One of one hundred, 1964 

Songs that entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #100 are obviously at a huge disadvantage when it comes to getting airplay and selling records, but a few become unlikely success stories or just have an interesting narrative around them. Here are ten such records from 1964, listed by song title, artist and date it entered the Hot 100.  

The Son of Rebel Rouser-Duane Eddy (1/4/64), Mo Onions-Booker T & the MGs (2/22/64), Can’t Get Over (The Bossa Nova) – Eydie Gorme (8/29/64): If sequels can work in the movies, why not popular music? Because they don’t, unless it’s a follow-up to a monster dance record like The Twist (Chubby Checkers’ Let’s Twist Again in 1961 went to #8). The records by Duane Eddy and Booker T & the MGs kinda sound like Rebel Rouser and Green Onions while being just different enough. Can’t Get Over (The Bossa Nova) doesn’t sound at all like Blame It On The Bossa Nova, and it’s a pretty good record, written by Gorme and Steve Lawrence, but doomed to chart oblivion by the British Invasion. 

Charade – Andy Williams (1/18/64): A reminder that movie soundtracks used to feature an original song that performers like Williams would take hold of, singing them countless times on TV until they felt like songs that had somehow existed since the beginning of time. See also: Somewhere My Love (Dr. Zhivago), The Windmills of Your Mind (The Thomas Crown Affair), The Shadow of Your Smile (The Sandpiper), Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). 

People – Barbra Streisand (4/4/64): What’s fascinating about this record, aside from entering the chart at #100 and going all the way to #5, is the rumor that the song was originally intended for Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol 1962 cartoon special – all were written by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill. Had People been included -- you can almost envision it as something the reformed Scrooge would sing on Christmas morning -- it might have lifted the cartoon into the holiday classic realm of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or Charlie Brown’s Christmas. Then again, if you’ve seen Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol, maybe not. 

A World Without Love – Bobby Rydell (5/9/64): Paul McCartney wrote A World Without Love, decided it wasn’t good enough for the Beatles (maybe because the first line, “Please lock me away,” put John Lennon in hysterics), and gave it to his girlfriend’s brother Peter Asher, who along with Gordon Waller, took it to #1. Bobby Rydell’s cover was popular enough that in Rydell’s hometown Philadelphia, the local charts paired the two versions as they reached #1 together. Billboard’s competitor Cash Box also listed the two records in tandem for a while before Rydell’s version was dropped. On its own nationally, Rydell’s A World Without Love went to #80. 

No Particular Place To Go – Chuck Berry (5/23/64): Chuck Berry gets a case of what used to be known as “blue balls” when he drives his girlfriend drive out to the “Kokomo” to neck, but can’t unfasten her seatbelt, which sort of messes up his master plan. The Kokomo, wherever that is, was also where Sandy was last seen, “parked with lover boy.” Fun Fact: After Saab introduced seat belts as standard equipment in 1958, other automakers followed. 

It’s All Over Now – Rolling Stones (7/25/64): A record that makes the argument that Murray the K wasn’t the Fifth Beatle as he always proclaimed, but the Sixth Stone. He played the Valentino’s original of It’s All Over Now for the Stones and nine days later they recorded it themselves. It stayed on the charts for ten weeks, peaking at #26. 

You’re No Good – Swinging Blue Jeans (8/1/64): The best version of You’re No Good is the original by Dee Dee Warwick in 1961. Raw in a good way like many of those old R&B records, with the lead and background vocals overmodulated and a brief, fuzzy guitar break. Betty Everett’s 1963 cover is more Motownish, but she keeps the same voodoo drums from the original, similar to Marvin Gaye’s I Heard It Through the Grapevine. Linda Ronstadt took her version to #1, as her producer Peter Asher (him again) sanded off the roughness and lacquered on a 1970s production sheen from Andrew Gold’s impeccable guitar solo to the violins that slide the song into the fade. This cover by third-tier British Invaders the Swinging Blue Jeans isn't a match for any of them. 

It Ain’t Me Babe – Johnny Cash (10/31/64): I thought this may have been the first Bob Dylan song to hit the charts, but that was Peter, Paul & Mary’s cover of Blowin’ In the Wind (#2 in 1963). Cash and Dylan were mutual admirers of each other’s work; Dylan appeared on Cash’s TV show and Cash wrote the liner notes for Dylan’s Nashville Skyline album. In 1965, The Turtles had a breakthrough hit single of the song, which reached #8.