Musical Diary: June 1965

After singing with The Thunderbirds, Normie Rowe became a regular on TV and with his new backing group The Playboys have their first OZ hit “It Ain’t Necessarily So”. They would follow up with the OZ biggest seller of 1965 Doris Day’s “Que Sera Sera” backed by a cover of the Johnny Kidd & The Pirates’ “Shakin’ All Over”. After a brief spell in the UK he returned to do National Service in Vietnam but with his return to civilian life found it hard to regain the profile of his early career. His other Australian hits were “Tell Him I’m Not Home”; “The Breaking Point”; “Ya-Ya”; “It’s Not Easy”; “Oh-La-La”; “Pride And Joy”; and “The Stones That I Throw”.

Dusty Springfield records an EP titled “Mademoiselle Dusty”, with versions of “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?”, “Summer Is Over”, “Losing You”, and “Stay Awhile”, all sung in French.

On the 12^th it is announced that Queen Elizabeth will honour The Beatles with MBE’s on her birthday honours list. Bob Dylan records “Like A Rolling Stone” in the USA on the 15th, this is a six minute track which featured the talents of Mike Bloomfield on guitar and Al Kooper on keyboards.

On the 17^th Elvis Presley has his first UK number one in two years with “Crying In The Chapel”.

The Uxbridge Blues and Folk Festival took place on the 19^th. Participating artists include Marianne Faithful, The Spencer Davis Group, The Who, The John Mayall Bluesbreakers, and Long John Baldry.

Alan Smith of the UK based musical bible New Musical Express assessing the impact made by The Who, quotes “There’s a sort of vicious strangeness about these four boys from Shepherd’s Bush, they talk happily about the way Pete Townshend smashes his guitar into the amps when the mood takes him”. With their Carnaby Street clothes, The Who have emerged as the iconic mod band. Along with Townsend we had vocalist Roger Daltrey, strutting around the stage, bassist John Entwistle, the fulcrum around whom all the madness went on and drummer Keith “the loon” Moon. Already they have had two top 10 hits “I Can’t Explain”, and “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere”. Then followed a string of top ten hits – “My Generation”, “Substitute”, “Happy Jack”, “I Can See For Miles”, and in 1969 they wrote and produced the rock opera “Tommy”.

Manchester based The Hollies have their first UK #1 with “I’m Alive”.

The top ten in Australia for June 1965

1. Mrs Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter – Hermans Hermits
2. Crying In The Chapel – Elvis Presley
3. A World Of Our Own – The Seekers
4. Pride / Say It Again – Ray Brown & The Whispers
5. Ticket To Ride – The Beatles
6. Mission Bell – J. Proby
7. Catch The Wind – Donovan
8. It Ain’t Necessarily So – Normie Rowe
9. Do The Clam – Elvis Presley
10. Mr Tambourine Man – The Byrds

The number ones in the UK for June 1965

5^th, 12^th – Long Live Love – Sandie Shaw

19^th – Crying In The Chapel – Elvis Presley

26^th – I’m Alive – The Hollies

In the USA

5^th – Help Me Rhonda – The Beach Boys

12^th – Back In My Arms Again – The Supremes

19^th – I Can’t Help Myself – The Four Tops

26^th – Mr Tambourine Man – The Byrds

In Australia

5^th – Mrs Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter – Hermans Hermits

12^th – Pride / Say It Again – Ray Brown & The Whispers

19^th, 26^th – Crying In The Chapel – Elvis Presley

To write for Starts at 60 and potentially win a $20 voucher, send your articles to our Community Editor here.