Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as the first black justice of the US Supreme Court. The musical Hair premiered off-Broadway. Barbara Bain won the Emmy for Best Actress in a drama for her role in Mission: Impossible. And at the movies, Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger starred in In the Heat Of the Night.
And on the charts at number 59, one of the many songs of the 60's that featured spices in the title. It's a club that has many members - with tunes such as Sgt. Pepper by the Beatles, Cinnamon Girl by Neil Young, and Salt of the Earth by The Rolling Stones. The singer was 16 at the time, brought in from a band called The Shapes to do the harmonies - and although Greg Mumford sang lead he never actually joined the band. Still another member was Scott Gorham, who later helped found Thin Lizzy. Then there was Steve Bartek, who later gave the world the band Oingo Boingo. But the best known member might be the band's guitarist, who was just 17 when he wrote this song. Pressured by the record label to come up with something to fit the psychedelic sound of the times, he said later that he simply strung together some nouns and gave it to producers. Overwhelmed with the depth and mystery of the tune, the label released it and it went to number one - in spite of the fact that the lyrics had no meaning whatsoever. And although the composer never earned a dime in royalties, he still did alright by later joining the then-unknown opening act on the group's 1970 tour.
Today's Southwest Airlines Freedom Break on 98.7 KLUV, a song written by Ed King before he joined Lynyrd Skynyrd. The Strawberry Alarm Clock, with Incense and Peppermints.
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