English rock band Manfred Mann held the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 the week of October 20, 1964, with ‘Do Wah Diddy Diddy,’ a song I think I first heard when Bill Murray marches to it in Stripes.
‘Do Wah Diddy Diddy’ started its life as ‘Do-Wah-Diddy,’ a 1963 release by the vocal group The Exciters. That version peaked at #78 before the white boys claimed it and took it to the top of the charts.
In the first week of October, 1964, Roy Orbison had his second (and final) #1 hit with the song most associated with him: ‘Oh, Pretty Woman.’
This was long before Van Halen has a Top 20 hit with the track in 1982, and even longer before Julia Roberts became a household name starring in a movie of the same name in 1990.
The week of September 12, 1964, was smack in the middle of a three-week run at #1 for one of the greatest folk rock songs of all time: The Animals’ ‘The House of the Rising Sun.’
This was just the second single for the young English band, and it would be their only #1 hit in both the U.S. and their native UK.
The song’s origin dates back so far nobody is really sure when it was written, though it bears similarities to folk songs from the 1600s. But The Animals’ version owes the most to Bob Dylan’s recording.
The week of August 22, 1964, saw The Supremes atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Where Did Our Love Go,’ a song I featured 15 years ago during Motown Weekends.
At #2 that week was Dean Martin’s ‘Everybody Loves Somebody,’ down a spot after a one-week stint at #1. This was a nearly 20-year-old song that had already been recorded by Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra in the 40s, but Martin had the most success with it and it became his signature tune.
The week of August 1, 1964, found The Beatles atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘A Hard Day’s Night.’ This was the fifth of seven #1s the Fab Four would have in a one-year period.
The runner-up that week was a song that was in the top spot the previous week, looking down at The Beatles at #2. The Four Seasons’ ‘Rag Doll,’ a pop/doo-wop classic, gave the band their fourth chart-topper.
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