3 Overplayed Songs From the 60s You Want To Forget but Can’t

Even if you love a song, overexposure can kill the joy you once received from it. Imagine you work in a space where you cannot control the playlist. Maybe you’re forced to listen to the radio, stuck with the same songs played over and over again, regardless of the millions of available tunes. Here, let’s focus on the 60s and the overplayed songs you wish you could forget. But you can’t. These earworms are here to stay.

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“Light My Fire” by The Doors

Depending on your view, Jim Morrison was either a rock and roll poet or a guy who, to be polite, didn’t make healthy choices. Either way, Morrison became one of the biggest rock stars and has sustained an Elvis-like mythology about him. “Light My Fire” was the second single from The Doors’ self-titled debut album, and unlike many rock songs from the 60s, an organ propels the track instead of a guitar.

Ray Manzarek’s Vox Continental organ was as crucial to The Doors’ sound as Morrison’s howling baritone. And his keyboard gave the band its wobbly psychedelic energy. Though FM radio embraced longer arrangements, the edited version of “Light My Fire” is the preferred choice for DJs. I don’t dislike it. But I’m partial to “L.A. Woman” when I want to hear Morrison ramble.

“Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison

Van Morrison’s best-known song isn’t anywhere near his best. And he agrees. Last year, he told The Sun that he “cringes” when he plays it. But with more than a billion plays on Spotify, it’s by far his most popular and a tune the audience wants to hear. And it’s also one of his most overplayed songs.

“It’s basically a teenage song,” he said, “I can’t relate to it much now, you know.” Still, for nearly six decades, Van Morrison has performed “Brown Eyed Girl”. But each time I hear the beachy guitar intro, I immediately want to go and crank “Gloria” to set myself straight.

“In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly

I’ll admit, I’ve never made it all the way through this 17-minute epic on our list of overplayed songs.  At around the six-and-a-half-minute mark, there’s a drum solo. And if you ever need me to check out of a track, just say the words “drum solo.”

An edited version of the psych-marathon was Iron Butterfly’s only single to reach the Top 40. It was supposed to be called “In The Garden Of Eden”. However, the drummer Ron Bushy misheard what the singer and organist Doug Ingle was singing. An intoxicated Ingle had slurred the hook, and Bushy translated the gibberish into the now-famous title. Perhaps Bushy tolerated it because he ended up with a drum solo.

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