Spitball Army

It was 1960.

Approximate playing time: 79 minutes.

1. Percy Faith and his Orchestra  “Theme from A Summer Place”
2. Fats Domino  “Walking to New Orleans”
3. The Everly Brothers  “So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)”
4. Frank Sinatra  “Nice ‘N’ Easy”
5. Hank Ballard & the Midnighters  “Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go”
6. Chuck Berry  “Thirteen Question Method”
7. Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs  “Stay”
8. Brian Hyland  “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini”
9. Tony Bennett  “The Best Is Yet to Come”
10. Bobby Darin  “Beyond the Sea”
11. Dinah Washington  “Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes)”
12. Carla Thomas  “Gee Whiz”
13. Ben E. King  “Spanish Harlem”
14. Jerry Orbach, from the Broadway cast of The Fantasticks  “Try to Remember”
15. Brenda Lee  “I’m Sorry”
16. Etta James  “At Last”
17. Don Gibson  “Sweet Dreams”
18. Patsy Cline  “I Fall to Pieces”
19. The Drifters  “Save the Last Dance for Me”
20. Jerry Butler  “He Will Break Your Heart”
21. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles  “Shop Around”
22. Chubby Checker  “The Twist”
23. The Regents  “Barbara Anne”  [with Wolfman Jack outro]
24. Barrett Strong  “Money”
25. Elvis Presley  “It’s Now or Never”
26. Julie London  “Black Coffee”
27. Ray Charles  “Georgia on My Mind”
28. Joan Baez  “All My Trials”
29. The Shirelles  “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?”

Some notes on the songs:

• Percy Faith’s “Theme from A Summer Place” was the number one song on the Billboard pop charts on the day I was born.
• I’ve included Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” on this playlist, but he also released “The Hucklebuck” in 1960. Friends of mine know that I frequently mention “The Hucklebuck” – the Chubby Checker version, specifically – as one of my top three or top five favorite songs of all time. And I hadn’t heard it – consciously – until the last decade.
• Question Number One (“Let’s have some fun.”) is not a question at all. It is a statement.