September songs, part five

This entry covers the top ten songs of September 1968, based on a cumulative ranking of each song that hit the top ten that month (10 points for a #1 ranking, 9 points for #2, etc.). 

SEPTEMBER 1968

1. PEOPLE GOT TO BE FREE – Rascals
2. HARPER VALLEY PTA – Jeannie C. Riley
3. LIGHT MY FIRE – Jose Feliciano
4. 1, 2, 3 RED LIGHT – 1910 Fruitgum Company
5. BORN TO BE WILD – Steppenwolf
6. HEY JUDE – Beatles
7. HUSH – Deep Purple
8. THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT – Aretha Franklin
9. FOOL ON THE HILL – Sergio Mendes and Brasil ‘66
10. HELLO I LOVE YOU – Doors 

There was something for everyone on the charts in 1968. Don’t care for the samba of Fool On the Hill when it came on the radio? Sit tight and chances are Deep Purple’s Hush would follow right after it. If you’re someone who needs to categorize into genres, the September top ten offers uplifting blue-eyed soul, a country story-song, flowing easy listening, horny pre-teen bubblegum and biker rock, and that’s just the first five songs. Not to mention three cover versions as well.

Hey Jude entered the charts on Sept. 14 at #10, then settled into the top spot for nine weeks – from the end of summer to Thanksgiving. This was a record with a buzz: the Beatles’ first release on their own label, Apple Records; more than seven minutes long (in the context of 1968, 15 seconds less than MacArthur Park); and word that during the long fadeout Paul utters either “bloody hell” or “fucking hell” when he hits a bum note on the piano. (With headphones, you can only make out “hell”). 

This was the first year that albums outsold singles, 192 million to 187 million, leaving record companies to release singles that did little on the charts since everybody bought the album. For this month, here’s what could be found on Billboard’s Hot 100: Deep Purple’s Hush, Cream’s Sunshine of Your Love, the Who’s Magic Bus, Moody Blues’ Tuesday Afternoon, the Stones’ Street Fighting Man, Chamber Brothers’ Time Has Come Today, Iron Butterfly’s In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Big Brother’s Piece of My Heart, Vanilla Fudge’s You Keep Me Hangin’ On and Jimi Hendrix’ All Along the Watchtower. If you play the longer album versions of Iron Butterfly and the Chambers Brothers, that’s a solid two hours of programming on any classic rock station. 

Maybe the only time the producers of Mad Men slipped up with the soundtrack was in an episode that took place in 1968. Don Draper and few others from the agency visit a hip Hollywood party where Don gets zonked smoking hash and the music playing during the party is … Harper Valley PTA? Unless, of course, the idea was to draw a subtle parallel between the private lives of the employees of Cooper Sterling and the citizens of Harper Valley.