My Favorite Things
1961 · From My Favorite Things
Coltrane picked up the soprano saxophone Miles gave him and stretched a Rodgers and Hammerstein waltz past thirteen minutes.
★ 8.1
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1961
Showing 13 songs from 1961
Hit the Road JackRay Charles
Hit the Road Jack
1961
Percy Mayfield mailed it in as an a cappella demo; Margie Hendrix answers Charles line for line.
★ 7.7
I Fall to Pieces
1961 · From Patsy Cline Showcase
Cline resisted the pop polish until Bradley's arrangement and the Jordanaires handed her a first country number one.
★ 7.7
Can't Help Falling in LoveElvis Presley
Can't Help Falling in Love
1961 · From Blue Hawaii
A 1784 French melody rewritten for Blue Hawaii, and the song Presley chose to close his shows for a decade.
★ 7.7
Crying
1961
Cut at RCA Studio B with Floyd Cramer on piano, and Orbison's voice climbing until the room falls away.
★ 7.5
Please Mr. Postman
1961
Marvin Gaye played the drums, Gladys Horton pleaded the lead, and Motown had its first Hot 100 number one.
★ 7.0
The WandererDion
The Wanderer
1961
Ernie Maresca offered it to Nino and the Ebb Tides first; buried as a B-side, it went to number two.
★ 6.7
Back Door ManHowlin' Wolf
Back Door Man
1961 · From Howlin' Wolf
Dixon's title was blues code for adultery, cut by Wolf at Chess and reopened by the Doors in 1967.
★ 6.6
Runaway
1961
Crook hit the A minor to G change onstage in Battle Creek; his homemade Musitron took the solo.
★ 6.4
Runaround Sue
1961
Bell Sound in 1961, the Del-Satins behind him, Ernie Maresca's co-write, and Dion's only American number one.
★ 6.0
Dedicated to the One I Love
1961
Doris Coley's lead flopped on Scepter in 1959; the label reissued it in 1961 and the tenderness finally landed.
★ 5.6
Mama Said
1961
Number four in 1961, with Luther Dixon and Willie Denson turning a mother's shrug into pure reassurance.
★ 4.9