1967 - The Fifth Dimension - Up, Up And Away

The 1966 Billboard Top 100 churned and spun through my dreams last night. What an interesting contrast and statement of the times. The number one song was The Ballad of The Green Beret as the country answered the call of the war drum and rose to stop communist aggression. Other wholesome songs like Born Free, Strangers In The Night, You're My Soul And Inspiration were on the charts at the same time as the Rolling Stones with Paint It Black, and  19th Nervious Breakdown and Donovan with his Sunshine Superman.

I went a little crazy trying to figure out what to play. It was a good year for catchy garage rock hits - 96 Tears, Wild Thing, and Dirty Water - all songs I came to love a few years later, but my world in that first year was probably shaped more by the radio in the kitchen - my parents' music.

So I decided to leave '66 represented by Sunny and move on to 1967 because, if you can't sort out the past, you can at least run from it.

The Fifth Dimension was ubiquitous during those years. This song definitely echoes across time to me. Sometimes it's straight forward and optimistic, and other times it's surreal and part of a horror movie soundtrack.