yet another song thread: What was the very first popular song you remember?

Not your favorite song -- maybe by now you hate it -- not your most meaningful or significant song, not a song you want played at your funeral, none of that stuff ... what was the FIRST popular song you remember hearing as a child (and why)?

My mother used to play the tabletop radio when I was a little kid. Top-40 stuff and when I was preschool age, I figured all music was like that. In the early 60s, the Top-40 stations were exactly that -- they played those songs again and again and again.

But I remember very clearly, in the summer of 1961, when I was just short of 3 years old, hearing "Runaway" by Del Shannon, with the wailing clavoline/synthesizer solo, and thinking it was just the weirdest sound I had ever heard.

And since they played it 10 times a day or so, and if you think about it, Del actually enunciated the words pretty clearly, I actually learned how to sing it (much to my parents' chagrin, I suspect), so I did, nonstop, for a couple of months.

Strangely enough, I actually did understand (mostly) what it was about. I remember asking my dad, "what does it mean, 'to end this misery,'?" and he said, "well, if I hear this song about 50 more times I will tell you," and I didn't get it. But a couple years later, I did. Hahah.

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

 

The first 45 I ever owned was Refugee by Tom Petty.

Other favorites when I was a young kid:

Centerfold - J Geils Band
Stop Draggin My Heart Around - Stevie Nicks/Tom Petty
Call Me - Blondie

 

The first I remember was "Dizzy" by Tommy Roe. I had a slightly older cousin who made me sit and watch with her when he appeared on Merv Griffin. I was about 5 years old, I think.

 

I was going to say Red Red Wine - I remember hearing it on the radio when I was really young - but it was released before I was born, so likely it's popularity was gone by the time I remember hearing it.

One that I was alive for: (since I was young I don't know how widely popular these songs were, and don't feel like looking up Billboard) I remeber Get Out of My Dreams and Into My Car. Heard that one on the radio when I was little.

My brother and I were also big fans of Got My Mind Set on You and We Didn't Start the Fire.

A quick googling shows Got My Mind Set on You as being released in 1987, Get Out of My Dreams in 1988 and We Didn't Start the Fire as 1989, so I guess Got My Mind Set on You wins.

 

When I was little, I lived in the same complex as some teenagers. I remember them playing "Crocodile Rock" a lot, even though it was a couple of years after the song came out.

 

The first one I remember hearing was probably "Boogie Man" by KC and the Sunshine Band or "Enjoy Yourself" by the Jackson 5 on the school bus on the way to kindergarten, or perhaps "We Will Rock You" or "Popcorn," both of which our gym teacher that year played during jumping jacks.

 

Back in 3rd or 4th grade (mid/late 70s) while pop music to me (as an 8 or 9 year old) was the stuff I heard my parents listening to on the radio ("Rhinestone Cowboy", "YMCA", "Cat's in the Cradle", "Only the Good Die Young", etc.) a few of my classmates were into KISS.

 

I have sibs who were 3 and 5 when "Crocodile Rock" came out on the radio. I remember them running around the house singing, "Laaaaaaa, la-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-laaaaah....."

I suppose that was their version of "Runaway."

 

"Downtown", Petula Clark.

Still enjoy the song today.

 

Bobby Sherman "Easy Come, Easy Go."

 

That song was No. 1 in March 1965, when our family made a long cross-country trip to New York City and back. I remember looking up out of the windows of our car at the NYC skyscrapers as the song was playing in the middle of a rainstorm.

 

You Light Up My Life by Debby Boone.

I started playing soccer at 6 and the song ALWAYS seemed to play on the radio in the car on the way to games.