The List

3 Rock Songs From 1967 That Still Make Me Smile Big Today

Rock music in the late 1960s has a certain sense of nostalgia, with music fans still enjoying that era of music, even decades later. These are three of the best rock songs from 1967, which still likely make anyone smile when they hear them today.

โ€œA Little Bit Me, A Little Bit Youโ€ by The Monkees

โ€œA Little Bit Me, A Little Bit Youโ€ is The Monkeesโ€™ third No. 1 single. Neither this song nor โ€œThe Girl I Knew Somewhereโ€, the follow-up single, appeared on a record when they were released. Neil Diamond wrote this song by himself.

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The song says, โ€œGirl, I don’t want to fight / I’m a little bit wrong / And you’re a little bit right.โ€

Interestingly, Diamond also wrote โ€œIโ€™m A Believerโ€, their second song to reach the top of the charts. Diamond also sings background vocals on this song.

โ€œA Little Bit Me, A Little Bit Youโ€ is the first single by The Monkees with Davy Jones singing lead on the song.

โ€œI Dig Rock And Roll Musicโ€ by Peter, Paul and Mary

โ€œI Dig Rock And Roll Musicโ€ was written by Peter, Paul and Maryโ€™s Paul Stookey, along with James Mason and Dave Dixon. โ€œI Dig Rock And Rollโ€ is part of Album 1700. Although โ€œI Dig Rock And Roll Musicโ€ may seem like itโ€™s an ode to rock music, itโ€™s also a bit of a tongue-in-cheek reference to the changing sounds within the genre.

The song says, โ€œI dig rock and roll music / I could really get it on in that scene / I think I could say something if you know what I mean / But if I really say it / The radio won’t play it / Unless I lay it between the lines.โ€

Peter, Paul and Mary released several other singles after โ€œI Dig Rock And Roll Musicโ€. Still, they only had one other big hit after โ€œI Dig Rock And Roll Musicโ€. In 1969, the trio released โ€œLeaving On A Jet Planeโ€, their final big hit. That song went all the way to No. 1.

โ€œPenny Laneโ€ by The Beatles

โ€œPenny Laneโ€ is one of several singles that The Beatles released in 1967. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, โ€œPenny Laneโ€ is named after a street in Liverpool, England.

โ€œPenny Laneโ€ begins with, โ€œIn Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs / Of every head he’s had the pleasure to have known / And all the people that come and go / Stop and say hello.”

โ€œI canโ€™t remember who wrote what first actually,โ€ McCartney later tells Clash. โ€˜Penny Laneโ€™ was kind of nostalgic. But it was really a place that John and I knew; it was actually a bus terminus. Iโ€™d get a bus to his house, and Iโ€™d have to change at Penny Lane, or the same with him to me, so we often hung out at that terminus, like a roundabout.”

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