"The Great Airplane Strike" #20 10/29/1966

Topical songs usually don't hold up all that well. This one is about a 1966 strike against most of the major US airlines, and the resulting travails Paul Revere and the Raiders encountered in trying to make it to their shows. Strike or no strike, air travel is just as difficult today, if not more so. In other words, it can really suck.

"Go Away Little Girl" (Happenings) #12 10/29/1966

This Gerry Goffin-Carole King tune was #1 twice - but neither time involved this act. It reached the top in 1963 for Vegas mainstay Steve Lawrence and again in 1971 for 13-year-old Donny Osmond. In between, and with a slightly altered arrangement, the Happenings almost took it into the Top 10. In '63 it was originally meant for Bobby Vee (RIP, Bobby), but music mogul Don Kirschner gave it instead to Mr. Lawrence.

"Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?" #9 10/29/1966

With one of the longest song titles around, this was the first Rolling Stones single to be released simultaneously in the UK and US. The ending sort of drifts off into the ether with lots of feedback, still a relatively new technique in 1966. It wasn't the last use of that effect. Jimi Hendrix certainly made sure of that.

"What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted" #7 10/29/1966

The first hit for Jimmy Ruffin, born in Collinsville, Miss. near Meridian, and the older brother of Temptations lead singer David Ruffin. This was originally intended for the Spinners (a fellow Motown act at the time), but Jimmy talked the writers into giving him the song. The intro is long because a spoken part was written but later removed for this version, but it appears in others.

"Walk Away Reneé" #5 10/29/1966

An example of baroque rock by the Left Banke, with pseudo-classical chamber music instrumentation which owed everything to "Yesterday" and "Eleanor Rigby." The Four Tops did a pretty decent cover version a few months later. Keyboardist Michael Brown supposedly wrote the song about the bass player's girlfriend Reneé, whom he was infatuated with. The lead singer was Steve Martin - no, not him. The group's second LP had background vocals by Steven Tyler - yes, HIM, pre-Aerosmith. Brown went on to form the group Stories, but departed before their one hit "Brother Louie" in 1973.

"96 Tears" #1 10/29/1966

One of the best garage rock tunes of the 60's. Question Mark and the Mysterians were Latino guys whose migrant worker families had settled in the Bay City, Michigan area. Lead singer Rudy Martinez legally changed his name to ? when this record took off, thanks to a lot of airplay from CKLW in Windsor, Ontario (Detroit). The song was once called "69 Tears" - yeah, like THAT was going to get played on the radio at the time, so they changed the title.

"Forever" #25 4/25/1964 Bonus

Pete Drake was one of the top session pickers in Nashville during the 60's and 70's. He developed a device where he put a piece of plastic tubing in his mouth hooked to a steel guitar and amp, which allowed him to voice the notes he played. The "talk box" was later refined by Joe Walsh, Peter Frampton, and other rockers, i.e., "Rocky Mountain Way," "Do You Feel Like We Do," "Show Me The Way," etc. This one from late April '64 was originally done in 1960 by the Little Dippers, who were actually the Anita Kerr Singers, one of Nashville's top background vocal groups of the day.