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, love songs

#413 River Deep, Mountain High- Tina Turner

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Do I love you my oh my, oh baby/
River deep, mountain high.

The instrumentation, vocals and melody on “River Deep Mountain High” are fantastic. This is Tina Turner at her best by far. She sounds like a mad woman (in a good way). Her voice explodes out of the speakers.

The song gathers momentum frantically, along with her voice, and we can almost imagine her dancing along as she sings and tries to keep the microphone in front of her face. The orchestration is a good match for this tune as well.

River Deep, Mountain High Meaning
Tina Turner

The lyrics are so-so. Yes, she loves her man like a river is deep and a mountain is high, that is a good start for a song. If someone said to me “I love for you is deeper than a river and higher than a mountain”, I would be all for it. I would be a little confused if someone told me that she loved me like she loved her ragdoll. What does that mean? Don’t you play with dolls because you are too young to interact with others and so you don’t have many options except this inanimate object? Thanks, I love you too, I guess.

River Deep, Mountain High Lyrics
When I was a little girl, I had a rag doll
Only doll I’ve ever owned
Now I love you just the way I loved that rag doll
But only now my love has grown

And it gets stronger in every way
And it gets deeper, let me say
And it gets higher day by day

Do I love you, my oh my? Oh baby
River deep, mountain high
If I lost you would I cry
Oh, how I love you, baby, baby, baby, baby

When you were a young boy
Did you have a puppy?
That always followed you around
Well, I’m gonna be as faithful as that puppy
No, I’ll never let you down

‘Cause it grows stronger like a river flows
And it gets sweeter, baby and Heaven knows
And it gets sweeter, baby, as it grows

Do I love you, my oh my? Oh baby
River deep, mountain high
If I lost you would I cry
Oh, how I love you, baby, baby, baby, baby

And it gets stronger in every way
And it gets deeper, let me say
And it gets higher day by day

Do I love you, my oh my? Oh baby
River deep, mountain high
If I lost you would I cry
Oh, how I love you, baby, baby, baby, baby

I love you, baby, just like Robin loves to sing
I love you, baby, like a flower loves the spring
And I love you, baby, like a school boy loves his pet

Songwriters: Jeff Barry / Ellie Greenwich / Phil Spector

1960s songs, protest songs

#407 Who’ll Stop the Rain- Creedence Clearwater Revival

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There’s a calm before the storm/
I know it’s been comin’ for some time.

The rain is obviously a big motif in “Who’ll Stop the Rain”, but I am not sure everyone has listened to what Creedence is really trying to say. Fogerty tells us that that it is calm right before a storm. Then the storm will come and the rain will begin to fall. But after a storm, there is a period when the sun starts to shine again portending of future good weather. It can be a great feeling.

Fogerty is not asking if you’ve ever seen rain in a storm, he is asking if you’ve ever experienced that special time after the storm when the rain is falling while the sun is out. It is a time of hope and cleansing.

Who'll Stop the Rain Meaning
CCR

Obviously Fogerty isn’t interested in the weather patterns. The reason this song resonates is because it was written during a difficult time in the 60s. Specifically people were fighting for civil rights and also fighting an unjust was in Vietnam. Fogerty is anticipating the people rising up (the storm) and making things just in the world. That will be a beautiful time like when rain falls down on a sunny day. It will be a time of hope and hopefully it will all have been worth it.

Who’ll Stop The Rain Lyrics

As long as I remember
The rain’s been comin’ down
Clouds of mystery pourin’
Confusion on the ground

Good men through the ages
Tryin’ to find the sun
And I wonder, still I wonder
Who’ll stop the rain

I went down Virginia
Seekin’ shelter from the storm
Caught up in the fable
I watched the tower grow

Five year plans and new deals
Wrapped in golden chains
And I wonder, still I wonder
Who’ll stop the rain?

Heard the singers playin’
How we cheered for more
The crowd then rushed together
Tryin’ to keep warm

Still the rain kept pourin’
Fallin’ on my ears
And I wonder, still I wonder
Who’ll stop the rain?

Songwriters: John Fogerty

1960s songs, breakup songs

#405 Different Drum- Linda Rondstadt & the Stone Poneys

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It’s just that I’m not in the market/
For a boy who wants to love only me.

Linda Rondstadt was a heartbreaker.

In “Different Drum” she tells this guy that he can’t see the forest for the trees and that their hearts beat to a different drum. (Just to rub it in she also tells him that every time he comes around she goes running). The guy wants to be her boyfriend, but Ronstadt is having none of that. She wants to date around. She tells him he is perfectly fine, but she needs more. She doesn’t want to be tied down to one man. So, she tells him goodbye.

Think how revolutionary it was for a woman to be singing this song in 1967. It still is not a theme we hear too often. Interesting that this is a summer of love song.

Different Drum Meaning
The Poneys

Ronstadt’s vocals on “Different Drum” are amazing and the melody is exceptional. I always wanted to hear a version without the harpsichord. It is such a difficult instrument to work into a pop or rock song perfectly. It is an overpowering instrument. This would be the Stone Poney’s only hit. After this song Ronstadt went on to a huge solo career.

Different Drum Lyrics

You and I travel to the beat of a diff’rent drum
Oh, can’t you tell by the way I run
Every time you make eyes at me Wo oh
You cry and you moan and say it will work out
But honey child I’ve got my doubts
You can’t see the forest for the trees

So, don’t get me wrong It’s not that I’m knockin’
It’s just that I’m not in the market
For a boy who wants to love only me
Yes, and I ain’t sayin’ you ain’t pretty
All I’m sayin’s I’m not ready for any person
Place or thing to try and pull the reins in on me
So Goodbye, I’ll be leavin’
I see no sense in the cryin’ and grievin’
We’ll both live a lot longer if you live without me
Oh, don’t get me wrong It’s not that I’m knockin’
It’s just that I’m not in the market
For a boy who wants to love only me

Yes, and I ain’t sayin’ you ain’t pretty
All I’m sayin’s I’m not ready for any person
Place or thing to try and pull the reins in on me
So Goodbye, I’ll be leavin’
I see no sense in the cryin’ and grievin’
We’ll both live a lot longer if you live without me

Songwriters: Michael Nesmith