by The Essex (1963)I was surprised to find the catchy number one hit, Easier Said Than Done did not come from one of the big known groups but a group of (totally adorable) Marines named The Essex.
While the band had little faith in the b-side, it quickly became their biggest and only real hit.It’s still makes for pretty great listening.
Plus, it played at my last restaurant meal in Brooklyn, so it has become a bit of a sentimental favorite.
by Nat King Cole (1963)OK, so the official start of Summer isn’t for a couple more weeks, but as well all know, Fall and Spring hardly exist in New York, and several days of temperatures above 80 means summer to me.
So as Nat King Cole says in his jazzy, fun time tune:
“Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Those days of soda and pretzels and beer”
Sounds like a plan to me! And I really want my summer to look like the cover of this album, don’t you?
by The Chordettes (1954)When you have a baby you suddenly have to sing baby songs. Initially I couldn’t remember any and just sang what popped in my head, but somehow, no matter how sing songy I made it “They’ve got the guns, but we got the numbers.. Gonna win, yeah we’re taking over.. Come on!” just seemed strange to sing to a little one.
Fortunately, and rather oddly since I don’t think I’ve really listened to it since it popped up in Back to the Future, Mr. Sandman was the other song I could think of. Van seemed to enjoy it very much and lately so do I. It’s a lovely song.
by Roy Orbison (1963) and Linda Ronstadt (1977)Still on a Roy Orbison kick, I thought I’d recommend his most beautiful song, Blue Bayou. Also recorded wonderfully by the lovely Linda Ronstadt, it’s a sentemental song and one of the prettiest I can call to mind. In fact, it ranks high in my favorites of all time, so it surprises me I’ve not recommended it here before.
As winter begins to nip at us, one can relate to dreaming of someplace with fishing boats and familiar sunrises. By the way, it does not refer to the Louisiana Water Park (though it would shake my whole reading of the song if it was) nor the Disney restaurant.
by Del Shannon (1961)Runaway by Del Shannon is an iconic hit of its time (the American early 1960’s) but I find it still intriguing today for its other worldly musical breakdown that comes courtesy of keyboardist Max Crook and his musitron. The musitron was Crook’s own invention, a heavily modified version of the clavioline and a forerunner to the synthesizer.
Click here for the rest of Runaway
Electronic music is not the most familiar genre to me (compared to say, obscure love ballads from the 50's), and it's the inclusion of a sample of the great, dreamy Bobby Vinton (of Blue Velvet fame) song that drew me to the Royksopp song, So Easy in the first place.
So you can actually count this as a double entry, because after raving, taking “e” and playing in a field, or any other activity that accompanies electronic music, you should listen to the original Vinton song, Blue on Blue.
And while we're on a roll, check out the equally great Vinton single, Mr. Lonely.
This is my favorite Christmas song. My sister and I loved to dance to it while decorating the tree