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[W: #135] The 1960's --- Hope, Prosperity, and then COUNTER CULTURE

LittleNipper

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The 1960's would begin were the 1950's left off with Great Expectations. The music would not show much change in the early years. The number one hit for 1960 was THERE'S A SUMMER PLACE by Percy Faith on COLUMBIA Records. Everything seemed to be smooth sailing with a bright future on the horizon ---- if only the USSR and Red China would somehow find GOD, everything would be wonderful ---- but was it really?
 
The 1960's would begin were the 1950's left off with Great Expectations. The music would not show much change in the early years. The number one hit for 1960 was THERE'S A SUMMER PLACE by Percy Faith on COLUMBIA Records. Everything seemed to be smooth sailing with a bright future on the horizon ---- if only the USSR and Red China would somehow find GOD, everything would be wonderful ---- but was it really?

 
The 1960's would begin were the 1950's left off with Great Expectations. The music would not show much change in the early years. The number one hit for 1960 was THERE'S A SUMMER PLACE by Percy Faith on COLUMBIA Records. Everything seemed to be smooth sailing with a bright future on the horizon ---- if only the USSR and Red China would somehow find GOD, everything would be wonderful ---- but was it really?

It was awesome. If you were a well off white person...
 
The 1960's would begin were the 1950's left off with Great Expectations. The music would not show much change in the early years. The number one hit for 1960 was THERE'S A SUMMER PLACE by Percy Faith on COLUMBIA Records. Everything seemed to be smooth sailing with a bright future on the horizon ---- if only the USSR and Red China would somehow find GOD, everything would be wonderful ---- but was it really?


COMMIES!

Oh wait. That's not your line. I think.
 
Oh, yes!

As an 85-year-old now, I expected then that the social changes in the 1960s would usher in a period of harmony between all the various ethnicities in this unique nation.

Many people bragged: "Once all people are given equal rights, the anger of some folks will disappear and they will become model citizens."

This is now 2023.

Disharmony between the various ethnicities has never been so bad.
 
It was awesome. If you were a well off white person...

Not at all.

There was Civil Rights legislation, the height of growing unionism and rising wages, the Women's Movement, The Warren Court, and at least with the young people - a growing cross-racial acceptance.

The whole boat floated, I assure you, and if anything the gains were biggest among minorities, women, and the blue-collar/working-call. In fact, the biggest change in the working-class & unions was indeed the betterment in employment of women & minorities.

I'm listing the general improvements, because they were so wide in scope. But I can cite specific examples, if you'd like.
 
Oh, yes!

As an 85-year-old now, I expected then that the social changes in the 1960s would usher in a period of harmony between all the various ethnicities in this unique nation.

Many people bragged: "Once all people are given equal rights, the anger of some folks will disappear and they will become model citizens."

This is now 2023.

Disharmony between the various ethnicities has never been so bad.

Many of us expected that. And we saw it through the seventies, especially among young people. But then Reaganomics & Globalism kicked in.

In the prosperous sixties, it was easy for the established working-class predominately male Caucasian majority to want to share a little with the less fortunate and more marginalized. But by the nineties and the ravages of trickle-down, globalization, automation, and outsourcing, that had all changed. It became the rats fighting over the crumbs, and the sixties benevolence was gone.

The effect taking place in the working-class workplace also took place in general society due to the changing demographics, but took a bit longer. The majority was more likely to assist or tolerate the minority when they were the vast majority, and the minority was a smaller minority. As that changed over time, where the minority is now poised to numerically become the majority, the former majority is not sliding-off into minority status well. This recently manifested itself as, and eclipsed, with Trumpism.

--

So, there ya' go. Six decades of American socio-economic theory, distilled down to two short paragraphs.

Remember, opinion is free - you get what you pay for! ;)
 
…..and then the chickens found their way home…….
 
Not at all.

There was Civil Rights legislation, the height of growing unionism and rising wages, the Women's Movement, The Warren Court, and at least with the young people - a growing cross-racial acceptance.

The whole boat floated, I assure you, and if anything the gains were biggest among minorities, women, and the blue-collar/working-call. In fact, the biggest change in the working-class & unions was indeed the betterment in employment of women & minorities.

I'm listing the general improvements, because they were so wide in scope. But I can cite specific examples, if you'd like.
You appear to be referring to the latter half of the 60's, and if you are doing that you also have to include this...
"Approximately 300,000 African Americans served in the Vietnam War. In 1965, African Americans filled 31% of the ground combat battalions in Vietnam, while the percentage of African Americans as a minority in the general population was 12%. In 1965, African Americans suffered 24% of the U.S. Army's fatal casualties."
 
You appear to be referring to the latter half of the 60's, and if you are doing that you also have to include this...
"Approximately 300,000 African Americans served in the Vietnam War. In 1965, African Americans filled 31% of the ground combat battalions in Vietnam, while the percentage of African Americans as a minority in the general population was 12%. In 1965, African Americans suffered 24% of the U.S. Army's fatal casualties."
Thank you for expressing my first thought when reading of the advances in the 1960s.

Of course, there was the backlash; assassinations of JFK, Malcom, MLK, RFK.
 
Well, there’s always Pakistan and Ethiopia—still poor, just like they were sixty years ago.

Funny how decades of US support hasn’t benefitted Pakistan there a bit.

And they haven’t even been “commies” at any point to boot.
 
The number 2 record for 1960 was recorded by Jim Reeves --- a country ballad titled, HE'LL HAVE TO GO: The song was written by the husband-and-wife team of Joe & Audrey Allison. It was inspired by a telephone conversation between them in which they had trouble making themselves understood due to background noise.
 
The Everly Brothers' CATHY'S CLOWN is noted for its unorthodox structure, such as beginning on a chorus and having bridges but no verses. The distinctive drum sound was achieved by recording the drums with a tape loop, making it sound like two drummers. CATHY'S CLOWN was recorded live in one take, with Don and Phil sharing a microphone. It came in as number 3 for 1960:
 
Running Bear is a tragedy song written by Jiles Perry Richardson known as THE BIG BOOPER and sung most famously by Johnny Preston in August 1959 on MERCURY Records. The 1959 recording featured background vocals by George Jones and the session's producer Bill Hall, who provided the "American Indian Chant" It was No. 1 for three weeks in January 1960 on the Billboard 100 in the United States. The song also reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart and New Zealand in 1960:
 
Teen Angel is a tragedy song written by Jean Dinning and her husband, Red Surrey. It was performed by Jean's brother, Mark Dinning, and released in October 1959 on POLYDOR Records. The record was not an instant success, with some radio stations in the U.S. banning the song, regarding it too sad. Nevertheless, despite the reluctance of radio stations, the song continued to climb the charts. In the last week of 1959, the single jumped from #100 to #50 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It went finally reach #1 on the U.S. in February of 1960 and #37 in the UK Singles Chart --- though it was banned from being played by the BBC.
 
I'M SORRY was a hit song by 15-year-old American singer Brenda Lee. It peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in July 1960. The song—a fixture on many country oldies programs was never actually released as a country single. It is now regarded as an early example of the new Nashville sound, a style emphasizing stringed-instrumental sound with background vocals:
 
IT'S NOW OR NEVER by Elvis Presley would gain the 7th place in 1960. This would reamain Presley's biggest international single ever. Its British release was delayed for some time because of rights issues, allowing the song to build up massive advance back order. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number one, a very rare event.
"It's Now or Never" is one of two popular songs based on the Italian song of the O SOLE MIO (music by Eduardo di Capua); the other being THERE'S NO TOMORROW, recorded Tony Martin in 1949, inspiring Presley's version. In the late 1950s, while stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army, Presley heard Martin's recording. It is also likely that he was inspired because of his fondness for Mario Lanza who had first popularized "'O Sole Mio" to American audiences and who died in 1959 -- a year before IT'S NOW OR NEVER was recorded:
 
Jimmy Jones had a very happy upbeat song in 1960 titled HANDYMAN on CUB Records. The song is noted for Jones singing "Come-a, come-a come-a come-a, come come-a, yeah" lyrics, which are heard through the beginning, and in the coda of the song, before the song's fade out.

It was originally recorded by The Sparks Of Rhythm, a group Jones had been a member of when he wrote it. He was not with them when they recorded it in a minor key. When Jimmy Jones recorded it, the song was changed to a major key, with a melody change. In 1959, Jones recorded the song himself, in a version which had been reworked by Blackwell. Additionally, Blackwell also provided the whistling. And the song became a sensation by 1960.
James Taylor would revive the song in 1977:
 
STUCK ON YOU by Elvis Presley was his first hit single after his two-year stint in the US Army ---- reaching number one in 1960 in the US after being recorded in March. This song knocked Percy Faith's Theme from A Summer Place"from the top spot, ending its nine-week runaet number one on the chart. This would be Presley's 13th hit overall:
 
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