Melodramatic songs from the 60s

Some ridiculous (and less ridiculous) songs I madly love

I’m struggling to define the precise vibe I’ve assembled in this playlist. “Melodramatic” is the first word that came to mind, and I’m not sure it’s the right one. But “overly emotional and theatrical” is an apt descriptor for most of the songs I’ve included, so it stuck. 

There was a tendency toward extravagance in 60s music that hasn’t really returned since, at least not in the forms I’m thinking of: exceedingly lush or energetic orchestral instrumentation and (often in the same song) exceedingly emotion-laden vocal performances. I say “exceedingly” because the sonic intensity is greater than the textual content of the lyrics requires. As we’ll see, that juxtaposition often becomes comic. 

But it’s also the case that diva-style pop music as it exists today emerged in the 60s, and male vocalists were putting in more work then than they have in decades. Comic certainly isn’t an accurate way to describe many of the singers who were delivering truly heart-wrenching performances at the time. On the other hand, I didn’t want to exclude them from this list for doing their jobs well, so I’ve also added some more serious music. It was hard to draw a firm dividing line between goofy and genuinely good, so I’ll just give my opinion as I go. 

Mathilde by Scott Walker

This song is the reason I made this playlist. The high drama and completely insane orchestration are so over-the-top that I wasn’t surprised to learn while writing this that it’s actually a translated cover of a Jacques Brel song. French 60s pop was often more bonkers than its English counterpart. However, in this case, Walker outdid Brel without question. If for some reason you’re just reading this and not listening to the music, you must at least listen to this one song, because it defies verbal description.

You might think from the way I’m talking about it that I don’t enjoy Mathilde, but in fact it’s easily one of my favorite songs ever. I adore absurd trumpet flourishes and swooping key changes. I also learned just now that this was the opening track on Walker’s debut album after splitting from the Walker Brothers, and I gotta hand it to anyone who launches a solo career like that. 

Son This Is She by John Leyton

This and the next song were both produced by Joe Meek. There’s a lot that could be said about him and his music, but it would make for a good newsletter post all by itself, so I’m saving it. The short version is, he was an extremely innovative British music producer in the early 60s who had a series of hits but failed to make it really big, and in 1967, after years of drug addiction, he fatally shot his landlady and then himself. 

Despite this tragic end, Meek left behind a pretty stellar body of work, although not much of it is well-known today. In the spectrum of his work, the two songs I’ve picked here are on the more conventional/arguably bad end (hence why I’d like to say more about his really good stuff at another time). Even though this is a fairly straightforward 60s orchestral arrangement, Meek’s obsession with sound is evident in the precise percussion and the haunting wordless female voice that swoops in precisely at the end of the chorus. (That backup vocal is what earned it its spot on this list.)

Something I’ve Got to Tell You by Glenda Collins

Also Meek-produced and also not very representative of his genuine innovations. In this case, it’s the lead singer whose emotional performance gives this song its melodrama, although she’s also supported by the lush arrangement around her. 

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do by Neil Sedaka

This is, I’m sorry to say, also possibly one of my favorite songs of all time. It’s in a similar vein to the previous song – a genuinely fraught moment in a relationship rendered absurd by how over-the-top the vocals are. If it was ever intended to be experienced as a heartfelt breakup song, it utterly failed (at least to my modern ear). But there’s no greater delight than the pseudo-doo wop intro leading into Neil wailing “Don’t take your LOOOOVE–”

Can I Get to Know You Better by The Turtles

Ah, the Turtles, responsible for such deathless lyrics as “Elenore, gee I think you're swell, and you really do me well, you're my pride and joy et cetera.” This one isn’t any better in terms of lyrical prowess, so that combined with the swelling harmonies makes it goofy for sure, albeit still delightful. 

It’s also one of those 60s songs that tips suddenly into creepy territory with the line that goes “it ain’t gonna hurt you,” making the final chorus a little less fun to sing along to. Oh well!

The Tracks Of My Tears by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

If I were to draw a hard line between goofy and serious, it would come here. There’s really nothing weird about the level of emotion in Smokey Robinson’s vocals here, and he delivers them with beautiful sincerity. This isn’t even among the most memorable of the tearjerker breakup songs from this decade, but I put it on the list because it was on AM Gold 1965, a tape my mom played when I was a kid that I partially credit with kicking off my lifelong love of 60s culture. 

The Tears Of A Clown by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

I also put the previous song on here so I could talk about this one. It came out two years after Tracks of My Tears, and it’s essentially the exact same song (man is putting on a happy face but actually it’s all a masquerade because his true love has broken his heart) but with more…clown noises. 

I heard this song via Pure Oldies, my favorite radio station in Ithaca. It plays nothing but music from c. 1957 to 1973, interspersed with taglines like “If you remember when the glaciers formed the Finger Lakes, then this station’s for you!” Sadly it’s completely automated, because I would love to call in and tell them that their biggest fan is a queer 25 year old. Anyway, the first few times I heard Tears of A Clown I hated it because of the clown noises, but watching the music video won me over. The weirdly understated dance moves are a delight (see above). 

Downtown by Petula Clark

Petula Clark has plenty of songs that have the same level of energy as this but just aren’t as good, so they come off as more bizarre, but I genuinely really like this song so I had to put it on. I know I said at the beginning that the defining feature of these songs is excessive emotion, but I think this performance is perfectly suitable for the delight of doing fun things in the big city. This song was also on AM Gold 1965, and also my uncle played it in the car when I was going places with him and my cousin as a kid, so I’ve always thought of it as a Cooper [mom’s side] family song. 

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I’m still figuring out how best to format this newsletter. The advantage of the radio show format was that I didn’t have to talk about every song I played in depth if I buried it between two songs I did want to talk about. So here’s all the songs that would come in the middle of three if I was on air:

Out of Time by Chris Farlowe

I would say excessive drama for the subject matter, but a great song.

Stay with Me by Lorraine Ellison

Not goofy! Very heart-wrenching! I just put it on here because it’s a great song I want more people to listen to.

I Saw Her Again by The Mamas & The Papas

Moderately goofy? It’s definitely an over-the-top arrangement but their harmonies are good enough that it works. 

You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ by The Righteous Brothers

Not goofy, and some of the song isn’t even that dramatic, but I just love the fade-out before the bridge followed by the slow build that gets wilder and wilder until it’s just overlapping cries. 

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If you actually read this far, first of all, wow thank you! Second, one of my favorite parts of being live on air was getting texts from friends and family who were listening in and hearing their reactions to what I was saying and playing. I would love for this to be more of a conversation than me just posting into the void, so if you feel inspired, please tell me what you thought via whatever platform or contact info you have! I especially love to get song recommendations back.

Also, shoutout to my dad for fielding my requests for songs to add when he had covid, especially because I ended up not using his recommendations. Sorry! (I did listen to them, I just went in a different direction.)