September songs, part three 

The look at the hits of September from 1964 to 1968 continues. 

SEPTEMBER 1966

1. YOU CAN’T HURRY LOVE – Supremes
2. SUNSHINE SUPERMAN – Donovan
3. YELLOW SUBMARINE – Beatles
4. SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER – Happenings
5. CHERISH – Association
6. SUMMER IN THE CITY – Lovin’ Spoonful
7. BUS STOP – Hollies
8. LAND OF A 1,000 DANCES – Wilson Pickett
9. SUNNY – Bobby Hebb
10. WORKIN’ IN A COAL MINE – Lee Dorsey 

Of the September songs from 1964 to 1968, this year feels like the weakest. The number one record, “You Can’t Hurry Love,” doesn’t seem all that special today, it’s best feature being its trademark Motown bass line. Otherwise, it’s not unlike the faceless and formulaic “I Hear A Symphony” and “My World Is Empty,” two other Supremes’ songs from around the same time. 

“Summer in the City” is the gem of this top ten, on its way down after sitting at #1 for three weeks in August. Wikipedia says it was released on July 4, 1966, but that seems doubtful. Fittingly, the summer of 1966 was brutal on the East Coast, as New York City recorded a mean daily temperature of 90.3 degrees for July, with a high of 101. The temperature hit 100 four times that summer, still the second-hottest on record. In those golden years before air conditioning became ubiquitous, 2,250 deaths were attributed to the heatwave. 

There’s much to like about “Summer in the City”: The crashing immediacy of John Sebastian’s voice coming out of the blocks as soon as the needle hits the groove. The key line “But at night it’s a different world.” The reference to the Drifters’ “Up on the Roof” in the lyrics. The jazzy piano riff that forms the bridge and plays over the sound of car horns and jackhammers. The racket of guitars and drums – like a summer thunderstorm – before the fadeout. 

“Summer in the City” was the Spoonful’s only number one record, and pretty much their swan song. That May, two members of the band were arrested in California for marijuana possession. Faced with jail and, in the case of Canadian guitarist Zal Yanovsky, deportation, they were coerced into giving the police the name of their source, something nobody did back then. Underground newspapers vilified them, theatres wouldn’t book them and their career was essentially over. 

“Workin’ in a Coal Mine” was mostly a complaint about having to wake up early each morning., leaving the singer exhausted by the time the weekend rolled around. One year later, the Bee Gees would score a Top 20 hit with “New York Mining Disaster, 1941,” about the last moments of a group of miners after the mineshaft they’re working has fallen down around them. Getting up before 5 a.m. didn't seem so bad compared to that.