A Change is Gonna ComeSam Cooke
A Change is Gonna Come
1964 · From Portrait of a Legend
Cooke wrote it after a motel turned him away, and sang it like a hymn he already knew by heart.
★ 9.7
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1964
Showing 36 songs from 1964
My GirlThe Temptations
My Girl
1964
Smokey Robinson wrote it for his wife Claudette, then handed David Ruffin his first Temptations lead vocal.
★ 9.0
You've Lost That Lovin' FeelinThe Righteous Brothers
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin
1964
Spector printed 3:05 on the label of a 3:45 record, and it became the century's most-played song on American radio.
★ 8.8
Mr. Tambourine Man (Bob Dylan)
1964 · From Bringing It All Back Home
Bruce Langhorne's giant Turkish frame drum gave Dylan the image, and the Byrds' cover turned it into folk rock.
★ 8.4
Dancing in the Street
1964
Gaye co-wrote it and cut an early version; Reeves heard block parties in it and needed two takes.
★ 8.4
House of the Rising SunThe Animals
House of the Rising Sun
1964
Hilton Valentine's arpeggio, one take at De Lane Lea, and four and a half minutes when singles ran two.
★ 8.4
You Really Got MeThe Kinks
You Really Got Me
1964 · From Kinks
Dave Davies took a razor blade to his little Elpico amp's speaker cone, and distortion arrived on British radio.
★ 8.3
Oh, Pretty Woman
1964
Claudette said she was going out, Dees answered that a pretty woman never needs money, and the riff followed.
★ 8.2
The Times They Are A-Changin'
1964 · From The Times They Are A-Changin'
Dylan set out to write an anthem on purpose, borrowing the cadence of Irish and Scottish ballads, and got one.
★ 8.1
A Hard Day's Night
1964 · From A Hard Day's Night
Starr's slip of the tongue supplied the title, and the opening chord is still argued over by musicologists.
★ 7.9
The Girl From IpanemaAstrud Gilberto
The Girl From Ipanema
1964
Never a professional singer, Gilberto sang at the 1963 session because she spoke English; Record of the Year followed.
★ 7.8
Fly Me to the MoonFrank Sinatra
Fly Me to the Moon
1964 · From It Might as Well Be Swing
Howard wrote a waltz; Quincy Jones swung it into four for Basie, and Apollo crews played it in orbit.
★ 7.7
Twist and Shout
1964 · From Please Please Me
Last song of a twelve-hour day, Lennon's throat gone, one usable take, and the Beatles' only million-selling cover.
★ 7.7
Walk On By
1964
A B-side until Murray the K's listeners voted it up, cut live at Bell Sound with Warwick barely raising her voice.
★ 7.5
All Day and All of the NightThe Kinks
All Day and All of the Night
1964
Ray Davies's publisher wanted to sue the Doors over the riff; Davies declined, and the snarl outlived the argument.
★ 7.4
Can't Buy Me Love
1964 · From A Hard Day's Night
Two point one million American advance orders, and behind them a Paris hotel upright where McCartney wrote it.
★ 7.4
Where Did Our Love Go
1964
Holland and Dozier said the Marvelettes turned it down; Ross sang lower over Mike Valvano's foot stomps to number one.
★ 7.4
Don't Worry Baby
1964 · From Shut Down Volume 2
Wilson heard Be My Baby, resolved to answer it, and took the title phrase from his girlfriend Marilyn Rovell.
★ 7.3
Baby Love
1964
Gordy asked for another Where Did Our Love Go, and Holland-Dozier-Holland answered with footstomps, a sax break, and Ross cooing.
★ 7.3
Leader of the Pack
1964 · From Leader of the Pack
Shadow Morton's teenage melodrama, a motorcycle revving through the mix, and a BBC that refused to play it.
★ 7.0
She's Not ThereThe Zombies
She's Not There
1964 · From Begin Here
A minor key, a Hohner Pianet solo, and a debut single Argent wrote to fit Blunstone's upper range.
★ 6.9
How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) (Marvin Gaye)Marvin Gaye
How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) (Marvin Gaye)
1964 · From How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You
Holland-Dozier-Holland gave Gaye a rare uncomplicated love song, and that rolling piano and the Andantes carried it to number six.
★ 6.9
You Never Can TellChuck Berry
You Never Can Tell
1964 · From St. Louis to Liverpool
Written in federal prison, cut at Chess in January 1964, and the happiest wedding song rock and roll made.
★ 6.8
Under the Boardwalk
1964
Rudy Lewis died the night before the session; Johnny Moore took the lead, and the güiro shrugs it all off.
★ 6.8
Everybody Needs Somebody to Love
1964
Burke's own band was at the session, so Tom Dowd cut it, and Burke delivered it as a sermon.
★ 6.7
I Can't Explain
1964
Straightforward Kink copying, by Townshend's own admission, with the Ivy League on harmonies and Shel Talmy at the desk.
★ 6.6
Linus and Lucy
1964
A piano vamp, Budwig's bass, Bailey's drums, taped in San Francisco in 1964 and welded to Peanuts ever since.
★ 6.6
My Guy
1964
Three days after Wells turned twenty-one, Smokey Robinson's tune gave the Motown label its first number one.
★ 6.4
The Way You Look Tonight
1964 · From Sinatra Sings Days of Wine and Roses, Moon River, and Other Academy Award Winners
Kern's melody took the 1936 Academy Award; Nelson Riddle's 1964 arrangement made Sinatra's the most imitated reading.
★ 6.3
Baby I Need Your Loving
1964
Jamerson's bass, Levi Stubbs pleading, Holland-Dozier-Holland at the board, and the Four Tops' first million seller.
★ 6.3
Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)
1964 · From Leader of the Pack
Shadow Morton had never written a hit when he cut this demo, seagull effects and all, to prove he could.
★ 6.0
Cantaloupe Island
1964 · From Empyrean Isles
Hubbard on cornet, Van Gelder engineering, June 1964; Us3 later looped Hancock's vamp into the Top 10.
★ 5.9
Come See About Me
1964
Nella Dodds's cover reached shops first, so Motown rushed theirs out; the Supremes took it to number one.
★ 5.9
Chapel of Love
1964
Red Bird's first single, written by Barry, Greenwich and Spector, and it knocked the Beatles off number one.
★ 5.7
Walking in the Rain
1964 · From Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica
Thunder and lightning cut into the mix, a Mann and Weil melody, and Ronnie daydreaming the boy she hasn't met.
★ 5.5
Time is On My SideIrma Thomas
Time is On My Side
1964
A B-side cut in April 1964, with Jimmy Norman adding lyrics at the session; Jagger later copied her ad-libs.
★ 5.1