On The Silly Side by Jimmy Del Ponte

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I peeped into a colleague’s office to say hi last week and we got on the subject of the songs of 1966. We were both 13 years old back then and we couldn’t believe all the great songs that came out that year.

As we all know, hearing a song unleashes thoughts, feelings and memories that cannot be described but send us someplace very special. Here are just a few of the songs of 1966: 96  Tears, Summer In The City, See You In September, Gloria, Black is Black, Yellow Submarine, The Sounds of Silence, Barbara Ann, Time Won’t Let Me, 19th Nervous Breakdown, Shapes of Things, Wipe Out, Dirty Water, Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, Homeward Bound and many more classic hits. Google “top songs of 1966” and you will be blown away. That is if you are in that special age group that will appreciate it.

A great memory is a summer day long ago and three friends in my back yard with guitars plucking out Gloria’s three chords, E, D and A. Summer In The City will always remind me of just that. The nights listening to our transistor radios while trying to ignore the rattling of those metal fans that merely blew hot air in your face.

It brings me back to the days of “buck buck,” bicycles, and dad whistling for us to come in at night. Sometimes I refer to those special days as “back when everyone was still alive.” 1965 was a good year too. It was when Petula Clark’s hit Downtown was the very first song I ever learned on the guitar. Downtown also reminds me of taking the bus into Boston with my father. The buses back then had those thick comfortable overstuffed seats. They were replaced by those annoying hard plastic jobs.

Later in 1969, the song Cherry Hill Park came out and it always reminded of my friends from Belmont Park. Born To Be Wild by Steppenwolf came out in 1968 and instantly became the anthem for anyone with a motorcycle.  But just the title was something my friends and I could relate to because we were in fact wild. We had hair down to our shoulders, we wore dungarees and dungaree jackets and we were hippies. Several of my friends eventually bought  motorcycles and still ride to this day.

By 1966 we were already neck deep in Beatlemania. As they used to say on the radio…and the hits just keep on coming! How can you describe what The Beatles did to us? They changed us forever. They provided the musical backdrop for our generation. Listen to She Loves You or I Want To Hold Your Hand and describe all the emotions that you experience. Then you can check out the 1966 contributions such as We Can Work It Out, Paperback Writer, and Nowhere Man.

Somerville was pretty cool back around 1966. There were a lot of local bands that had dreams of stardom. All the great music of the era fueled our aspirations. Later, we would enjoy the success of local bands such as Aerosmith, The J Geils Band, The Cars, and Boston. Play any songs by those groups and you are sure to travel back to another time when you were younger, thinner, hairier, and perhaps single.

There are also many songs that make us sad by stirring up not so pleasant memories. Abraham Martin and John by Dion is one of these tunes. It immediately brings me back to the bus top in front of Somerville High School in June of 1968. That is where I heard the unbelievable and shocking news about the death of Robert F Kennedy. That song will always make me sad.

I know I have written about the heartbreaking, Alone Again Naturally before in this column. That song reduces me to tears every time. As a matter of fact, I usually change the station if it comes on.

New Bedford’s own Tavares sang, Don’t Take Away The Music. If you take away the music, you take away millions of memories. A song is like an airplane because it can take you to exciting and special places.

Ironically, Woman, and Lady Godiva by Peter and Gordon were also on the top 100 Billboard list for 1966. Peter Asher performed Wednesday night at Johnny D’s.