Dear Courier Diary: The death of innocence...

President Kennedy

assassinated

Friday November 22, 1963

Good Morning Friends,

..today is Saturday May 23, 2009

.I hope I did not frighten you with my title - the death of innocence. But, I think that is what the period 1963 represents; things got a lot tougher and more serious more quickly after 1963. The Beatles and the death of Kennedy were to herald in a new era, but the new era had not yet arrived - but its messengers had. ..in just five years I would be in university and involved in student demonstrations. The enemy was the Vietnam War and authority and control and U.S. imperialism and even capitalism itself......It gets tough when you get older you know. Like, I was just counting on my fingers trying to figure out how old I was and what grade I was in at school in 1963. So, I think I have it boiled down to the fact that I was in grade nine and I was fourteen years old, in 1963 that is. I was looking at the music charts, you know the top 100 songs for the various years and it looks like this was the transition period, so to speak. Because in 1964 the Beatles hit the scene, starting out with their big hits She Loves You and I Want To Hold Your Hand. But, in 1963 there were still a lot of songs that I could grab on to. This was also the year in which Kennedy was shot - Friday November 22, 1963. It is just one of those dates and days that I do not forget. Of course everybody thought Lee Harvey Oswald did it. But, now that we have the internet we tend to look at things a little differently of course.

This was also the period of my first big crush on a girl. She kind of looked like the Mona Lisa now that I think about it. It was just one of those Platonic or puppy love kind of things I suppose, but they are very exciting when they happen of course.

.I did not really like the Beatles and the British invasion actually, when it actually happened, I mean. And I did not like the Rolling Stones and drugs and acid and all of that kind of stuff. These things were to make their appearance soon enough. I am an old love songs kind of person which I have already told you about of course and a group like Jerry and the Pacemakers would garner my attention or even Hermans Hermits. There were no Beatles hits in the 1963 top 100 songs.

Anyhow, here is just a sample of the kind of song that still grabbed my attention in 1963, and as I told you things were going to change quickly once the Beatles hit the scene.

Here are the Ronettes in 1963 singing Be My Baby: