Welcome to the inaugural installment of Throwback Weekends! As a reminder, here’s how weekend posts will work going forward…
On the first Saturday (today), I will feature the song that topped the Billboard Hot 100 on the same week 60 years ago. On the first Sunday (tomorrow), I’ll feature the #1 song from the same week 50 years ago. The following weekend, I’ll cover that week’s 40- and 30-year old hits, then 20 and 10 years back on the weekend after that. Then it’s back to 60, rinse and repeat.
I hit a snag right out of the gate in that the #1 song the week of April 20, 1963, has already been featured on the blog. That was The Chiffons’ ‘He’s So Fine,’ which I wrote about during a week on musical copyright infringement cases (George Harrison was famously sued for cribbing that song for his ‘My Sweet Lord’).
But no worries. My plan when I run into a song I’ve already featured is to simply move on to the #2 hit (or however far down the chart I have to go to hit something new).
The #2 song the week of April 20, 1963, was Andy Williams’ ‘Can’t Get Used to Losing You.’ Written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, the song was the first single from Williams’ album Days of Wine and Roses and Other TV Requests. The album followed the first season of Williams’ variety show, which ran (mostly) weekly from ’62 through ’71 (Williams knocked his output down to three specials a year in ’67 and ’68).
If the song sounds familiar to modern listeners, that might be because it was memorably sampled by Beyoncé for her Lemonade track ‘Hold Up.’
Guess I’ll get dressed and do the town
I’ll find some crowded avenue
Though it will be empty without you
Can’t get used to losin’ you
No matter what I try to do
Gonna live my whole life through
Loving you
Called up some girl I used to know
After I heard her say “Hello”
Couldn’t think of anything to say
Since you’re gone it happens every day
Can’t get used to losin’ you
No matter what I try to do
Gonna live my whole life through
Loving you
I’ll find somebody, wait and see
Who am I kiddin’, only me
‘Cause no one else could take your place
Guess that I am just a hopeless case
Can’t get used to losin’ you
No matter what I try to do
Gonna live my whole life through
Loving you
I can’t get used to losin’ you
No matter what I try to do
Gonna live my whole life through
Loving you
Meet Me In Montauk 
Love this weekend theme as it will give us lots of chances to say “they don’t make music like they used to” (except, of course, when they sample extensively from that old music 😜)
Fascinating that Beyoncé’s team dug this up. Wonder how that came about. Meanwhile, “He’s So Fine” is a gem. Their radios were popping off, as today’s youth might say, back in ‘63.
Great start to the new weekend theme!
Is it just me, or does the music here also sound like it was repurposed in Enya’s hit “Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)?”
Good catch. I found a few references saying the same thing, though the songwriters didn’t own up to it if it was intentional.
Good choice…my wife grew up listening to Andy…for some reason my parents were more in the Perry Como camp. Also, the English Beat did a nice ska cover of this in the 80’s.
Going to love this new weekend theme! Looking forward to the many songs from the past like today’s. I remember Andy Williams shows and his Christmas specials as well. Nice memories