Last updated 5/4/2020

Songs 1-20 are located here.

Songs 35-50 are located here.

Songs 51-64 are located here.

The Bonus Songs are located here.

Week 14

The only spoken-word record on the list peaked at #1 on 12/5/64.
The popularity of the TV show “Bonanza” helped this lousy record become a hit. Having a title that was the same as the name of the Beatles’ drummer didn’t hurt, either.
This is the stereo version.

#21 – “Ringo” by Lorne Greene

Week 13

The third Beatles record on the list peaked at #1 on 5/30/64.
The original UK single version was recorded on September 4, 1962. The more familiar album version, also used for the US single, was recorded a week later, with session drummer Andy White instead of Ringo, who played tambourine. In 1963, the master tape of the first version was deliberately destroyed, and the White version became the standard. The Ringo version was later transferred from a record for digital release.

What the heck – let’s listen to both of them. These are, respectively, the 2015 and 2009 remasters in mono – no stereo versions ever existed.

#22 – “Love Me Do” (US single) by The Beatles

“Love Me Do” (UK single) by The Beatles

Week 12

The first of two hits on the list from the Red Bird label peaked at #1 on 11/28/64.
The Shangri-Las, from Queens, NY, consisted of two pairs of sisters. They hit the Top 20 four times in 1964-65.
Strangely, the only time that I saw them perform this song on TV was on the game show “I’ve Got A Secret,” with host Garry Moore sitting on a motorcycle.
This is the original mono mix, which is far superior to the stereo mix that I have.

#23 – “Leader Of The Pack” by The Shangri-Las

Week 11

The only Beatles cover of another artist’s song to reach the Top 10 peaked at #2 on 4/4, 4/11, 4/18, and 4/25/64. (Another Beatles record, the #2 song of the year, was #1 those weeks.)
The Isley Brothers’ recording of this song was released in 1962, but it was actually first recorded by The Top Notes in 1961.
This was the last take of the last song recorded for the Beatles’ first album. Good thing, because John Lennon’s voice gave out after this take, and he couldn’t have done another one.
This is the 2009 stereo remaster.

#24 – “Twist And Shout” by The Beatles

Christmas Extra

Yes, this was recorded on September 5, 1957 and first appeared that year on “Elvis’ Christmas Album.”
However, it wasn’t released as a single until 1964, and it reached #1 on the year’s first Christmas Singles chart on 12/5/64.
Elvis was not the first to record this song – multiple versions were released during 1948-1950.
A vintage RCA Victor mono recording.

Christmas #1 – “Blue Christmas” by Elvis Presley

Week 10

The fourth Top 5 hit by the teenager from Tenafly, NJ peaked at #2 on 2/1, 2/8, and 2/15/64. (Some British group was #1 those weeks.)
Gore was discovered by music legend Quincy Jones, who produced ten of her eleven Top 40 hits – all except the last one, “California Nights” in 1967.
This song was co-written by David White, who was one of the original members of Danny and the Juniors. White co-wrote “At The Hop” and wrote “Rock And Roll Is Here To Stay.”
This is the original stereo recording.

#25 – “You Don’t Own Me” by Lesley Gore

Week 9

The first of five Motown records on the list peaked at #2 on 10/17/64 and 10/24/64.
This was the trio’s biggest hit, one of six Top 10 records that they had from 1963 to 1967.
The song was co-written by Marvin Gaye.
I always thought that Martha Reeves was a better singer than Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, or Mary Wells, but she had less success than any of them.
This song has been covered a few times, but the only other version to make the Top 20 (and it reached #7) was the 1985 recording by the strange duo of Mick Jagger and David Bowie.
This is the original stereo recording.

#26 – “Dancing In The Street” by Martha and the Vandellas

Week 8

The only U.S. Top 10 hit for The Newbeats peaked at #2 on 9/19/64 and 9/26/64.
The group was a Southern vocal trio consisting of lead singer Larry Henley and brothers Dean and Mark Mathis.
Henley later co-wrote Bette Midler’s 1989 #1 record, “Wind Beneath My Wings.”
This is the original stereo recording.

#27 – “Bread And Butter” by The Newbeats

Week 7

The first Top 40 hit by John Ramistella (who was advised to change his name by legendary DJ Alan Freed) peaked at #2 on 7/11/64 and 7/18/64.
Chuck Berry’s original 1959 recording, with the full title “Memphis, Tennessee,” was the B-side of “Back In The U.S.A.”
Johnny Rivers spent most of his career covering other artists’ songs, though his only #1 record was a song that he wrote himself, “Poor Side Of Town.”
His popularity dropped in the 1970s, yet he was still able to reach the Top 10 as late as 1977.
This is a stereo recording, supposedly “live” at the Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip, but the tracks from his many live albums that were chosen for singles are usually studio re-recordings with applause overdubs, while the non-singles are really live recordings. The difference in sound quality, particularly on the vocals, is easy to hear if you compare the tracks.

#28 – “Memphis” by Johnny Rivers

Week 6

The last of the teenage tragedy records peaked at #2 on 11/7/64.
There’s a lot of contradictory information about this record. We know for sure that John Frank Wilson is the singer and that it was recorded in San Angelo, TX. My favorite (apparently untrue) rumor is that the lousy female background singers were recruited off the street during the recording session.
The band recorded take after take of the song before getting the final version which, appropriately, was Take 64.
The recording is mono. This is the least-distorted version that I have.

#29 – “Last Kiss” by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers

Week 5

Back to the British Invasion with a song that peaked at #2 on 12/12/64.
This was the first of the Zombies’ three U.S. Top 40 hits.
Their last hit, “Time Of The Season” in 1969, was recorded two years earlier, shortly before the band broke up.
Now, after almost fifty years, they are touring again and have a new album.
Originally, this record only existed in mono, and that’s what has appeared on most CDs. It was eventually mixed to stereo, and the stereo mix is posted here.

#30 – “She’s Not There” by The Zombies

Week 4

Another one-hit wonder with one of the best-selling reggae/ska hits of all time. It peaked at #2 on 7/4/64.
Millie Small was a Jamaican artist who was just 17 when she recorded this song.
The record is noteworthy for being the first major hit for Island Records, though it was actually released on Fontana in the U.K. and on the Smash subsidiary of Mercury in the U.S.
There’s an urban legend that the harmonica player on this record is Rod Stewart, but Rod himself has denied it.
The original recording was mono, since Island didn’t release anything in stereo until the first Traffic album in 1967. This is a DES (Digitally Extracted Stereo) mix.

#31 – “My Boy Lollipop” by Millie Small

Week 3

This is the first of eight songs by The Beatles, and the beginning of the records that peaked at #2, this one on 5/9/64.
Like most of the earliest Beatles hits, this one wasn’t originally released by Capitol Records, who had not thought that The Beatles would be successful in America. This single, along with the rest of the tracks from the British “Please Please Me” album, was licensed to Vee-Jay Records (yes, the same label that The 4 Seasons had just left). By late 1964, Capitol had reclaimed the U.S. rights to all of those tracks.
This is the 2009 stereo remaster.

#32 – “Do You Want To Know A Secret” by The Beatles

Week 2

Song #33 is the first of two by the original Jersey Boys.
It peaked at #3 for three weeks starting on 2/22/64, blocked from going higher by (what else?) two Beatles records.
Up until this record, The 4 Seasons had recorded for Vee-Jay, but they became involved in a royalty dispute and went looking for a new label. Atlantic Records rejected this song, and the group then signed with Philips Records, a subsidiary of Mercury Records.
The original single version exists only in mono. A stereo alternate take was released on a later album. This is another DES (Digitally Extracted Stereo) mix.

#33 – “Dawn (Go Away)” by The 4 Seasons

Week 1

Here’s song #34, which peaked at #3 on the 4/11/64 and 4/18/64 Billboard charts.
The previous week, it had been #6, when the top 5 records were all by The Beatles.
This song had originally appeared on a 1962 Elvis Presley album, but he didn’t release it as a single.
This is a mono recording, converted to a stereo DES (Digitally Extracted Stereo) mix.

#34 – “Suspicion” by Terry Stafford