Here's a vintage chart from KYA / San Francisco dating back to May of 1961.
One of the greatest two-sided hits of all-time, "Travelin' Man" / "Hello Mary Lou" by Ricky Nelson has fallen out of the #1 spot to make way for "Those Oldies But Goodies" by Little Caesar and the Romans. A couple of other early '60's classics follow ... "Daddy's Home" by Shep and the Limelites at #3 and "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King, up eight places to #4.
I'm also partial to one of their "Aces in the Hole" tracks this week ... the Bobby Darin version of "Nature Boy", a GREAT track that never realized its full potential nationally, stopping at #40 on the Billboard Chart. (We play that one around the house all the time!)
It wasn't just your favorite local radio station that was counting down the hits back in the day ... check out this chart from Montgomery Wards, circa 1964. (OMG, remember when all the major stores had their own record departments ... and sold enough copies to make it worth while publishing their own charts?!?!)
Growing up here in Chicago, I was always partial to E.J. Korvettes, Sears (because you could always pick up the WLS Survey there), Polk Brothers and G.C. Murphy ... all of whom had EXCELLENT record departments. (Plus we had at least half a dozen "ma and pa" shops within in walking or bike-riding distance too!) Music was literally EVERYWHERE you turned back then. (Now to find it you've got to log on to your computer at home!)
As you can see, The Beatles were still exuding chart domination in late May of '64 with five of The Top 40 Tracks on this list. But check out Elvis with THREE chart entries of his own!
Speaking of "kissin'", check out The Kissin' Top Forty Tunes This Week on this KYSN Chart from 1962.
Young Mark from "The Rifleman" held down the #2 spot (with a bullet) with "Cindy's Birthday" ... and Elvis was right behind him with "Follow That Dream", the theme song from his latest movie (and one of the more tolerable ones at that!) He also lays claim to the #22 hit.
FH Readers will be pleased to see The Kingston Trio at #5 with their version of "Scotch And Soda" ... and there's our FH Buddy Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon at #9 With "Palisades Park", written by Gong Show Creator Chuck Barris!
And look at The Lettermen at #24 with their version of "Turn Around, Look At Me", a song that could only "Bubble Under" in Billboard. (Most radio stations went with the A-Side, "How Is Julie?")
And finally, another trip home to Sweet Home Chicago and this WLS Chart from 1965.
Man, check out this Top Ten ... not a dog in the bunch.
Peter Noone and Herman's Hermits hold down two of the Top Five spots with "Silhouettes" and "Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter" ... where you'll also find the latest hits by The Beach Boys, Sam The Sham and the Pharaohs and Mr. Sock-In-The-Pants, Tom Jones! (Herman's Hermits are also at #30 with their brand new release, "Wonderful World".)
Quite a few British Rockers were still making their mark in May of 1965 ... and one of my favorite reimagined American Hits done up in British Style sits at #23 ... I'm referring to the Peter and Gordon version of "True Love Ways" ... which just may be my favorite version of this song of all time.
