THE BEATLES' latest hit, A HARD DAY'S NIGHT leaps from #21 to #2 this week on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart … it'll top the charts in another week. Its flip side, I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER, makes the chart this week as well, debuting at #75. Never one to miss an opportunity to sell additional BEATLES product, Capitol Records rush releases two more singles from the film's soundtrack … AND I LOVE HER / IF I FELL and I'LL CRY INSTEAD / I'M HAPPY JUST TO DANCE WITH YOU. Eventually they'll all chart … but this week AND I LOVE HER is the first to do so, premiering at #80. (BEATLES Movie soundtrack music could also be found on two hot new LPs … the A HARD DAY'S NIGHT Motion Picture Soundtrack Album released by United Artists … and SOMETHING NEW, a new hodge-podge compilation LP slapped together by Capitol Records. Didn't matter … we still bought 'em both!) In fact, GEORGE MARTIN's instrumental version of THIS BOY (now retitled RINGO'S THEME for the film) ALSO broke into the charts this week, debuting at #94.
Other British Invasion Hits on the Billboard singles chart this week: CAN'T YOU SEE THAT SHE'S MINE by THE DAVE CLARK FIVE (#7), WISHIN' AND HOPIN' by DUSTY SPRINGFIELD (#9), NOBODY I KNOW by PETER AND GORDON (#14), DON'T LET THE SUN CATCH YOU CRYING by GERRY AND THE PACEMAKERS (#17), DON'T THROW YOUR LOVE AWAY by THE SEARCHERS (#21), BAD TO ME by BILLY J. KRAMER AND THE DAKOTAS (#24), A WORLD WITHOUT LOVE by PETER AND GORDON (#28), YOU'RE MY WORLD by CILLA BLACK (#31), LITTLE CHILDREN by BILLY J. KRAMER AND THE DAKOTAS (#41), TELL ME by THE ROLLING STONES (#49), I BELIEVE by THE BACHELORS (#50), HOW DO YOU DO IT by GERRY AND THE PACEMAKERS (and featured last week in Forgotten Hits), at #53, NOT FADE AWAY by THE ROLLING STONES (#58), AIN'T SHE SWEET by THE BEATLES at #67, giving THE FAB FOUR a total of FOUR songs on the chart this week, and IT'S ALL OVER NOW, a brand new ROLLING STONES release, holding down the #100 spot. That gives the British Rockers nearly 20% of the positions on this week's chart.
Here in Chicago, "A Hard Day's Night" / "I Should Have Known Better" moves into the #2 position on The WLS Silver Dollar Survey, just behind "Rag Doll" by The Four Seasons. (Fittingly, The Four Seasons replaced The Beach Boys at the top of the WLS Silver Dollar Survey the week before!) Dean Martin has wedged his way between The Beatles and The Dave Clark Five with his eventual chart-topper "Everybody Loves Somebody" (#3), pushing The Dave Clark Five's hit "Can't You See That She's Mine" down to the #4 spot. At #5 are Jan and Dean with "Little Old Lady From Pasadena" before three British hits in a row hold steady in the Chicagoland Top Ten: "Don't Throw Your Love Away" by The Searchers (#6), "Nobody I Know" by Peter and Gordon (#7) and "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying" by Gerry and the Pacemakers (#8).
Other Chicagoland British charters include "Wishin' And Hopin" by Dusty Springfield at #12, "I Believe" by The Bachelors at #21, "I'll Keep You Satisfied" by Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, new on the chart at #28 (another track given to them by the songwriting team of Lennon and McCartney), "How Do You Do It" by Gerry and the Pacemakers at #30, another new two-sided hit for The Fab Four at #35 ("I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" / "I'll Cry Instead", more soundtrack music from "A Hard Day's Night" … Capitol Records would release a total of THREE singles from this film!), followed by a brand new hit at #38 by Lulu and the Luvers, featuring their version of a rock and roll classic, "Shout"!
