June 19 – 25, 1961, “Moody River” by Pat Boone #1 Billboard Hot 100. From Wikipedia: It was written by and originally performed by country rockabilly singer Chase Webster (real name Gary Daniel Bruce, not to be confused with Gary Bruce of the Knack). Webster was a label-mate of Boone’s at Dot Records.
This was the title track from one of Boone’s better-selling albums. Boone sang this song as if he were in pain. It was covered some years later by Johnny Burnette in 1962, also Frank Sinatra and Johnny Rivers. In August 2009, John Fogerty covered the song in the album entitled The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again.”
June 19 Music et al
Four Tops
June 19 – 25, 1965: “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)” by the Four Tops #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. From Wikipedia: Written and produced by Motown’s main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is one of the most well-known Motown tunes of the 1960s. The song reached number one on the R&B charts and was also the number-one song on the Billboard Hot 100 for two non-consecutive weeks, from June 12 to June 19 and from June 26 to July 3 in 1965. It replaced “Back in My Arms Again” by label-mates The Supremes, was first replaced by “Mr. Tambourine Man” by The Byrds, then regained the top spot before being replaced by “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones.
June 19, 1967: during his stay in California on a houseboat in Sausalito, while listening to the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band, Otis Redding was inspired to compose “Sitting On the Dock of the Bay.” From Performing Songwriter site: While on the West Coast for an engagement at the Fillmore in June 1967, Redding and his road manager “Speedo” Sims escaped for a few days of R&R on a rented houseboat near Sausalito.
In that idyllic setting, Redding relaxed, gently strumming his acoustic guitar and singing two lines over and over:
Sittin’ in the morning sun I’ll be sittin’ when the evening comes
Sims recalled, “We must have been out there three or four days before I could get any concept as to where he was going with the song. I just didn’t understand it. And lyrically, it sounded weird. He was changing with the times. And I was looking at the times change.” (see June 25)
June 19 Music et al
The [Bumpy] Road to Bethel
Michael Lang, Artie Kornfeld, and Joel Rosenman meet with Abbie Hoffman. Hoffman demanded $50,000. They agree to $10,000.
Stanley Goldstein was served with a summons ordering the festival’s principals to appear before the State Supreme court in Goshen, NY on July 7.
At the informal meeting the Wallkill town board lays out its three concerns: 1. traffic control, 2. sanitation, and 3. water supply. (see Chronology for expanded story)
June 13 – July 24, 1964, Louis Armstrong’s Hello Dolly! the Billboard #1 album.
From All Music: Louis Armstrong’s commercial resurgence with the song “Hello, Dolly!” — a number one hit that unseated the Beatles’ “Can’t Buy Me Love” from the top spot — came as such a surprise that Kapp Records hastened to produce an album to go along with it. The resulting long-player, appropriately titled Hello, Dolly!, also went to number one and produced a second hit, the inferior “I Still Get Jealous.”
June 13 Music et al
“Marijuana in Miami“
June 13, 1967: a local TV news special in Miami airs “Marijuana in Miami.” The special included the head shop of Michael Lang.
In the late summer of 1968, Lang moved to Woodstock, NY. (see Chronology for expanded story)
June 13, 1969, The Beatles after live performances: over 100 US radio stations banned The Beatles new single ‘The Balled Of John and Yoko’ due to the line ‘Christ, you know it ain’t easy’, calling it offensive. The following video is the story. (see July 1)
Beatles June 13, 1970
‘The Long And Winding Road’ single
The Beatles started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘The Long And Winding Road,’ the group’s 20th US No.1.
The album ‘Let It Be’ started a four-week run at No.1 the US album chart on the same day. The 12th and final studio album by The Beatles, was recorded in January 1969, before the recording and release of Abbey Road. (see Nov 27)
John Lennon, June 13, 1975
‘Salute To Sir Lew Grade’
The TV broadcast of ‘Salute To Sir Lew Grade’ (recorded on April 18). John Lennon performed ‘Slippin And Slidin’, and ‘Imagine’. The performance was Lennon’s last one before a live audience. (see Oct 7)
June 12 – July 23, 1961, the original Broadway cast album from Camelot Billboard’s #1.
June 12 Music et al
Medgar Evers remembrance songs
In the months following the June 12, 1963 assassination of NAACP civil rights leader Medgar Evers, musicians wrote several songs about the incident and related topics.
June 12 Music et al
Ballad of Medgar Evers, by Phil Ochs
In the state of Mississippi many years ago A boy of 14 years got a taste of southern law He saw his friend a hanging and his color was his crime And the blood upon his jacket left a brand upon his mindToo many martyrs and too many dead Too many lies too many empty words were said Too many times for too many angry men Oh let it never be againHis name was Medgar Evers and he walked his road alone Like Emmett Till and thousands more whose names we’ll never know They tried to burn his home and they beat him to the ground But deep inside they both knew what it took to bring him downAnd they laid him in his grave while the bugle sounded clear Laid him in his grave when the victory was near
While we waited for the future for freedom through the land
The country gained a killer and the country lost a manAnd they laid him in his grave while the bugle sounded clear Laid him in his grave when the victory was near While we waited for the future for freedom through the land The country gained a killer and the country lost a manThe killer waited by his home hidden by the night As evers stepped out from his car into the rifle sight He slowly squeezed the trigger, the bullet left his side It struck the heart of every man when Evers fell and died.And they laid him in his grave while the bugle sounded clear Laid him in his grave when the victory was near While we waited for the future for freedom through the land The country gained a killer and the country lost a man
June 12 Music et al
Only a Pawn inTheir Game, by Bob Dylan
A bullet from the back of a bush Took Medgar Evers’ blood A finger fired the trigger to his name A handle hid out in the dark A hand set the spark Two eyes took the aim Behind a man’s brain But he can’t be blamed He’s only a pawn in their game
A South politician preaches to the poor white man “You got more than the blacks, don’t complain You’re better than them, you been born with white skin, ” they explain And the Negro’s name Is used, it is plain For the politician’s gain As he rises to fame And the poor white remains On the caboose of the train But it ain’t him to blame He’s only a pawn in their game
The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid And the marshals and cops get the same But the poor white man’s used in the hands of them all like a tool He’s taught in his school From the start by the rule That the laws are with him
To protect his white skin
To keep up his hate
So he never thinks straight
‘Bout the shape that he’s in
But it ain’t him to blame
He’s only a pawn in their game
From the poverty shacks, he looks from the cracks to the tracks And the hoofbeats pound in his brain And he’s taught how to walk in a pack Shoot in the back With his fist in a clinch To hang and to lynch To hide ‘neath the hood To kill with no pain Like a dog on a chain He ain’t got no name But it ain’t him to blame He’s only a pawn in their game
Today, Medgar Evers was buried from the bullet he caught They lowered him down as a king But when the shadowy sun sets on the one That fired the gun He’ll see by his grave On the stone that remains Carved next to his name His epitaph plain Only a pawn in their game
June 12 Music et al
Mississippi Goddam, by Nina Simone
The name of this tune is Mississippi goddam And I mean every word of itAlabama’s gotten me so upset Tennessee made me lose my rest And everybody knows about Mississippi goddamAlabama’s gotten me so upset Tennessee made me lose my rest And everybody knows about Mississippi goddamCan’t you see it Can’t you feel it It’s all in the air I can’t stand the pressure much longer Somebody say a prayerAlabama’s gotten me so upset Tennessee made me lose my rest And everybody knows about Mississippi goddamThis is a show tune But the show hasn’t been written for it, yetHound dogs on my trail School children sitting in jail Black cat cross my path I think every day’s gonna be my lastLord have mercy on this land of mine We all gonna get it in due time I don’t belong here I don’t belong there I’ve even stopped believing in prayerDon’t tell me I tell you Me and my people just about due I’ve been there so I know They keep on saying ‘Go slow!’But that’s just the trouble ‘Do it slow’ Washing the windows ‘Do it slow’ Picking the cotton ‘Do it slow’ You’re just plain rotten ‘Do it slow’
You’re too damn lazy
‘Do it slow’
The thinking’s crazy
‘Do it slow’
Where am I going
What am I doing
I don’t know
I don’t knowJust try to do your very best Stand up be counted with all the rest For everybody knows about Mississippi goddamI made you thought I was kiddin’Picket lines School boy cots They try to say it’s a communist plot All I want is equality For my sister my brother my people and meYes you lied to me all these years You told me to wash and clean my ears And talk real fine just like a lady And you’d stop calling me Sister SadieOh but this whole country is full of lies You’re all gonna die and die like flies I don’t trust you any more You keep on saying ‘Go slow!’ ‘Go slow!’But that’s just the trouble ‘Do it slow’ Desegregation ‘Do it slow’ Mass participation ‘Do it slow’ Reunification ‘Do it slow’ Do things gradually ‘Do it slow’ But bring more tragedy ‘Do it slow’ Why don’t you see it Why don’t you feel it I don’t know I don’t knowYou don’t have to live next to me Just give me my equality Everybody knows about Mississippi Everybody knows about Alabama Everybody knows about Mississippi goddam, that’s it
June 12 Music et al
Back in My Arms, Again
June 12 – 18, 1965: “Back in My Arms, Again” by The Supremes #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
June 12 Music et al
The Family Way soundtrack
June 12, 1967: US release of The Family Way soundtrack album by Paul McCartney and assisted by George Martin. (see Beatles Bible for more) (see June 19)
June 12 Music et al
The Road to Bethel
June 12, 1969: Stanley Goldstein and Don Ganoung (minister and head of community relations) attend public meeting in Wallkill Town Hall in an attempt to allay antagonism toward festival. Though town supervisor Jack Schlosser was against the event, he attempted to provide a fair hearing. (see Chronology for expanded story)
June 12 Music et al
LSD
June 12, 1970: Dock Ellis threw a no-hitter for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the San Diego Padres.
According to Ellis, he he had visited a friend in Los Angeles the day before his start, took some LSD and stayed up late into the night. He lost track of which day it was and awoke up thinking he was supposed to pitch the next day, so took acid again.
His friend told him that he was supposed to be on the mound against the Padres that evening in San Diego. Ellis got on a plane an hour later and made it to the park 90 minutes before first pitch.
He recounted of his start in 1984 and said that he was unable to feel the ball or see his catcher. “I started having a crazy idea in the fourth inning that Richard Nixon was the home plate umpire, and once I thought I was pitching a baseball to Jimi Hendrix, who to me was holding a guitar and swinging it over the plate,” , when he first told the world of his trip. “I remember diving out of the way of a ball I thought was a line drive. I jumped, but the ball wasn’t hit hard and never reached me.” (see Oct 27)
June 12, 1972: John Lennon and Yoko Ono released Some Time in New York City, his third solo album. It was a highly political album and panned by critics. (see Aug 30)
June 12 Music et al
What's so funny about peace, love, art, and activism?
