Some songs were made for the replay button. Here are a few tunes from the 60s that never run dry, no matter how many times we play them.
“Stand By Me” by Ben E. King
“Stand By Me” has been sung by countless artists and is arguably one of the most beloved tracks from this era of music. The roots of “Stand By Me” actually came from a gospel hymn written by the Philadelphia minister Charles Albert Tindley in the early 1900s. Tindley was also the original writer of the song “I’ll Overcome Someday,” which eventually turned into “We Shall Overcome”.
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“My Girl” by The Temptations
This is pretty much the ultimate love song of the early 60s. In “My Girl”, The Temptations sing about things going right in life and attribute all things good to a special lady.
I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day
When it’s cold outside, I’ve got the month of May (ooh)
I guess you’d say
What can make me feel this way?
“California Dreamin’” by The Mamas and the Papas
Aside from being incredibly haunting, “California Dreamin’” has harmonies that will blow your mind, and a melody that will stick with you long after the first listen. It’s one of those that floats back in your subconscious from time to time, and it’s always a pleasure when it does.
“You Really Got Me” by The Kinks
You can say what you want about music back then, but this song disproves any theories that people in the 60s didn’t know how to rock out.
As Ray Davies of The Kinks told Rolling Stone, this one was written about a muse he never actually met.
“I was playing a gig at a club in Piccadilly and there was a young girl in the audience who I really liked,” he shared, per Songfacts. “She had beautiful lips. Thin, but not skinny. A bit similar to Françoise Hardy. Not long hair, but down to about there (points to shoulders). Long enough to put your hands through… (drifts off, wistfully)… long enough to hold. I wrote ‘You Really Got Me’ for her, even though I never met her.”
Photo by: Doreen Spooner/Mirrorpix/Getty Images
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