Entered Charts:  16 April 1969
Entry Point:  39
Highest Position:  1
Weeks In:  22

Surprise, surprise … here it is. When it was number 1 on the Radio Ga Ga Top 30 Australian Countdown, I wrote:

“It’s got everything, hasn’t it. One of the very best songwriters in Australia at that time (Johnny Young – his third song in my top 11), one of Australia’s finest bands of the time (The Groop, featuring the voice of Brian Cadd), one of Australia’s pre-eminent record producers (still known as Ian Meldrum in those days) and of course, the exceptional musical skills and singing voice of Russell Morris.

It couldn’t possibly fail, could it. But it pushed the boundaries of sensible record production at the time, allowing a little over three minutes of ad lib at the end, culminating in a choris by Hitler Youth, calling out “Sieg Heil” as the last words of the song. a song that lasted 6 minutes and 20 seconds when records were only meant to go for a maximum of 3 minutes.

It is a masterpiece of the highest order. I continually quiz my children – who, of today’s artists, will write the next Stairway to Heaven, the next Bohemian Rhapsody or the next The Real Thing? That’s where it ranks in my estimation.

And, finally a couple of pieces of trivia about this record – it is the only known record on which Ian “Molly” Meldrum is heard singing (in verse two) and the female voice who sings the high note at the end of the song is Maureen Elkner who re-visited the charts six or seven years later with a song that missed the Top 30 by some distance – Rak Off Normie.

Outstanding, brilliant, one of a kind.”

That’s all for this countdown … back in September for another Radio Ga Ga Top 30 Countdown. In the meantime, keep in touch via the web site (http://www.radiogaga.org.au), Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/radiogaga3wbc) or Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/neilbutler3wbc).

That’s all she wrote.

Entered Charts:  22 October 1969
Entry Point:  40
Highest Position:  1
Weeks In:  19

I told you they’d be back, didn’t I?

From their entry in the Radio Ga Ga Top 30 Beatles Countdown (where this song came in at number 1):

“Wow … what a song.

Great melody, great lyrics and a great performance.

It really was a toss up between this song and yesterday’s Yesterday for the number one but I went with Something because I think that it’s a stronger performance by the band and a slightly happier song. Yesterday, by it’s nature, is a song of regret. This is a celebration of sorts.

Interestingly, Something is the second most-covered Beatles song with over 150 cover versions available, including a version by Joe Cocker that was released two months before the Beatles version. Frank Sinatra called it “the greatest love song ever written”. Even John and Paul were known to be impressed saying that it was George’s finest song and the best track on Abbey Road.

It is also the only Harrison composition to be catalogued as the primary single on a Beatles double A-side single (or in some countries, the A-side of a conventional single).”

So, there you are – one to go. And I reckon you should be able to work out what it is … yes, it’s an Australian song, yes, it’s by a solo artist but contributed to by some of the biggest names in Australian music history. More about that tomorrow.

Entered Charts:  14 June 1967
Entry Point:  35
Highest Position:  1
Weeks In:  15

Yesterday, I spoke about how certain events seem to be linked to songs or vice versa. This one always seems to be associated with the Vietnam War. Every time  a new TV mini-series is made about Vietnam, this song always seems to get a run.

A great song, full of fantastic imagery. Have you ever sat and listened to the words and tried to imagine what Keith Reid was trying to describe? Try it some time …

Just one of the great songs of the 1960′s and well worth a place in the bronze medal position. The silver and gold songs needed to be special to out do this one and they do … come back tomorrow for number 2.

Entered Charts:  21 June 1967
Entry Point:  39
Highest Position:  2
Weeks In:  15

“If you remember the sixties, you weren’t there …”

My recollections are limited given my relative youth at the time but there are lots of almost sterotypical aspects of the decade that can be represented by specific songs. And this is one of them.

That whole free love, hippie, flowers in your hair, alternative lifestyle seems to be encapsulated in this song. I’m not sure whether that’s because every time there is footage of this era on TV they play this song or vice versa but it screams out 1967 throughout.

Can’t see how I could have a top 5 of the Sixties without it …

Entered Charts:  27 August 1966
Entry Point:  39
Highest Position:  13
Weeks In:  9

The brothers you have when you’re not having brothers …

No, the Walker Brothers were in fact not brothers but instead three singers from the US who ended up moving to Britain in the early 1960′s. They only charted in Australia twice – once in 1966 with this song and again in 1976 with “No Regrets”.

I just think this song is great – good tune, great voices and a real touch of Phil Spector in the production (although he had nothing to do with it!). Frankie Valli had a go at this song first and listening to that version after the Walker Brothers version is a bit like listening to a song with the treble up to the maximum setting and the bass turned off. There is no depth and only goes to show how great the Walker Brothers version is.

Entered Charts:  12 January 1966
Entry Point:  39
Highest Position:  3
Weeks In:  14

“Hello darkness, my old friend … I’ve come to talk to you again”

And with those words, one of the world’s great partnerships stormed onto the world stage. Two fiercely different people, who clearly didn’t like each other that much, particularly in later years, were quite simply the missing piece in each other’s musical lives.

It could be argued that both were successful solo artists – Simon in particular – but nothing matched the amazing sound of these voices together. They only charted eight times in Australia and only reached number 1 twice (Bridge Over Troubled Waters and El Condor Pasa) but left an indelible mark on the 1960′s.

Very worthy members of the Radio Ga Ga Top 30 Sixties Countdown

Entered Charts:  20 October 1965
Entry Point:  31
Highest Position:  3
Weeks In:  16

Another song that has featured in just about every 1960′s countdown ever published and always appears in the Billboard and Rolling Stone’s “best ever” charts.

In my Top 30 Beatles Countdown I said this:

“What an amazing piece of music – simple melody, simple words, simple everything really.

This is a song that has re-defined words like classic and standard. So much has been written about the song that anything I do here is not going to it any justice. It is the most covered song of all time – name an artist or band and there’s a better than reasonable chance that they have recorded it.

I heard Frank Sinatra’s version the other day and it struck me, once again, just how wonderful the original is. Often the recording artist tries to do something to make their own mark on a song but even someone like Sinatra can’t do it. The couple of attempts to change the rhythm, add emphasis in certain sections simply takes away from the song.

This is one of those examples of “the original and the best”. Interestingly, John, George and Ringo do not appear on this recording – it’s just Paul supported by a string quartet. Again, simplicity is the key.”

Six to go till number 1 – will The Beatles feature again? I think they just might …

Entered Charts:  -
Entry Point:  -
Highest Position:  -
Weeks In:  -

I know I said that all songs in this countdown had to have charted in Australia in the 1960′s but sometimes you just need to break the rules for the right song.

The more pertinent question is how this song didn’t make the charts. It charted around number 20 in Melbourne in 1968 but never cracked the national lists.

David McWilliams was a singer from Northern Ireland who really only had the one big hit internationally. The song became well known across Europe due to regular airplay on pirate radio but it is believed that he struggled to make an impression in the UK because of those links to the illegal radio services.

Incidentally, the unusual sound in the chorus is not a megaphone. McWilliams actually sang the chorus through a telephone from his home to the studio.

Entered Charts:  23 December 1964
Entry Point:  19
Highest Position:  1
Weeks In:  14

How good is this version of a song that Judy Garland had to herself for 25 years?

It’s not the sort of song that you’d associate with Thorpie, is it? But he does it so incredibly well. Smooth, almost delicate. Arguably one of the best cover versions ever done.

If you haven’t heard Billy’s version, as Molly would say … “do yourself a favour”

Entered Charts:  1 October 1969
Entry Point:  39
Highest Position:  4
Weeks In:  17

We’re starting to run into songs that have already appeared in other countdowns and so the words might be a little repetitive … sorry about that. The Star was featured at number 8 in the Radio Ga Ga Top 30 Aussie Countdown. Here’s the citation from that countdown:

Another Johnny Young song, this time recorded by an entertainer who was seemingly everywhere in the late 1960′s and early 1970′s. From recording music, to hosting TV shows Ross D Wylie was Mr Everywhere at that time.

This, of course, leads to two questions:

• What did the D stand for?
• Where is Ross D Wylie now – last heard of running a record shop in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne

The song itself was a song of loneliness and the downside of being a star.

Beautiful melody, great words, terrific singer … just a great song that seems to have been forgotten, even by the classic rock and pop radio stations.

Tell you what Ross, you’re still getting a run on Radio Ga Ga – let’s know if you want to chat!