Looking back at the songs that hit No. 1 in the U.S. in 1964, it’s hard to believe singers and songwriters were thinking about anything other than love. America’s love affair with rock music was well underway with help from the British Invasion, though classic crooners and Motown girl groups made a strong showing as well.
There was so much love in the air — and on the airwaves — that the year stands out as the love song pinnacle of the entire decade. If groups weren’t harmonizing about searching for it or celebrating having found it, they were wailing about losing it and wondering how it got away. It was a love fest, and the tunes that rose to the top of the charts celebrate the undeniable highs and unmistakable lows.
We think the five No. 1 songs from 1964 that show off the year’s gold-medal love song status offer something for every taste. Vintage acts like the Beatles dominated with multiple chart-topping love songs, as did the Supremes; we narrowed down the options to the most exemplary titles. We couldn’t leave out the ill-fated teen romance vibe, so we grabbed the Shangri-Las’ girl-group biker version of “Romeo and Juliet.” And we rounded out the jukebox of love with a timeless Dean Martin track and a swoony folk-style song from Peter and Gordon, a love song sad enough to have boomers crying in their coffee.
Baby Love – The Supremes
The sugar-sweet tones of Diana Ross leading the Supremes in a charming song about being in love with someone who isn’t equally in love back — what’s not to adore here? Delivered by one of the chicest and sleekest girl groups to ever step onstage, “Baby Love” is a song that pleads for love to live on. Even with its desperate take on a romance that might be better discontinued, it manages to hit all the right notes and fools you into thinking it’s rejoicing instead of begging. Kudos to the major-key melody and sweet harmonies for spinning such a clever spell.
The trio notched the second No. 1 of their shared and storied career with this bop, coming on the heels of “Where Did Our Love Go?” — another 1964 bullseye that covered the more tragic side of love. With “Baby Love,” Ross and friends were putting in a final appeal for the wandering sweetheart in the song to stay true. The most cheerfully delivered line in the whole song ends up being “Don’t throw our love away,” though it’s hard to tell if the ladies are being optimistic or singing through their tears. Either way, there’s no reason not to sing along and root for this fractured love to make it against all odds.
Everybody Loves Somebody – Dean Martin
In the category of Something for Everybody is swoon-worthy crooner Dean Martin and his classic “Everybody Loves Somebody,” a throwback tune with Rat Pack swagger to spare. In a pop chart being subsumed by more and more rock and pop tunes aimed at younger listeners, this vintage shuffle tore a page right out of the Great American Songbook and gave the grown-ups in the room an ode to love they could call their own.
Led in by a sweeping cascade of strings descending like an aural waterfall and backed by the most Disney-esque of backing choirs, Dino tears it up, laying on the charm in that wibbly-wobbly way that only a mid-20th century warbler can. His laid-back confidence and unhurried delivery make even the shyest of wallflowers believe that love is inevitable. That’s the kind of moxie that helped this swinging love song reach No. 1 in August of 1964, knocking the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” out of the spot and giving Martin his first Top 40 single since 1958.
She Loves You – The Beatles
There may be plenty of forgotten No. 1 songs by the Beatles, but “She Loves You” isn’t among them. 1964 was the year Beatlemania showed up in the U.S., with the band racking up multiple chart-toppers and taking the music world by storm. In fact, their tunes were so popular, they monopolized the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 solid weeks, from February through the beginning of May. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” had a seven-week run, while “Can’t Buy Me Love” spent five weeks in lead position; “She Loves You” snuck in for a two-week stay right in the middle.
This bouncy little tune of reassurance twisted the usual songwriting mode by taking on a third-person narrative. John Lennon and Paul McCartney sing to a friend who believes his love has come to end. But the Liverpool lads have seen the young woman, and she gave them a message to pass on to her beau: “She says she loves you / And you know that can’t be bad.” They share the news and tell him there’s good reason to take hope — way to be bros, John and Paul! If you can’t find love yourself, at least you help your buddy get his love life sorted.