Want to celebrate the magic of 1967’s Summer of Love?
Break out your tie-dye Ts for 2017’s “Golden
Summer of Love”!™
Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer
1966!
You haven’t lived until you’ve cruised the drag in a classic convertible, the
hot summer sun baking your brain, while you bellow, “They’re Coming to Take Me Away”* (ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-ha!).
Well, they probably should have … 50
Years Ago this Month!
The KRLA/Los
Angeles radio chart, week of Aug 13, 1966,
pushed this lazy, hazy, crazy days-of-summer song to #1, leading the way for other
novelty songs to scramble up the Top 40 ladder. Was it the heat? The campy song
sounds like a love lament on steroids – it was – for his dog.
Napoleon (producer/songwriter/engineer,
Jerry Samuels) flipped again on the flip-side, with “They’re Coming to Take Me
Away” written – and recorded – backwards.
"!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT" Hmmm, definitely the heat.
*Napoleon XIV was followed closely on
the KRLA chart, by Sam the Sham
& the Pharaohs with “Li’l’ Red Riding Hood” at #5, and The Troggs filled our minds with “Wild Thing” (#18).
From silly to somber, it seemed
someone was in a hurry to end the summer – or at least the weird songs – as “See You in September”
(the Happenings) made the KHJ/Los
Angeles survey’s “Hit Bound” list early in the month, crooned its way up to #9
by the end of August.
Since I
don’t have an August 1966 survey in the
BFYP collection to feature, I’d like
to take this opportunity to wish Jack
Vincent, longtime R&R Radio DJ for San
Diego’s KCBQ
(retired) a speedy recovery from recent illness.
The nonagenarian was an Errol
Flynn twin-looker “back in the day,” and one of KCBQ’s Good Guys in the 1960s. He was and is a role model for
legendary DJs like Shotgun Tom Kelly, Neil Ross,
Bill Gardner and so many
awesome broadcasters over the years. Get well quick, Jack!
Featured Radio
Survey: For your fun and enjoyment – a KCBQ/San
Diego “Hit Parade” from the week of August 28, 1966 – accessed at ARSA Survey Search. The most comprehensive list (and many images) of radio
charts/surveys, I’ve found on the ‘Net! KCBQ
listeners still had “See You in September” as high as #6. Slap it on the turntable, Jack!
Celebrate AUGUST 50 years ago
and … Rock On!
# # #
