If you’re a singer-songwriter, I’ll bet that the following songs from 1967 continue to influence your own music today. These tunes are some of the best to come out of the year in which Summer of Love psychedelia dominated the airwaves, and they are still deeply loved works today. Let’s take a look!
“All Along The Watchtower” by Bob Dylan
Jimi Hendrix really breathed new life into this song when he covered it in 1968. But there’s something about the original that continues to dazzle singer-songwriters today. A standout song from Bob Dylan’s John Wesley Harding, this 1967 song is a great example of dialogue-driven storytelling, as it follows a conversation between a thief and a joker. It’s loaded with themes, and people are still picking it apart with interpretations today.
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“Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison
The idea of blending pop songs with masterful and personal songwriting wasn’t unheard of in 1967, but Van Morrison definitely helped popularize such music with the 1967 singer-songwriter classic, “Brown Eyed Girl”. This song just sounds like the mid-1960s, and it’s a classic that will likely never go out of style. If you’ve ever felt nostalgic for an old flame, “Brown Eyed Girl” is definitely relatable.
“Wear Your Love Like Heaven” by Donovan
The year 1967 was the Summer of Love, and psychedelia was reaching its peak that year. And while psychedelic rock really took over the airwaves, psychedelic pop was also a thing. And Donovan released this singer-songwriter gem with some psych-folk elements, and it continues to inspire songwriters today. “Wear Your Love Like Heaven” is one of many excellent tracks from A Gift From A Flower To A Garden, and it peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart back in the day.
“If I Were A Carpenter” by Tim Hardin
Confessional songwriting existed for quite some time before Tim Harden dropped this gorgeous example of influential singer-songwriter songs from 1967. And yet, “If I Were A Carpenter” seemed to pioneer the new era of confessional songwriting that would be common in the 1970s and beyond. “If I Were A Carpenter” has since been covered by everyone from Johnny Cash to The Four Tops, and it’s considered a standard in folk music today.
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