The year was 1966. It was sixty years ago today, or sixty years ago, period. A few weeks back disc jockey Albert O. spun mostly folk/pop/rock records from 1966 for four hours on WUMB’s Highway 61 Revisited. As I listened to the show, I thought that this is my favorite music. If pop music is symbolic of civilization, perhaps 1966 represented a peak. The best of it sounded fresh, well-written, thought-provoking, and classic. I thought it might be fun to take a look back myself.
The Byrds released Fifth Dimension that year. They made folk music new again, perhaps never more so than on “John Riley,” a song whose theme went back to Homer’s Odyssey. It has a happy ending to boot.
The Assocation are a sort of guilty pleasure. These guys could sing and devoted themselves to coming up with the layered vocal arrangements of their songs. Member Jim Yester wrote and sang the lead on “No Fair At All” for Renaissance. When I saw Yester performing with a version of the band in the Happy Together tour featuring the Turtles’ Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman at the Minnesota State Fair about ten years ago, Yester still had it. So did Kaylan and Volman.
Judy Collins turned 87 on May 1. We look forward to seeing her at the Dakota later this year. In My Life was her sixth album on the Elektra label. By this time she was expanding her palette beyond folk music and could grab any song she wanted to cover. Before anyone in the United States knew who Leonard Cohen was, Judy met with him at her apartment in New York City. The first song he played for her was “Suzanne.” I’m mostly trying to avoid hit songs we all know in this lineup. It is a powerful recording that should be included in our assessment of 1966.
The second song Cohen played for Judy was “Dress Rehearsal Rag.” Collins immediately recorded both songs. Sylvie Simons quotes Collins, Elektra founder Jac Holzman, and Cohen himself on the song in I’m Your Man, her compelling biography of Cohen.
Judy comments: “Talk about dark: a song about suicide. I attempted suicide myself at fourteen, before I found folk music, so of course I loved it.” Judy has more on it in her memoir Sweet Judy Blue Eyes.
Holzman comments: “[The songs Cohen played for Judy] were great. The quality of the songs, the simple complexity, the internal rhymes…You finish listening to a song of Leonard’s and you know he’s said everything he has to say, he didn’t let that song go until he’s finished with it.”
Cohen himself comments, “I didn’t write that song. I suffered it.”
Johnny Rivers wrote “Poor Side of Town” with record producer Lou Adler. A hit single, it also appeared on Johnny’s album Changes. We are warming up for our annual celebration of Bob Dylan’s birthday on May 24. In his 2004 memoir, Dylan declared Johnny’s cover of “Positively Fourth Street” his favorite cover of any of his songs. Dylan explains: “When I heard Johnny sing my song, it was obvious that life had the same external grip on him as it did on me.” We can hear it on “Poor Side of Town” as well.
Richie Havens released his debut album in 1966. He will reappear in our annual birthday tribute to Bob on May 24. Richie’s transformation of Jesse Fuller’s “San Francisco Bay Blues” on Mixed Bag still knocks me out.
The Mamas and the Papas also released their debut album (produced by Lou Adler) in 1966. “California Dreamin’” was the original hit off the album. “Monday Monday” was an even bigger hit. It reached number 1. Aptly titled If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears, the album also reached number 1. Among other things the group had going for them were John Phillips’s songwriting and the yin yang of their vocal group harmony. Instrumental backing by The Wrecking Crew didn’t hurt either.
The infidelities of Michelle Phillips, John’s wife and fellow member of the group, provided a continuing source of material for John’s songwriting. Three of the tracks on If You Can Believe draw on Michelle’s wayward ways. “Got a Feelin’” (written with Papa Denny Doherty, with whom Michelle also dallied) was one of them. “Straight Shooter” and “Go Where You Wanna Go” were the others. The feeling — it wasn’t a good one.
Everyone knows Harry Nilsson’s version of “Everybody’s Talkin’.” Its inclusion on the soundtrack of Midnight Cowboy in 1969 turned Fred Neil’s song into a huge hit. Neil was a gifted singer/songwriter in the folk style. His original recording of the song appeared on his self-titled album in 1966.
The Who released “Substitute” as a single that year. The wit and bite of this song portended Pete Townshend’s greatness as a rock songwriter.
In early August 1966 I saw Simon and Garfunkel play Dayton’s eighth floor auditorium in downtown Minneapolis. After that I couldn’t wait for their next album to come out. Finally released in October, it turned out to be Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme. The title of the album pointed to the opening track everyone knows from The Graduate. We can’t overlook this summit of the Simon and Garfunkel partnership.
Take a Little Walk With Me was Tom Rush’s second album on Elektra. Taking a cue from Bob Dylan’s Bringing It All Back Home the previous year, Rush changed up his approach on the two sides of the album. Side 1 was rock and roll, side 2 acoustic folk/blues. Eric Von Schmidt’s “Joshua Gone Barbados” was one of the highlights of side 2.
Bob Dylan himself went down to Nashville in search of That Thin, Wild Mercury Sound. I would affirm that he found it on all four sides of Blonde On Blonde. “One Of Us Most Know (Sooner or Later)” was the last track on side 1. We turned it over and kept on rolling all the way through “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” — i.e., side 4. The ultimate claim for 1966 must rest on the classic albums released that year. Dylan, the Beatles, and the Beach Boys all landed masterpieces in 1966.
The Beatles’ Revolver might be the band’s greatest albums. John’s “I’m Only Sleeping” is a track that still stops me cold. It doesn’t get old. Paul and George provide the backing vocals.
The Beatles and the Beach Boys were driving each other to their heights. Pet Sounds was Brian Wilson’s response to Rubber Soul. “You Still Believe In Me” was the second track of the album. It was the song for which Brian first called on Tony Asher to lend him a hand on the lyrics. Asher passed the test and played his part as a lyricist in the making of this classic album. There are so many things to like about this song. I hope you can find a few. Paul McCartney may help:
I love that melody. That kills me, that melody [hums the first verse, bursts into song at “I wanna cry”]. That’s my favorite, I think. The way that’s arranged, where it goes away very quietly. I was in the car the other night, and I was telling the kids, saying, “wait, wait, here it comes.” And then it comes back [after the near-false ending], and it’s so beautiful right at the end, comes surging back in these multi-colored harmonies. Sends shivers up my spine. That’s one of my favorite tracks.
All that and the bicycle horn!
