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Plethora of Pop’s Rate-A-Record
Racing the Road Kings
Crossover Country 1965 proves difficult to rate
Some of us, or let me just say I assumed that the #1 song of 1965 according to Billboard Magazine’s Hot 100 would have to be a Beatles song. I’m not precise enough to have guessed which one, but I would have never believed that it would take seven notches to get to the highest rated Beatles song of that year.
“Help!” and I mean that more literally than you know.
Maybe that’s not my favorite Liverpool Lads song anyway, and maybe I’m not surprised that their nemesis from the Isles would beat them by four spots with “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”
And perhaps it’s not a stunner that the Four Tops’ “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)” came in even higher at #2 for ’65. But I can help myself and still feel a bit underwhelmed and almost hopelessly helping myself to discover that the #1 song of my ninth year alive was…
“Wooly Bully” by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs.
None of can’t get no satisfaction, honey bunch. We didn’t even try.
Here’s the entire 100 and I won’t waste time trying to explain life and 1965’s pop hits away, but for those who scoff at today’s music, let me just remind you that…