What is your favorite oldies song?

Question

I'd like to make a new play list of music from the 50s, 60s...maybe 70s. I have a few, but would appreciate any input, thanks! :)

Answer 1

i like a lot of the beatles and abba songs and a couple of others but i dont really have a fave. old songs are the best :]

Answer 2

My favorite upbeat song is Little Darlin' by the Diamonds. My favorite ballads from this era are Stand By Me by Ben E. King and My Prayer by the Platters.

Most of the songs listed below date from 1955 to 1970 but a few of them are a wee bit later than that.  

If you like love ballads, download some songs from the Platters, the greatest ballad group ever. Just my opinion but I think there are very few people who know the Platters and their great songs would disagree with me.

The greatest of the great Platter songs:

The Platters - Only You (And You Alone)

The Platters - I'm Sorry

The Platters – The Great Pretender

The Platters - My Prayer

The Platters - On My Word Of Honor

The Platters - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

The Platters - Twilight Time

The Platters - You'll Never, Never Know

If you like ballads that are a little bit up tempo, you can’t get much better than the Drifters:

The Drifters - Dance With Me

The Drifters - (If You Cry) True Love, True Love

The Drifters - This Magic Moment

The Drifters - There Goes My Baby

The Drifters - Save The Last Dance For Me

The Drifters - Some Kind Of Wonderful

The Drifters - Under The Boardwalk

The Drifters - Up On The Roof

The girl groups of this era were also good: Martha and the Vandellas, The Shirelles, The Crystals, The Chiffons, The Ronettes, The Marvelettes, The Supremes and the Angels.

Some other of my personal favorite oldies from this era (but YMMV):

Ben E. King - Stand By Me

Barrett Strong - Money (That's What I Want)

Bobby 'The Polish Prince' Vinton - Please Love Me Forever

Chuck Berry - Johnny B Goode

Chuck Berry – Almost Grown

Danny & The Juniors - At The Hop

Del Shannon - Runaway

Dion - Donna The Prima Donna

Dion - Love Came To Me

Dion - Runaround Sue

Dion & The Belmonts - Where Or When

Dionne Warwick - Anyone Who Had A Heart

Edison Lighthouse - Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)

Fats Domino - Blueberry Hill

Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - Big Girls Don't Cry

Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - Dawn (Go Away)

Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - Rag Doll

Freddy 'Boom Boom' Cannon - Tallahassee Lassie

Freddy 'Boom-Boom' Cannon - Palisades Park

Gene Pitney - Half Heaven Half Heartache

Gene Pitney - It Hurts To Be In Love

Gene Pitney - Only Love Can Break A Heart

Gene Pitney - If I Didn’t Have a Dime (to Play the Jukebox)

Gene Pitney – Every Breath I Take

Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - If You Don't Know Me by Now

Harpers Bizarre - The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)

J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers - Last Kiss

Jackie Wilson - (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher

Jay & The Americans - Cara Mia

Jimmy Jones - Handy Man

Jimmy Jone – Good Timin’

Jimmy Soul - If You Wanna Be Happy (for the Rest of Your Life, Never Make a Pretty Woman Your Wife)

Johnny Rivers - Memphis

Lee Andrews & The Hearts - Long Lonely Nights

Lee Andrews & The Hearts - Teardrops

Left Banke - Walk Away Renee

Lenny Welch - Ebb Tide

Lesley Gore - It's My Party

Lesley Gore - Judy's Turn To Cry

Little Eva - The Loco-Motion

Little Peggy March - Hello Heartache, Goodbye Love

Little Peggy March - I Will Follow Him

Lloyd Price - Personality

Lou Christie - Rhapsody In The Rain

Lou Christie - The Gypsy Cried

Lou Christie - Two Faces Have I

Martha & The Vandellas - Heat Wave

Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine

Mary Wells - My Guy

Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs - Stay

Nathaniel Mayer & The Fabulous Twilights - Village Of Love

Neil Diamond - Solitary Man

Neil Sedaka – Calendar Girl

Neil Sedaka - Oh! Carol

Neil Sedaka - Stairway To Heaven

Nino Tempo & April Stevens - Deep Purple

Paul Revere & The Raiders - Kicks

Peter & Gordon - I Go To Pieces

Phil Phillips & The Twilights - Sea Of Love (the original version)

Question Mark & The Mysterians - 96 Tears

Ral Donner - She's Everything (I Wanted You To Be)

Randy & The Rainbows - Denise

Ricky Nelson - Poor Little Fool

Roy Head & The Traits - Treat Her Right

Roy Orbison - Crying

Roy Orbison - Oh, Pretty Woman

Ruby & The Romantics - Our Day Will Come

Sam Cooke - Chain Gang

Sam Cooke - Cupid

Sam The Sham & The Pharohs - Wooly Bully

Santo & Johnny - Sleepwalk

Seals and Crofts - Summer Breeze

Seeds - Pushin' Too Hard

Skeeter Davis - The End Of The World

Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense and Peppermints

Thurston Harris - Little Bitty Pretty One

Tommy James & The Shondells - Mony Mony

The Angels - My Boyfriend's Back

The Animals - The House Of The Rising Sun

The Association - Cherish

The Beach Boys - 409

The Beach Boys – Surfin’ Safari

The Beau Brummels - Just a Little

The Cadillacs - Speedo

The Capris - There's A Moon Out Tonight

The Cascades - Rhythm of the Rain

The Chantels - Maybe

The Charts - Deserie

The Chiffons - A Love So Fine

The Chiffons - He's So Fine

The Chiffons - One Fine Day

The Chimes - Once in a While

The Cleftones - Heart and Soul

The Clovers - Love Potion No.9

The Contours - Do You Love Me

The Crests - The Angels Listened In

The Crests - Trouble In Paradise

The Critters - Mr. Dieingly Sad

The Critters - Younger Girl

The Crystals - Da Doo Ron Ron

The Dell-Vikings - Whispering Bells

The Diamonds - Little Darlin'  

The Earls - Remember Then

The Earls - Never

The Edsels - Rama Lama Ding Dong

The Elegants - Little Star

The Elgins - Heaven Must Have Sent You (one of the better, yet lesser known MOTOWN songs by one of its lesser known groups)

The Essex - Easier Said Than Done

The Everly Brothers - Bird Dog

The Exciters - Tell Him

The Five Satins - (I Remember) In the Still of the Night

The Flamingos - I Only Have Eyes For You

The Flamingos - Nobody Loves Me Like You Do

The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup

The Four Tops - I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)

The Grass Roots - Live For Today

The Heartbeats - A Thousand Miles Away

The Isley Brothers - This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)

The Isley Brothers – SHOUT!

The Jarmels - A Little Bit of Soap

The Kalin Twins - When

The Kingsmen - Louie Louie

The Lovin' Spoonful - Summer In The City

The Mama's & The Papa's - California Dreamin'

The Mama's & The Papa's - Monday Monday

The Marcels - Blue Moon

The Marcels - Heartaches

The Marvelettes - Beechwood 4-5789

The Marvelettes - Please Mr. Postman

The Mello-Kings - Tonite, Tonite

The Murmaids - Popsicles & Icicles

The Mystics - Hushabye

The O'Jays - Love Train

The Outsiders - Time Won't Let Me

The Penguins - Earth Angel

The Rays - Silhouettes

The Regents - Barbara Ann (the original)

The Righteous Brothers - You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'

The Rivieras - California Sun

The Rocky Fellers - Killer Joe

The Rolling Stones - Satisfaction

The Ronettes - Be My Baby

The Royal Teens - Believe Me

The Royal Teens - Short Shorts

The Safaris - Image of a Girl

The Sandpipers - Come Saturday Morning

The Sandpipers - Guantanamera

The Schoolboys - Please Say You Want Me

The Searchers - Needles And Pins

The Searchers - Someday We're Gonna Love Again

The Seeds – Pushin’ Too Hard

The Shangri-Las - Leader Of The Pack

The Shields - You Cheated

The Shirelles - (You Say...)Tonight's The Night

The Shirelles - Will You Love Me Tomorrow

The Silhouettes - Get A Job

The Sir Douglas Quintet - She's About a Mover

The Sir Douglas Quintet - Mendocino

The Skyliners - Since I Don't Have You

The Skyliners - This I Swear

The Spaniels - Goodnite Sweetheart, Goodnite

The Springfields - Silver Threads and Golden Needles

The Stone Poneys - Different Drum

The Supremes - Where Did Our Love Go

The Surfaris - Wipeout (instrumental)

The Temptations - My Girl

The Three Degrees - When Will I See You Again

The Tokens - The Lion Sleeps Tonight

The Volumes - I Love You

THEM – Gloria (This song, written by Van Morrison and recorded by his group at the time, THEM, was on the ‘DO NOT PLAY LIST’ of many radio stations when it was released in 1964 because of its sexual innuendo. However, many people who have never heard this song and listen to it today would simply say, “You’re kidding, right?”  And I would say, “No, I’m not.” The Shadows of Knight covered the song but omitted the two short lines of lyrics that caused the original ruckus. The SOK version was more popular as it received wider play but the original version by THEM is, by far, the better of the two. A great song! It ranks #69 (innuendo again:):)???) in the book, ‘The Heart of Rock and Soul, The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made.’



If you want to see a much longer list of mostly 50s & 60s oldies, you may go a previous answer of mine that is about 4/5 down the page at:



http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

For DOO-w*p groups exclusively, go to another previous answer of mine:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Also, check out the following link for oldies by year (and lyrics for many) from 1930 to 1999 and how they fared on the Billboard Charts.  Any songs that peaked on the charts  from #1 to  #5 position (denoted to the right of the song) for any particular year may be worth listening to on YouTube and then downloading if you like it.

http://www.ntl.matrix.com.br/pfilho/html...

You may also want to get a copy of the Dave Marsh’s 1989 earlier referenced book, ‘The Heart of Rock and Soul, The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made.’

Answer 3

Buddy Holly

Everly Brothers

Beatles

Hollies

Byrds

Gordon Lightfoot