Sixties sounds that are still around
MARION McMULLEN takes the hits of 1969 for a spin as she looks at the famous songs celebrating their 50th anniversary
ELVIS PRESLEY was singing about Suspicious Minds, David Bowie was on a Space Oddity and Johnny Cash was telling everyone about a boy named Sue. The sounds of 1969 are still resonating five decades after they were first released and are continuing to find new fans as the tracks reach their 50th anniversary.
The early hit of the year was Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)? by singer songwriter Peter Sarstedt.
Radio DJ John Peel once said he hated it on first hearing and called it “hideous”, but that did not stop it spending four weeks at the top of the British music chart at the start of 1969 and it went on to become number one in 14 countries.
The record was released by United Artists and the song, which lasted nearly five minutes, told the story of an ordinary girl called Marie-Claire who became part of the international jet-set.
Peter Sarstedt later said he came up with the idea for the waltz-time song when busking on the streets of Copenhagen three years earlier. The single went on to share the Ivor Novello for best song with David Bowie’s Space Oddity.
The Moon landing took place in 1969 and Bowie’s offering about an astronaut called Major Tom struck a chord with music lovers, however, he later said the inspiration for the hit originally came from the Stanley Kubrick movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Rick Wakeman and Herbie Flowers were among the sessions players on the record and were paid just over £9 for their work.
Bowie later remembered of the time: “I would drive to gigs in my tiny little Fiat. I would shoot up and down the M1 to play at various places.”
Johnny Cash recorded A Boy Named Sue in February, 1969, live at San Quentin prison in California. It was the first time he performed it and it was unrehearsed with the band improvising around him. The song went on to appear on his Johnny Cash At San Quentin album and was later released as a single. It became one of the Man In Black’s biggest hits and a concert favourite.
American singer songwriter Neil Diamond was also enjoying success with Sweet Caroline. He revealed years later that the Caroline in the song was actually American president JFK’s daughter Caroline Kennedy and he performed the song at her 50th birthday. Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra both released cover versions of the song.
Elvis Presley was also at number one in America in 1969 with Suspicious Minds – his last US number one before his death. The song was written by Memphis singer Mark James, but his original version failed to chart. Elvis recorded the iconic version in Memphis in the early hours of the morning.
The success of Honky Tonk Women was bittersweet for the Rolling Stones. It was Brian Jones’ last recording sessions with the band and was released in July after the guitarist was tragically found dead in a swimming pool. The song was released by Decca with You Can’t Always Get What You Want as the B side and spent 17 weeks in the UK charts.
Come Together by The Beatles was a double A-side with Something and was also the opening track of the album Abbey Road. Come Together proved a success in both the UK and the States and has been covered over the years by artists as diverse as Tina Turner and Meat Loaf to Marilyn Manson and Guns N’ Roses.
Stevie Wonder’s soul classic My Cherie Amour was one of his biggest hits of the 60s. The song was cowritten with Sylvia Moy and Henry Cosby and was originally called Oh, My Marcia for the singer’s girlfriend at that time when he was at the Michigan School For The Blind.
Sylvia Moy gave it a French twist by changing the title to My Cherie Amour. Spanish and Italian language versions of the song were also later released.
Bob Dylan’s classic ballad Lay Lady Lay was featured on his album Nashville Skyline and then released as a single in 1969 and quickly proved a hit on both sides of the Atlantic.
It was originally destined to be part of the Midnight Cowboy movie soundtrack, but was not finished in time to be included.
The future Nobel Prize winner’s lyrics included the lines: “His clothes are dirty, but his hands are clean/ And you are the best thing that he’s ever seen.”
But one of the biggest hits of the year was by a band that never really existed... except as a cartoon.
Sugar, Sugar was a bubblegum pop song that spent eight weeks at the top of the UK music charts and was America’s top-selling single of 1969.
The creation of rock impresario Don Kirshner – who went on to develop The Monkees – was recorded by studio musicians and released under the name the Archies.
The ultimate fiction band was named after an American Saturday morning cartoon called The Archie Show about music loving Archie Andrews and his friends.