3 Top 40 Hits From 1967 That Every 60s Kid Still Knows by Heart Today
Three 1967 hits remain familiar to many listeners: Stevie Wonder’s “I Was Made to Love Her”, The Supremes’ “Love Is Here and Now You’re Gone” and Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billie Joe”. The article highlights their lasting recognition and the different stories behind each song.
Wonder co-wrote his track with his mother, Lula Mae Hardaway, and songwriters Sylvia Moy and Henry Cosby, and later said it drew on his first love, Angie. The Supremes’ single, written by Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland and Eddie Holland, topped the US chart for two weeks and was later covered by Michael Jackson. Gentry wrote her narrative song herself; it was her only US No. 1, staying atop the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks, and earned her two CMA Award nominations.
- Three well-known songs were released in 1967.
- The Supremes’ single spent two weeks at No. 1.
- Bobbie Gentry’s only No. 1 led the chart for four weeks.
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In 1967, US pop music reached audiences through radio, records and television, and chart hits could become widely recognised well beyond their first release. The songs in this story came from different corners of that scene: Stevie Wonder was a Motown singer and musician, The Supremes were a successful Motown vocal group, and Bobbie Gentry was a singer-songwriter.
Motown was a Detroit record company known for polished pop and soul, while Gentry’s “Ode to Billie Joe” stood out for telling a story through its lyrics. The songs’ chart success and later covers helped keep them in circulation, though listeners may know them for different reasons: their melodies, performers or the stories they tell.