The charts 1969

It is often said that our generation was lucky to grow up with the music we did – and it’s true.

The other day I happened to have my radio pre-tuned to Boom. When I switched it on, the Australian DJ was playing the charts of late 1969 and I was amazed what good music it was.

There were four songs I remembered vividly:-

•  Major Tom/David Bowie
• He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother/The Hollies
• Something Stupid/Frank and Nancy Sinatra 
• Je t’Aime /Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin 

Each song has a distinctive melody and identity.

Major Tom featured an astronaut returning to earth when the singer and composer David Bowie was literally ‘spaced out’ .

He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother was arguably the Hollies’ best number.

 Something Stupid was a charming duet by father and daughter Sinatra

Je t’Aime was a daring song in which Jane Birkin breaths heavily as if having an orgasm. It was the first overseas song to reach Number One in the charts and sold 3 million copies.

In those heady days of the Sixties, in which most of us were still virgins, it was always the sign-off,  slow “grope-your-partner” number.

I am not sufficiently conversant with current pop music – with its streaming and videos – to assess how it compares, but I doubt that in 55 years’ time  a listener would be as impressed as I was with the music of 1969.