune of “Telstar” had been copied from “La Marche d’Austerlitz”, a piece from a score that Ledrut had written for the 1960 film Austerlitz. This led to a lawsuit that prevented Meek from receiving royalties from the record during his lifetime, and the issue was not resolved in Meek’s favour until three weeks after his suicide in 1967. Austerlitz was not released in the UK until 1965, and Meek was unaware of the film when the lawsuit was filed in March 1963