Sounds Of The 60s Rewound Part 9 Quiz

Answer: The Beach Boys

"Heroes and Villains" had a convoluted gestation period. Brian Wilson wrote this with Van Dyke Parks for the album "Smile".

A lot of recording took place in 1965 and 1966 when Wilson was not in a good frame of mind. Indeed, it was claimed in some quarters that he had a nervous breakdown at the time. Whatever happened, he blocked the release of the album that was to be "Smile" - perhaps realising in that form it would not be well received.

The project was not released in its intended form until 2004, although plenty of bootlegs floated out. In 1967, The Beach Boys did release "Smiley Smile" - an album that Brian Wilson was not happy with. . A single from it, "Heroes and Villains" reached number 12 on the Hot 100.

Answer: The Yardbirds

"For Your Love" was written by Graham Gouldman when he was aged just 19 for his band The Mockingbirds. Their record company did not like it and refused to release it as a single.

The Yardbirds heard of it and began to play it, although Eric Clapton hated having to recreate the original harpsichord bits on guitar. He quit The Yardbirds over it and a feeling their music was becoming too commercial.
The song went to number three in the UK and number six in the US in 1965.

Gouldman went on to join 10CC and had numerous hits from 1972.

The song should not be confused with the "For Your Love" written by Ed Townsend that reached number 13 on the Hot 100 in 1958.

Answer: The 5th Dimension

"This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius
Age of Aquarius
Aquarius
Aquarius..."

"Aquarius / Let The Sunshine In" was written by James Rado and Gerome Ragni (lyrics), and Galt MacDermot (music) for the rock opera "Hair" and became a number one in the US and UK for The 5th Dimension in 1969.

The 5th Dimension were not involved in the stage show, but were invited to see it by a member of the production company. When they came to record it, the group merged some lyrics from another "Hair" song - "The Flesh Failures".

The song won a Grammy in 1970.

Answer: Jackie Lee

"White Horses" was written as the theme music for an Eastern European children's television show of the same name. The show was dubbed into English to be shown in Great Britain.

Jackie Lee (AKA Jacky Lee) was a soprano from Ireland who had had a busy ten years in the business before she recorded "White Horses" in 1968.
Lee also worked as a session singer and appeared on songs by Tom Jones, Jimi Hendrix and Englebert Humperdinck.

Answer: Van Morrison

"Hey, where did we go?
Days when the rains came..."

Van Morrison once said he had written 300 songs that were better than "Brown Eyed Girl". As a professional tenor singer friend of this quiz author remarked: "That's because he lost the rights to the song".

(Morrison received no royalties from the song due to a restrictive contract he signed when he was young and inexperienced.)

Morrison later sold his back catalogue to Sony Records, but not including "Brown Eyed Girl".

The song was originally called "Brown Skinned Girl" and was the first solo single by Morrison after he left the Belfast band Them.

Morrison and his band, Them, retain a special place in the history of rock and pop music in Northern Ireland. Morrison, for all his undoubted musical genius, became a divisive figure: loved by his fans, but considered to be a controversial curmudgeon by many detractors.

At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Morrison was sued for defamation by Northern Ireland's then health minster, Robin Swann, after Morrison declared that the politician was "very dangerous" in front of an audience at Belfast's Europa Hotel in June 2021. The case was eventually settled.

Answer: Bob Dylan

In 1969, "Lay, Lady, Lay" was a US number seven for Bob Dylan and a UK number five.

He had been asked to write a song for the movie "Midnight Cowboy" but did not submit "Lay, Lady, Lay" in time. Producer John Schlesinger picked up on Harry Nilsson's cover of "Everybody's Talkin'" instead. (Probably for the better since the Dylan song would not have made a lot of sense in the movie's storyline.)

Some radio stations refused to play the song assuming the word "lay" referred to sex. Dylan denied any sexual context.

Answer: Oliver

"Good morning starshine
The earth says hello
You twinkle above us
We twinkle below.."

In 1969 "Good Morning Starshine" was released by the singer known as Oliver (birth name William Oliver Swofford) as the theme for the musical "Hair". It reached number three in the USA and number six in the UK.

"Hair" was a controversial musical due to its focus on drugs, sex and nudity. Many younger people found it a refreshing hit against traditional morals.
The production ran from April 1968 to July 1972 on Broadway and from September 1968 to June 1973 in London. There were to be revivals over the years since.

It made stars out of origin run performers Diane Keaton and Paul Michael Glaser.

Answer: Marlena Shaw

"California Soul" was written by the husband and wife duo of Ashford and Simpson and had several outings before it came to Marlena Shaw - The Fifth Dimension and Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell among them.

While the song celebrated all things good about California, Shaw recorded her part in New York City.

The song was an album track in 1969 and the B-side of the pop ballad, "Looking Through The Eyes of Love."

Answer: The Righteous Brothers

"(You're My) Soul And Inspiration" stayed at the top of the US charts for three weeks in 1966. It made number 15 in the UK.

Despite that, it did not achieve the cachet of being a top favourite among RB fans - certainly it was not as popular as "Lovin' Feelin'" or "Unchained Melody."

"(You're My) Soul And Inspiration" was the first single from the RB after they signed a $1m deal.

The song did attract covers, though, including the British band Showaddywaddy in 1983. Barry Mann, who co-write it with Cynthia Weil, also released a version.

Answer: Horst Jankowski

Even just thinking about "A Walk in the Black Forest" brings back happy childhood memories to this quiz author. A radio was always on in the background at home and this piece of music was often payed.

Horst Jankowski was a Berlin-born jazz pianist and composer. He wrote "Eine Schwarzwaldfahrt" for a series of German travel programmes, in particular the one dealing with the Black Forest region. It was also used as a television theme music for shows in Great Britain and New Zealand.

First released by Horst Jankowski - His Orchestra and Chorus in May 1965, it reached number three in the UK and topped the US 'Easy Listening' chart.

Answer: The Beatles

"When I was younger (when I was younger), so much younger than today (I never need) I never needed anybody's help in any way..."

"Help" was also the title of a 1965 album and movie by The Beatles.
The single topped the charts in the UK and USA.
In a 1971 interview with 'Rolling Stone' magazine, Lennon said it was one of his favourite Beatles records. "I meant it - it's real....
The lyric is as good now as it was then. It is no different, and it makes me feel secure to know that I was that aware of myself then. It was just me singing 'Help' and I meant it."

Answer: Sonny & Cher

"I Got You Babe" was a chart topper on both sides of the Atlantic.

At first Cher did not like the song: "Sonny woke me up in the middle of the night to come in where the piano was, in the living room, and sing it. And I didn't like it and just said, 'OK, I'll sing it and then I'm going back to bed,'" she told 'Billboard' magazine.

Sonny and Cher were married at the time.
The English band UB40 covered the song in 1985 with Chrissie Hynde singing the female part. It made number one in the UK and number 28 into US.

Meanwhile, Sonny Bono could go into a totally separate quiz section: "What do the deaths of these famous people have in common; Sonny Bono, Natasha Richardson, Michael Kennedy, Michel Trudeau, Alfonso Duke of Anjou and Cádiz?" No extra points for knowing.

Answer: Marvin Gaye

In 2016, 'The Guardian" compiled a list of the ten best Marvin Gaye songs and put "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" at number three.

The 1967 version by Gladys Knight & the Pips, a US pop charts number two for seven weeks, had become Motown's biggest selling single until then, but Gaye's cover gave him his first (and to date only) US number one.

In turn, the Marvin Gaye version displaced that of the Pips as Motown's best seller.

The first to record it were Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and the Isley Brothers also covered it, as did Creedence Clearwater Revival - stretching it to 11 minutes.

Answer: The Rooftop Singers

The origins of "Walk Right In" date to 1929 when it was written by Gus Cannon and Hosie Woods of The Jug Stompers.
In 1963 The Rooftop Singers revamped the song and had a US number one.

Others to cover the song included Janis Joplin, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chet Atkins, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sammy Davis, Jr..

Answer: Harry Nilsson

"I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City" was written by Harry Nilsson for the 1969 movie "Midnight Cowboy". It was replaced by "Everybody's Talkin'", which was sung by Nilsson, but written by Fred Neil.

Some artists might have been a little jealous of someone else taking their song to the top of the charts, but Fred Neil seemed to like the Nilsson version. In truth, Neil was uncomfortable with fame; he was a fairly reclusive person who gave up the music business to become a protector of dolphins. He died at the age of 64.

"I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City reached number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969.

Nilsson had three songs reach the top ten of the Hot 100, including the umber one "Without You" in 1972.