Max Picks …songs from 1961

1961

Gary US Bonds song Quarter To Three was a huge hit this year. Bonds’ real name is Gary Anderson. His label boss, Frank Guida, changed it to “U.S. Bonds” for his first single, New Orleans, as a play on the posters asking Americans to “buy U.S. savings bonds.” Pretty clever, but too many people, including many DJs, got it wrong and thought it was the name of a group. His next single, “Quarter To Three,” was initially issued as U.S. Bonds but soon changed to Gary U.S. Bonds, along with his subsequent releases.

Now let’s check in with Del Shannon. He released what is now an iconic song named Runaway. This song was written by Del Shannon and Max Crook.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H56qRqHfSRQ

I want to throw some country in this also with a song that has been remembered along with the artist who did the vocals. Patsy Cline sings I Fall To Pieces. The song was written by Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard.

The Big E makes a wonderful appearance in this post. This was a pure rock and roll song and that was a seldom occurence for Elvis Presley at this point.

Now for the Big O to close this year out. Roy Orbison does Running Scared with his operatic voice. Hearing Orbison’s voice still gives me the chills. was recorded in RCA Studio B in Nashville with the session pros known as “The A-team.” This was the last song that he sang live before his death in 1988.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

45 thoughts on “Max Picks …songs from 1961”

  1. Great choices again! I’m so glad you included “I Fall to Pieces”, one of the best songs ever, and with a voice as compelling as Roy Orbison’s. “Runaway” was great in the original and got a second life with Bonnie Raitt (and Norton Buffalo famously using four harps to get through all of the key changes).

    Another great one of 1961 was Jorgen Ingmanns’s rendition of “Apache”. You can hear current Chicago guitarist Joel Paterson covering that version. Ben E. King hit with both “Stand by Me” (so good they made a movie of that title with River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton, and others in 1986) and “Spanish Harlem”. I would have gone with “Crying” by Roy Orbison over “Running Scared”, but that’s okay – yours is a great choice.

    1961 also brought Lonnie Donegan and his skiffle band (early influence on the Beatles) with “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose its Flavor?” as well as jazz hitting the pop charts with “Take Five” by The Dave Brubeck Quartet (written by Paul Desmond) and being a heavy influence on Quicksilver Messenger Service’s “Gold and Silver” in 1968 (though that is in 6/8, not 5/4 like the original). Another excellent year!

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    1. Thank you! I have enjoyed this more than another series I’ve done. It’s hard weeding out 5 songs because I want to include more but if I didn’t set a limit I would have 20.
      You named the one I hated leaving off more than any other. Stand By Me is one of my favorite songs of all time…The Ben E King version and later on the John Lennon version.
      The following year will be the year of the instrumentals….I’ll leave it at that.
      You named some excellent ones like the Orbison Crying…that was really a coin flip. Donegan proably influenced more British kids to pick up any instrument than anyone else.

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    2. I disregard Donegan because he took advantage of at least one teenage musician with a one sided onerous ‘management and publishing’ contract. Donegan merely sang other people’s songs, and then lived off the fortune in royalties from a gifted young songwriter.

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  2. Gary took many of the same riffs and melody from the previously recorded instrumental ‘A Night with Daddy “G”’ by the Church Street Five, and by adding some party lyrics and also using a different arrangement, this hit song was born. Del Shannon is out for a walk in ‘Runaway’ and it is raining, but he doesn’t reach for his umbrella, he starts thinking about his girl, the one that left him. He has no clue of the reason behind why she left him, and all he does is reminisce about the good times that they had. He is crying, he is in pain, and he is miserable, because she is not with him. Great music, Max.

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    1. I’ve heard the Bruce version before…great live performance as always with him.
      That blows my mind about Mick…wow…Him and Ringo are in great shape for their age…or any age… the way they run about the stage.

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      2. Yea…him and Ringo…defy aging. It’s crazy on how active they are on stage…and Ringo doesn’t look his age.

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  4. Any list with Patsy Cline and Roy Orbison is off to a good start! Tough to leave ‘Stand by Me’ off though. Well, I guess that’s the challenge of such an exercise.

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    1. I know….I hated that Dave…more than any other song I’ve left off…I tried to balance it all out. The following year…the instrumental was king…and probably my favorite one of all time.

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    1. I bumped Stand By Me to get that one in…I think I made the right choice but it was hard. She was great.

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  7. I could go to town on all these songs you’re posting. The goodness is overwhelming. That goes for the series . CB could do individual posts on all these tunes. Just listening to Elvis as I type. What a great rock n roll tune.

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    1. I added that at the last minute…I totally forgot he released that in 61…he reached back to his Sun bag of tricks for this one…it’s classic. This is a lot fun to do…just short little blurbs.

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  8. This is absolutely my parents’ music. They listened and danced to any and all of these. Running Scared was in the Song Draft year before last, I think. I can’t remember who drafted it, but it gave me a new appreciation for the song.

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  10. Take away-way-way-way Del’s vocals on ‘Runaway’ and voila! An early 60s surfy/twangy instrumental. Oh, and there’s that that early 60s dinky organ piping away as well.
    A lot don’t like Lennons version of ‘Stand By Me’ but I do. it’s way different from the classic rendition, but who says you can’t like apples AND oranges?

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    1. I never thought of that but you are right…Runaway would be a good instrumental.
      I agree about Lennon. That echo on his voice is just perfect and his voice carries. It is different and that is not a bad thing.

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      1. Yeah, I do like a lot of Lennon’s ‘Rock’n’roll’ album. Don’t know if I mentioned the other organ solo song that I’d forgotten, but if not, The Shirelles, about half way through ‘Baby It’s You.’ Ouch!

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  11. All solid picks, Max. I’ve always loved that Del Shannon tune. The first version of “Little Sister” I ever heard was by Ry Cooder. I also dig Elvis’ rendition. Roy Orbison is pretty cool as we well.

    That Gary U.S. Bonds tune very much reminds me of another song. I’m totally blanking on the name. That’s said, it’s a fairly common chord progression, and there are probably a bunch of other ‘50s and ‘60s tune that sound similar. That said, I like the Bonds song as well!

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  14. Pingback: Max Picks …songs from 1961 – MKR Special tales

  15. I am told “Hit The Road Jack” was from this year. The song is timeless and I don’t give it a date, but that and I imagine some stuff from the Toussaint factory in New Orleans would be all I could come up with for this year.

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