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Him or Me: Who or What to Blame?
A friendship gone wrong
In watching a clip of an old American Bandstand episode this morning, provided by right here, I thrilled yet again to host Dick Clark’s revealing of that week’s Top Ten songs (June 3, 1967). Though the number one song was Aretha Franklin’s well-deserved “RESPECT,” I was more intrigued by the number five song:
Paul Revere and the Raiders’ “Him or Me (What’s It Gonna Be?).”
The Raiders were the house band for Clark’s weekday show from 1965–6, Where the Action Is, so those with anti-Raider bias might think that Clark cooked the Top Ten Books. Was that song ever so popular?
A quick look at Billboard Magazine’s year-end Hot 100 for 1967 tells us that Lulu’s “To Sir With Love” was the number one song for the year, the rest of the Top Five being:
“The Letter” by The Box Tops
“Ode to Billie Joe,” by Bobbie Gentry
“Windy” by The Association
and
“I’m a Believer” by The Monkees.
A nod also to The Doors’ first biggie, “Light My Fire,” which was #6.
Some really cool songs stood out in that year, including The Turtles’ “Happy Together,” my first single, and their “She’d Rather be With Me,”…
