Monday’s Music Moves Me: 1962

Monday's Music Moves Me 2 Minutes

As the 1973 movie American Graffiti asked, “where were you in ’62?” As for me, I was six, started the year in kindergarten and ended it in first grade at St. Ignatius School, living on Magnolia Avenue. I think that was the year I had the measles, which really messed with my summer (yeah, I had them during the summer). Anyway, today’s assignment from Mary (who did a spectacular job as guest conductor, didn’t she?) is to play songs from the year I turned six, which was in 1962. According to Billboard magazine, these were the Top 10 records of that year.

  1. The Shirelles, “Soldier Boy” From Passaic, New Jersey, The Shirelles had six Top 10 hits before the British Invasion crowded them off the Top 40. This was their second #1 song after “Will You Love Me Tomorrow.”
  2. Chubby Checker, “The Twist” This is the cover of a Hank Ballard & The Midnighters song that originally reached #1 in 1960, and is the only record of the rock to reach #1 in two separate years.
  3. The Sensations, “Let Me In” The Sensations had already seen some chart success in the ’50’s before disbanding, then reformed in the early ’60’s and had a couple of hits, of which this song was the more successful and was their most-popular song, reaching #2 on the R&B chart and #4 on the Hot 100.
  4. Little Eva, “The Loco-Motion” Eva was babysitter to Carole King and Gerry Goffin, who wrote this song originally for Dee Dee Sharp, who turned it down. It reached #1 and earned a gold record for her.
  5. Shelley Fabares, “Johnny Angel” Shelley played Mary Stone, the daughter of Alex and Donna Stone on The Donna Reed Show from 1958 until 1963. This particular scene is from a later episode and is told in flashback. The song reached #1 and was certified gold in 1962.
  6. David Rose, “The Stripper” A song that was later used in shaving commercials for Noxzema, it was originally the flip side for Rose’s 1958 recording of “Ebb Tide.” When MGM, the record company, realized they had no B side for that record, they had an office boy go through Rose’s tapes, and he chose this because he liked it. It also reached #1 and was certified gold.
  7. Bobby Vinton, “Roses Are Red (My Love)” This was Bobby’s first hit, reaching #1 on the Hot 100 and Easy Listening chart and #5 on the R&B chart. He found it in a reject pile at Epic Records.
  8. Dee Dee Sharp, “Mashed Potato Time” Dee Dee had rejected “The Loco-Motion” in favor of this song, and it reached #1 on the R&B chart and #2 on the Pop chart, so she probably made the right choice. It was the basis for Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s hit “Monster Mash.”
  9. Ray Charles, “I Can’t Stop Loving You” This was the lead single from Ray’s album Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music, and was a huge hit, reaching #1 on the Hot 100 for five weeks on the Hot 100 as well as #1 on the R&B chart and on the British Singles chart. It was written and first recorded by country singer Don Gibson, who reached #7 on the country chart with it in 1958.
  10. Acker Bilk, “Stranger On The Shore” Written by Acker Bilk (real name Bernard Stanley Bilk) for his young daughter and originally named “Jenny” for her, it was the first #1 record for a British artist on the Hot 100.

And that’s Monday’s Music Moves Me for September 30, 2019.

Monday’s Music Moves Me is sponsored by X-Mas Dolly, Callie, Cathy, Alana, and Stacy, so be sure and visit them, where you can also find the Linky for the other participants.

Published by John Holton

I'm a writer and blogger who writes and blogs about things that interest me.

Published

44 thoughts on “Monday’s Music Moves Me: 1962”

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  5. I did lots of dancing to The Twist (and a twist related song called The Peppermint Twist) and this was a great song list but you really won my heart with that blurry TV promo for Heidi. Heidi was the most beloved book of my childhood. You make me miss the years when instrumentals were common on the music surveys. Sigh!

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  7. These are great songs and so many I love. I had no idea some of these were from 1962 like Johnny Angel. I was born in 1964 so the songs I would look at would be from 1970. Bridge over Troubled Water, Let it Be and American Woman. I have to see which songs are hits when my dad turned 6…that would be 1919! Till We Meet Again and A Pretty Girl is like a Melody. .

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  8. John,

    In 1962, I was an infant for most of the year since I was born at the end of 1961 but I do recall these songs that still got a lot of playtime throughout the decade. I always liked ‘Soldier Boy’ and I always tie it to the memories of my uncles who served in Vietnam somewhere around the mid to late 60s. I just remember being very little. While I love Little Eva’s ‘Locomotion’ I grew up with Grand Funk Railroad’s cover. I remember ‘The Stripper’ being used in those old Noxema commercials. What fun! Some people would have a cow today if that song was used.lol I think it’s rather fun. 🙂 WOW, I love how you concluded your playset with such a soft beautiful song, ‘Stranger On The Shore’. This has been such a grand theme. Mary really did a great job this month, didn’t she? Thanks for joining the party and here’s hoping you have a boogietastic week, my friend!

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    1. It just happened that “Stranger On The Shore” was #1 for the year, and yes, it was a gorgeous song. “Loco-Motion” was a Top 10 hit in the ’60’s (Little Eva), ’70’s (Grand Funk) and ’80’s (Kylie Minogue). It’s one of the all-time classics.

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  9. I’m a few years younger than you are, but I remember most of these songs, either because my older sisters played them or because they were on oldies radio when I was older. By the time I was six, the British invasion had occurred.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. There were two waves to the British Invasion, one starting in ’64, the other around ’67 or ’68. Bands that weren’t knocked off the charts by the first wave were knocked off in the second.

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  14. These are all songs I’m sort of familiar with, but don’t know them. Interesting that you could find as many as you did that I recognize besides the obvious one, The Twist. What little kid doesn’t remember that one?

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  15. What a line up my friend! Chubby Checker! Now there’s a man that made a whole lotta money! hehe I have to say they’re all favorites of mine. Thanks for the link PICNIC. It was neat to see that scene once again. Kim Novak was beautiful then. It’s a shame what she did to herself trying to turn back the hands of time. She almost looks scary! Anyway, Soldier boy, I was writing to my own soldier boy my oldest daughter’s father. Oh and hahaha his name was “Johnny”, but he was no angel! hahaha I use to love, love the Loco-Motion, dancing to that at our high school sock hops! OMG, I’m surely showing my age now. hahaha I have to admit this theme was a whole lotta fun even if somebody called me OLD! ~sniff-sniff~ NOT OLD… just refined… I think that’s the word. bwahahahahaha Have a great day my friend… your tunes put me in a great mood!

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  16. My parents had a few strip music records in their album collection including the David Rose album that included “The Stripper”. It was music with a show businessy sound like they liked. The groups playing the music were often quite like the live show bands they had playing back-up for floor shows back in the fifties when The Juggling Jacksons played night clubs around Cleveland Ohio.

    A great line-up of hits in your list.

    Arlee Bird
    Tossing It Out

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  21. Great selection of songs! It’s been so interesting to read/listen (so far) all of the songs that were popular when everyone was so young. Thanks for the compliment on the themes. It’s been a great month!

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