"Twist and Shout" is a 1961 song written by Phil Medley and Bert Berns. It was originally recorded by the Top Notes, but it did not become a hit in the record charts until it was reworked by the Isley Brothers in 1962. The song has been covered by several artists, including the Beatles, Salt-N-Pepa, The Astronauts and Chaka Demus & Pliers, who experienced chart success with their versions.
"Lady Marmalade" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan that is famous for the French refrain of "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?", which is a sexual proposition that translates into English as: "Do you want to sleep with me, tonight?" The song first became a popular hit when it was recorded in 1974 by the American funk rock group Labelle and held the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week, and also topped the Canadian RPM national singles chart. In 2021, the Library of Congress selected Labelle's version for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
"Delta Dawn" is a song written by musician Larry Collins and country songwriter Alex Harvey. The first notable recording of the song was in 1971 by American singer and actress Bette Midler for her debut album The Divine Miss M. However it is best known as a 1972 top ten country hit for Tanya Tucker and a 1973 US number one hit for Helen Reddy.
Smith was an American rock band formed in 1969 in Los Angeles, California. They had a blues-based sound and scored a Top 5 hit in the United States in 1969 with the Burt Bacharach song "Baby It's You", featuring Gayle McCormick on lead vocals. The record sold over one million copies between July and October 1969, out-charted popular versions by the Beatles and the Shirelles, and was awarded a gold record by the Recording Industry Association of America.
"Chains" is a rhythm and blues song written by husband-and-wife songwriting team Gerry Goffin and Carole King. It was a hit for the American girl group the Cookies in 1962 and for the English rock band the Beatles, who recorded the song for their debut album in 1963. King recorded a solo version of "Chains" for her 1980 album Pearls: Songs of Goffin and King.
"The Loco-Motion" is a 1962 pop song written by American songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King. "The Loco-Motion" was originally written for R&B singer Dee Dee Sharp, but Sharp turned the song down.
"Sloop John B" is a Bahamian folk song from Nassau. A transcription was published in 1916 by Richard Le Gallienne, and Carl Sandburg included a version in his The American Songbag in 1927. There have been many recordings of the song since the early 1950s, with variant titles including "I Want to Go Home" and "Wreck of the John B".
"Oh No Not My Baby" is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. The song's lyrics describe how friends and family repeatedly warn the singer about a partner's infidelities. The song is regarded as an American standard due to its long-time popularity with both music listeners and recording artists.
"Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" is an uptempo, strophic story song written by American folk rock singer Jim Croce. Released as part of his 1973 album Life and Times, the song was a No. 1 hit for him, spending two weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1973. Billboard ranked it as the No. 2 song for 1973.
"Rhythm of the Rain" is a song performed by The Cascades, released in November 1962 in the US and on January 25, 1963 in the UK. It was written by Cascades band member John Claude Gummoe. On March 9, 1963, it rose to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and spent two weeks at number 1 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart. Billboard ranked the record as the number 4 song of 1963.
"Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)" is a song written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector. It first became a popular top five hit single for the American girl group the Crystals in 1963. American teen idol Shaun Cassidy recorded the song in 1977 and his version hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. There have also been many other cover versions of this song, including one by the songwriters Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich themselves, performing as the Raindrops.
"The Game of Love" is a 1964 song by Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, first released as a single from the band's titular album in January 1965 in the United Kingdom, followed by the United States one month later as "Game of Love". The song reached Number 2 on the UK Singles chart and Number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 that year. The song also spawned multiple successful cover versions, including a version by Ian "Tex Pistol" Morris that was a Number 1 hit in New Zealand in 1987. The song was also adapted into French by Frank Gérald as "Quand tu es là" and was recorded by French pop singer Sylvie Vartan, first in July 1965 as the second single off of her 1966 studio album "Il y a deux filles en moi" that was a hit in French-speaking Belgium, followed by a re-recording in 1990, released as a non-album single, that was a minor hit in France.
"Oh, Pretty Woman", or simply "Pretty Woman", is a song recorded by Roy Orbison and written by Orbison and Bill Dees. It was released as a single in August 1964 on Monument Records and spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 from September 26, 1964, making it the second and final single by Orbison to reach number one in the United States. It was also Orbison's third single to top the UK Singles Chart, where it spent three weeks at number one.
"Love or Let Me Be Lonely" is a pop song recorded by the soul group The Friends of Distinction and released as a single in early 1970. The song was a multi-format success, peaking in the Billboard Hot 100 at #6 on May 1, 1970. It reached #13 on the R&B chart. On the Adult Contemporary singles charts, "Love or Let Me Be Lonely" went to #9. The song is ranked as No. 63 on the Hot 100 singles of 1970.
"Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)" is a 1961 pop song by the American singer Sue Thompson. The song was written by John D. Loudermilk and was released as Thompson's debut single, from her Hickory Records debut album Meet Sue Thompson. The song also spawned multiple successful cover versions.
"Tender Years" is a song written by American country music artist George Jones and Darrell Edwards, recorded and released in 1961. It became Jones' second #1 country hit. The song also spawned two successful foreign language versions two years later in 1963, First in French by Johnny Hallyday, and in Dutch by singer and actress Willeke Alberti, being adapted from the former French version. Both versions have been covered by many others since.
"Gee Baby" is a song originally released by the duo Joe & Ann. It was co-written by Joe Joseph and Alvin Tyler, arranged and produced by Tyler, and recorded in New Orleans, possibly with Mac Rebennack on keyboards. Released as a single in 1959, it peaked at no. 14 on U.S. Billboard's R'n'B chart, called Hot R&B Sides at the time.
"Irrésistiblement" ("Irresistibly") is a song by French pop singer Sylvie Vartan, released in July 1968. Co-written by Jean Renard and Georges Aber, the song was released as the lead single off of Vartan's 1968 studio album La Maritza. The song was also adapted into multiple other languages, most notably in Italian as "Irresistibilmente".
"La Maritza" is a song by Sylvie Vartan from her 1968 album Sylvie Vartan. It was also released as an EP and as the second single off of said album.
"Sha La La" is a song written by Robert Mosely and Robert Taylor. The Shirelles released the original version of the song as a single in March 1964 in the US, reaching #15 on the U.S. R&B chart and #69 on the U.S. pop chart. A cover by the British pop group Manfred Mann would follow that October, being the most notable version of the song, reaching Number 3 on the UK Singles Chart and Number 12 on both the U.S. pop chart and the RPM charts in 1965. Around the same time as the release of Manfred Mann's version, the song was adapted into French by Georges Aber and performed by French pop singer Sylvie Vartan, whose version was released as a single in October 1964 and reached Number 14 on the French Belgian charts.
