Tag Archives: tb60s

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Song of the Day #6,468: ’19th Nervous Breakdown’ – The Rolling Stones

The week of March 22, 1966, found the Vietnam era hit ‘The Ballad of the Green Berets‘ hanging on the #1 spot of the Billboard Hot 100. The British Invasion was hot on its heels, with the next two slots going to The Rolling Stones and The Beatles.

The Stones’ ’19th Nervous Breakdown’ sat at #2, where it would peak, held out of the top spot by the Green Berets. This was the band’s third top five single on the U.S. chart in nine months, after ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction‘ and ‘Get Off of My Cloud‘ became their first #1 hits in the States the previous summer.

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Song of the Day #6,454: ‘The Ballad of the Green Berets’ – SSgt. Barry Sadler

Today is my 29th wedding anniversary, so I was hoping a romantic song topped the Hot 100 the week of March 8, 1966. Alas, it was not to be.

Instead, we have ‘The Ballad of the Green Berets’ by Staff sergeant Barry Sadler. This simple march was a massive Vietnam War-era hit that wasn’t critical of the campaign, like most popular music of the time, but instead celebrated the men who fought in it.

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Song of the Day #6,440: ‘These Boots Are Made for Walkin” – Nancy Sinatra

Nancy Sinatra owned the #1 spot the week of February 22, 1966, with her anthemic ode to getting the hell out of there, ‘These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.’

The song was written by Lee Hazelwood, who intended to record it himself, but Nancy convinced him it would sound better coming from a woman. The song’s title was inspired by a line spoken by Nancy’s father, Frank, in the 1963 film 4 for Texas.

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Song of the Day #6,426: ‘My Love’ – Petula Clark

Petula Clark held the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 the week of February 8, 1966, with ‘My Love,’ enjoying its second of two weeks in the pole position.

Clark wasn’t a fan of the song after recording it and asked the studio not to release it as a single. They ignored her wishes and ‘My Love’ ended up as her second #1 hit in the States, following 1964’s ‘Downtown.’

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Song of the Day #6,412: ‘Barbara Ann’ – The Beach Boys

Throwing back to the week of January 25, 1966, we find The Beatles hanging on to the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘We Can Work It Out,’ in its third week at #1. Nipping at their heels were The Beach Boys, whose ‘Barbara Ann’ jumped from #15 to #2 that week.

The Beatles fell from #1 the following week, but The Beach Boys weren’t able to capitalize and score their third #1 hit (that would happen later in the year). Instead, Petula Clark leapfrogged them with a song that will likely show up on a future Throwback Weekend.

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