The week of July 11, 1964, saw The Beach Boys land their first #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘I Get Around.’
It also saw my father turn 21. Today is his birthday, quite a few years later, and while I don’t think he’s much of a Beach Boys fan (Frank Sinatra was and remains more his style), I dedicate this Song of the Day to him anyway. Fortunately, he didn’t “leave his best girl home on a Saturday night” or else my sister and I might have never been born.
On June 22, 1964, the #1 song in the U.S. was ‘A World Without Love,’ the first single by British duo Peter and Gordon. The song also reached #1 in their native UK.
This song was written by a 16-year-old Paul McCartney, and given to Peter Asher because Paul was dating his sister Jane. Paul apparently didn’t think the track was good enough for The Beatles, but its success for this previously unknown duo suggests it would have likely been another chart-topper for the Fab Four had they opted to record it.
The week of May 30, 1964, saw the continued dominance of The Beatles on the Billboard Hot 100. Beatlemania was in full swing — this was the fourth #1 of an eventual six in a one-year period, still a record.
Before it topped the charts in the U.S., ‘Love Me Do’ was the band’s first single and first hit in England the previous November, peaking at #17.
For almost the entirety of 1964 so far, in these Throwback Weekends, The Beatles have dominated the Hot 100. The band owned the top of the chart for 14 consecutive weeks with three different songs reaching #1.
So who finally dethroned the Fab Four? Would you believe it was 62-year-old jazz legend Louis Armstrong with a demo of the title track from the Broadway musical Hello, Dolly!?
It’s fun to throw back to the first few months of 1964 and see the full force of Beatlemania. The week of April 11 that year, for example, found ‘Can’t Buy Me Love‘ and ‘Twist and Shout‘ in the #1 and #2 spots, respectively. ‘She Loves You,’ ‘Please Please Me,’ and ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ also appeared in the top ten.
A week earlier, the Fab Four occupied every one of the top five slots, so kudos to the man who broke that stranglehold this week by making it to #3. That was singer-songwriter Terry Stafford, whose recording of ‘Suspicion’ gave him the biggest hit of his career.
Meet Me In Montauk 