THE SATURDAY SURVEY / and 60 YEARS AGO TODAY: December 6th, 1965

The Byrds fend off The Four Seasons and hold on to the #1 spot for a second week.  Meanwhile, James Brown continues to climb the chart with his latest hit, "I Got You (I Feel Good)," moving up another three notches within The Top Ten this week.  It now sits at #4 ... and would seem to be a formidable candidate to be the next #1 Record in America.

But don't rule out The Dave Clark Five here ...

Although they've never actually had a #1 record here before, "Over and Over" seems to have really caught on here in The States ... 

It moves up a couple of spots as well.

The Ramsey Lewis Trio's version of "Hang On Sloopy" also continues to climb ... it moves from #18 to #11.  "England Swings,"  "Don't Think Twice" and Elvis' "Puppet On A String" are also records to watch.

Other big movers within The Top 40 include Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sounds Of Silence," "Ebb Tide" by The Righteous Brothers, The Beach Boys' "The Little Girl I Once Knew" and "Flowers On The Wall" by The Statler Brothers, a popular country act.

Gary Lewis and the Playboys have the week's top debut with "She's Just My Style" ... it premiers at #54.  Based on their track record to date, this very easily could become their fifth straight Top Ten Hit.

 

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60 YEARS AGO TODAY: 

12/6/65 – The Beatles album “Rubber Soul” is released here in The States, as is a brand new soon-to-be two-sided hit single, “We Can Work It Out” / “Day Tripper.” (It’s a real treat … fans worldwide are getting 16 brand new tracks by The Beatles, as neither side of the “Double A-Side Single" are included on the new LP.)

[The 14-track album had been released three days earlier in Great Britain]

The US version of the album has a different track line-up (as usual!) ... but at least Capitol didn't add the single to the album this time around.  The Beatles wanted their new LP to stand on its own.

Beatles fans have argued for years that in this instance, the US track listing may actually be better than the British configuration this time around.

Deeply influenced by Bob Dylan, "Rubber Soul" is a much more of an "acoustic" album, thanks to tracks like "I've Just Seen A Face," "Norwegian Wood," "Michelle," "It's Only Love," "Girl," "I'm Looking Through You," "In My Life" (which was damn near classical!) and "Run For Your Life."  At least this is what the US version represents.

Its British counterpart includes "Drive My Car," "Nowhere Man," "What Goes On" and "If I Needed Someone," all tracks that Capitol will hold back for their "Yesterday ... And Today" album to be released next year.  (That LP will also include both sides of the new single "We Can Work It Out" and "Day Tripper."  Next Spring, "Nowhere Man" will be released as a single here in The States, paired with "What Goes On," a Ringo tune on the B-Side, much like they did with "Yesterday" / "Act Naturally" earlier this year.  Both sides of THAT single will also make the "Yesterday ... And Today" LP.)

With "I've Just Seen A Face" and "It's Only Love" having already been released in Great Britain on their "Help!" LP, America was still in the process of catching up.  Still, the acoustic nature of those two tracks seem to "blend" better with the new tracks featured on the US version of "Rubber Soul."

Paul McCartney had mentioned the term "plastic soul" in a couple of interviews earlier this year ... but one of the factors in determining the "Rubber Soul" name may well have been the circumstances surrounding the album cover itself, showing The Beatles in an elongated pose.

This came about quite by accident.

When The Fabs got together to look at photo options for their new, upcoming album cover, the photographer, Robert Freeman, was projecting them from slides on to a 12 x 12 white board to simulate what they would look like at actual size in the record stores.

After reviewing a series of shots for their consideration, he projected the top photo shown below ...

But just as he did, the board began to slip in the chair, thus elongating the image.  Immediately, The Beatles cried "That's it ... that's the one."  When the photographer explained what had happened, the group wanted to know, "Well, can you make it look like that?"  And thus the infamous "Rubber Soul" cover photo was born.

The Beatles were starting to exert much more control on the packaging of their albums ... 

"Rubber Soul" was followed by their old German pal Klaus Voormann's drawings on the "Revolver" album cover ... and in between, (here in The States anyway), the infamous avant garde "Butcher Cover" was issued (and then quickly pulled back), followed by the pop art, trend-setting, revolutionary "Sgt. Pepper" cover.  The Beatles, of course, then went from one extreme to another, making their first Apple release, the double album called simply "The Beatles," a stark white, blank cover with only their name embossed on the cover.  As their music kept changing so, too, did the image they wanted to project to the rest of the world ... simply put, The Beatles were growing up!

BEFORE ...

AND AFTER ...

Their new single, "We Can Work It Out" / "Day Tripper," proved to be a rousing success on both sides of the pond, peaking at #1 and #5 in America and at #1 as a Double A-Side (with "Day Tripper" on top!) in The UK.

 

December 5th, 1965

60 YEARS AGO TODAY:

12/5/65 – Although nobody knew it at the time, The Beatles played their last ever live show in their hometown of Liverpool tonight when they appeared at The Liverpool Empire during the group's final UK tour.  There were only 5,100 tickets available, split out between the two shows they performed that day … yet the venue received over 40,000 applications for tickets.  (Who said Beatlemania was dead?!?!)

Their set list for these two shows:

"I Feel Fine"
"She's A Woman"
"If I Needed Someone"
"Act Naturally"
"Nowhere Man"
"Baby's in Black"
"Help!"
"We Can Work It Out"
"Yesterday"
"Day Tripper"
"I'm Down"

QUITE a bit different from what they had been performing here in The States!

Also on 12/5, Martha and the Vandellas and Tom Jones appear on “The Ed Sullivan Show”

From our Forgotten Hits Music Historian, Chuck Buell, here now is “This Night in Forgotten Hits History!”

Midnight tonight marks the 92^nd Anniversary of the End of Prohibition ~ 

Meaning alcohol consumption was once again deemed legal!

Since then, there have been many notable Forgotten Drinkin’ Hits!  Here’re a few of the most recent and most familiar in this “Chuck Buell Drinkin’ Extended-play Minute Medley!”

 

 

This Special Medley ends with a featured segment of the Four Seasons, “Oh, What a Night,” which one may, or may not, know was originally written in the mid-1970s about the end of Prohibition!  Oh, What a Night it must have been in 1933!  However, while the Four Seasons liked the musical arrangement, they rejected the initial prohibition's end related lyrics and the song was rewritten about a young man's first intimate encounter instead. With that, there was no prohibiting it from taking off and becoming a three-week Number One Song in 1976.  

So, bottoms up, ever’body!  It was a celebration whichever way one looks at it!

CB ( which stands for “Cheers Boy!” )

 

Young Chuck is absolutely right ...

The Four Seasons' two-time hit "December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)" was first titled "December, 1933 (Oh, What A Night), touting the joy of the end of prohibition.  (This idea was quickly scrapped as the general feeling was that the subject matter was a bit out of step and unrelatable some 43 years later) and although The Four Seasons reportedly DID do a recording using the original lyrics, NOBODY was all that knocked out by the results.  Coming off of their big comeback hit ("Who Loves You," #3, 1975), they wanted to make more of a mark with their follow-up single and keep this newfound momentum going.

Bob Gaudio, a long-time member of The Four Seasons and one of their principle songwriters ... who was now also producing their records at the time, teamed up with his songwriting partner Judy Parker (who eventually became his wife) on both "Who Loves You" and "December, 1963 (Oh What A Night).  When he expressed the feeling that the song needed to be reworked, she revamped the lyrics to reflect back on somebody's first sexual experience ... Bob altered the tempo and by the time they were done, they knew they had another hit on their hands.  In fact, it not only went to #1 in 1976 but a dance remix version put the song back on the charts in 1994 where it peaked at #14.

I reached out to Bob Gaudio to see if any tape still existed of the original take.  (I thought it would be a great piece to share with Chuck Buell's posting today.)  Unfortunately, I didn't hear anything back in time ... but the revamp worked wonders ... it became The Four Seasons' first #1 Billboard Hot 100 Pop Hit in twelve years!  (kk) 

December 3rd, 1965

60 YEARS AGO TODAY:

12/3/65 –The Beatles set out on what would turn out to be their last ever UK tour with a performance at Glasgow's Odeon Cinema

While all this was going on, their landmark album "Rubber Soul" was released in Great Britain, just two weeks after the final mixing of the LP had been completed.  (It would show up here in The States three days later ... see our December 6th entry for 60 YEARS AGO TODAY.) 

Also on 12/3, Keith Richards receives an electric shock and is knocked unconscious during a Rolling Stones concert in Sacramento, California

Also on 12/3, The Beau Brummels make an animated guest appearance on “The Flintstones”

Also on 12/3, Actor Steve Harris is born (I have always been a fan)