Best Song: Ronettes - Be My Baby
There's little doubt that The Beatles influenced many musicians in 1963 but the record I've picked for the best song is one that's said to have influenced The Beatles amongst others. It was the Top 40 debut and biggest hit for the Ronettes and was quite revolutionary at the time.
Worst Song: Dora Bryan - All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle
This was the only Christmas record in the Christmas Top 40 in 1963 and The Beatles are being influential once again but for the wrong reasons. It's a novelty record by an actress so is supposed to be shit really.
Top 40 Review
Let's begin with The Beatles and they were so popular in 1963 that they held the Top 2 positions in the Christmas charts and both records get full marks.
In addition there were 2 further Lennon/McCartney compositions in the Top 40. There was the Rolling Stones cover of "I Wanna Be Your Man" and there was "I'll Keep You Satisfied" by Billy J Kramer And The Dakotas which Lennon/McCartney wrote for them. Again full marks here.
The "Beat" sound was dominating the charts with fellow Liverpool bands Gerry And The Pacemakers, The Searchers and Swinging Blue Jeans all having hits. There were also bands from outside of Liverpool but were part of that scene such as Freddie And The Dreamers in the Top 40.
You even had the likes of Adam Faith and Kathy Kirby jumping on the "Beat" bandwagon. The latter did a cover of "Secret Love" by Doris Day that I'd never heard before. It wasn't what I was expecting and I was pleasantly surprised by it.
The only "Beat" record not to score points was "I Can Dance" by Brian Poole And The Tremeloes. They had previously topped the charts with a poor cover of "Do You Love Me" by The Contours and this follow up basically sounded the same.
There were still older artists in the Top 40 sticking to their tried and tested formula, with Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard and Shirley Bassey scoring zero points. However there was a posthumous hit from Buddy Holly which I like.
A strong contender for the best song was Gene Pitney with "24 Hours From Tulsa" which is arguably his best known record.
The first soap actor to have a Top 40 hit was in this chart. It came from Coronation Street actor Chris Sandford with "Not Too Little - Not Too Much" and it's actually not bad.
Perhaps the most baffling record in the Top 40 was "At The Palace (Parts 1 And 2) " by Wilfred Brambell And Harry H Corbett. It's not music, it's a recorded comedy sketch. I can understand people buying it, especially at a time when home video wasn't really a thing. Why it got in the music charts though I don't know and as it's about the music I can't really give it any points.
This has been by far the Christmas Top 40 I've enjoyed the most so far and we end up with a pretty outstanding score.
Score: 24
Table
Not only does the 1963 Christmas charts beat the best year chart by some distance, it also sits at the top miles ahead of 2nd and in the best year search only 1969 and 1995 got a better score:
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