by Class of 1980
I had an Late Sixties/Early Seventies Playlist that wasn’t created for a wedding, but Meg said “DO IT.” The following playlist is severely cut down from my original, and it’s still too long. But how do you narrow down the era when rock and roll exploded?
I was five years old when “I Want To Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles came out. I vividly remember the first time I heard it riding in a car. So, it’s fitting that this playlist begins with that song. I narrowed the list down to the songs that feel like the sixties felt to me as a child. That time was colorful, happy, silly, optimistic, idealistic, and a little dangerous.
I remember wearing fun clothes, bell bottoms, mini dresses, maxi dresses, and white lace-up boots. I remember my “Flower Power” school notebook, the boy in sixth grade casually singing “Hey Jude” while we waited for the next class, knowing all the words to “Hair!” and “Good Morning Star Shine” because they were silly songs and we were kids…my brother and I floating on a raft at the lake singing “Joy To The World” at the top of our lungs. We grew up in Miami and delighted in spotting real hippies at the Coconut Grove Art Show. We had “Hippie Day” at our summer day camp and mom (an artist) made t-shirts with every sixties hippie slogan we could think of and a funny character on the back saying “Cool It.” The sixties was like “Laugh-In” for kids.
Apathy was nowhere to be found. Civil rights, feminism, anti-war sentiments, and the environment were all happening at once. It felt like anything was possible. As kids, we could never understand why there was any resistance to what seemed like good ideas. It seemed simple to us. We were too young to be invested in oppression and couldn’t understand older people who “didn’t get it.” There was a popular slogan “Never trust anyone over thirty.” Ha! Mom was in her twenties and thirties during this era. She said she LOVED the sixties because it was so interesting after the boring conformist fifties.
There was something wonderful in the air, but there was also the sense that there were new dangers out there. Teens and college students were taking a walk on the wild side and so adults looked to prevention. At age ten, I sat in the school auditorium and listened to a guest speaker talk about the dangers of recreational drugs…describing how teens were dropping dead on dance floors. At age eleven, we took a series of classes where we learned the scientific names and street names of recreational drugs, the physical effects, and the methods of delivery. They tried to gross us out with tales of collapsed veins and the increasingly desperate measures addicts would take to find a vein. The boys would tease the girls by shouting “Shoot it under the tongue!” because we were so queasy. On the last day of the class, the teacher burned pot in the classroom so we could know what it smelled like, which seems overly dramatic to me now.
But mostly, I remember how much more laid back we were then…and the music. It felt like the soundtrack to our lives because the music was EVERYWHERE in a way that no longer exists. The music tended to be upbeat and optimistic too. So much that we take for granted now had its beginnings in the sixties. I have always been grateful that I was born just in time to witness such a time of creativity and change.
1. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles — 1963-1964
2. “Help!” by The Beatles — 1965
3. “You Really Got Me” by The Kinks — 1964
4. “For Your Love” by The Yardbirds — 1965
5. “Mr. Tambourine Man” by The Byrds — 1965
6. “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones — 1965
7. “California Dreaming” by The Mamas & The Papas — 1965
8. “Monday, Monday” by The Mamas & The Papas — 1966
9. “I Dig Rock And Roll Music” by Peter, Paul & Mary — 1967
10. “I’m A Believer” by The Monkees — 1966
11. “Good Vibrations” by The Beach Boys — 1966
12. “Light My Fire” by The Doors — 1967
13. “Never My Love” by The Association — 1967
14. “The Rain, The Park And Other Things” by The Cowsills — 1967
15. “San Francisco” by Scott McKenzie — 1967
16. “Get Together” by Youngbloods — 1967
17. “Summer Rain” by Johnny Rivers — 1968
18. “Love Is All Around” by The Troggs — 1968
19. “Green Tambourine” by The Lemon Pipers — 1968
20. “Hooked On A Feeling” by B. J. Thomas — 1968
21. “Do It Again” by The Beach Boys — 1968
22. “Hello, I Love You” by The Doors — 1968
23. “Magic Carpet Ride” by Steppenwolf — 1968
24. “Born To Be Wild” by Steppenwolf — 1968
25. “Something” by The Beatles — 1969
26. “Here Comes The Sun” by The Beatles — 1969
27. “Love Can Make You Happy” by Mercy — 1969
28. “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” by Steam — 1969
29. “Hair!” by The Cowsills — 1969
30. “Good Morning Star Shine” by Oliver — 1969
31. “Aquarius (Let The Sunshine In)” by The 5th Dimension — 1969
32. “No Matter What” by Badfinger — 1970
33. “It Don’t Matter To Me” by Bread — 1970
34. “Carolina In My Mind” by James Taylor — 1976 (written earlier)
35. “Out In The Country” by Three Dog Night — 1970
36. “Joy To The World” by Three Dog Night — 1971
37. “All I Need Is The Air That I Breathe” by The Hollies — 1974
Photo: Vivian Chen
