Artist	Song
Frankie Valli & The 4 Seasons	December, 1963 (Oh What a Night) (#1, 1976)
Jan & Dean	Drag City (#10, 1964)
The Beach Boys	Be True To Your School (#6, 1963)
The Kingsmen	Louie Louie (#2, 1963)
Martha & The Vandellas	Quicksand (#8, 1964)
Elvis Presley	Bossa Nova Baby (#8, 1963)
The Supremes	When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes (#23, 1964)
Rufus Thomas	Walking The Dog (#10, 1963)
Shirley Ellis	The Nitty Gritty (#8, 1964)
Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs	Sugar Shack (#1, 1963)
The Village Stompers	Washington Square (Instrumental) (#2, 1963)
Cliff Richard	It's All In The Game (#25, 1964)
Brenda Lee	As Usual (#12, 1964)
Bobby Vinton	There, I've Said It Again (#1, 1964)
Joey Powers	Midnight Mary (#10, 1964)
Nino Tempo & April Stevens	Whispering (#11, 1964)
Dale & Grace	I'm Leaving It Up To You (#1, 1963)
Los Indios Tabajaras	Maria Elena (Instrumental) (#6, 1963)
The Impressions	It's All Right (#4, 1963)
Tommy Roe	Everybody (#3, 1963)
The Ronettes	Baby I Love You (#24, 1964)
Henry Mancini	Charade (Main Title) (Instrumental) (1964)
Robin Ward	Wonderful Summer (#14, 1963)
Garnett Mimms & The Enchanters	For Your Precious Love (#26, 1964)
Jack Jones	Wives and Lovers (#14, 1964)
Gene Pitney	Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa (#17, 1963)

Comment:

I'm including a link to this mix as one 81 meg zip file that includes individual mp3 files for each track (first song title). The years given following the chart # is the year the song peaked, but if it peaked in 1964, it was playing on the radio in late 1963. The length of the mix is about 66 minutes.


This mix was of course inspired by the first song (even though they were big in the early through mid '60s, they didn't have a song in the charts back in December 1963; The Beatles of course exploded the next month with their #1 hit "I Want to Hold Your Hand"). I"ve entertained the thought of doing this for some time, and now seemed to be the best time to do it. This was a special time in music; a crossroads in more ways than one. The early sixties were morphing into the mid-sixties, just after an American president was assassinated.
The music was no doubt recorded before that event, but the vast majority of people in America were experiencing much of this music for the first time. Some would remember it in crystal clarity, while others would likely want to forget the memory that the music of that time would conjure up. You might say that this was a sad time, but you couldn't tell it from the music. And our parents or their parents showed an impressive resilience and ingenuity to manage to get through such a turbulent time.

Also, I've recently recognized that this, like music from 1956-59 is the music of John Waters, who just had a CD released of music from his personal collection (scratches included) entitled "Date with John Waters" (just in time for Valentines Day); music from late '63 would represent the music of my roommate Trey. In my theory, music that played when you (at least for men) were twelve years old (give or take a year) would sound extra special and stay with you for the rest of your life. So this mix is also for Trey.

And then there is the last song of the mix. That song just fell into place like the capstone of a pyramid. This song appears to be like the original image that later is reflected upon, represented by the first song. In other words, it personifies a very special night that won't soon be forgotten: Late December, back in "63, What a Very Special Time for Me, As I Remember What A Night (Oh What A Night).

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