Best ten songs of the 60's

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 07:53 PM

I have decided that even the best of "best of" lists will inevitably fall short. Though the intent may be honorable, it is impossible to satisfy most people with them - it becomes an exercise in futility.
I didn't say they don't pique my curiosity from time to time, though.

By the way, my next door neighbor thinks Jim Croce's "Workin' At The Carwash Blues" ought to be considered....

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: Janie
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 07:42 PM

What, no songs written by Leonard Cohen?

"Bird on a Wire"
"Suzanne"
"Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" would all be ones that I would think about, even if they didn't make the final cut.

Also Joni Mitchell's, "That Song About the Midway." She didn't really hit her stride until the early '70's, but there are certainly two or three from her early albums that would be in the running for my list.

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: Tug the Cox
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 07:13 PM

'You don't know me' by Ray Charles and 'On the Road Again' by Canned Heat,

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: Bobert
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 06:24 PM

Well, yeah, I was listenin' to folk music in the 60s but it wasn't my regular musical diet, so to speak, so I wouldn't put any folk song on my top 10 60s songs... Sorry... Hey, some of us were into rock and roll in a big way and I was one... Even played in a rock and roll band... So if this thread turns around toward all music I'll jump right back in but....

B~

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: GUEST,Peace
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 06:21 PM

I think it'd depend on where ya were at the time. And what's meant by best.

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 06:15 PM

Turn, turn, turn by Pete Seeger.

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: GUEST,Joseph de Culver City
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 06:00 PM

Guest Chris Shaw   I can tell that you were around in the sixties for sure. My memory is not quite perfect, but, like you, I can remember the important stuff.


Jimmy Webb can sure write a good song. So can Mike Nesmith...

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: GUEST,Chris Shaw
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 04:44 PM

Yesterday has gone. Cupids Insparation.

Different Drum. Linda & Stone Roses.

Mathew and son. Cat Stevens.

Let's stay together. Canned Heat.

Gimmie Shelter. Rolling Stones.

Sabre Dance. Love Sculpture.

Ohio. Neil Young.

The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse. Bonzo dog doda band.

The games people play. Joe South.

McArthur park. Richard Harris.

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 04:41 PM

Four strong winds
Universal soldier
Country roads..60's?

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: GUEST,The Folk Entertainer
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 04:01 PM

Leaving out the Kingston Trio is somewhat mindless.

Their version of "Where have All the Flowers gone" is basically the standard that the world knows and a true 1960s Folk classic.

Leaving out Peter, Paul, and Mary is another travesty.

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: Arkie
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 12:26 PM

Judith Durham sang with the Seekers. Wonderful singer, great voice.

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: M.Ted
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 12:18 PM

There are a lot of conflicts to resolve before this exploration can move forward--UK vs US being a biggie--a lot of what is important in one place is unknown in the other. Played and sung vs recorded is another,   we sang many songs that we never heard on record, and many of my favorite songs on record were never properly rendered "live"--and time of origin is another--with folk songs, many were most popular outside of their decade of origin(or even their century of origin), and of course, there's the "Donovan" issue--he probably inspired more to write, sing, and play, than most of the others, but in retrospect, most would prefer to say they were inspired by Martin Carthy or Doc Watson(who should be on your list above)--

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 12:01 PM

Making this a ten best folk songs list doesn't help much. Folk songs aren't limited to a decade. Your favorite folk performers of the 60's makes more sense.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: GUEST,Michele Callaghan
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 11:44 AM

I think your list would have to include "We Shall Overcome" Pete Seeger. I would leave "This Land Is Your Land" off because it is from earlier than the 60s. "Blowing in the Wind" by Dylan could be another one.

Another question to ask in formulating the list is do you mean most influential--like the two I suggested--or best in sound/lyrics?

I will think about this and come up with more later!

Michele C.

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: GUEST,Pete and John
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 11:02 AM

The list of performers from that decade are endless. We missed off

Ralph McTell
Dubliners
Rosie Hardman (Is she still singing (What a voice)
Judith Durham (But what was the group ?)
Corries
Donovan
etc etc

It is the folk songs that are difficult to agree on - there are so many -

We have agreed on our first two songs

Masters of War - Bob Dylan
This Land is your Land - Woody Guthrie

Only another eight to agree on

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: GUEST,MtheGM
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 10:45 AM

Re last two posts:
Peter, as implied by my post I take it that the OPs are seeking UP TO 10 songs & do not require a full list from everyone; and that their performer-list merely suggests a basis and is not intended to be exhaustive.
Bobad: I take it they are after best original songs composed in the folk idiom; not, surely, the ten best folksong tracks of the decade, including traditional, where the sheer volume of numbers would surely make their quest chimerical.
They will doubtless confirm whether I am correct in these suppositions.

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: bobad
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 09:55 AM

How do you define folk song?

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: Midchuck
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 09:49 AM

I would need to brood on that question for a good while before posting my list - and I will do both.

But my initial reaction is that the omission of Ian and Sylvia from your performer list is a fairly serious flaw.

Peter.

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: GUEST,MtheGM
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 09:07 AM

When Peter Bellamy died in the early 90s I wrote his obituary in The Guardian, in which I expressed the opinion that his 'Farewell to the Land', based on his Norfolk farm childhood and set to a Copper Family tune, was the best original song to emerge from the Folk Revival. It can be heard on his 'Tell It Like It Was' album of 1975, but it had been written some years earlier [about the time, he told me once, of his 'Mainly Norfolk' album of 1968], and he had sung it at his gigs from about then onwards. So it will just about fit into your time-frame, Pete & John. And it is my nomination...   Michael

Subject: RE: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: GUEST,Pete and John
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 08:50 AM

That should read Best 10 Folk songs of the 60's

Subject: Best ten songs of the 60's
From: GUEST,Pete and John
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 08:48 AM

We have just been having a tete-a-tete between us on which songs from the 60's were most memorable. Whilst we can agree on a list of performers from that time (which is endless)we cannot agree on the songs

Tom Paxton
Bob Dylan
Watersons
Dransfields
Steeleye Span
Ewen McColl
Pete Seeger
Joan Baez
Judy Collins
Simon and Garfunkel

Can any catters suggest a list of ten best songs from that time