First Pop Song You Remember Hearing

[green_garnish]

I'm not talking Michael Row Your Boat Ashore or Jingle Bells. I mean what top 40 hit do you first remember hearing on the radio.

For me, it's a toss up between Pass Me By from Peggy Lee or These Boots Are Made for Walking by Jane Fonda.

[Jim Kelly]

So many songs I remember from early days. But the song that immediately came to mind was "Sugartime" by the McGuire Sisters which came out in the year I was born--it was number 1 on the Billboard charts. Can it be that I remember back that far--well I remember being a little baby in my crib and my mother and father--so I think so. That song was always playing and my parents would sing it to me.

[seismic-2]

I'm not talking Michael Row Your Boat Ashore or Jingle Bells. I mean what top 40 hit do you first remember hearing on the radio.

For me, it's a toss up between Pass Me By from Peggy Lee or These Boots Are Made for Walking by Jane Fonda.

Jane Fonda? You mean Nancy Sinatra, right?

[seismic-2]

The first pop song I remember from the radio (and I believe, from a record - maybe a 78 RPM? - that my parents subsequently bought) was "How Much Is that Doggie in the Window", sung by Patti Page. I would have been 4 years old at the time.

[green_garnish]

Jane Fonda? You mean Nancy Sinatra, right?

D'oh! Yes of course. It's hell getting old.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

My mom, god rest her saintly soul, was a big fan of Tom Jones, so the first song I remember hearing on the radio when I was a kid was “What’s New Pussycat?”

[babyblob]

1986 I was 5 years old. And I heard Sara by Starship on one of those year end top 100 countdowns. That song had my 5 year old self sad. I was talking to the radio. Who hurt you? Im sorry! A Sad song. At least to kid me. my mom tells the story all the time for some reason.

[seismic-2]

I'm not talking Michael Row Your Boat Ashore or Jingle Bells. I mean what top 40 hit do you first remember hearing on the radio.

I'm old enough to remember quite well when "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" was in fact a hit record on the radio. That was in 1961, when a folk group named The Highwaymen hit the #1 spot on the Billboard charts for two weeks with a version of the 100-year old tune. It stayed in the Top Ten for over a month, and Billboard ranked it the #3 song of the year. For those of you who weren't born then, I should explain that during the late 1950s and early 1960s (pre-Beatles) there was a huge boom in "folk revival" pop music, when lots of quartets and larger groups consisting of guys sporting crewcuts and wearing sweaters would come onstage and strum their acoustic guitars while singing the same sorts of ancient ditties that were traditionally sung around campfires. These performances were called "hootenannies". These musical groups made lots of money as pop acts just by singing those traditional songs. Honest.

[Jim Kelly]

I'm old enough to remember quite well when "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" was in fact a hit record on the radio. That was in 1961, when a folk group named The Highwaymen hit the #1 spot on the Billboard charts for two weeks with a version of the 100-year old tune. It stayed in the Top Ten for over a month, and Billboard ranked it the #3 song of the year. For those of you who weren't born then, I should explain that during the late 1950s and early 1960s (pre-Beatles) there was a huge boom in "folk revival" pop music, when lots of quartets and larger groups consisting of guys sporting crewcuts and wearing sweaters would come onstage and strum their acoustic guitars while singing the same sorts of ancient ditties that were traditionally sung around campfires. These performances were called "hootenannies". These musical groups made lots of money as pop acts just by singing those traditional songs. Honest.

Same. Since all these songs were new to me--being not that long on Earth--it would be hard to say what was an old standard and what was a Billboard hit--

"The Banana Boat Song" by Harry Belafonte; "Goodnight Irene," by Nat King Cole; "You Are My Sunshine" by Rosemary Clooney (and others); "Lemon Tree" by Peter, Paul and Mary; "Streets of Laredo (Cowboy's Lament)" by various.

[CaptCleghorn]

It was my first favorite pop song and I still kinda like it.

[Powerboy]

I'm not talking Michael Row Your Boat Ashore or Jingle Bells. I mean what top 40 hit do you first remember hearing on the radio.

For me, it's a toss up between Pass Me By from Peggy Lee or These Boots Are Made for Walking by Jane Fonda.

I don't remember it from the radio but a couple of the first songs I remember are "How much is that doggy in the window?" by Patty Paige and "Sixteen Tons" by "Tennessee" Ernie Ford, the latter being a bit outside the interests of a small child but he was one of my Mom's favorites.

I remember a Ford song called "Wild Goose" which I took to be about a man transforming into a goose and flying free to live his life in the woods, having no idea it was really about a guy that was cheating on his wife.

[CaptainLiberty76]

The Beatles: "I Want to Hold Your Hand"

[Totoro Man]

my parents didn't really listen to the radio. so, probably the earliest pop song I can remember is Burl Ives "Where's Joe (the Marmalade Cat)" on vinyl.

it wasn't until my mother remarried that I started interacting with radios. I'm sure I heard lots of other pop songs on the radio prior to it ... but it all blurs together. however, the most vivid memory of hearing a pop song on the radio the first time would be Peter Gabriel's "Shock the Monkey". I can still remember sitting in the back of a car, the lighting, and the autumn leaves, how windy it was outside. it was later afternoon, about an hour before sunset. we were going home from a hiking trip. my parents were both baffled by just how odd the song was. my first reaction was "this is weird... but awesome."

[From The Shadows]

Probably something by the Beatles. My mom was a Beatles fan and would play one of her records. I remember sitting on the shag rug amd even looking forward to it when she would play it again. I think it was "She Loves You."

[foxley]

The one that sticks in my head is "Living in the 70s", by Skyhooks , which I probably heard when my older siblings were watching Countdown (and I was probably upset about not being allowed to watch Disneyland on the other channel).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLUt...l=ABluntJester