April 18th, 1964

60 YEARS AGO TODAY:

4/18/64 – Sandy Koufax has another good day on the mound, striking out the side on just nine pitches … for the third time in his career!

(We toldja he'd be back!  And just four days later!)

Also on 4/18, American Bandstand airs a taped telephone interview with The Beatles

That evening, The Beatles appeared on the UK TV comedy program The Morecambe and Wise Show, where they appeared in some rather hilarious comedy sketches with hosts Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise.

Elsewhere in the program, they went with their strong suit, playing their hits "This Boy," "All My Loving" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand."

It was a big day for The Fab Four because they also held the #1 position on both the UK and US charts with their latest hit single, "Can't Buy Me Love."

You can watch the entire Morecambe and Wise show here ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw9dJG8GnmY

 

April 17th, 1964

60 YEARS AGO TODAY:

4/17/64 – In the first game ever played at the (then) new Shea Stadium, 48,736 fans watched The New York Mets lose to The Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3.  (The Mets will ultimately lose 109 games that season and finish in last place, 40 games out behind the National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals.)

Also on 4/17, The Ford Mustang is formally introduced, with a base price tag of $2,368.  First day sales and purchase requests for more than 22,000 units are processed on the car’s first day of availability.  In its first year on the market, there would be 418,812 of the Mustangs purchased, making it "the most successful new car ever introduced."

Also on 4/17, the FBI lab reports that it cannot determine the lyrics to “Louie Louie”

(Can you believe that this is still going on?!?!  The record has already been off the charts for months!  By this point, any supposed damage had already been done!!!  Incredible to think that there was this much controversy over a pop record!  If they only knew what was to come once Rap and Hip Hop got here!)

Also on 4/17, Them (featuring Van Morrison) make their first concert appearance at The Maritime Hotel in Belfast

April 16th, 1964

60 YEARS AGO TODAY:

4/16/64 – The first Rolling Stones album is released in England

It will be released here in The States a month and a half later as "England's Newest Hit Makers" with a slightly altered song line-up ... and it didn't make much of an impression at first, ultimately peaking at #11 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums Chart.

The first two US singles, both contained on the American pressing, were "Not Fade Away" (their take on the Buddy Holly tune), which peaked at #44 and "Tell Me," a Jagger and Richards original, which went to #24.

Also on 4/16, after a day of filming, The Beatles return to the recording studio to record the title track to their first movie, "A Hard Day's Night.

Ironically, also on 4/16, Dean Martin records “Everybody Loves Somebody,” the song that would knock The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" out of the #1 spot later this year!

Dino was quite confident that he had recorded a MAJOR hit record ... and the truth is, he hadn't had one in a while.  After the session, he tells his friends and family (and anyone else who would listen) that he just recorded the song that was going to knock The Beatles out of the #1 spot ...

Which is exactly what it did in August when it replaced "A Hard Day's Night" at the top of the charts in both Billboard and Cash Box Magazine.

Co-written by Ken Lane (who would go on to become Dino's pianist when he got his own television show on NBC), the song dates back to 1947 ... and was first recorded by Dean's Rat Pack Buddy Frank Sinatra as the B-Side to his 1948 single "Just For Now."  It became Dean Martin's theme song for the rest of his career.