October 21st

The so-called "March On The Pentagon" drew nearly 100,000 protestors of The War in Viet Nam.  The group first assembled peacefully in front of the Lincoln Monument before making their way to the Pentagon.  

Spokesperson Dr. Benjamin Spock publicly referred to President Lydnon Johnson as “the enemy” and Allen Ginsberg enticed the crowd to collectively chant to see if they could levitate The Pentagon.  (Gee, I wonder why none of these types of protests were ever successful or taken seriously???)  I'm sure it all made sense at the time … depending on whatever you had ingested that day.  

There were incidents along the way that caused military personnel to hold the protestors at bay once they reached their ultimate destination, but by the time the rally finally broke up (the early morning hours of October 23^rd), a total of only 683 people (including novelist Norman Mailer) had been arrested … not bad for a crowd of this size.

October 20th

Before we look at the biggest climbers on the chart this week, let's address the record that took the biggest fall.  "I Had A Dream" by Paul Revere and the Raiders dropped from #35 to #93 … that's 58 places on the chart!!!  Wow!  (And I really like that song, too!)  

On the upswing (with a move of ten positions or more) are "Even The Bad Times Are Good" by The Tremeloes (#53 to #42), "Everlasting Love" by Robert Knight (#60 to #43), "I Can See For Miles" by The Who (up 25 places from #71 to #46), "King Midas In Reverse" by The Hollies (#58 to #47), "Pata Pata" by Miriam Makeba (up 32 places from #80 to #48 … I just love the feel of this record), "Kentucky Woman" by Neil Diamond (which climbs 34 spots from #84 to #50), "Rock 'n' Roll Woman" by Buffalo Springfield (#65 to #51), "Beg, Borrow And Steal" by The Ohio Express (#69 to #56), "Big Boss Man" by Elvis Presley (#91 to #57), which places it just a couple spots ahead of its B-Side "You Don't Own Me" (#86 to #59), "Shout Bamalama" by Mickey Murray (#76 to #58), "Lazy Day" by Spanky and Our Gang (#89 to #60, a jump of 29 spots), "Hush" by Billy Joe Royal (#85 to #70), "If This Is Love" by The Precisions (#83 to #71), "Boogaloo Down Broadway" by The Fantastic Johnny C (#90 to #73), "What've I Done To Make You Mad" by Linda Jones (#95 to #75) and "Give Everybody Some" by The Bar-Kays (#99 to #80).  

In Meridian, Mississippi, seven men (including a sheriff’s deputy and a Ku Klux Klan leader) were convicted of violating the civil rights of three civil rights workers.

October 19th

New on the chart this week are "Lady Bird" by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood, which premiers at #76 (Nancy will record a few other duets with her producer, including one of my favorite songs from the '60's, "Summer Wine".) 

A couple of '60's classics also premier on the chart this week … "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" by Gladys Knight and the Pips debuts at #82 (it'll be an even bigger hit next year when Marvin Gaye records it) and "I Say A Little Prayer", another Hal David - Burt Bacharach gem, premiers at #86 for Dionne Warwick.  (It, too, will be a hit again next year when Aretha Franklin puts her soulful spin on this one.)  I also liked Jay and the Techniques' follow-up single  to their big Top Five Hit "Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie", "Keep The Ball Rollin'", which premiers at #90 this week. 







Jose Feliciano records his unique version of "Light My Fire".  It will peak at #3 next year. 



The Beatles added vocals to “Hello, Hello”, a track they started nearly three weeks earlier.  When completed, it will be retitled “Hello, Goodbye” and become their next #1 Record. 

The final mix for The Monkees' next album "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd." is completed.  The album will see release on November 6th.  (Boy, things sure moved quickly back then, didn't they?!?!)

October 18th

Walt Disney Studio's 19th full-length animated film, "The Jungle Book," is released today.  It is the last full-length animated motion picture that founder Walt Disney was personally involved with.  (He died the previous December)  It features the voices of Phil Harris, Sterling Holloway, Louis Prima and Sebastian Cabot and goes on to be a huge critical and box office success and will top the motion picture box office for a total of six weeks in the weeks to come. 

Elvis Presley's 25th movie, "Clambake", opens in theaters today. 

In other movie news, the John Lennon / Richard Lester movie "How I Won The War" premiers in London.  All four Beatles attended the premier.  (Life-long Beatles fan that I am, I've STILL never seen it in its entirety!)

 

October 17th

The Tribal Love / Rock Musical "Hair" makes its debut Off Broadway at the Public Theater in New York's East Village.  It will play there for a limited engagement of six weeks.  It is then moved to The Cheetah, a discotheque at 53rd and Broadway, where it reopened on December 22nd and ran for 45 performances.  (It is interesting to note that there was no nudity in either of these original productions.)  

Some serious revamping was done before the production moved to The Biltmore Theater on Broadway in April of the following year, where it then ran for 1873 performances.   

How popular was the music from this musical? Four different Top Three Smashes by a Who's Who of Recording Artists were released from its soundtrack, including MAJOR hits by The Fifth Dimension ("Aquarius / Let The Sunshine In"), Oliver ("Good Morning Starshine"), Three Dog Night ("Easy To Be Hard") and The Cowsills ("Hair") … although ALL of those hits would come in 1969 after the musical reached mass appeal on Broadway. 

(Read our special 1969 coverage of "Hair" here ... http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2009/08/1969-hair.html)

Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart (along with Record Producer Phil Spector) appear on this week's episode of "I Dream Of Jeannie". 

British songstress Petula Clark is the host of The Hollywood Palace tonight and performs "Don't Sleep In The Subway", "This Is My Song", "Imagine" and "Just Say Goodbye".  The program features all British guests this week, including Noel Harrison who performs "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds".  (Now THAT must have been something to see!!!) 





The Doors performed at Danbury High School in Danbury, CT. 

Bob Dylan begins recording his next album at Columbia Records’ Studio A in Nashville, TN.  The album will be completed six weeks later on November 29^th and released as “John Wesley Harding”.

 

October 16th

As expected, Lulu takes over the #1 spot on the chart this week with her movie theme hit "To Sir With Love".  "The Letter"  by The Box Tops and "Never My Love" by The Association each fall a spot to numbers 2 and 3 respectively.  Meanwhile, "How Can I Be Sure" by The Young Rascals continues its climb, moving from #6 to #4 this week.  "Soul Man" by Sam and Dave enters The Top Ten, climbing from #14 to #6, as does "Hey Baby, They're Playing Our Song" by The Buckinghams (#12 to #8), "Your Precious Love" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell (#17 to #9) and "Expressway To Your Heart" by The Soul Survivors (#15 to #10).  

"It Must Be Him" by Vikki Carr continues its rise up the ranks, moving from #24 to #11 this week, a jump of 13 positions.  "A Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin is up from #16 to #12, "People Are Strange" by The Doors climbs from #18 to #14, "Get On Up" by The Esquires moves up four spots from #20 to #16 and "Lightning's Girl" by Nancy Sinatra cracks The Top Twenty, moving from #25 to #20 this week.  

Other big movers within The Top 40:  "Incense And Peppermints" by The Strawberry Alarm Clock (#41 to #22), "Let It Out" by The Hombres (#28 to #23), "Please Love Me Forever" by Bobby Vinton (#39 to #24), "The Last Waltz" by Engelbert Humperdinck (#30 to #25), "I'm Wondering" by Stevie Wonder (#42 to #27), "Love Is Strange" by Peaches and Herb (#40 to #28), "The Rain, The Park And Other Things" by The Cowsills (#52 to #29), "Holiday" by The Bee Gees (#47 to #34) and last week's top debut, "It's You That I Need" by The Temptations, climbs from #61 to #39.  

"Ode To Billie Joe" holds on to the #1 spot on the album chart.  

55 people, including singer / activist Joan Baez (and her mother!), are arrested in Oakland, California, and sentenced to ten days in jail for blocking the entrance to the city's armed forces military induction center in protest of the draft.