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, outcasts

#43 Sympathy For The Devil- The Rolling Stones

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As heads is tails, just call me Lucifer…

In The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” the devil is the speaker and we get to meet him and learn a little bit more about him. One of the most interesting things about The Devil is how polite he is. He says, “Please allow me to introduce myself I’m a man of wealth and taste.” He seems to point out that there are two sides to him: The Devil and Lucifer.

The Devil was around when there was war and takes glee in it. He may even have agency: “I rode a tank, held a general’s rank…” Sure there is that side to him, but if you meet him call him Lucifer and be courteous, because he doesn’t always want to be killing. He was an angel once, after all. Or don’t be courteous…he is The Devil, and there is that side to him too.

Sympathy for the Devil Meaning
The Stones

There are two parts of The Stone’s “Sympathy for the Devil” that make it sound distinct: the bongos and the background singers. We rarely if ever hear bongos used as the sole percussion in a rock song. It creates part of the unique sound. The “woo woo”s that the background singers is…interesting. I would have preferred it for one verse, but it gets kind of annoying as it lasts about ¾ of the song. Keith Richards has some great guitar solos in the song, and I like the outro that sounds like an improvised jam similar to what McCartney did on Hey Jude.

Lyrics Sympathy For The Devil

Please allow me to introduce myself
I’m a man of wealth and taste
I’ve been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man’s soul to waste

And I was ’round when Jesus Christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what’s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game

I stuck around St. Petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain

I rode a tank
Held a general’s rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, what’s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah

I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made

I shouted out
Who killed the Kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me

Let me please introduce myself
I’m a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached Bombay

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what’s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what’s confusing you
Is just the nature of my game, mm yeah

Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me Lucifer
‘Cause I’m in need of some restraint

So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I’ll lay your soul to waste, mm yeah

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, mm yeah

But what’s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, mm mean it, get down

Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah

Tell me baby, what’s my name
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name
Tell me baby, what’s my name
I tell you one time, you’re to blame
Oh, right

What’s my name
Tell me, baby, what’s my name
Tell me, sweetie, what’s my name.
written by Jagger/Richards

1960s songs, anthem

#41 I Am The Walrus- The Beatles

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I am the egg man/
I am the walrus.

The lyrics of The Beatles’ “I am the Walrus” are great, but not in the traditional sense. Normally we want lyrics (and words in general) to mean something. That is the whole purpose of language and it is one of the big things we get out of music. “I Am the Walrus” doesn’t provide much meaning, but it does evoke many colorful phrases and images that are fun to say. It shrouds The Beatles in mystery–purposely.

Of course, there are images you recognize. Primarily from Alice and Wonderland. But there is a lot of great imagery in the lyrics that helps to create a wonderful song but don’t connect together to tell a story.

I am the Walrus Meaning
The Beatles

The Beatles’ “I am the Walrus” is the height of psychedelic rock. We have experimental lyrics, strange instruments, bridges and choruses that don’t really match but still somehow sound good together and of course references to dreams and drugs. George Martin really does some amazing things to pull this song together.

“I am The Walrus” is packed to the gills with music and effects: there are so many instruments, background nonsense, background choirs and the song is just plain complex in terms of chord structure. It is amazing that the song sounds coherent at all. And it doesn’t just sound coherent, it sounds like it is on a different level than the rock we are used to hearing.

Other great Songs by John Lennon.

I Am the Walrus Lyrics

I am he as you are he as you are me,
And we are all together.
See how they run like pigs from a gun,
See how they fly.
I’m crying.

Sitting on a corn flake,
Waiting for the van to come.
Corporation T-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday,
Man you’ve been a naughty boy,
You let your face grow long.
I am the egg man,
They are the egg men,
I am the walrus!
Goo goo g’joob.

Mister City policeman sitting,
Pretty little policemen in a row.
See how they fly like Lucy in the sky, see how they run.
I’m crying, I’m crying,
I’m crying, I’m crying.

Yellow matter custard,
Dripping from a dead dog’s eye.
Crabalocker fishwife, pornographic priestess,
Boy, you’ve been a naughty girl, you let your knickers down.

I am the egg man,
They are the egg men,
I am the walrus!
Goo goo g’joob.

Sitting in an English garden
Waiting for the sun.
If the sun don’t come you get a tan
From standing in the English rain.

I am the egg man (now good sir),
They are the egg men (a poor man, made tame to fortune’s blows),
I am the walrus.
Goo goo g’joob, goo goo goo g’joob (good pity).

Expert, texpert choking smokers
Don’t you think the joker laughs at you (ho ho ho, hee hee hee, hah hah hah).
See how they smile like pigs in a sty, see how they snide.
I’m crying.

Semolina Pilchard,
Climbing up the Eiffel tower.
Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna,
Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allen Poe.

I am the egg man,
They are the egg men,
I am the walrus!
Goo goo g’joob, goo goo goo g’joob,
Coo Coo gacho, ca coo coo gacho, cha cha cha.
Joob, joob, jooba.
Jooba, jooba, jooba.
Joob, jooba.
Joob, jooba.

Umpa, umpa, stick it up your jumper (jooba, jooba)
Umpa, umpa, stick it up your jumper
Everybody’s got one (umpa, umpa)
Everybody’s got one (stick it up your jumper)
Everybody’s got one (umpa, umpa)
Everybody’s got one (stick it up your jumper)
Everybody’s got one (umpa, umpa)
Everybody’s got one (stick it up your jumper)
Everybody’s got one (umpa, umpa)
Everybody’s got one (stick it up your jumper)
Everybody’s got one (umpa, umpa)
Everybody’s got one (stick it up your jumper)
Everybody’s got one (umpa, umpa)
written by lennon/mccartney
1960s songs, looking for love

#31- Just Like A Woman- Bob Dylan

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When we meet again, introduced as friends/
Please don’t let on that you knew me when/
I was hungry, and it was your world.

Nobody does “chicks-suck songs” like Bob Dylan. And “Just Like A Woman” is his opus. He doesn’t seem to be very fond of the woman who he refers to as “Baby” (Somehow it comes off like a capital B), though he will sleep with her. That seems to be the whole problem, as he sums up above. He is hungry and women are what he desires. It is a pain to admit it. Of course, Dylan projects Baby’s qualities onto all women, but that is just how we tend to think. Inductive reasoning. Obviously, it is fallible logic, but it makes for a good song.

Just Like a Woman Meaning
Dylan-Blonde on Blonde

Some of the things he dislikes about the girl in “Just Like a Woman” is that she seems different in public than in private, she takes more than she gives, and she acts mature or young to suit her temporary aims. Mostly Dylan is disappointed that she is ‘just like all the rest’. Despite all the bitterness it is clear that Dylan is looking for something/someone and hoping to find her.

There has been discussion about whether this song is misogynist. It really isn’t. Dylan identifies the problem clearly…”I was hungry and it was your world.” His desire for the opposite sex produces a sort of “fog” that leaves him lonely and standing out in the rain. If you look closely, I think that desire and the disappointment with having discovered that his lover is just like all the rest and not his true love is what is really drawing his ire.

Just Like a Woman Meaning
Nina Simone

“Just Like a Woman” is Dylan’s signature song from what is considered Dylan’s best album- Blonde on Blonde. Notice the organ coupled with the piano. That is a staple sound of the album. We also have the harmonica solo in the beginning and end that sound great. There are several great live versions to check out. There have been several covers. Nina Simone’s is probably the best.

Just Like a Woman Lyrics

Nobody feels any pain
Tonight as I stand inside the rain
Ev’rybody knows
That Baby’s got new clothes
But lately I see her ribbons and her bows
Have fallen from her curls
She takes just like a woman, yes, she does
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl

Queen Mary
She’s my friend
Yes, I believe I’ll go see her again
Nobody has to guess
That Baby can’t be blessed
Till she sees finally that she’s like all the rest
With her fog, her amphetamine and her pearls
She takes just like a woman, yes
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl

It was raining from the first
And I was dying there of thirst
So I came in here
And your long-time curse hurts
But what’s worse
Is this pain in here
I can’t stay in here
Ain’t it clear that

I just can’t fit
Yes, I believe it’s time for us to quit
But when we meet again
Introduced as friends
Please don’t let on that you knew me when
I was hungry and it was your world
Ah, you fake just like a woman, yes, you do
You make love just like a woman, yes, you do
Then you ache just like a woman
But you break just like a little girl.

written by Bob Dylan