How well did you know the musical 60s? Here are the lyrics, titles, and groups.

British and Commonwealth Version: Complete the lyric.

1. 'there is a barber with a photograph of every. . . head he's had the pleasure to know.' The Beatles, 'Penny Lane', 1967. Penny Lane's in Liverpool, but you knew that, you clever Brit.
2. 'but how do you thank someone who has taken you. . . from crayons to perfume?'
   Lulu sang this in 'To Sir with Love', for the 1967 drama about an influential teacher.
3. 'Just listen to the rhythm of the traffic in the city,
   
   linger on the sidewalk where. . . the neon lights are pretty'. Petula Clark knew all about 'Downtown' in 1965.
4. 'Electrical. . . banana is gonna be a sudden craze.' Donovan sang it in 'Mellow Yellow', 1966. The fact that people hippies in the US started trying to smoke banana peelings right after that was an unintended consequence. Really.
5. 'I'm leaning on . . . a lamppost at the corner of the street in case a certain little lady comes by.' Herman's Hermits were on the prowl in 'Leaning on a Lamppost', 1965. (And yes, Awix, we know George Formby sang it earlier. Probably with a ukulele.)
6. 'And so before they come. . . to break down the door, forgive me, Delilah, I just couldn't take any more.' Tom Jones may not have won Eurovision in 2012, but he won our hearts in 1965 with 'Delilah'.
7. 'Mrs Brown, you've got a lovely. . . daughter'. Herman's Hermits again, from 1965. Yeah, we know Tom Courtenay sang it first, in a film called The Lads (1963). Worse still, Alvin and the Chipmunks had a go at it. It was as bad as you imagine.
8. 'Bus stop, bus goes, she stays, love grows. . . under my umbrella'. The Hollies celebrated wet romance in 1965 with 'Bus Stop'.
9. 'You don't have to say you love me, just. . .be close at hand '. We're thinking of the 1966 Dusty Springfield version, but you might like Elvis or Tom Jones. (Just be quiet about it.) Dusty got an OBE, who knew?
10. 'Why do all the boys just pass you by?
    
    Could it be you just don't try, or is it. . . the clothes you wear?' Hey, there, 'Georgy Girl'. Incredibly, this shallow, lookist song was a big hit for The Seekers in 1966, and a theme for the movie starring Lynn Redgrave.

A note for those born AFTER 1970: do you have the sinking feeling your parents were even weirder than you first supposed?

And now for the North Americans:

1. 'I went to a dance the other night, I saw a girl there, she was. . . out of sight'. This piece of illogic was very popular as sung by Tommy Roe in 'Sweet Pea'.
2. 'Who's reaching out to capture a moment? Everyone knows it's. . . Windy'. At least, The Association knew in 1966. Windy had stormy eyes that flashed at the sound of lies. . . okay, you had to be there.
3. 'Up, up, and away, in. . . .my beautiful, my beautiful balloon'. The group was called The Fifth Dimension, and they sang 'Up, Up and Away' beautifully in 1967.
4. 'And the streets are paved with passersby
   
   Pigeons fly. . . and papers lie, waiting to blow away. That's what Joni Mitchell said happened on a 'Chelsea Morning', back in 1969. This Chelsea was a part of New York City.
5. 'Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
   
   Next stop is. . .Vietnam. ' In 1965, Country Joe McDonald brought out the 'I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag' to express his feelings about the Vietnam War.
6. 'Fighting soldiers from the sky,
   
   Fearless men who.. . jump and die.' It's only fair to point out that not everybody supported the anti-war movement. Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler, while recovering from wounds sustained in Vietnam, penned the lyrics to 'The Ballad of the Green Berets' in 1966. The song, which was a hit in the US, ends with a young war widow wishing the same fate on her young son as had befallen his father. Listen to this one, then go put on Phil Ochs' 'Universal Soldier'. Or 'I Ain't Marchin' Any More'. Or, well, anything by Phil Ochs.
7. Like a poem poorly written
   
   We are verses out of rhythm,
   
   . . . . . . Couplets out of rhyme. . .' Yes, in syncopated time. That's all in Simon & Garfunkel's 'Dangling Conversation'. The borders of our lives. . .
8. 'And I'll be happy to see those nice young men in. . . their clean white coats'. In 1966, when Napoleon XIV chanted this ditty, you rolled on the floor. It's called 'They're Coming to Take Me Away'.
9. 'Jesus was a sailor when. . . .He walked upon the water. ' So sang Canada's great poet, Leonard Cohen, in 1967. He's still singing it, hallelujah, and dancing us to the rhythm of his burning violin.
10. 'You can't jump a. . .jet plane like you can a freight train '. So Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot was on his way in 1966, 'In the Early Morning Rain'.

We hope you enjoyed the musical timeslip here. If you did, urge your friends to try it. (Laugh when they don't know the answers.)

Peace!

Dmitri Gheorgheni

18.06.12 Front Page

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