Original subtitles

this is 1968 the music 1968 was a year

of conflict confusion and controversy

how did America make sense of it all how

do we keep from being overwhelmed the

way we always do through the power of

song perhaps more than any other year in

1968 we look to musicians for guidance

from the Beatles to Aretha from Johnny

Cash to Janis Joplin from Jimi Hendrix

to Louie Armstrong they gave us the

courage and the vision to endure war

abroad and racial tensions at home

they helped us navigate 68 with such

genius and passion that 50 years later

were still singing the songs they taught

us over the next hour we'll look back on

the artists who wrote the soundtrack to

that turbulent unforgettable year 1968

was the critical year for many things to

happen in this country 68 was that great

year because me Monterey and Woodstock

that was when the hippies went from a

tribe to becoming a high nation you know

it was like all of a sudden this thing

got out of control their kids are doing

drugs or letting their hair grow they're

protesting against the Vietnam War you

know you see this big schism in families

and like the hard hats versus hippies

it seemed like there were a lot of

double standards going on you know boys

feeling like they had to be shipped off

to fight and protect a country that

might winning let them yet vote there

was polarization the young people

against the establishment we didn't know

what to do as disk jockeys we didn't

know which side to take either 1968 was

such a turbulent year in every way

politics technology all the technology

from the space program was ending up in

recording studios politically there was

so much going on and musically there was

so much going on that really we were

processing it for several years

afterwards does the word revolution

strike a feeling for you the musical

landscape in 1968 was so dynamic

reacting to so many different influences

that the best way to begin to grasp it

is to establish what it wasn't 1968 the

first thing that it meant to American

popular music was that it was not 1967

anymore and that's an important

distinction to make because 1967 was

famous for being the Summer of Love and

the Beatles sergeant pepper's Lonely

Hearts Club Band it was the year when

hippies went to San Francisco seeking

love and peace

you look at 1967 and the Beatles put out

Sergeant Pepper it was all color and

light and whimsical and psychedelic and

peace and love flower power one year

later they put out the white album which

is the darkest thing they ever did as a

group officially the records title was

simply the Beatles but it's blank cover

with only the band's embossed name and a

small serial number prompted fans to

rechristening the White Album it was the

only thing about it anyone agreed on

people at first thought it didn't cohere

and there was good reason for that

what it really was was a series of solo

recordings by each of the Beatles The

White Album was not a Beatles album it

was John Paul George and Ringo and once

a while getting together and other times

on their own you could hear the seams

between the Beatles and there was

something foreboding about that the

sense that Beatles were fragmenting they

were on the brink of falling out we do

it together 36 hours a day so to speak

you know and I think that would get

there anybody it was too much contained

within that Beatles you know same for

John Paul and Ringo they they were all

growing such a rate and the Beatles was

it's like a straightjacket three weeks

before the white album debuted George

Harrison became the first Beatle to

release a solo record wonder all music

incorporated eastern music forms in

Indian instrumentation the Beatles in

early 1968 had gone to India at George

Harrison's the hessed

to spend time learning Transcendental

Meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh

Yogi and Harrison was really into it

Ringo not so much and John and Paul I

think they both got restless it wasn't

just the music it was music in the

philosophy the spirituality that went

hand-in-hand for George

earlier in the year John Lennon had gone

to a gallery show by a Japanese visual

artist it proved to be a turning point

in his life in 1968 John Lennon had met

Yoko Ono the two of them became

inseparable John began inviting Yoko to

Beatles recording sessions which was a

violation of the Beatles brotherhood

they didn't allow girlfriends spouses

any uninvited outsiders to their

sessions but John insisted on bringing

Yoko almost simultaneous with the white

album John and Yoko released their own

album of experimental music to virgins

which stunned Beatles fans most

notoriously for its cover art which

featured a nude shot of the couple that

was a shocker of course they had to put

it in a brown bag you know so you didn't

get to see the naughty bits till you got

it home and then it was like well then

okay put back in the bag and the music

was not even avantgarde it was really

off the charts

as for Paul McCartney he had stepped

into the leadership role after the death

of the band's manager Brian Epstein in

1967 causing friction with the other

Beatles Paul also started taking more

control of the sessions and there were

some tracks on the White Album that Paul

actually played the drums on because

there were times when he was showing

Wingo how to do his drum part and Ringo

took a I think a two-week hiatus from

the recordings because his feelings were

bruised by that in fact it was a happier

year for the Beatles chief rivals the

Rolling Stones

the two bands had long been in friendly

competition both on the charts and in

the hearts of fans The Beatles were a

little more on the pop R&B side the

stones more on the blues darker side in

1967 the stones had tried to produce

their own Sergeant Pepper I think they

understood it to be a strategic error by

trying to keep up with the Beatles and

make their psychedelic album and air

quotes around psychedelic pleased with

their satanic Majesties request which

was not a typical Rolling Stones album

but they regrouped during 1968 and made

one of the year's

defining albums Beggars Banquet which

was their return to very hard rock blues

and also a reflection on the year 1968

with two songs in particular sympathy

for the devil which had the famous

phrase I shouted out who killed the

Kennedys after all it was you and me and

you had street fighting man which was a

kind of commentary on the violence of

the summer of 68

[Music]

does Rolling Stone street fighting man

which we all thought would be a great

song to play on the air but direct from

City Hall came word that song was not to

be aired street fighting man Rolling

Stones Beggars Banquet

was banned on radio in Chicago because

they thought it would incite violence a

rock and roll record man band from

England was banned yeah I think that was

one of the few ties that we really felt

like hey this is a important musical

event in our lives well if you look at

the lyrics that he feels like he's a

little bit out of it he's not in the

thick of it and the streets in Detroit

and Newark where all that stuff is going

on in 1967 so it's kind of the wistful

thoughts of a guy in Britain who wants

to be part of this action

[Music]

coming up real street-fighting at the

Democratic National Convention and folk

musics role in protesting the war in

Vietnam plus singer-songwriters

infiltrate Hollywood and hippies conquer

Broadway but our journey through the

sounds of 1968 continues Peter Paul and

Mary we're at this point deeply deeply

involved in the anti-war movement Peter

Paul and Mary had been both folk

troubadours and political activists for

most of the 1960s in 1968 they put their

support behind presidential hopeful

Eugene McCarthy based on his opposition

to the war in Vietnam I had written the

campaign song for him

[Music]

and

as for which it stands

which

but card

and bring

[Music]

when activists came to the Democratic

National Convention in Chicago prepared

to challenge the party's pro-war nominee

vice president Hubert Humphrey they were

met with violence a Chicago police

brutally cracked down on protesters we

wound up in front of the Hilton Hotel we

were staying there the police invaded

the 15th floor which was gene McCarthy's

headquarters and broke skulls you know

went downstairs and there was Mary and

we they saw us and they said here and I

had my guitar with me sing and we

started singing me started

this land is your

we're singing this song with singing

puff the magic track and here underneath

those helmets for the National Guard and

the police with these kids we weren't

gonna fire on Puff the Magic Dragon and

I stayed there all night

Peter Paul and Mary were on the front

lines in 1968 but another folk music

legend withdrew from the fray

instead producing his quietest most

personal album to date John Wesley

Harding by pob Dylan came out on

December 27th 1967 so for all intents

and purposes it was a 1968 al

vo

baby tonight

he got to a point where there was so

much pressure on him to be the prophet

the voice in the desert speaking truth

to power and he just didn't want to do

it so he totally went in a different

direction even though John Wesley Hardin

was a quiet album had a little role to

play in 1968 by default in a way because

he was a big influence on to records

that created new territory for rock and

roll and those records were sweetheart

of the rodeo by the Byrds and music from

big pink by the band and both of those

records from 1968 were considered the

first manifestation of what became known

as country rock John Wesley Harding and

music from big pink you have to consider

them both together because they were

together and they bled onto each other

one of the cornerstone tracks from that

album was I shall be released one of

Dylan's most moving song

[Music]

another major influence on the folk rock

scene was a state of California the

entire music industry had relocated to

Los Angeles that was the center of

things and artists were really

relocating as well in a lot of the

edgier folk and folk rock artists we're

going to Laurel Canyon you started

seeing that Southern California sound

which spun off from 67 San Francisco and

that was a little harder rock you know

except for the Grateful Dead did a lot

of acoustic stuff too but you move down

further south and you get the Mamas and

Papas and you get Joni Mitchell you get

Judy Collins and all these wonderful

artists and then Crosby Stills and Nash

came together Bob Dylan's influence on

the California scene was just taking

root but in the folk music Mecca he'd

left behind

New York's Greenwich Village a new pair

of superstars had risen up to take his

place

Simon and Garfunkel I don't think could

do wrong they could have just read

during the session probably and had a

hit record in 68 they had two huge

albums one was bookends and the other

was the soundtrack for the movie The

Graduate which became another emblematic

cultural touchstone of the time most of

the songs were written before the

Graduate was named the only song that I

wrote specifically for the Graduate was

mrs. Robinson

[Music]

the new music seemed to be speaking to

everyone everywhere in 1968 including

the New York stage which in April

debuted a revolutionary new musical hair

was unlike anything that had never been

on Broadway before it was a series of

vignettes that kind of put together and

told an anti-war story and it was done

to rock music

at the beginning of 1968 the biggest

musical on Broadway was Hello Dolly the

Great White Way was completely

unprepared for its first euphoric blast

of rock music it was rock music

definitely just the instrumentation so

we start looking at one another the bass

lines don't do dundun dundun - that's

not ta da honey - blah

[Music]

see interracial aspect of it and the the

sexual aspects of it in terms of women

playing men's roles and vice-versa that

wasn't common I have never seen that

anywhere even if he didn't go to

Broadway you didn't say that

was a time of love a time of a great

deal of searching a very great deal of

confusion in our country and in our

lives and hair was the focal point and

we were the moving force of love flower

power and hair is revolution coming up a

country-music star goes behind bars to

give the concert of a lifetime plus a

generation of women artists make their

voices heard

when our journey through the sounds of

1968 continues Johnny Cash was in 68

thinking about people that were

incarcerated he was concerned about

Native Americans he was concerned about

the poor he was really pretty political

for a country and Westerners Johnny Cash

was sort of very intrigued with the

prison system and on that partly because

he had brushes with the law himself in

1955 Johnny Cash had hit number one on

the country charts with Folsom Prison

Blues it became one of his signature

songs and over the years he performed it

everywhere including in January 1968 at

Folsom Prison itself in a concert that

was recorded and released as an album

and time keeps draggin on it was a pure

country record but it really showed

sympathy for the convict for the outlaw

and this was way before country music

showed any identification with what

Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings in the

1970s would be dubbed outlaw country

music he was in solidarity with them not

with the guards and not with the

administration he made that really clear

that was radical especially 68 you know

now you wouldn't think so much about it

Johnny Cash was a man with a real

conscience and he projected that his

music and his work in the way conducted

himself 1968 also saw Cash's personal

life taken upswing as he married his

longtime lover and onstage partner June

Carter June Carter was country music

royalty when Cash was introduced to her

Johnny Cash's career wound up eclipsing

his wife's a fact she seemed to have

taken and stride she's never had any

regrets about not pursuing her own

career anymore she's very happy with the

success her mother and she and her

sisters have obtained

despite June Carter taking a back seat

women and country music became more

visible than ever in 1968 including

Tammy Wynette whose mega hit stand by

your man became not only the

best-selling record of her career but

one of the most covered songs in country

music history and this was a departure

this was totally different melody wise

everything and I kept telling him please

don't release it because that high note

sounds like a pig squealing

[Music]

thank God he didn't listen to me you

know he released it anyway and stand by

your man is the biggest thing that I've

had up today country veterans Loretta

Lynn Wanda Jackson and Dolly Parton also

had top 40 hits on the country charts in

68 and they were joined by a blockbuster

newcomer let's remember Harper Valley

PTA which was I think one of the

greatest novelty records of the year

I've been living in Nashville for about

two years hoping for a break in the

music business jeannie c reilly resisted

recording the song because she felt it

strayed too far from her roots I was

told I was gonna have a number one pop

record and I thought I'm gonna lose my

country identity before ever gained it

and with all this anger inside it

sounded like I was really into the song

you know yeah yeah and when I heard the

playback all negative thoughts that I

had about it flew out the window I got

goose bumps all over and everybody else

did well

[Music]

Harper Valley PTA shot to number one on

both the Billboard country and pop

charts dramatically launching Riley's

career I loved it because it was just so

true and every time all of us played it

you can tell there's hypocrisy in the

world and you could see it all around

you but she brought it right out and it

wasn't just in country music that women

were stepping into the limelight 1968

saw the debut album by Joni Mitchell and

the sophomore released by Laura Nero two

acclaimed young singer songwriters

performing their own material women were

just right at the brink when feminism

comes in it's not quite here yet at 68

but I think there was just a legitimacy

of the music that wanted to put their

voice in there to women weren't just

daring to be solo artists in 1968 some

also seized the traditionally male job

of fronting a rock'n'roll band

the two women singers who come to my

mind in the rock world were Grace Slick

of Jefferson Airplane the airplane was

becoming more and more politically

outspoken and more with these records

and grace was one of the clear public

faces and voices

[Music]

we cannot

[Music]

[Applause]

and you also had Janis Joplin with Big

Brother and the Holding Company assume

sang with complete commitment and total

abandoned our signature prop was her

bottle of Southern Comfort whiskey and

it didn't seem to be just colored water

in that bottle

[Music]

the name of the band was Big Brother and

the Holding Company but the name on

everyone's lips was Janis Joplin she was

clearly on her way to stardom in 1968

she was of rocket coming up the most

powerful female voice of the year and

the Defiant challenge she issued to

America plus soul music conquers the

mainstream and in the wake of an

assassination a funk music legend saves

the city from violence when her journey

through the sounds of 1968 continues the

story of music in 1968 is filled with

visionary game-changing artists but

there was also one visionary

game-changing mogul Barry Gordy Motown

the music of young America Motown got

criticized a lot at the time because

they thought it was too white they

thought hey you're playing to the masses

but Berry Gordy was right up front when

he said he want to hit music and he

wanted music that sounded great in AM

radio and he was successful at that and

he had a stable of people that might not

have made it in show business if it had

been promoter he wasn't the most

benevolent boss but he gave these kids

from the projects The Supremes were

three gals from the Brewster projects

they were superstars they were singing

for the Queen of England Berry Gordy had

formed Motown in Detroit in 1959 by 1968

he had a stable

filled with stars he'd personally

hand-picked and more often than not and

made Barry Gordy had a dream and we

didn't know anything about it we just

did we were told we were given

chaperones and we were given lessons and

instructions whenever we were on the

road actually performing we were back in

Detroit at Motown

26:40 at West Grand Boulevard in one of

those offices are one of those buildings

learning something in 1968 Motown

outgrew its original location on Grand

Avenue the house known as Hitsville

and Gordy moved his burgeoning empire

into a bigger downtown office space the

move coincided with Motown's all-out

assault on the pop charts by the end of

the year

Motown had five of the Billboard top ten

singles and held on to the first three

spots for an entire month

included was one of the first Motown

tunes to address a hot button social

issue in this case the rise of the

illegitimate births and inner-city

communities it's kind of funny that

Supremes were the first out of the gate

with that kind of fame with love child

and Diana even dressed down and a little

ripped sweatshirt when she was appearing

on Ed Sullivan to seeing that and

everything it was the writers at Motown

were trying to reflect what was going on

[Music]

Berry Gordy ended the year by signing a

new act to his roster a quintet of young

brothers who called themselves at

Jackson 5

but as Motown welcomed its new

superstars the soul music world said

goodbye to a past one Otis Redding who

was becoming a star at big crossover

star from his appearance at the 1967

Monterey Pop Festival he died in a plane

crash at the end of 1967 so there was a

great sadness attached to his posthumous

hit sittin on the dock of the bay which

was a big hit in early 68 the tune

seemed in retrospect like a bittersweet

elegy and grieving fans made it

Redding's first number-one records even

as America said goodbye to ODIs reading

new acts were stepping up to fill the

void on the R&B scene

exploring new and exciting concepts and

forms

[Applause]

[Music]

teenager watching slightly family stone

with that incredible white drummer and

they've got those incredible horns

Cynthia it was just like this is the way

life is going to be from now on from

1968 on groups are going to be like that

but no performer in 1968 was more

visible were more influential than

Aretha Franklin who blazed a fiery new

trail for both soul music and sisterhood

but is usually if it was a woman she was

in a band with some guys behind her

Grace Slick Janis Joplin the very

defined roles or the girl groups of the

early 60s but you didn't have like a

woman soul singer singing with such

authority and such soulfulness

and singing about wanting respect that

was big it was very inspirational

[Music]

aretha had seven top 20 singles in 1968

and on June 28 became the first black

woman to appear on the cover of Time

magazine she also sang the national

anthem at the opening of the Democratic

National Convention but the Queen of

Soul shared the year with the Godfather

of Soul who on the night of tragedy in

early April use the power of music to

save a city after the assassination of

dr. King James Brown had a concert

scheduled in Boston and there was some

question whether the concert should go

on because there was fear of rioting and

the black community in Boston they were

going to cancel it like they canceled

shows all across the country but instead

they decided to televise it put on the

radio life and he had the mayor of

Boston up there he had other people give

speeches in between the songs and he

urged people not to burn their city down

and they heard that and they didn't they

stayed home or they went to the concert

there is no violence in the concert and

it was really one of the worst nights in

our history because of Brown Boston was

spared the violence other American

cities suffered that night the 1968

wasn't over for James Brown to come out

the year after all those riots swept

cities like Newark and Detroit and you

could still see the burned-out buildings

and he comes out with a song like say it

loud I'm black and I'm proud

in a very fragile political environment

when white people were hesitant and

black people were angry and has a temper

that he was doing this anyway he felt it

was important there was a need for that

yeah well better be proud of himself of

it the only ones down and that none of

the relative names taken

back coming up artists scramble to

reinvent themselves as a hit single

gives way to the rise of the record

album plus once again the Beatles break

the mold as our journey through the

music of 1968 continues this is rock and

roll and soul music was always a singles

based thing artists would put out a hit

single most of the kids have bought

those singles didn't even listen to the

b-sides I did because I was a nerd but

most kids just played the hits that's

all they wanted to hear they didn't want

to hear any album cuts and most of the

album's frankly you wouldn't want to

hear the album cuts the record companies

would put out an album with one or two

hits and then just do filler in the late

1960s the evolution of the record album

began picking up speed

The Beatles 1965 album Rubber Soul

inspired the Beach Boys Pet Sounds in

1966 which in turn inspired the Beatles

sergeant pepper's Lonely Hearts Club

Band in 1967 now Sergeant Pepper had

inspired the next generation of

ambitious high concept albums but the

Beatles weren't just contributing to the

rise of the record album they also

triggered the decline of the hit singles

market by smashing the AM radio status

quo one of the rules in top 40 radio is

the song had to be under three minutes

long if you went 2 minutes and 45

seconds you were stretching it and if

they could they'd do an edit or fade it

out in 1968 The Beatles defiantly

released a new single Iran a

jaw-dropping 7 minutes

and 11

[Music]

half of its a chant that goes on and on

and on that you could easily cut out

like after 30 seconds but no because we

would have been like calling the radio

station go what he just do to the

Beatles what that back put it play it

and the song was such an astounding hit

I was huge

across the board it was an anthem

overnight the person who heard it you

knew it was gonna be a standard Hey Jude

kind of showed how the Beatles were kind

of splitting between the songs of Paul

McCartney and the songs of John Lennon

Hey Jude seems to be unmistakably

McCartney with its melodic strengths and

its kind of lyrical clarity simplicity

[Music]

the flip side was Revolution which was

John Lennon speaking to the political

conditions of 1968

[Music]

can you imagine a 59 cent single has Hey

Jude on one side and revolution on the

other just unbelievable Hey Jude and

revolution were released exclusively as

singles but paradoxically their success

showed that artists were becoming too

ambitious be contained by the

restrictive singles market and that fans

were eager to hear and buy longer and

more challenging music focus suddenly

shifted from 45 to 33 and a third an

artist had to scramble to keep up we had

just come off of moni moni in the spring

of 68 we got asked by Hubert Humphreys

office Hubert Humphrey the vice

president running for president that

year if we could join him after the

convention the Democratic convention and

I believe it was West Virginia we ended

up doing the entire campaign mr.

Humphrey this had never happened before

we're a rock band got together with a

candidate we left in August to do the

champagne and when we left and went on

the road it was basically all singles

acts on the radio the hottest acts were

the rascals the Association Gary Puckett

us when we got back 90 days later it was

all ours in that 90 day period that the

industry turned upside down and it was

blood sweat tears Led Zepplin or Neil

Young and so we realized that we were

gonna have to start selling albums and

if we didn't our career was probably

over right then we were very very

blessed and fortunate to have crimson

and clover

[Music]

crimson and clover allowed us and it's

probably the only single we ever had

that would have done this in one swoop

to pivot from am top-40 mono singles

market to FM progressive album rock

other artists were better positioned to

make the switch The Doors whose debut

album in 1967 that included both longer

cuts and a spoken-word section scored a

doubleheader in 1968 with a number one

single and a number one album other

bands began flexing their creative

muscles to follow suit I remember I

couldn't wait to get home listen to new

records it was like only just there were

more records coming out that you could

hear that's so many more good then it

was like almost everything he picked up

was interesting in some way or another

coming up how FM radio helped the record

album evolved into an art form

and the bold new genres and wants taboo

subject matters that flourished as a

result plus 1968 ends on a high note

with a triumphant return of the king as

our musical voyage through 1968

continues with the emphasis no longer

being on the hit single the rise of FM

radio was focused on these album

oriented artists but you've got these

groups in 67 and 68 the Beatles stones

Jefferson Airplane Janis Joplin Big

Brother and the Holding Company The

Doors all these bands putting out

incredible albums and they weren't

getting any airplay except maybe for a

hit single like actually Jefferson

Airplane and The Doors had hit singles

on top 40 radio but you want to hear the

other songs

that's where FM radio came in because

nobody's making money on FM radio

well the culture was sort of moving to a

place where people wanted to hear better

sound and you had better sound with an

album with actually a half-decent stereo

setup and then why did you want to

listen to that music on a tinny AM radio

when you could listen to it on FM radio

with fewer commercials less obnoxious

commercials if any AM radio transmits

over long distances which made it

perfect for commercial broadcasting and

selling pop music singles FM shorter

range had limited it to special

programming until it's very uncommon

ality made it ideal for reaching

discriminating music fans

so a lot of people were expressing

themselves at great length and making

longer albums that perhaps the new

expansiveness of FM radio had encouraged

them to do this was the same year after

all that the original kind of definitive

heavy metal album was made by the group

Iron Butterfly with its 17 minute long

title song known as in-a-gadda-da-vida

don't you know that

the music was begging to be heard on the

radio so FM radio was the only place to

do it

plus the quality of the sound the

signals very different artists who had

been pushing the envelope for years

suddenly found that the sky was a limit

one group that really hit its peak in

1968 was the British rock trio cream

with Eric Clapton Jack Bruce and Ginger

Baker the classic rock stand by sunshine

of your love with a big hit in early

1968 and cream it was a band that kind

of typifies the louder more intense

clash of musicianship and clash of egos

that eventually changed Rock culture

[Music]

well the sunshine of your love which was

such a great sign that's the one that I

remember the one that just grabbed us

and it just all of a sudden we had a new

sound and from that we kept evolving it

just a beautiful refreshing sound to

those of us that were waiting for you

also had in 1968 the establishment of

Jimi Hendrix as both a sort of guitar

hero and the iconic rock star of the

time and Hendrix was flamboyant he was

tremendously gifted guitar player and

rickson's two albums that were key in

1968 axis bold as love and the two

records at Electric Ladyland after so

much change so much breaking of new

ground the last thing anyone expected as

1968 drew to a close was a triumphant

blast from the past on December 3rd

America was riveted by the resurrection

of a legend and at all but forgotten

1968 was the year Elvis came back it

took him pretty much all of the year to

do it while the rock revolution was

going on Elvis was making movies like

clambake in 68 he was as relevant as

Liberace he was only 33 years old two

teenagers he was from a different era

he was sort of a has-been with his chain

of number one records long ended and his

movie career fading fast Elvis made a

deal to star in his first television

special it was originally meant to be an

hour of Christmas carols but its manager

Colonel Tom Parker thought it was better

used as a means of restoring Elvis's

rock-and-roll credentials it was a

fateful decision as a return to the

blues and gospel influenced material of

his early career re-energized Elvis

before viewers eyes and I remember

watching it

being totally blown away that set where

he comes on with the leather outfit with

his musicians and people sitting right

around him and he's doing the old

rockabilly stuff that was priceless

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here's the sky he's really handsome he's

wearing black leather and we could see

why those 1950s singles why they were so

great because he was doing them again

with such energy and passion but the

years most unlikely comeback was that of

a performer who had been around even

longer than Elvis

Louis Armstrong the virtuoso trumpeter

who had been a guiding force in jazz

since in 1920s surprised the world by

releasing a sweet soothing ballad that

unexpectedly proved to be exactly what

the Year needed what a wonderful world

in 68 when I heard it the first time I

said God here it is something positive

said here's something that really builds

you up to me it was a personal lift it

was an optimistic sound 1968 was a year

of extremes both political and musical

it's very hard for us to put our finger

on what the sound of 1968 was was it

music from big pink was it in Tigana da

vida

was it street fighting man was it the

Beatles White Album in the end Louie

Armstrong alone seemed able to bring it

all together in perfect harmony does

everybody love that song the hippies

love that song the conservatives love

that song everybody loved that song it

was Universal it's beautiful that's what

Louie Armstrong did for us in 68 he had

the kids and the grown-ups all singing

together and that's what music can do

[Music]

yeah

1968 was a half-century ago and so much

of that world seems increasingly remote

to us today but the music we've examined

over the past hour still resonates in a

way that seems as vital to us as a songs

of our own time and it seems likely

it'll keep on resonating for another

half century to come that'll do it for

us today I'm Ellie PI Hong as we leave

one last look at the musical highlights

of the year 1968

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