Saturday, October 2, 2021

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Your Favorite Songs in Your High School Graduation Year

 Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:

It's Saturday Night again -
Time for some more Genealogy Fun!!


Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music):

1)  Do you remember your favorite songs in your high school graduation year?  Please tell us all about it.  [Note:  Wikipedia has the Billboard Hot 100 list for each year; Billboard has weekly Hot 100 lists for every year since 1946.]

For example, the Wikipedia list of Hot 100 songs for 1961 is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_1961.  There are links to every year at the bottom of this page.

The Billboard Hot 100 songs for the week of 12 June 1961 is at https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1961-06-12.  

2)  Tell us in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or on Facebook.  Be sure to leave a comment with a link to your blog post on this post.

Here's mine:

I graduated from San Diego High School in June 1961 at age 17.  Pop music was my major social interest at this age - I listened to the radio all afternoon and night, collected radio station surveys, etc. in place of "normal" social activities like dating, sports, clubs, etc.  

I was a hopeless teenage geek (5 foot 7 inches tall, 120 pounds, googly glasses, goofy overbite grin, pimples, butch haircut - you get the picture!). No dates, no girlfriends, no hope...just music to swoon by. Pop music was my major social interest at this time - I listened to the radio all afternoon and night, collected radio station surveys, etc. in place of "normal" social activities like dating, sports, clubs, etc.

I didn't go to the prom, or any dance, in high school, so I don't know what was the most popular in May or June.  I do know that "Angel Baby" by Rosie and the Originals, a San Diego band was very popular in early 1961, and was one of my favorite songs (I loved romantic songs, and upbeat songs, and ... almost everything!).  Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu2dAQ3xb8s and see why.  It got up to #5 in the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1961, and was #76 on the Top 100 for 1961.  

From the Top 100 for 1961 on Wikipedia, my Top 10 favorites were (no particular order, except #1 and #2):

*  I Love How You Love Me, by Paris Sisters - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYuW-dD6kMk

*  Angel Baby, by Rosie and the Originals - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu2dAQ3xb8s

*  Runaway, by Del Shannon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSWMJxbxj7c

*  Dedicated to the One I Love, by the Shirelles - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGtlxVjZ-fA

*  Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, by the Shirelles - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4955hA_hcB4

*  Blue Moon, by the Marcels - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoi3TH59ZEs

*  I Like It Like That, by Chris Kenner - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjml2lPJndk

*  There's a Moon Out Tonight, by the Capris - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4xNF9uh8SA

*  Runaround Sue, by Dion - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik57HLn0Nm0

*  Calendar Girl, by Neil Sedaka - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm35l1u4tFo

Well, that was about the most fun hour this year - just listening to about 20 songs from "my year" and singing along with each of them.  

I hope you enjoyed them, or your favorite songs too!

=============================================


Copyright (c) 2021, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

5 comments:

ByAPearl said...

This is my list of favorite songs from 1973
https://geneajournalsbyapearl.wordpress.com/2021/10/02/fav-songs-from-1973-sngf/

Linda Stufflebean said...

Excellent list and I love that you have two Shirelles songs. They were Passaic, NJ girls, like me!

Janice M. Sellers said...

Here's my list! And I very much enjoyed your choices, Randy!

http://www.ancestraldiscoveries.com/2021/10/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-your.html

Lisa S. Gorrell said...

That was fun! https://mytrailsintothepast.blogspot.com/2021/10/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-your.html

Linda Stufflebean said...

Here's mine, but I like Randy's songs a lot more. I'm a 60s music lover.https://emptybranchesonthefamilytree.com/2021/10/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-161/