6 of the 60s: 9/30/14 (1968)

This week's 60s flashback goes back to 1968, the year the 'Summer Olympics' were held in Mexico City in October...

Jeannie C. Riley - "Harper Valley PTA"
from the album Harper Valley PTA (1968)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1
Songwriter: Tom T. Hall

The first song by a female performer that topped both the pop and country charts, this story of an independent woman (is the Mrs. a widow? a divorcee'? a woman whose husband is off to war?) was a natch to expand to make a TV show starring former genie Barbara Eden...

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The Beatles - "Lady Madonna"
from the album Hey Jude (1970)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4
Songwriters: John Lennon, Paul McCartney 

This emulation of 50s boogie-woogie rock by the likes of Fats Domino, which recorded his own cover of the song the same year.

Shorty Long - "Here Comes The Judge"
from the album Here Comes The Judge (1968)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #9
Songwriters: Billie Jean Brown, Suzanne DePasse, Shorty Long

Motown didn't delve into "novelty"-style songs much, but this comical track inspired by a character on Laugh-In not only became a hit but outshined the different song with the same title recorded by the actual "judge" from the show. A groove from the Funk Brothers certainly helped.

James Brown - "Licking Stick - Licking Stick (Part 1)"
from the album Say It Loud - I'm Black And I'm Proud (1969)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #14
Songwriters: James Brown, Bobby Byrd, Alfred Ellis

Only in the 60s can a song about a tool used to whoop a child's ass become a pop and soul hit. Lordy.

Pigmeat Markham - "Here Comes The Judge"
from the album Here Comes The Judge (1968)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #19
Songwriters: Dick Allen, Robert Dade, Sarah Harvey, Pigmeat Markham

The comic actor that came from a background of minstrel shows, had his own "Here Comes The Judge" record, that really was a proto-rap record of the funkiest degree.

O.C. Russell - "The Song Of Hickey Holler's Tramp"
from the album Hickory Holler Revisited (1968)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #40
Songwriter: Dallas Frazier

Another song unique to the 60s - sung in the context of a boy whose momma turned to turning tricks to support her family after the father took off, sung more with admiration than shame.