By the end of the 1960s, the music was becoming truly timeless, with sounds that people still enjoy today. Plenty of incredible songs came out at the end of the decade, including these three. All Top 10 hits from 1969, it’s almost certain that every 60s kid alive still knows them by heart today.
“Bad Moon Rising” by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival includes “Bad Moon Rising” on their Green River record. The song was written by lead singer John Fogerty.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Bad Moon Rising” says in part, “Don’t go around tonight / Well, it’s bound to take your life / There’s a bad moon on the rise.”
Fogerty was inspired to write “Bad Moon Rising” by the 1941 film, The Devil and Daniel Webster.
“At one point in the movie, there was a huge hurricane,” Fogerty remembers. “Everybody’s crops and houses are destroyed. Boom. Right next door is the guy’s field who made the deal with the devil, and his corn is still straight up six feet. That image was in my mind. I went, ‘Holy mackerel!’”
“My Cherie Amour” by Stevie Wonder
“My Cherie Amour” is the title track of a record that also came out in 1969. Wonder wrote “My Cherie Amour” with Henry Cosby and Sylvia May.
A song about attraction from afar, “My Cherie Amour” starts with, “My cherie amour, lovely as a summer day. My cherie amour, distant as the Milky Way / My cherie amour, pretty little one that I adore / You’re the only girl my heart beats for / How I wish that you were mine.”
“My Cherie Amour” was the most successful single from the album. However, Wonder did have one more Top 10 hit, with “Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday”.
“These Eyes” by The Guess Who
On The Guess Who’s Wheatfield Soul album is “These Eyes”. Band members Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings are the two writers of “These Eyes”.
“These Eyes” is a sad song about a relationship that is over. The chorus says, “These eyes are cryin’ / These eyes have seen a lot of loves / But they’re never gonna see another one like I had with you.”
Bachman began this song as “These Arms”, before Cummings switched it to “These Eyes”. This song is the only single from Wheatfield Soul. Based in Canada, “These Eyes” is also The Guess Who’s first Top 10 hit in the United States. One year later, The Guess Who had their first No. 1 hit, with “American Woman”.
Photo by Basul Parik/Getty Images
More The List
-
UNSPECIFIED – JANUARY 01: Photo of "The Mamas and the Papas" (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) -
Joe Strummer (1952 – 2002, left) and Paul Simonon performing with British punk group The Clash at the Coliseum, Harlesden, London, 11th March 1977. (Photo by Julian Yewdall/Getty Images) -
Photo by Don Smith/Daily Herald/Mirrorpix via Getty Images -
Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images -
Don McLean, amerikanischer Sänger, Liedermacher und Gitarrist, TV Auftritt, Deutschland, circa 1971. Don McLean, American singer-songwriter and guitarist, TV performance, Germany, circa 1971. -
Martha Reeves & Rosalind Ashford-Holmes of Martha & The Vandellas pose for a portrait circa 1964. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) -
UNITED KINGDOM – JANUARY 01: BBC STUDIO Photo of ANIMALS, L-R: Eric Burdon, John Steel, Hilton Valentine, Alan Price, Chas Chandler, posed, group shot on set of TV Show (Photo by David Redfern/Redferns)
