The UK Top 50 of 1968 Poll

Strong vintage. Voted "Lazy Sunday", but "Jesamine", "Eloise", "Fire Brigade", "This Wheel's On Fire", "This Old Heart Of Mine" and "Honey" were all great singles. And, OK, "Hey Jude" too although it ought to have been 3-4 minutes shorter at the end.

Leapy Lee Little Arrows

ahahaha oh dear.

Bandwagon Breaking Down The Walls Of Heartache

Ahahaha YEAH!

yeah, yeah, yeah,

I was crowned

with a spike right thru my head

For the first time in this series, I can't narrow my choice down to one; this really is a toughie...so many (too many!) great records (as well as some records which are totally beyond redemption).

Aretha!

That'll do!

In the end it was between Aretha and Herb.

Lily The Pink is in 1968 and 1969 Top 50?

It charted in Nov '68 and was that year's Xmas number one but then stayed on the chart until April '69, so its sales were split fairly evenly between the two years.

I wasn't expecting this to be such a strong list - but like others upthread, it had to be Aretha, just ahead of Those Were The Days and Jumpin' Jack Flash. Rounding off my top five: Ain't Got No... I Got Life, This Old Heart Of Mine.

I'll probably be the only one voting for "Fire brigade" then.

I like "Fire Brigade", but there are other Move songs that I like better. Mostly from 1967.

god, yes, "night of fear". rarely did a debut promise so much.

of course you will not have been subjected to decades of unending references to "flowers in the rain" as the first song played on a certain radio station, which for me at least has rendered the song practically unlistenable.

i know that aretha and the isleys (and probably "this guy's in love with you") as well are objectively better, but as with f.mac in '69, i felt the need to go for my own melodramatic indulgence which nobody else will vote for. "eloise" it was, then.

the main problem of course (fucking alienating-his-biggest-supporters wilson legislation again) is that "tighten up" and "grazing in the grass" aren't here.

I love "I Can Hear The Grass Grow". Not to mention great non-singles such as "Cherry Blossom Clinic" and "(Here We Go Round The) Lemon Tree"-
"Fire Brigade" benefits from the stereo mix on the new expanded "Move" though.

I wasn't expecting this to be such a strong list

A very underrated year. 1967 had "the summer of love", but much of the best hippie music wasn't released until 1968. And then, you had the backclash against hippiedom, which wasn't my cup of tea, but which is surely loved by people with a more "rootsy" musical taste. That's where Rolling Stone and Aretha Franklin come from, you know.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Crazy world of Arthur Brown FTW!

Isleys, "This Old Heart of Mine."

But no Who, no credibility.

If only anyone had bought "Magic Bus" or "Dogs."

True, those didn't exactly burn up the charts.

"Fire Brigade" is prob'ly my favourite Move single

I voted Mony Mony

Dock Of The Bay

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

OK, who voted for Des?

Des O'Lurkey?

also:

Engelbert Humperdinck Am I That Easy To Forget 0

(hee)

I'd forgotten that Des O'Connor used to post to ILx under the pseudonym of "Wally Klemmer."

Herb Alpert This Guy's In Love With You 0

Written by Marty Wilde.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZerER6af04k

Shameless, if ingenious, re-write of "Young Girl", though I think this is better, good singer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYW3rfX66KU

I don't think I'd ever heard the original of this before, it's completely insane! The video is a hoot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAQjTgI8R5I