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Edited September 20, 201410 yr by AlexRange

 

06.04.1968 : Petula Clark - Kiss Me Goodbye (4 weeks # 1)

 

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After recording the Reed/Mason composition "The Last Waltz" for her 1967 album "The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener" Clark had rendered that song as "La derniere valse" for release in France to serve as the follow-up to her No. 1 hit "C'est Ma Chanson." The success of "La derniere valse," which reached No. 2 in France in January 1968, encouraged Clark to record an original Reed/Mason composition: "Kiss Me Goodbye" in a session at Pye Studios in Marble Arch produced by Tony Hatch although the arranging/conducting duties were assigned Les Reed who played piano; the track also featured Big Jim Sullivan on guitar.

 

Released in February 1968, "Kiss Me Goodbye" rose swiftly up the Billboard Hot 100 to enter the Top 20 at No. 16 on the chart dated 23 March 1968 representing a considerable comeback for Clark whose last two U.S. singles had been Top 20 shortfalls. However despite being showcased on Clark's 2 April 1968 Petula NBC-TV special, "Kiss Me Goodbye" would rise no higher than #15 and would mark Clark's final appearance in the Top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100.

 

In UK "Kiss Me Goodbye" just reached the Top 50 dated 9 March 1968, effectively punctuating Clark's British hitmaking career. The track charted in several European territories but despite its pronounced continental flavour "Kiss Me Goodbye" attained a Top 20 European chart placing only in Belgium. "Kiss Me Goodbye" reached No. 12 in Australia becoming Clark's last Top 20 hit of the 1960s there.

 

 

04.05.1968 : Paper Dolls - Something Here In My Heart (4 weeks # 1)

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-04TIojspXQA/TWUnt9g5_RI/AAAAAAAACDI/cgqYdbEiYE0/s400/cut-out_the%20paper%20dolls_british_female_band_paper_doll_fashion_fumiko%20kawa_06.jpg

 

 

Paper Dolls were a late 1960s British female vocal trio, from Northampton, comprising lead vocalist Susie 'Tiger' Mathis, Pauline 'Spyder' Bennett and Sue 'Copper' Marshall. They appeared some years before similar recording acts such as Bananarama and Atomic Kitten became commonplace. Anticipating the Spice Girls, each member of the group had a nickname.

 

Signed to Pye Records, Paper Dolls had one solitary success. The song, "Something Here in My Heart (Keeps A-Tellin’ Me No)", which was their debut single, and was written by Tony Macaulay and John Macleod, reached Number 11 in UK Singles Chart in 1968. The enduring image of the Paper Dolls, as seen, for example, on BBC Television's Top of the Pops, was inescapably that of three young women in miniskirts, the popularity and brevity of which were at their height at the time. Moreover, the name of the group was itself suggestive of "dolly birds", a rather impersonal term which, in the 1970s, journalist Christopher Booker associated with "girls being transformed into throwaway plastic objects".

 

Several follow-ups, notably "My Life (Is In Your Hands)" and "Someday", failed to chart. The Paper Dolls released a single album "Paper Dolls House" in 1968, which was re-issued with bonus tracks on CD in 2001.

Edited July 10, 201411 yr by Alex.

 

01.06.1968 : Jackie Lee - White Horses (3 weeks # 1)

 

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Jackie Lee is an Irish popular music singer, who has recorded under various names.

 

In 1962 she entered the UK heats of the Eurovision Song Contest as a solo act with "There's No-one in the Whole Wide World" and performed it at the British national finals for BBC TV. This number was later covered and performed by The Beatles in concerts during this period.

 

Lee also had an alternative career as a respected session singer, through her groups The Jackie Lee Singers and Tears of Joy. She provided the backing vocals for such global number ones as "Green Green Grass of Home" by Tom Jones and "Release Me" by Englebert Humperdink. She demonstrated her unique vocal range, ability and versatility on such diverse recordings as "Hey Joe" by Jimi Hendrix and much of the James Last catalogue at the time.

 

In 1968 - as 'Jacky' - she had a UK Top Ten hit with "White Horses", the theme from a Children's TV programme.

loved the Paper Dolls record, and still worship White Horses, it was a TV theme that girls in particular at school loved, such a sweet song.

Great choices, Alex B-)

loved the Paper Dolls record, and still worship White Horses, it was a TV theme that girls in particular at school loved, such a sweet song.

Great choices, Alex B-)

Thanks, John.

Paper Dolls song is the first girlband # 1 single in my retrospective. Jackie Lee also had another # 1 with her novelty song "Rupert".

Yes, they are good, but next three # 1s are even better. :)

 

22.06.1968 : Cilla Black - Where Is Tomorrow ? (3 weeks # 1)

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/images/2008/03/20/sixties_bands_in_wiltshire_203x152.jpg

 

 

In her autobiography, Black claimed that Epstein had tried to pacify her by negotiating a deal that would see her representing the UK in the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest. However, Black refused on the basis that Sandie Shaw had won the previous year's contest, and that the chances of another British female artist winning were improbable.

 

"Where Is Tomorrow ?" was her next single after top 10 hit "Step Inside Love" (written by Paul McCartney for her TV series Cilla) and reached only # 39 in United Kingdom.

Edited July 11, 201411 yr by Alex.

 

13.07.1968 : Dusty Springfield - I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten (5 weeks # 1)

 

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"I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten" is a song recorded by British singer Dusty Springfield written by Clive Westlake. Recorded June 1, 1968 at Chappel Studios in London, "I Close My Eyes..." was released that August to reach #4 in the UK where it ranks as one of Springfield's biggest hits: of her solo singles only "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself" (#3) and "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (#1) outrank "I Close My Eyes..." while "I Only Want to Be with You" matches its #4 peak ("I Only Want to Be With You" charted substantially longer than I Close My Eyes...", eighteen weeks as opposed to twelve).

 

In the US "I Close My Eyes..." was Springfield's final release on the Phillips label, Springfield having signed in June 1968 to have Atlantic Records be her US label of release as of that August; consequently the single was virtually ignored in the US.

 

17.08.1968 : Anita Harris - Dream A Little Dream Of Me (3 weeks # 1)

 

http://www.45-rpm.org.uk/dira/EP6401.jpg

 

 

"Dream a Little Dream of Me" is a song from 1931, with music by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt and lyrics by Gus Kahn. It was first recorded in February 1931 by Ozzie Nelson and also by Wayne King and His Orchestra, with vocal by Ernie Birchill.

 

Anita Harris which was recorded at Olympic Studios in a session produced by Mike Margolis with Alan Tew as musical director. Released 26 July 1968, the Harris version debuted in the UK Top 50 dated 10 August 1968 at #46 and peaking at #33.

 

In 1995 Beautiful South recorded amazing cover version, which was released as single only in Switzerland.

 

Impressive debut, maybe my all-time # 1 favourite debut single. Sweet "Heidi Range of her generation" Mary Hopkin. :wub:

 

07.09.1968 : Mary Hopkin - Those Were The Days (9 weeks # 1)

 

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"Those Were the Days" is a song credited to Gene Raskin, who put English lyrics to the Russian romance song "Dorogoi dlinnoyu" ("By the long road"), composed by Boris Fomin with words by the poet Konstantin Podrevskii. It deals with reminiscence upon youth and romantic idealism.

 

Georgian singer Tamara Tsereteli and Russian singer Alexander Vertinsky made what were probably the earliest recordings of the song, in 1925 and in 1926 respectively.

 

The song is best remembered, however, in English-speaking countries, for Mary Hopkin's 1968 recording, which was a top-ten hit in both the U.S. and the U.K. On most recorded versions of the song, Raskin is credited as the writer, even though he wrote only the later English lyrics and not the melody.

 

Although the song was popularized in the early 1960s by Limeliters, Welsh singer Mary Hopkin made the best known recording, released on 30 August 1968, shortly after Hopkin had been signed to the Beatles' newly created Apple label. Hopkin's recording was produced by Paul McCartney and became a #1 hit in the UK singles chart. In the US, Hopkin's recording reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Billboard Easy Listening charts for six weeks. In Netherlands it topped the charts for 2 consecutive weeks. The Russian origin of the melody was accentuated by an instrumentation which was unusual for a top ten pop record, including Balalaika, clarinet, hammer dulcimer and children's chorus, giving a klezmer feel to the song.

Edited July 15, 201411 yr by Alex.

 

02.11.1968 : Jeannie C. Riley - Harper Valley P.T.A. (5 weeks # 1)

 

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"Harper Valley PTA" is a country song written by Tom T. Hall that was a major international hit single for country singer Jeannie C. Riley in 1968. Riley's record sold over six million copies as a single. The song made Riley the first woman to top both Billboard's Hot 100 and the U.S. country single's charts with the same song, a feat that would go unrepeated until Dolly Parton's "9 to 5 " in 1981.

 

The song tells the story of Mrs. Johnson, a widowed mother of a teenage girl, who becomes outraged when one afternoon her daughter brings home a note from her junior high school's PTA decrying Mrs. Johnson's supposedly scandalous behavior by small-town standards, which, according to the PTA, is setting a bad example for her daughter. In response, Mrs. Johnson attends the next PTA meeting (being held that same afternoon), wearing a miniskirt, to the surprise of the PTA members. She then exposes various episodes of misbehavior and indiscretion on the part of several members of the PTA, concluding with, "This is just a little Peyton Place / And you're all Harper Valley hypocrites."

 

Jeannie C. Riley's recording of the song won her a Grammy for the Best Country Vocal Performance, Female. Her recording was also nominated for "Record of the Year" and "Song of the Year" in the pop field. Riley recorded a sequel song, "Return To Harper Valley", in 1984 (also written by Hall) but was not a commercial success.

 

In the sequel, Riley sings as Ms. Johnson (instead of her daughter as in the original). After purchasing a ticket to the high school dance (with the winner receiving a Stray Cats album) she decided to attend. This time she decided to wear a full-length dress and mentions how some folks changed, some for the good (Bobby Taylor, who repeatedly asked her for dates, was now paying attention to his wife) and others for the bad (Mr. Kelly never stopped his alcohol abuse and died from cirrhosis as a result).

 

However, she noticed prevalent substance abuse among the youth, and initially decided to get a gun, but decided to pray instead. After remembering her own wild behavior, she decides to attend the PTA meeting the following day and share her concerns.

 

 

07.12.1968 : Lulu - I'm A Tiger (4 weeks # 1)

 

http://cdn.7static.com/static/img/sleeveart/00/006/227/0000622725_350.jpg

 

 

Cheesy pop song from Lulu, her second vintage # 1 single and # 9 in UK Singles Chart.

 

A smallest number of # 1 singles for calendar year.

 

All my personal # 1 singles (1968) :

01. Anita Harris - The Anniversary Waltz (3 weeks # 1)

02. Sandie Shaw - Today (2 weeks # 1)

03. Lulu - Me, The Peaceful Heart (5 weeks # 1)

04. Petula Clark - Kiss Me Goodbye (4 weeks # 1)

05. Paper Dolls - Something Here In My Heart (4 weeks # 1)

06. Jackie Lee - White Horses (3 weeks # 1)

07. Dusty Springfield - I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten (5 weeks # 1)

08. Anita Harris - Dream A Little Dream Of Me (3 weeks # 1)

09. Mary Hopkin - Those Were The Days (9 weeks # 1)

10. Jeannie C. Riley - Harper Valley P.T.A. (5 weeks # 1)

11. Lulu - I'm A Tiger (4 weeks # 1)

 

Special awards :

Best single, which was not my personal # 1 : Esther And Abi Ofarim - Cinderella Rockafella

Most # 1 singles : Anita Harris, Lulu (2)

Most # 1 weeks : Lulu, Mary Hopkin (9)

Group of the Year : Paper Dolls

Singer of the Year : Lulu

Favourite Eurovision song : Kristina Hautala - Kun Kello Kay (Finland)

Favourite official UK # 1 single : Mary Hopkin - Those Were The Days

Song of the Year : Mary Hopkin - Those Were The Days

A smallest number of # 1 singles for calendar year.

 

All my personal # 1 singles (1968) :

01. Anita Harris - The Anniversary Waltz (3 weeks # 1)

02. Sandie Shaw - Today (2 weeks # 1)

03. Lulu - Me, The Peaceful Heart (5 weeks # 1)

04. Petula Clark - Kiss Me Goodbye (4 weeks # 1)

05. Paper Dolls - Something Here In My Heart (4 weeks # 1)

06. Jackie Lee - White Horses (3 weeks # 1)

07. Dusty Springfield - I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten (5 weeks # 1)

08. Anita Harris - Dream A Little Dream Of Me (3 weeks # 1)

09. Mary Hopkin - Those Were The Days (9 weeks # 1)

10. Jeannie C. Riley - Harper Valley P.T.A. (5 weeks # 1)

11. Lulu - I'm A Tiger (4 weeks # 1)

 

Special awards :

Best single, which was not my personal # 1 : Esther And Abi Ofarim - Cinderella Rockafella

Most # 1 singles : Anita Harris, Lulu (2)

Most # 1 weeks : Lulu, Mary Hopkin (9)

Group of the Year : Paper Dolls

Singer of the Year : Lulu

Favourite Eurovision song : Kristina Hautala - Kun Kello Kay (Finland)

Favourite official UK # 1 single : Mary Hopkin - Those Were The Days

Song of the Year : Mary Hopkin - Those Were The Days

 

Hi Alex, I like all of these and love 3, 6, 7, 9 10 to bits. Swap mama Cass for Anita Harris' version and it could almost be my charts of the time number ones, excluding groups..!

 

great choices B-)