High School

From the first day of school in September of 1967 until graduation on June 12, 1970, most members of the graduating class of 1970 were enrolled as students at Wakefield. Our lives during this period were defined by many things, but none more so than the music we listened to.

Favorite songs from these years that are played on the radio today as "Oldies" evoke memories of pep rallies, football games, drive-in movies, "church dances", cruising the Shirlington Hot Shoppes and Lake Barcroft, ice skating on the rinks at Pentagon City or South Four Towers, watching the "submarine races" at National Airport and parking at Fort Scott Park. Despite its many ups and downs, it was truly a magical time.

(Play me for 1967)

1967

In 1967, the British Invasion was cooling off and the war in Vietnam was heating up. Protests against the war landed in our backyard and on our TV screens with the October 22 March on the Pentagon, hailed as the largest draft card burning demonstration in history.

Flower Power ruled, and "Make Love, Not War" was the chant that ushered in the Summer of Love in San Francisco, while down the Pacific Coast Highway echoes of "Burn, Baby, Burn" still lingered from the 1965 riots in the Watts section of LA. A new era in music also was officially ushered in by the Monterey Pop Festival, and every "hip" person in the country made plans to follow Dr. Timothy Leary and "tune in, turn on and drop out."

In the halls of Wakefield, 10th grade girls delighted in the attention they received from upperclassmen upon their arrival in September, while 10th grade boys were banished into a social desert going from "top dogs" in Jr. High to "bottom feeders" in Sr. High. During these trying times, AM radio stations like WPGC and WEAM were playing these top pop hits:

  1. To Sir With Love - Lulu

  2. Happy Together - Turtles

  3. Windy - Association

  4. Ode To Billie Joe - Bobby Gentry

  5. I'm A Believer - Monkees

  6. Light My Fire - Doors

  7. Somethin' Stupid - Nancy Sinatra & Frank Sinatra

  8. The Letter - Box Tops

  9. Groovin' - Young Rascals

10. Kind Of A Drag - Buckinghams

11. Little Bit O' Soul - Music Explosion

12. I Think We're Alone Now - Tommy James & The Shondells

13. Respect - Aretha Franklin

14. I Was Made To Love Her - Stevie Wonder

15. Come Back When You Grow Up - Bobby Vee & The Strangers

16. Sweet Soul Music - Arthur Conley

17. Can't Take My Eyes Off You - Frankie Valli

18. Never My Love - Association

19. Soul Man - Sam & Dave

20. Expressway To Your Heart - Soul Survivors

(Play me for 1968)

1968

By 1968, Flower Power had been replaced by Black Power. Racial tensions reached a crescendo with the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Looting and burning erupted in protest in many major US cities, including Washington, DC. The halls of Wakefield, reflecting society's mood, also simmered and occasionally boiled over as race relations were strained near the breaking point.

That summer, two young Olympians from the US Track & Field team, Tommie Edwards and John Carlos, executed a silent protest during the medal ceremony as they stood on the medal platform in Mexico City with heads bowed and black-gloved fists thrust defiantly into the air. Innocence died that year along with Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles and scores of women and children in a place called My Lai.

In the midst of all of this upheaval, we listened to these songs to ease our troubled minds:

  1. Hey Jude - Beatles

  2. Honey - Bobby Goldsboro

  3. Love Is Blue - Paul Mauriat

  4. (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding

  5. People Got To Be Free - Rascals

  6. Sunshine Of Your Love - Cream

  7. This Guy's In Love With You - Herb Alpert

  8. Stoned Soul Picnic - Fifth Dimension

  9. Mrs. Robinson - Simon & Garfunkel

10. Tighten Up - Archie Bell & The Drells

11. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly - Hugo Montenegro

12. Little Green Apples - O. C. Smith

13. Mony, Mony - Tommy James & The Shondells

14. Hello, I Love You - Doors

15. Young Girl - Gary Puckett & The Union Gap

16. Cry Like A Baby - Box Tops

17. Harper Valley P. T. A. - Jeannie C. Riley

18. Grazing In the Grass - Hugh Masekela

19. Midnight Confessions - Grass Roots

20. Dance To The Music - Sly & The Family Stone

(Play me for 1969)

1969

1967 may have been the Summer of Love in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury district, but 1969 was the summer of love (and mud) for 500,000 wet, tired and hungry music fans camped in Max Yasgur's alfalfa pasture on his farm in Bethel, NY(actually down the road a-ways from Woodstock).

The month prior to the legendary festival we sat glued to our TV screens, mesmerized by grainy images broadcast from 240,000 miles away in space as Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the surface of the moon.

Meanwhile, back on earth, the streets of our commercial shopping districts and neighborhoods throbbed from the throaty rumble of four-barrel carburetors and hemispherical headed engines as Detroit "muscle cars" dominated the collective consciousness of the high-testosterone set.

Life at Wakefield floated in a kind of euphoric suspended animation as we drifted in the high school netherworld that existed between sophomore year and senior year. We learned the importance of "Chilling Out"; a concept born of the realization that we could not keep going as we were and expect to survive much longer.

Our focus began to turn inward as we discovered the distracting nature of controlled substances and hedonistic revelry. The world belonged to young people under the age of 30, and anything seemed possible as we dreamed away the days and danced away the nights listening to these songs:

  1. Aquarius - Fifth Dimension

  2. Sugar, Sugar - The Archies

  3. I Can't Get Next To You - Temptations

  4. Honky Tonk Women - Rolling Stones

  5. Build Me Up Buttercup - Foundations

  6. Dizzy - Tommy Roe

  7. Hot Fun In The Summertime - Sly & The Family Stone

  8. I'll Never Fall In Love Again - Tom Jones

  9. Everyday People - Sly & The Family Stone

10. Get Together - Youngbloods

11. One - Three Dog Night

12. Crystal Blue Persuation - Tommy James & The Shondells

13. Hair - Cowsills

14. Too Busy Thinking About My Baby - Marvin Gaye

15. Love Theme From Romeo And Juliet - Henry Mancini & His Orchestra

16. Crimson And Clover - Tommy James & The Shondells

17. Grazin' In The Grass - Friends Of Distinction

18. Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley

19. Proud Mary - Creedence Clear Water Revival

20. What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) - Jr. Walker & The All Stars

(Play me for 1970)

1970

In 1970, the idealism that was spawned during the 60's finally died at Kent State University in Ohio. Music died, too, along with Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Brian Jones. (Brian died in 1969. Jim Morrison would die the following year in 1971.) With the Beatles splitting up and the Senators making plans to split town the next year, it appeared that the party was about over.

As seniors, we once again enjoyed high-flying status at the "top of the heap." But, life being what it is, nothing lasts forever and we would soon find ourselves at the bottom of the pile once more as we prepared for graduation - and the rest of our lives. For many of us, this classic line lay uneasily in the back of our minds, "'Commencement' - that's a funny word for 'The End'."

When Graduation Day finally arrived, we sensed that we were about to "set a course for an uncharted desert isle." The paths we took after graduation were as diverse as the student body itself. Some of us would have little contact with fellow classmates over the ensuing years. Others would remain in close friendships; the kind of friendships one can have only with those kindred souls that have shared the experiences of that turbulent period of life called, The High School Years.

But, before we split the scene, we had one last wild spring and summer in which we reveled in our youthfulness. As we cruised to Ocean City, MD early on the Saturday morning after graduation, these songs blared from our radios:

  1. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel

  2. (They Long To Be) Close To You - Carpenters

  3. Let It Be - Beatles

  4. Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head - B. J. Thomas

  5. I'll Be There - Jackson 5

  6. Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross

  7. War - Edwin Starr

  8. Get Ready - Rare Earth

  9. American Woman - Guess Who

10. Band Of Gold - Freda Payne

11. Mama Told Me (Not To Come) - Three Dog Night

12. Everything Is Beautiful - Ray Stevens

13. Make It With You - Bread

14. Hitchin' A Ride - Vanity Fair

15. Thank You (Falletin Me Be Mice Elf Again) - Sly & The Family Stone

16. The Love You Save / I Found That Girl - Jackson 5

17. Cracklin' Rose - Neil Diamond

18. Candida - Dawn

19. ABC - Jackson 5

20. Spill The Wine - Eric Burdon & War

1970 Hits #21 - #100

21. O-o-h Child / Dear Prudence, Five Stairsteps and Cubie

22. Spirit In The Sky, Norman Greenbaum

23. Lay Down (Candles In The Rain), Melanie and The Edwin Hawkins Singers

24. Ball Of Confusion (That's What The World Is Today), Temptations

25. Love On A Two Way Street, Moments

27. Which Way You Goin' Billy?, Poppy Family

28. All Right Now, Free

29. Julie, Do Ya Love Me, Bobby Sherman

30. Green-eyed Lady, Sugarloaf

31. Signed Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours), Stevie Wonder

32. Ride Captain Ride, Blues Image

33. Venus, Shocking Blue

34. Instant Karma (We All Shine On), John Ono Lennon

35. Patches, Clarence Carter

36. Lookin' Out My Back Door / Long As I Can See The Light, Creedence Clearwater Revival

37. Rainy Night In Georgia, Brook Benton

38. Something's Burning, Kenny Rogers and The First Edition

39. Give Me Just A Little More Time, Chairmen Of The Board

40. Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes), Edison Lighthouse

41. The Long And Winding Road / For You Blue, The Beatles

42. Snowbird, Anne Murray

43. Reflections Of My Life, Marmalade

44. Hey There Lonely Girl, Eddie Holman

45. The Rapper, Jaggerz

46. He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother, Hollies

47. Tighter, Tighter, Alive and Kicking

48. Come And Get It, Badfinger

49. Cecelia, Simon and Garfunkel

50. Love Land, Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band

51. Turn Back The Hands Of Time, Tyrone Davis

52. Lola, Kinks

53. In The Summertime, Mungo Jerry

54. Indiana Wants Me, R. Dean Taylor

55. (I Know) I'm Losing You, Rare Earth

56. Easy Come, Easy Go, Bobby Sherman

57. Express Yourself, Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band

58. Still Water (Love), Four Tops

59. Make Me Smile, Chicago

60. House Of The Rising Sun , Frijid Pink

61. 25 Or 6 To 4, Chicago

62. My Baby Loves Lovin', White Plains

63. Love Or Let Me Be Lonely, Friends Of Distinction

64. United We Stand, Brotherhood Of Man

65. We've Only Just Begun, Carpenters

66. Arizona, Mark Lindsay

67. Fire And Rain, James Taylor

68. Groovy Situation, Gene Chandler

69. Evil Ways, Santana

70. No Time, The Guess Who

71. Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time), Delfonics

72. The Wonder Of You / Mama Liked The Roses, Elvis Presley

73. Up Around The Bend / Run Through The Jungle, Creedence Clearwater Revival

74. (If You Let Me Make Love To You Then) Why Can't I Touch You, Ronnie Dyson

75. I Just Can't Help Believing, B.J. Thomas

76. It's A Shame, Spinners

77. For The Love Of Him, Bobbi Martin

78. Mississippi Queen, Mountain

79. I Want To Take You Higher, Ike and Tina Turner

80. The Letter, Joe Cocker

81. Ma Belle Amie, Tee Set

82. The Bells, Originals

83. Yellow River, Christie

84. Somebody's Been Sleeping, 100 Proof and Aged In Soul

85. Vehicle, Ides Of March

86. Gimme Dat Ding, Pipkins

87. Lay A Little Lovin' On Me, Robin Mcnamara

88. Up The Ladder To The Roof, Supremes

89. Travelin' Band / Who'll Stop The Rain, Creedence Clearwater Revival

90. Come Saturday Morning, Sandpipers

91. Psychedelic Shack, Temptations

92. Without Love (There Is Nothing), Tom Jones

93. Are You Ready?, Pacific Gas and Electric

94. Woodstock, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

95. I'll Never Fall In Love Again, Dionne Warwick

96. Look What They've Done To My Song Ma, New Seekers

97. Walk A Mile In My Shoes, Joe South

98. The Thrill Is Gone, B.B. King

99. It's Only Make Believe, Glen Campbell

100. Call Me, Aretha Franklin