Rant #2,118: (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay With a Young Girl Named Valleri

Fifty years ago today, the country was in tatters.

We had a war in Vietnam that was becoming increasingly unpopular, and at home, we were going through something of a war, too.

There was blood in the streets, and anger on the minds of many, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been murdered.

During times like this, people turn to music to soothe the soul, and that is just what we did during this period 50 years ago, during the week of April 6, 1968.

Sure, in reality, the music that made the charts during this week in 1968 was probably recorded months earlier in 1967, so these tunes could not possibly reflect what was happening in America at the time.

But in times of stress like this period was--one of the most virulent times in our history--this was the music that we listened to.

Topping the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart for the week of April 6, 1968 was a tune that rose to the top in posthumous fashion. "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" was recorded by Otis Redding, who had recently perished in a plane crash. As I have said many times on this blog, I remember riding my bike from one end of my community to the other during this time, and all you heard on the transistor radios that we all used back then was this song. It still reverberates with me to this day, as does that memory.

Following up that song at the No. 2 spot on the charts was "Young Girl" by the Union Gap. We didn't really think about it at the time, but listen to the lyrics of the tune, sung by Gary Puckett; this was a pretty lascivious song at that.

The Monkees had the No. 3 song on the with "Valleri." This is an interesting song in the annals of pop music history, as the song was actually around and played on "The Monkees" TV show way back in 1966, and due to its popularity, it became one of the first widely bootlegged songs in rock history, played on the radio by DJs without an official release. It became such a popular song that it had to be released legitimately, and it became one of the signature tunes of Davy Jones, its lead singer.

The Delfonics came in with smooth soul at No. 4 with "La-La-Means I Love You," followed by yet another hit by Aretha Franklin on the Atlantic Records label, "(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone," at No. 5. When on the Columbia Records label and marketed as a black Barbara Streisand, the singer could not buy at hit, but moving over to Atlantic Records, she had hit after hit after hit for a number of years.

The Box Tops brought Southern-fried bubblegum to the singles charts with another big hit of theirs, "Cry Like a Baby," at No. 6, followed by yet another big song by the Beatles, "Lady Madonna," at No. 7.

Movie tunes have always been popular, and while "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde" was not in the "Bonnie and Clyde" film, it was certainly inspired by that hit film, and Georgie Fame had his biggest stateside hit with that song at No. 8 for the week.

The former No. 1 tune, Paul Mauriat's "Love is Blue," still stayed hot on the chart at No. 9, while rounding out the Top 10 for the week was perhaps one of the most morose songs ever recorded, "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro. This song is regularly listed as one of the worst songs of the pop era, but it was also one of the most popular of that era, too, a week later catapulting to the No. 1 spot on the chart.

The highest debut single on the chart, or the single that made the highest entrance on the Hot 100 chart for that particular week, was "Goodbye Baby (I Don't Want To See You Cry)" by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, the duo who, ironically, also wrote the Monkees' "Valleri." The song broke into the Hot 100 at No. 79, but it only rose to No. 53 before petering out.

The chart's biggest mover, or the single that made the biggest gain upward on the chart from the previous week to this one, was "I Will Always Think About You" by the New Colony Six, which moved from No. 95 to No. 48 this week. The tune by this Chicago-based act would eventually reach No. 22, one of 10 Hot 100 hits for this band, which was hugely popular in the Midwest, a true regional act which only occasionally transferred that success over on the national level.

So there you have it, a very interesting Top 10 for the week, the songs that people were listening to, trying to rationalize all that was happening in the world at the time.

Or were we just listening to these songs because they were simply great tunes?

Honestly, it was probably a mix of the two, but whatever the case, this was the most popular music at the time, a very interesting time in our country's history.

Speak to you again on Monday. I hope you have a great weekend.