3 Pop Songs From 1969 That Felt Like the Last Night of the 60s

A lot of pop songs in 1969 still clung to the sound of the 1960s. Some other pop hits, though, were already stepping foot into the 1970s. Let’s dive into just a few pop songs from 1969 that really felt like the final night of the 1960s.

“Good Morning Starshine” by Oliver from ‘Good Morning Starshine’

That flower power optimism of the 1960s is really captured beautifully in this song. However, “Good Morning Starshine” by Oliver dropped when that optimism was beginning to fade as the Vietnam War raged on and the magic of the 60s was coming to a close. It’s bittersweet, to say the least.

“Good Morning Starshine” by Oliver did well on the charts. It peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 6 on the UK Singles chart.

“Love Me Tonight” by Tom Jones

This Tom Jones pop classic is a big, dramatic tune, something that would become common in pop songs in the early 1970s. Jones was, in a way, ahead of the times with “Love Me Tonight”.

“Love Me Tonight” by Tom Jones was easily one of the biggest songs of 1969. The tune peaked at No. 13 on the Hot 100 and No. 9 on the UK Singles chart.

“In The Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)” by Zager And Evans from ‘In The Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)’

Remember that flower power optimism we mentioned? This one-hit wonder opted to go the totally bleak route with a song about the inevitable destruction of humanity. How fun! I have to admit, though, this entry on our list of pop songs from 1969 that sounded like the final night of the 1960s really did predict the direction music would take. It’s dark, bleak, musically interesting, and poetic in its exploration of humanity’s poor choices. And it’s futuristic, too, which is something that musicians in the 70s and 80s would lean towards.

The folk rock pop-crossover tune “In The Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)” by Zager And Evans peaked at No. 1 across the board in the US, UK, Canada, and elsewhere. Sadly, the duo never had as big a hit again.

Photo by Ivan Keeman/Redferns