List of #1s

I mentioned this site a couple of months back but I want to do so again. They are doing a countdown of the best 200 songs that reached #1 since 1955. Which is a pretty sizeable endeavor when you think of it. I might question their judgment as the numbers get lower but not yet. Each song comes with a set of facts like this for their #150 song 'Chapel of Love':

Stats:

• #1 for 3 Weeks in 1964 (June)
• Replaced: Love Me Do - The Beatles
• Replaced by: A World Without Love - Peter & Gordon
• Sample Headline from its Reign: Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in prison.
• #2 Hits It Prevented from Reaching #1: None
• Top 200 #1 Hits 1955-2000 Rank: #167

The last great girl group song to reach number one. Since it cleaved two Lennon & McCartney hits, it was clear there was a change in the air 1964, but this song was too good to pass up. I was playing the #1 hits at a retreat for the small church I was in about ten years ago. This was a congregation that was trying to incorporate contemporary music into its services and was struggling with a small size due to one thing and another. When Chapel of Love came on my book box, everyone sang along and when the harmony part started everyone found a different part of the harmony to sing. The music leader at the church said: "Why can't you sing like this on Sunday morning?" I didn't have a good answer then, but I do now. Chapel of Love requires you to sing a long, requires you to harmonize and it does through the repetition of the "one line repeated four times" refrain. That is genius songwriting and the purity of the Dixie Cups vocals only improves its message. And it's some antiquated notion of marriage as the expression (rather than the conclusion) of young love is beautifully naive.

Coming up: #149 - "She's so pretty. Lord, she's fine."

You may notice this lyric hint for the next song, in this case 'Hey Baby'. About once a week a catch up with the list and read off the hints to the FP Gal to see if she can guess the song. Her breadth of musical knowledge is better than mine and she has a good ear for lyrics so she does pretty well. I thought it might be fun to post the last ten songs hints that they've given so you could try it on your own.

#134: "Won't you say you love me all the time?"
#133: "In a world of tears I slowly drown"
#132: "You're the meanest old woman that I ever have seen"
#131: "Times are good or bad, happy or sad"
#130: "Russian Roulette is not the same without a gun"
#129: "Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down"
#128: "All the girls around her say she's got it coming"
#127: "He was out of town and his two friends were so fine"
#126: "You've been around all night and that's a little long"
#125: "My love you didn't need to coax"

You can leave your guesses in the comment section if you'd like. I totally should have gotten #129 and didn't. The FP Gal probably got seven of these right. Answers? Go right over here and just keep reading.