Blast from the Past: The Hits of 1966

Why 1966? Because my birthday was this weekend, and that's the year I was born. And since I really didn't get any chance to celebrate, due to The Other Half's schedule and our home improvement projects, I thought I owed it to myself to mark the occasion somehow. So, here it is, some of the best songs of 1966. Some hold up really well, I think.

1. Monday, Monday by The Mamas and the Papas - Mom thought this song was number one when I was born, but I think it really hit soon after. And it was number 7 for the year.

2. (You're My) Soul and Inspiration by The Righteous Brothers - This song actually was number one the day I was born.
 

3. These Boots are Made for Walkin' by Nancy Sinatra - Went all the way to number 13 for the year, and dear old dad hit the charts in '66 too.
4. Devil with a Blue Dress/Good Golly, Miss Molly by Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels - Number 32.
 

5. Uptight (Everything's Alright) by Stevie Wonder - One of Stevie's best, I always thought. It hit number 59 for the year.

6. Winchester Cathedral by The New Vaudeville Band - A weird one, sounding a bit like The Beatles' more "granny music" stuff.  It was number 18 in 1966.



7. Yellow Submarine by The Beatles - Weird, even for The Beatles, but good enough for number 96.

8. Wipeout by The Surfaris - Every drummer's challenge. It was the number 63 song of 1966.



9. Secret Agent Man by Johnny Rivers - Almost cracked the year's top 50 at number 53.
 
10. The Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel - See? I told you it was a good year for music. But still only number 54.



And there's a whole lot more. I got my data from the Wikipedia page for Billboard's Hot 100 for 1966. Check it out for a bunch of other great songs, from The Beach Boys (Barbara Ann, Sloop John B), to Cher (Bang, Bang), to Neil Diamond (Cherry, Cherry).

But that will wrap it up for the weekend. Have a great week, and Happy Monday!

Frivolity Break: VW Fastback Commercial with a Young Dustin Hoffman

Apropos of absolutely nothing, here's a Volkswagen Type 3 Fastback commercial starring a young Dustin Hoffman.

If you didn't know the Fastback was part of a brand expansion for VW in the 1960s, when they sensed the Beetle and the Bus were getting long in the tooth. They never got as popular as those cars, but they were fairly common, zipping around my 1970s childhood, along with the Karmann Ghia and the Squareback (wagon). The Golf (Rabbit) would come fairly soon, along with the Passat (Dasher) and Sirocco. But I think VW lost something when they lost their rear-engine cars. Sure, the original was started by Hitler, but that's just a accident of fate. There was an offbeat quirkiness to VWs in the 60s and early 70s. Kind of like Dustin Hoffman, when you think about it!

UPDATE: Oddly enough, as I type this, Dustin Hoffman is doing a cameo on The Colbert Report. Another of my weird useless psychic abilities/pop culture coincidence-filled life.