Let’s count our way through pop music history

Have you ever wondered…what are the best songs with a number in the title?

One, two, three and four are frequently mentioned…but “16” is a bit of a magical musical number. Several once-popular tunes refer to a “sweet 16” birthday girl. 

There was a brief period about 50 years ago, when early rock’n’rollers recorded chartbusters that formed fond memories. From 1958-61, six notable “16” tunes got a lot of radio airplay. 

The first of these “16” songs debuted in January 1958. It was “Sweet Little Sixteen,” written and recorded by Chuck Berry. Singer-songwriter Sam Cooke had a major score with “Only Sixteen.” 

In 1986, Chuck Berry and Sam Cooke both were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, members of the “first class” of artists to be so honored.

 

Chuck Berry

Sam Cooke

Berry is remembered as “a founding father of rock music, whose pioneering career influenced generations of musicians.” Cooke was widely regarded as the “king of soul.” 

Neil Sedaka’s “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen” was also a chartbuster. He was a prolific songwriter as well as a vocalist. (Sedaka is not in the Hall of Fame, but he should be.) 

Some say the two best “16” songs from the “oldies era” were “16 Candles” performed by The Crests, and “You’re Sixteen” by Johnny Burnette. 

These two songs were introduced to a new generation of listeners when they were selected to be part of the soundtrack of the 1973 film “American Graffiti.” 

Remember the show tune “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” from the 1959 musical “The Sound of Music?” The image of the pending 17th birthday of the sparkling blue-eyed Liesl von Trapp just may have inspired Paul McCartney and John Lennon of The Beatles.

 

Charmian Carr  as Liesl

Their song in 1963, “I Saw Her Standing There,” helped secure the band’s financial future. Ironically, the song begins with a numerical “one-two-three-four” lead in: 

….Well, she was just seventeen / You know what I mean / And the way she looked / Was way beyond compare. 

So how could I dance with another? / Ooh, when I saw her standin’ there? / Well, my heart went “boom” / When I crossed that room / And I held her hand in mine. 

When sung, that last word sounds like my-eee-ee-een (rising in pitch)…as a tribute to Buddy Holly perhaps.

The Beatles were big-time “numbers guys,” and “Eight Days a Week” was a smash hit in 1964. 

Never content to rest on their laurels, the Beatles took number 16 and multiplied it by 4 to come up with another song title – “When I’m Sixty-Four.” The song was released in 1967 on the legendary “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album. 

It gets better. Band member Paul McCartney wrote the song when he was 16 years old. It’s about a man who sings to his woman about what it will be like for them to grow old together. 

When I get older losing my hair / Many years from now / Will you still be sending me a Valentine Birthday greetings bottle of wine? 

Will you still need me, will you still feed me / When I’m sixty-four?

 Images continue to flow: knitting by the fireside, Sunday morning drives, gardening and pulling weeds, a summer rental cottage with grandchildren on the knee. 

Some readers who are advanced seniors can say: “Been there, done that.” Good for them (and us). 

The Beatles were part of our extended family, and so many of life’s treasures connect to their music.