1964
. . .My first guitar wasn't exactly the best thing on the market (an accoustic 6-string called a "Playtime"™ - a surprise 13th birthday present my parents bought me at a pawn shop in Columbus) but I was thrilled to finally have my very own guitar, nevertheless. The strings felt like they were an inch from the fret board and my fingers literally bled as I began learning chords from my Nick Manoloff chord chart. The very first song I learned all the way through was "Louie, Louie" by the Kingsmen (no chords, just single notes on the E string) My first recording session was conducted at my friend, Bob Burn's house not long afterwards. I can still remember that recording, done on a portable reel-to-reel tape recorder with a single ceramic microphone complete with my friend's drum kit: at the very end of the recording Bob hollers jubilantly "We did it!" Yes folks, we really had done it: a two minute recording of "da-da-da...da-da, da-da-da-...da-da" repeated over and over on one string for two uninterupted minutes with percussion!
In the meantime, the British Invasion was in full force with Beatles tunes playing on AM radio most of the time and songs from other British bands like The Kinks and The Dave Clark Five playing the rest of the time. Egads! Was it ever great being a kid back then! And all I wanted at that point in time was to get into a band just like a lot of the other guys in town were doing. Of course, that meant getting an electric guitar and an amp...
A rare 45: a recording of "My Bonnie" by The Beatles with Tony Sheridan (their 1st record!)
Songs from 1964 (chart positions in Billboard):
Ain't She Sweet - The Beatles (#19)
All Day And All Of The Night - The Kinks (#7)
And I Love Her - The Beatles (#12)
Baby Love - The Supremes (#1)
Baby, I Need Your Lovin' - Four Tops (#11)
Bad to Me - Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas (#9)
Because - The Dave Clark Five (#3)
Bits And Pieces - The Dave Clark Five (#4)
Bread and Butter - The Newbeats (#2)
She Loves You - The Beatles (#1)
She Understands Me - Johnny Tillotson (#31)She's a Woman - The Beatles (#4)
She's Not There - The Zombies (#2)
California Sun - The Rivieras (#5)
Can't Buy Me Love - The Beatles (#1)
Chug-a-Lug - Roger Miller (#9)
Come A Little Bit Closer - Jay & The Americans (#3)
Come See About Me - The Supremes (#1)
Dance, Dance, Dance - The Beach Boys (#8)
Dancing in the Street - Martha & The Vandellas (#2)
Dang Me - Roger Miller (#7)
Dawn (Go Away) - The 4 Seasons (#3)
Dead Man's Curve - Jan & Dean (#8)
Dear Heart - Andy Williams (#24)
Do I Love You? - The Ronettes (#34)
Do Wah Diddy Diddy - Manfred Mann (#1)
Do You Love Me - The Dave Clark Five (#11)
Do You Want to Know a Secret - The Beatles (#2)
I Saw Her Standing There - The Beatles (#14)
I Wanna Love Him So Bad - The Jelly Beans (#9)Thank You Girl - The Beatles (#35)
That Lucky Old Sun - Ray Charles (#20)
That's the Way Boys Are - Lesley Gore (#12)
That's What Love Is Made of - The Miracles (#35)
Think - Brenda Lee (#25)
Three Window Coupe - The Rip Chords (#28)
Time Is on My Side - The Rolling Stones (#6)
Tobacco Road - The Nashville Teens (#14)
I Want To Hold Your Hand - The Beatles (#1)
A very rare 45: an early Beatles single on Vee-Jay Records
