(On ’60s Sunshine Pop)
Like any other decade that followed it, the 1960s was an exciting time for catchy, melodic, often-orchestrated, and generally positively worded Pop songs that are also steeped with rich and playful vocal harmonies. Described now as Sunshine/Psychedelic Pop, the mid- to late-’60s works of The Beatles (“Here Comes the Sun”), The Beach Boys (“Here Comes the Night”), The Monkees (“Daydream Believer”), and The Zombies (“Time of the Season”) were just tips of the genre’s iceberg.
Here is a list of more songs that made the ’60s sunny and shiny. Take time to check them out on YouTube. You may even buy CDs of the albums containing these tracks online, if you’re really interested. For sure, you might have already heard some of them. If in case not yet, then they will surely be a sweet delight to your ears, especially in the currently warm, bright, and breezy season.
Arch of Triumph – “Sunshine and You”
The Association – “Along Comes Mary”
The Blades of Grass – “Happy”
The Buckinghams – “Pitied Be the Dragon Hunter”
The Byrds – “Turn! Turn! Turn!”
The Cowsills – “The Rain, the Park & Other Things”
Cryan’ Shames – “It Could Be We’re in Love”
Dusty Springfield – “Chained to a Memory”
Eternity’s Garden – I Wanna Be with You”
The Fifth Dimension – “Up, Up and Away”
The Five Americans – “Western Union”
The Free Design – “Kites Are Fun”
The Gordian Knot – “The Year of the Sun”
Harpers Bizarre – “Happy Talk”
Herman’s Hermits – “There’s a Kind of Hush (All over the World”
The Hollies – “Rainbow on the Window”
Kaleidoscope – “Egyptian Gardens”
The Lemon Pipers – “Green Tambourine”
Love – “Alone Again Or”
The Love Generation – “Groovy Summertime”
The Lovin’ Spoonful – “She Is a Mystery”
The Magic Mushrooms – “Let the Rain Be Me”
Manfred Mann – “Ha! Ha! Said the Clown”
The Millennium – “Just About the Same”
The Peanutbutter Consporacy – “Peter Pan”
Peppermint Rainbow – “Will You Be Staying after Sunday?”
The Peppermint Trolley Company – “Beautiful Sun”
Petula Clark – “Downtown”
Piccadilly Line – “Emily Small”
Pink Floyd – “Arnold Layne”
Roger Nichols & the Small Circle of Friends – “Love So Fine”
The Rooftop Singers – “Kites”
Sagittarius – “You Know I’ve Found a Way”
Sandie Shaw – “Hold ‘Im Down”
The Sandpipers – “Come Saturday Morning”
The Settlers – “Major to Minor”
The Shirelles – “Last Minute Miracle”
Simon Dupree & the Big Sound – “Broken-Hearted Pirates”
Spanky and Our Gang – “Sunday Will Never Be the Same”
Strawberry Alarm Clock – “Incense and Peppermints”
The Sundowners – “Always You”
The Sunshine Company – “Happy”
Tinkerbell’s Dust – “Lazy Days”
The Tokens – “I Hear Trumpets Below”
Tommy James & the Shondells – “I Think We’re Alone Now”
The Turtles – “Happy Together”
Vanity Fair – “I Live for the Sun”
The Walker Brothers – “Evefything under the Sun”
The Yellow Balloon – “Stained Glass Window”
Final Note
This may be a lot already, but there’s actually more where they came from. All you need to do is to bask where the sun shines. Dig, explore, listen, and delight! Music is life!
