The Pop 1960's from a kiddie Point Of View

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The Pop 1960's from a kiddie Point Of View, What I remember loving that made the UK charts

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Popchartfreak View member profile	21st August 2020, 08:08 PM Post #1
BuzzJack Legend Joined: 18 July 2012 Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376	OK, this is more of a companion piece to diva's run-down of great records from the 60's. Some of these will be great and some won't, but they are tracks I loved as a kid. Obviously I wasnt aware of the charts in 1960, but certainly around the age of 4 or 5 I was already into pop music, and oldies were still on the TV and radio quite frequently, especially records aimed at small kids which was quite a thing in those days, so expect to hear whimsy! So my way of sorting weeks on top are: whatever was my big obsession tops the chart while it's in the UK charts, or until it's knocked off by a newer track that I loved as much or more, so there are quite long runs early on, cos I didn't know as much as I did when I was 6 and very aware of current pop music. My first love? Predates the 60's. I was pre-school. We lived in pretty-much absolute poverty in a coal-mining town, outside toilet, a tin bath filled up by a kettle in the front room, coal fire, a mangle, a back yard, no car, no phone, no central heating, no fridge, and a corner shop selling home-made ice-lollies (frozen ribena squash) for a penny. But we still had a black and white TV and we had some ancient 78's, and my fave was this one: 54QeNL5ih6A I was introduced to tragedy and loss at an early age when someone sat on it. Shellac was very brittle! So onto the first track: 1960 LITTLE WHITE BULL - Tommy Steele (9 weeks) dM8f-QD21Qo Tommy Steel was everywhere in the early 60's and I'm pretty sure I saw the movie it came from Tommy The Toreador. Tommy was big in the 50's as a sort of Brit rocker/showman, but by this time he was well into family entertainer mode. The song appealed to kids, and popped up for many years afterwards on Ed Stewart's Juniors Choice, a show where kids requested songs they wanted to hear. Released in late 1959, and certainly a song I was very fond of, and knew well. Sadly, the movie clip isn't on Youtube - and that was an important part of it's appeal. I still find it charming, albeit of it's time - given they kill the bulls it's not really jolly at all in real life! Now how many times do you see this one cropping up in rundowns...


Popchartfreak View member profile	22nd August 2020, 03:29 PM Post #2
BuzzJack Legend Joined: 18 July 2012 Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376	THEME FROM A SUMMER PLACE - Percy Faith and His Orchestra (3 weeks) tSsiS-v6_6M A theme tune I wouldn't have known about, an instrumental I couldn't have named at all throughout the 60's and an orchestra leader I didn't know about till the 70's, but this gorgeous melody seems to have always been there and evokes waves of childhood nostalgia without being associated with anything in particular. It just sounds great. Still. It's been in The Simpsons and a myriad of pop culture spots over the years, and quite rightly too. The first track to appear in diva thin muffin's list, but prob not the last.


diva thin muffin View member profile	22nd August 2020, 04:24 PM Post #3
BuzzJack Platinum Member Pronouns: he/him Joined: 20 January 2011 Posts: 5,907 User: 12,837	QUOTE(Popchartfreak @ Aug 22 2020, 03:29 PM) THEME FROM A SUMMER PLACE - Percy Faith and His Orchestra (3 weeks) A theme tune I wouldn't have known about, an instrumental I couldn't have named at all throughout the 60's and an orchestra leader I didn't know about till the 70's, but this gorgeous melody seems to have always been there and evokes waves of childhood nostalgia without being associated with anything in particular. It just sounds great. Still. It's been in The Simpsons and a myriad of pop culture spots over the years, and quite rightly too. The first track to appear in diva thin muffin's list, but prob not the last. So we have one in common! I like this and happy to see it feature here. I listened to the one that topped the chart first for you and admittedly am not as much of a fan of that one haha.


Popchartfreak View member profile	23rd August 2020, 07:22 AM Post #4
BuzzJack Legend Joined: 18 July 2012 Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376	QUOTE(diva thin muffin @ Aug 22 2020, 05:24 PM) So we have one in common! I like this and happy to see it feature here. I listened to the one that topped the chart first for you and admittedly am not as much of a fan of that one haha. Little White Bull isn;t one you hear on the radio anymore - just one for kids of that time I'd guess


Popchartfreak View member profile	24th August 2020, 04:35 PM Post #5
BuzzJack Legend Joined: 18 July 2012 Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376	MY OLD MAN’S A DUSTMAN – Lonnie Donegan (11 weeks) jm5ZV1zetA0 The British skifflemaster passed me by apart from his novelty songs, as novelty songs go this one was HUGE. It was everywhere and was still being sung by kids at school years later, it was referenced by adults, sung by them for fun, and I don’t remember never not knowing it. Would it make my list of fave records these days? Nah. Wouldn’t even make my top 100 of 1960, but then I’m not 4-years old anymore. To be fair ol' Lonnie was a Brit inspiration to 50's kids, skiffle being a DIY sort of trend for wannabe popstars, and he wrote some good songs, such as Tom Jones' I'll Never Fall In Love Again (not the Bacharach song though). This wasn't one of them though!


Popchartfreak View member profile	29th August 2020, 06:26 PM Post #6
BuzzJack Legend Joined: 18 July 2012 Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376	GOOD TIMIN' - Jimmy Jones (4 weeks) EmRG0Y5N8lg I didn't know who sang it, and I still don't know much about American black singer Jimmy Jones, I have no memories of Jimmy the singer at all, but I do remember liking this catchy falsetto pop chart-topper whenever I heard it on the radio as an oldie. Jimmy influenced subsequent singers like Del Shannon, and it still sounds fresh to my biased ears. As a kid the best bit? "Tick-a-tick-a-tick-a------TIMIN'" of course!


Popchartfreak View member profile	29th August 2020, 06:45 PM Post #7
BuzzJack Legend Joined: 18 July 2012 Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376	ITSY BITSY TEENY WEENY YELLOW POLKA DOT BIKINI - Brian Hyland (10 weeks) ge9Ou3-YyqU If there's a record that could be called my first pop record obsession, it's this one, the kiddie-pleasing rhyming title and the subject matter about a shy girl in a bikini, a cultural thing at the time was jolly, catchy, good-natured, and gave Brian a few years of good singles success with decent ballads, such as Sealed With A Kiss, a record so good it charted all over again in 1975 for Brian and topped the charts for Jason Donovan in 1989. Sadly this song also topped the charts again for manic DJ Timmy Mallet under his pseudonym Bombalurina in 1990, doing his very best to kill all my nostalgic fondness for the original. I mean, I was glad kids got to love the song the same way I did almost 20 years earlier - I loved singing the title as pre-school and for at least a decade afterwards! - it was just a shame wholesome clean-cut wistful charm had been replaced with tacky cheese. Mind you I was 32 and not the target audience in any way


AH Gold View member profile	2nd September 2020, 02:57 PM Post #8
BuzzJack Platinum Member Joined: 16 May 2007 Posts: 8,262 User: 3,410	Theme From A Summer Place is glorious. I knew the song for years without knowing what it was called until a couple of years ago. (Think I first heard it on The Rock 'n' Roll Years as a kid). I'm afraid Timmy Mallet and friends destroyed any potential love for Itsy Bitsy etc for me I'll look forward to following this


Popchartfreak View member profile	3rd September 2020, 07:24 AM Post #9
BuzzJack Legend Joined: 18 July 2012 Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376	QUOTE(AH Gold @ Sep 2 2020, 03:57 PM) Theme From A Summer Place is glorious. I knew the song for years without knowing what it was called until a couple of years ago. (Think I first heard it on The Rock 'n' Roll Years as a kid). I'm afraid Timmy Mallet and friends destroyed any potential love for Itsy Bitsy etc for me I'll look forward to following this I wish they'd repeat Rock n Roll Years, the mix of historical current events with key music of each year was powerful stuff, and it's such cheap TV to produce to revamp the originals and extend it up to 2019! Summer Place is just gorgeous, I think it sealed it's place in ongoing pop culture history when the old feller with the beard in The Simpsons started singing "Summer Place, theme from a Summer Place" along to the melody Cheers AH


Suedehead2 View member profile	3rd September 2020, 09:41 AM Post #10
BuzzJack Legend Joined: 13 April 2007 Posts: 36,671 User: 3,272	I seem to have missed this thread so far I remember Little White Bull very well as it was one of the few singles in the house for many years until I started buying them myself It even expanded my vocabulary by introducing me to words like matador and toreador! Wasn't Good Timin' used on Radio Luxembourg when Timex sponsored their chart? I'm sure that's when I first heard it. A continuation of Rock 'n' Roll Years would be good. It's the sort of clip show they could have put together in lockdown. Maybe I should volunteer to spend time in the archives looking for suitable footage.


Popchartfreak View member profile	3rd September 2020, 04:08 PM Post #11
BuzzJack Legend Joined: 18 July 2012 Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376	QUOTE(Suedehead2 @ Sep 3 2020, 10:41 AM) I seem to have missed this thread so far I remember Little White Bull very well as it was one of the few singles in the house for many years until I started buying them myself It even expanded my vocabulary by introducing me to words like matador and toreador! Wasn't Good Timin' used on Radio Luxembourg when Timex sponsored their chart? I'm sure that's when I first heard it. A continuation of Rock 'n' Roll Years would be good. It's the sort of clip show they could have put together in lockdown. Maybe I should volunteer to spend time in the archives looking for suitable footage. No worries Maybe my early association with those spanish names explains why I'm escaping to Barcelona on Saturday for a few days I've similarly expanded my vocab at an early age by DC Comics reading, concepts like Irony, The Fe being Iron in chemistry, and Benedict Arnold not being that popular in American circles. Comics are educational! You might be right about Good Timin' It rings a bell about tick a tick a timex... I would be very supportive of you digging out the archives and picking the music to accompany it! Frankly, all they'd have to do is pay you, pay for the use of the clips and music, job done. A couple of uni graduates looking for a media-leg-in could do the dull stuff, a lawyer could advise, and the 21st century generation could get that the combination of music and current events makes both more powerful...


AH Gold View member profile	3rd September 2020, 05:28 PM Post #12
BuzzJack Platinum Member Joined: 16 May 2007 Posts: 8,262 User: 3,410	QUOTE(Popchartfreak @ Sep 3 2020, 08:24 AM) I wish they'd repeat Rock n Roll Years, the mix of historical current events with key music of each year was powerful stuff, and it's such cheap TV to produce to revamp the originals and extend it up to 2019! Summer Place is just gorgeous, I think it sealed it's place in ongoing pop culture history when the old feller with the beard in The Simpsons started singing "Summer Place, theme from a Summer Place" along to the melody Cheers AH I love the Rock n Roll Years. Still got them all on VHS. I agree, lockdown would have been the perfect time to update the series. I know there's been other variations of it over the years on other channels, but it's not the same.


Popchartfreak View member profile	3rd September 2020, 05:49 PM Post #13
BuzzJack Legend Joined: 18 July 2012 Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376	TIE ME KANGAROO DOWN SPORT - Rolf Harris (3 weeks) vEkLy7A37T0 Banished from the airwaves these days due to a court case a few years ago, Rolf was everyones fave Aussie/Artist/novelty-singer back in the 60's, and beyond - and sure enough I loved his records, Jake The Peg, this one, and especially two more yet to come. I even once had a page from Reveille (a newspaper way back mum bought that regularly published song lyrics) with Rolf's lyrics printed out, a handy singalong for a kiddie. This track set forth the Monty Python "Bruce" Aussie stereotype, I expect, but it tickled young kids throughout the 60's on the variety shows it regularly turned up on, and was an actual chart hit, setting Rolf on the path to belovedness, falling out of favour, comeback at Glastonbury with a Led Zep cover of Stairway To Heaven didgeridoo-style, and then his shock-arrest. I can happily do without hearing Tie Me Kangaroo these days, but I'll still stand by Rolf's 2 gems from his "Can you tell what it is yet?" days.


Popchartfreak View member profile	3rd September 2020, 05:57 PM Post #14
BuzzJack Legend Joined: 18 July 2012 Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376	ONLY THE LONELY (KNOW THE WAY I FEEL) - Roy Orbison (3 weeks) aMShwAnph8k Roy was one of mum and dad's absolute fave singers growing up, they had his Greatest HIts album, so this song featured in my childhood - though NOT as early as 1960, my first contemporary Roy fave was still 4 years away, and his amazing power vocals and melodramatic ballads were not yet honed; Only The Lonely is fairly modest vocally (and he had yet to move onto the trademark sunglasses) bar the bit 2-minutes in which stretched him up the register a bit. Ask me which song I preferred at age 5 and Rolf would win, at 10 and Roy would win. That's called growing up and maturing, by age 10 I still liked novelty records, but a great pop song was what I really got passionate about, novelty records got boring quite quickly in comparison.


Popchartfreak View member profile	3rd September 2020, 06:02 PM Post #15
BuzzJack Legend Joined: 18 July 2012 Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376	IT'S NOW OR NEVER - Elvis Presley (4 weeks) Uwelrtb8Oho Almost 60 years on it's hard to recall a time when Elvis wasn't everywhere - even dying at 42 did nothing to stop the juggernaut of Presley fame and success. In our household, Elvis was mum's fave singer bar none, and now 81 with advanced alzheimers she'll still get up and bop to Elvis, happy as if she was 22 again as she was when this topped the charts. Elvis is for life. So, Elvis was inescapable in the 60's, films at the pictures, records topping the charts, on jukeboxes, on the radio, on TV: and this was one of his iconic, most-famous tracks, the big dramatic monster ballad. I can't recall ever not knowing it, but then all of his big hits were just universally known in the company we kept, the younger generation and quite a few older - though my grandparents generation were more likely to not approve of his records, they were very much aware of them! This, needless to say, isn't the last Elvis track on the list....


Popchartfreak View member profile	3rd September 2020, 06:09 PM Post #16
BuzzJack Legend Joined: 18 July 2012 Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376	GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME - Peter Sellers & Sophia Loren (14 weeks) E-ov-vBxDuE 14 weeks on top for this, this was a real aching-love on my part for this movie oddity - Sellers was starring in The Millionairess with huge movie star Sophia, as an Indian doctor having a romance with a rich European woman - in those days nobody blinked twice that a white comic actor could pull that off, these days of course it would be utterly disastrous. Sadly, that kinda means this track is now also politically-incorrect (along with the film). Me, I just loved the boom-buddy-booms, the title talked by the brilliant mimic Peter Sellers, and Sophia's Italian accent. Charming and catchy, and a huge hit in the UK, unlike most novelty records I've never not-loved this whimsical one, and it remained fairly popular on radio for 20 years or so. Possibly because it was impeccably produced by The Beatles' George Martin - you can't have better credentials than that! - and also the Sellers association, a man who remained beloved by many as he moved from his Goons-days into huge movie stardom, not least the fab Pink Panther movies. It's also not the last Peter Sellers/George Martin track to feature in the rundown. Enjoy the video while you can (if that's the right word) I expect it'll get taken down before long...!


King Rollo View member profile	3rd September 2020, 06:13 PM Post #17
BuzzJack Platinum Member Joined: 3 January 2017 Posts: 10,155 User: 23,961	When I was growing up,I knew It's Now Or Never as "Just One Cornetto" from the TV ad.


Popchartfreak View member profile	3rd September 2020, 06:28 PM Post #18
BuzzJack Legend Joined: 18 July 2012 Posts: 22,821 User: 17,376	QUOTE(King Rollo @ Sep 3 2020, 07:13 PM) When I was growing up,I knew It's Now Or Never as "Just One Cornetto" from the TV ad. Yes that was an era when actual pop records didn't get used for adverts, it was covers or variations. I still can't listen to In The Summertime since it was ruined by HP Sauce


Suedehead2 View member profile	3rd September 2020, 08:19 PM Post #19
BuzzJack Legend Joined: 13 April 2007 Posts: 36,671 User: 3,272	There are plenty of us of a certain age who grew up loving Rolf Harris. His downfall had far more impact on me than any of the others.