Category Archives: 1960s songs

The top 500 best music and songs from the 1960s. Song meanings, lyrics and interpretations from your favorite artists. The Beatles, Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, Dylan. See who rates the highest!

1960s songs, escape

Sittin On The Dock Of The Bay- Otis Redding

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I left my home in Georgia
And I headed for the Frisco Bay
‘Cause I’ve got nothin’ to live for
Looks like nothin’s gonna come my way

As you can read above, the narrator left his home in Georgia for San Francisco, and it turns out it isn’t all it was cracked up to be. So now what? He is just going to sit around, hang out and watch the ships and the tide. This is a great song about doing nothing, wasting time and resting your bones. Nothing wrong with that! Though Otis admits, a bit of loneliness does begin to creep in.

This song is probably most famous for its choice of solo instruments…the whistle solo. It fits the theme of the song perfectly. We can imagine Redding chilling on the dock just whistling away. I think the only other song we hear that in is Lennon’s Jealous Guy.

Sittin at the dock of the Bay
Otis Redding

The song sounds simplistic, but it has a couple nuances that make it special. Obviously, number one is Redding’s voice. It is so smooth. The other is the rhythm section of the band. The bass and drums drive the song along at a good pace. I could imagine this song coming out slower, and it would be worse for it. The bassline is fairly complicated and adds a bit of lead instrumentation to the song. When a good bassline can pull this off, it is often a treat.

Sittin on the Dock of the Bay Lyrics

Sittin’ in the mornin’ sun
I’ll be sittin’ when the evenin’ comes
Watching the ships roll in
Then I watch ’em roll away again, yeah
I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Watchin’ the tide roll away, ooh
I’m just sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Wastin’ time

I left my home in Georgia
Headed for the Frisco Bay
‘Cause I’ve had nothin’ to live for
It look like nothin’s gonna come my way
So I’m just gon’ sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Watchin’ the tide roll away, ooh
I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay, wastin’ time

Look like nothin’s gonna change
Everything, still remains the same
I can’t do what ten people tell me to do
So I guess I’ll remain the same, yes

Sittin’ here restin’ my bones
And this loneliness won’t leave me alone, listen
Two thousand miles, I roam
Just to make this dock my home
Now I’m just gon’ sit, at the dock of the bay
Watchin’ the tide roll away, ooh yeah
Sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Wastin’ time

Songwriters: Steve Cropper / Otis Redding

1960s songs, love songs

#500 And I Love Her- The Beatles

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You’d love her too
And I love her…

It is only right that we start off a list of the best 500 songs of the past 70 years with The Beatles. You may be seeing them often on this list. The Beatles may or may not be your favorite band of all time, but it is hard to argue that they are one of the most prolific bands. Perhaps the best. So good, in fact, that I think some of their songs get left off the list just so that this isn’t a “list of greatest Beatles songs”. They are that good.

And I Love Her
The Early Beatles

But we are getting ahead of ourselves. We have 500 songs to evaluate.

“And I Love Her” is a McCartney song from A Hard Days Night. For those who don’t know- most Beatles songs primarily originated with either Lennon or McCartney and that person would sing lead. This is the one of the songs that marked their transition from their early work to their middle period. The other is “If I Fell”, which is also on this list. It was released as the B-side.

There are a couple interesting aspects about this song. The intro guitar riff really sets the song up well. The lyrics of the second verse are also interesting:

She gives me everything
And tenderly
The kiss my lover brings
She brings to me
And I love her

Is “she” a different person than “my lover”? It sounds like it to me. It also makes the song a lot more interesting. Rather than a simple song stating, “I love my girlfriend” this seems to be saying “I love someone other than my girlfriend.” When I was young, I always wondered if the girlfriend in this scenario freaked out when she heard the song on the radio for the first time. Perhaps I just had an active imagination.

And I Love Her Lyrics

I give her all my love
That’s all I do
And if you saw my love
You’d love her, too
I love her

She gives my everything
And tenderly
The kiss my lover brings
She brings to me
And I love her

A love like ours
Could never die
As long as I
Have you near me

Bright are the stars that shine
Dark is the sky
I know this love of mine
Will never die
And I love her

Bright are the stars that shine
Dark is the sky
I know this love of mine
Will never die
And I love her

Songwriters: John Lennon / Paul McCartney

1960s songs, love is gone

#492 You’ve Lost That Lovin Feeling- The Righteous Brothers

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You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips.

“You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling” is a song written and produced by Phil Spector. His fingerprints are all over it. The “Wall of Sound” is in full effect. There are no pauses in the music, there are twenty instruments and voices going at once—specifically the orchestration is mixed highly. But somehow it comes out sounding great. The Righteous Brothers don’t really do harmonies in the traditional sense, but their voices blend well to create a nice sound. More often they alternate versus.

You've Lost that Loving Feeling Meaning
The Righteous Brothers

The lyrics are simple and fairly standard for pop in the mid-sixties. I’d argue the gap between rock and pop was never greater than the mid-sixties. Compare this to Like a Rolling Stone, which came out at the same time. It is a completely different world, especially lyrically. Nonetheless this song is very satisfying.

I particularly like the outro with the falsetto. The song sounds a little less structured during that part and it suits the lyrics of a man who is frustrated by the change he sees in his woman. He sounds almost frantic as he yells, “please…I need your love.”

You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling Lyrics

You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips
And there’s no tenderness like before in your fingertips
You’re trying hard not to show it
But baby, baby I know it

You lost that lovin’ feelin’
Whoa, that lovin’ feelin’
You lost that lovin’ feelin’
Now it’s gone, gone, gone, whoa-oh

Now there’s no welcome look in your eyes when I reach for you
And now you’re starting to criticize little things I do
It makes me just feel like crying
‘Cause baby, something beautiful’s dyin’

You lost that lovin’ feelin’
Whoa, that lovin’ feelin’
You lost that lovin’ feelin’
Now it’s gone, gone, gone, whoa-oh

Baby, baby, I’d get down on my knees for you
If you would only love me like you used to do, yeah
We had a love, a love, a love you don’t find everyday
So don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t let it slip away

Baby, baby, baby, baby
I beg you please, please, please, please
I need your love, need your love
I need your love, I need your love
So bring it on back, so bring it on back
Bring it on back, bring it on back

Bring back that lovin’ feelin’
Whoa, that lovin’ feelin’
Bring back that lovin’ feelin’
‘Cause it’s gone, gone, gone
And I can’t go on, whoa-oh

Bring back that lovin’ feelin’
Whoa, that lovin’ feelin’
Bring back that lovin’ feelin’
‘Cause it’s gone, gone, gone

Songwriters: Phil Spector / Barry Mann / Cynthia Weil