Interactive Poll #6060: We love the Sixities

Raff--

Fotheringay is one of my all-time favorites. I didn't select any Fairport because of the prohibition on PA material. But I support your right to break the rules -- it's so 1960s counterculture and all. 

My second nomination is Young Flowers - "Oppe i træet" (Up in the tree, 1968):

Spotify link: http://open.spotify.com/track/6UpxD7cP80jdPSJ15uqwWi?si=reHMGdD4TXSqxLg7K_z34A

(I could not access a separate YouTube link to the song, but it starts at 15:02 in this clip: http://youtube.com/watch?v=XKnmxzykKoU)

More acid rock obviously, Young Flowers was a short-lived power trio with Peter Ingemann (bass, vocals), Peer Frost (guitar) and Ken Gudman (drums). It's perhaps not the most original music you would come across (the inspirations were clearly Cream and Jimi Hendrix), and the wah-wah is a bit overused. Nevertheless, "Oppe i træet" is a very catchy song, and I guess it counts as a guilty pleasure for my part.

Lyrics translation:

Up in the tree I am sitting

And I am far, far away

And I am far, far away

And I am far away

Hey, you should see how it is bubbling and sliding

And sneaking around in the bush

Do I like it?

Do I like it?

Man, the darkness is dark

[I'm] In a landscape of sounds and beautiful [sic]

And I am far, far away

And I am far, far, far away

And I am far away

And I'm dreaming a dream of a guy that is me

Who is sitting in the tree, dreaming

Do I like it?

Do I like it?

Man, I'm sick

(guitar solo)

Do I like it?

Do I like it?

Man, I'm sick

Up in the tree I am sitting

And I am far, far away

And I am far, far away

And I am far away

This song is from 1960, and follows the Italian melodic tradition, with a 1950s-style orchestral arrangement. But beware: to be a love song of those years it is revolutionary. The melody is melancholy and almost dramatic, the text is short and repetetive, as it used to be in that years, but it is existentialist, and conceives love and life as an eternal defeat, a consummation without ever being able to renew itself. At the end of the song, another revolutionary fact for the time, at least in Italy: we can feel the waves of the sea which are the emblem of destiny that consumes everything.

I dont know many singer-songwriters able to write existentential lyrics accompanied with dramatic music in 1960 (maybe Johnny Cash?)

If you want to listen carefully to the song, please do it by following the lyrics:

Sassi che il mare ha consumato, sono le mie parole d'amore per te. 

Io non ti ho saputo amare, non ti ho saputo dare quel che volevi da me. 

Ogni parola che ci diciamo è stata detta mille volte, ogni attimo che noi viviamo è stato vissuto mille volte. 

Sassi che il mare ha consumato sono le mie parole d'amore per te. 

Ogni parola che ci diciamo è stata detta mille volte, ogni attimo che noi viviamo è stato vissuto mille volte. 

Sassi che il mare ha consumato sono le mie parole d'amore per te.

Rambling notes at the end.

Kyu Sakamoto "Sukiyaki"

The Count Five "Psychotic Reaction"

Ken Nordine "Olive"

The Stooges "1969"

 

Most songs in my collection from the 60s tend to be well-known. Happy to see a number of songs and styles so far as I am open to learning more about this time period. I made a somewhat random selection. 

1. I didn't learn about this song until I was in a Japanese studies class in college and surprised to learn that in 1963, there was a #1 song in the US from Japan sung in Japanese. The song title has nothing to do with the song and not the actual title. Record executives put it on because it was something that was something a Western audience could identify (sukiyaki being a hotpot dish). I read that it's like taking "Moon River" and then releasing it in Japan under the song title "Beef Stew". The actual song title is "Ue o Muite Arukou" which translates to "I Look Up as I Walk". The lyrics were written as the writer came back from a protest over the US occupation in Japan. The first couple of lines of the song translate to "I look up as I walk, so tears won't fall down". A cover version with different English lyrics was later a hit for the group A Taste of Honey.

2. Not many bands from my hometown of San Jose, CA. (Best known band is probably Smash Mouth, ugh.) They were basically a one-hit wonder and this was a top 10 song for them. The band was around for a couple of years and then the band members decided to get their college degrees, and once they did, this type of music was no longer in favor. 

3.  Ken Nordine has done a countless number of voice-overs for ads and movies, so if you grew up in the US, you've heard his voice. In the 50's and 60's he released a number of "word jazz" albums. This song is from his album "Colors", in which each song is about a color. He was originally commissioned by a paint company to come up with a series of pieces for their paint colors for advertising. He expanded that into a full album of 34 colors. I came across this song back in the 90's off a compilation disc when the album was reissued. I went on to buy the reissue. It's a lot of fun.

4. Ending the decade in 1969. Plus, Iggy rules. 

3 great old psych rock tracks.....btw...imho The Move version of Fields Of People is killer.

Also,,,blows my old mind that mathman posted a Ken Nordine piece...my friend Greg and I used to listen to them at night on the radio and smoke his special blend.  

I love all that old stuff...my brother and I had all the 45's and used to play them late into the night in the basement when mom and dad were asleep.

Several of the bands/tracks picked already on this thread were on my short list so I'll try to post something different....I like all those old early psych and /or garage rock things from 66-69.

Here's another one that hopefully fulfills all the criteria - I love it, it's not listed on PA, and not all of you know it. That may be wrong though... the full album file has a few million views on youtube to my surprise. Anyway, nice and subtle guitar stuff by Gabor Szabo.

OK, and just one from the category "you all probably know it", but I always loved and will always love this song. And my delight could hardly be exaggerated when I found out that Bill Bruford's Earthworks, of which I already was a fan since their first album, chose this one to cover.

Well....I was going to post 3 or 4 Brit psych pop things but I decided to go with 3 or 4 America garage psych rock things from the 60's unless someone beats me to them.

It is a small masterpiece of great emotional intensity.