The Dovells were a Philadelphia group that first broke on the national charts in 1961 with a dance song named after a suburb of Philadelphia, "Bristol Stomp,"(#2). They continued to mine the dance craze with "Bristol Twistin' Annie" (#27) and "Hully, Gully, Baby" (#25). In June of 1963 "You Can't Sit Down" became the second Dovell top ten hit, peaking at #3. In the fall of 1963 the group recorded a song they had heard by a British group, but their label declined to release it. In 1964, The Beatles would take "She Loves You" to number one. One member of the group, Len Barry would have a #2 record in 1965 with "1-2-3."
"You Can't Sit Down" was behind Kyu Sakamoto's "Sukiyaki" which had just risen to the top spot and Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" which had just vacated its number one position. There was one other former top record in the top twenty of June 15, 1963, "If You Wanna Be Happy" by Jimmy Soul which had been number one on May 18th.
Many consider 1963 to be the doldrums of early rock and roll and the June 15th chart somewhat demonstrates that as "Sukiyaki," "I Love You Beause," "Blue on Blue," and "Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer," would all best be categorized as soft pop, and "Still" and "18 Yellow Roses" were more country hits.
Perhaps the most notable song in the top twenty was The Beach Boys' "Surfin' U.S.A." The record had peaked at #3 on May 25th (no higher than "You Can't Sit Down"). Many people would assume "Surfin' U.S.A." was a number one record. That wasn't the case. But it is certainly the most remembered song. |
