Swinging London 64-66 – A WTJU special

For the Rock Fundraising Marathon at WTJU, I programmed and hosted a show entitled Swinging London 64-66. It was an overview of the musical scene of the day, focusing on UK artists (especially those that were bigger in the UK than the US).

It would have been easy to stick with the leaders of the British Invasion – the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and the Who – but those artists have plenty of representation on other stations. This show attempted to show just how diverse the scene really was (by playing lots of groovy music).

 Below in the complete playlist, along with videos for some key tracks. As you can hear, even though a variety of styles were represented, there was something uniquely British about the sound (and what a great sound it was).

We were also luck to have Steve Myers on the broadcast team. At 15 he actually worked for one of the legendary pirate radio stations that presented exciting alternatives to the conservative fare of the BBC. The parallel between that, and WTJU’s relationship with local commercial stations was noted (see the second paragraph above). Steve brought in some sounders from Radio London and Radio Caroline, which we used liberally. If you missed the show, you can still play it from the WTJU archives through 2/30/12. After that, you can just browse these links – you’ll get the flavor of it.

The Swinging London 64-66 playlist:

"Something Better Beginning" - The Kinks
"Little Children" - Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas
"Downtown" - Petula Clark
"Have I the Right" - The Honeycombs
"Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying" - Gerry and the Pacemakers
"Hey Hey Hey" - Chris Farlow & the Thunderbirds


"He's in Town" - Rockin Berries
"High Wire (theme from "Danger Man" - Edwin Astley Orchestra
"Watcha Gonna Do" - Billie Davis
"One Fine Day" - Shel Naylor


"He Who Rides the Tiger" - Patsy Anne Noble
"I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town" - Rod Stewart
"A World Without Love" - Peter and Gordon
"Gimme Some Money" - The Thamesmen
"Snakes and Snails" - Alma Cogan


"Cups and Cakes" - The Thamesmen
"As Tears Go By" - Marianne Faithful
"Its Love I Should Have Tried" - Rick Minas
"I Like It" - Gerry and the Pacemakers
"Sounds Incorporated" - Sound Incorporated
"She Wanted Me" - Tony Jackson


"Something Good" - Herman Hermits
"Go Now" - Moody Blues
"Stop Breaking My Heart" - Tom Jones
"Some Things Just Stay In Your Mind" - Vashti Bunyan


"True Story" - Twice as Much
"Crawling Up a Hill" - John Mayall
 "For Your Love" - Yardbirds
"Tired of Waiting for You" - The Kinks
"When I Think of You" - Twiggy


"Gloria" - Them
 "Sweet and Tender" - The McKinleys
"Tobacco Road" - Nashville Teens
 "When You Walk in the Room" - The Searchers
 "Tin Soldier" - Small Faces



"Somebody Else's Baby" - Samantha Jones
 "Money" - The Beatles
"That's How Strong My Love Is`" - The In Crowd
 "Heart Trouble" - Eyes of Blue


"You Really Have Started something" - Britt
"Get the Money" - Gary Farr and the T Bones
"Make Her Mine" - Hipster Image
"Theme from the Saint" - Original Soundtrack
"Theme from the Avengers" - Original Soundtrack
"That's the Way It's Got to Be" - The Poets
 "You Too Can Be a Beatle" - Polly Perkins


"She Loves You" - The Beatles
"Look Through Any Window" - The Hollies
"Ferry Cross the Mersey" - Gerry and the Pacemakers
"I'm Telling You Now" - Freddie and the Dreamers