3 Nostalgic Rock Songs From 1964 That Take You Back Every Time

Rock songs are the perfect vehicle for nostalgia. They offer little trips down memory lane. Or as Bruce Springsteen once sang, a way to recapture the glory days. We may not recapture youth, but we can revisit the past through songs. They offer the spirit of a younger version of ourselves, a healthy reminder that that person probably still exists somewhere inside each of us.

So, let’s do a little traveling and revisit three nostalgic rock songs from 1964 that take you back every time.

“Oh, Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison

My favorite thing about Roy Orbison’s voice is how it can sound tender, gorgeous, and utterly heartbreaking at the same time. Here, Orbison pleads with his crush to look his way. Desperate to be noticed and aren’t we all? There’s a quiver in his vibrato, the nervous energy of a young man putting himself out there. However, the mood changes at around the two-minute mark. She’s walking away. “If that’s the way it must be, okay.”

But Orbison’s fortunes change once again. “Wait, what do I see? Is she walking back to me?” The tremolo guitars give the tune a dusty vibe. With country and R&B converging as rockabilly. If feels hazy like a dream. Like what Orbison must have felt, smitten by this woman.

“Can’t Buy Me Love” by The Beatles

I wasn’t born yet when Beatlemania sent the kids into a frenzy. But the closest thing in my lifetime was probably Nirvana. And each time my son cranks “Lounge Act”, it immediately brings me back to high school. So, I can imagine what it must feel like for those old enough to remember hearing or seeing The Beatles emerge from Liverpool. It was a great song from the band’s early era and one of the best rock songs of 1964.

Paul McCartney writes about the friction between materialism and finding true love. An innocent enough idea from a young songwriter whose life was being transformed by unfathomable fame and success.

“Time Is On My Side” by The Rolling Stones

Of course, time and nostalgia can’t exist without the other. In the early days of The Rolling Stones, they became, perhaps, the world’s best-known cover band. And the mere act of playing covers is itself a nostalgic move. The Stones’ rendition of the Irma Thomas classic opens with a haunting organ. From there, Mick Jagger speaks to an ex he knows will come running back to him.

The band sounds ragged and loose as they absorb American soul en route to becoming one of history’s greatest rock and roll bands. We are lucky to have these recordings. It’s so raw, you can hear them figuring out how to be great.

Photo by Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images